The Lighthouse Bulletin

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The Lighthouse Bulletin
ICMDA NIHSJ Newsletter Volume 1 Issue 3 December 2015
Registered Nursing students during a Clinical Posting in Mengo Hospital wards. Photo Credit: Alice Caisley, AID
Inside this issue:
Editorial 2
Educational Postings 3
Profiles 4
Events and Activities 5
Visitors 6
Pictorial 8
Christmas Card 9

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ICMDA NIHSJ Newsletter Volume 1 Issue 3 Dec 2015
Editorial
Marking exam papers, a Christmas party before the students leave for home and an end of the year staff retreat are the things
on my mind as we come to the end of another prolific year. The ICMDA Institute is well and thriving and we are grateful for
Gods favour all through the year. The staff have all worked hard to teach and support the students. Their varied personalities
only adds to the rich mosaic and provide the students with a truly International and Christian studying environment. The students
also have come a long way on their journey to becoming health professionals and they are in many ways the heroes and
heroines of our story. It is really their story and we are privileged to help them along their path. In this edition of the Lighthouse
we continue to share with you their stories and also to profile some of our staff members and volunteers.
The primary requirement for working with young people and students (even the older ones) is “tough love”. They all have
their mood swings, good days and bad days. They often feel the need to complain about most things. Any form of discipline is
often resented and yet as their teachers and educational facilitators we are often called to push them on, rescue them from
drowning in self-pity, yet build them in confidence and make them increasing self-reliant. The other real development challenge
is to make them authentic learners and promote their God given talents. Can our education be transformative? Yes but
we constantly need to be reminded in the midst of our busy school life that ultimately we are there to be conduits of Gods
mercy, hope and love to the nation of South Sudan.
Having come to the end of another semester, most of the previous month was spent preparing for the end of semester exams -
completing the portions, compiling the student’s internal assessments, preparing exam papers and practical tests. Earlier in
October Shalini and I took a holiday and travelled to India to meet our family and attended the Students Missions Conference
(Shiloh 2015) at Christian Medical College Vellore. I also had cataract surgery during this period. This was possible because
Dr. Bertha Rathinam, Professor and Head of Department of Anatomy at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, India
graciously volunteered to teach for a month covering for us during the period that we were away. We also had Dr. Stephen
Madgwick a retired GP from the UK visit us for 10 days and help the clinical officer students with their revisions. Most of the
students presented their learnings from their external postings in Butabika National Mental Hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital in
Kitgum, St. Mary’s Hospital, Lachor and the community posting in Gulu and Amuru in North Uganda. November 26th was an
important day on our calendar when both the staff and the students met for a day of prayer for the future of the Institute and our
immediate needs. We called this a Global Prayer day requesting all our partners from around the world to join us for a time of
prayer.
As we celebrate Christmas we primarily pray for peace in South Sudan. A country that still boasts of the largest
pastoral communities – the cattle keepers of the world. We are reminded of the message of good tidings and
peace that the angel brought to the shepherds in the Palestine hills. We look forward to the New Year 2016
spurred by the Latin quote – “per aspera ad astra” or through difficulties to the stars. Wishing you all a Blessed
Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Anil Cherian

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ICMDA NIHSJ Newsletter Volume 1 Issue 3 December 2015
Educational Postings
Midwifery Students: Were for 3 weeks in October posted to St. Joseph’s Hospital, Kitgum Northern Uganda in the
maternity wards where they had community mobilization and health education, provided family planning services,
providing antenatal care and caring for, and delivering women in labour .
Nursing Students: Had two clinical postings, one in Butabiika National Referral Mental Hospital where they spent
a month caring for mentally sick patients as well as assessing and diagnosing mental health conditions. They also
spent two weeks in some of the wards and the ophthalmology unit at Mengo Hospital.
Clinical Officers: Also had two clinical postings at Butabiika National Referral Mental Hospital, Kampala as well
as in the different wards at Mengo Hospital such as the pediatrician ward, the operating theatres and the general
male and female wards.
Midwives-St Joseph’s Hospital
Nursing Students
COs in Mengo Hospital Wards
Student Profile : Tuor Gai Mabir
Is from Bor, Jonglei state South Sudan. He is a 2nd year student studying Nursing and was in August sworn in
as the new Guild President 2015-2016. As The Guild President, he says his main focus is on his fellow the
students “We know we are in a different land so it is my responsibility to keep reminding the students of
that and advice them on how best to conduct themselves, also every month I meet with all students, find out
if there are any issues and try to solve them .”
The Guild body has about 13 guild members with ministries/posts such as nutrition, health, sports, housing,
finance, class representatives among others. He says the guild works well with the administration and that
most they have the same mission which is to make the institution successful, where there are some activities
or events, that the guild can not do on their own the administration comes in and helps.
Commenting on the general welfare of students and academics, Tuor Gai says academically, the courses they are studying are
so connected to human beings and life, and coming from south Sudan which is in many places traumatized by the crisis, it is the
students responsibility to work hard that such trauma will come to an end if they are all committed, there will be a change. So,
he advises the students, and they get together to talk about the responsibility they have to make the change to their country.
He therefore calls upon the students to make good use of this chance by being actively involved in any of the activities and in
classes and give their best.
He further adds on that though courses can be challenging most of the time, he and his fellow students are not giving up, they
try as hard as they can to carry on. The other challenge he talks about is being foreign land but so far he says they have
adapted. Tuor Gai hopes that in his time as the Guild President ,he will be to, along with his ministers, to see to it that there is
eventually a guild office, with all the needed materials for documentation so that their work may get much easier.

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ICMDA NIHSJ Newsletter Volume 1 Issue 3 Dec 2015
Student Profile: David Lado Wani
Is a 2nd Year student studying Clinical Medicine and Public Health. He comes from Western Equatorial State in
South Sudan. For the second year running, David is the General Secretary on the students Guild body, having
served on the guild body of 2014-2015 and re-elected for the Guild body of 2015-2016.
His role is to generally work hand in hand with the Guild President to see to it that the welfare of the students is met
and he also acts as a link between the students and administration. He says one of his major role this year has been
to see to it that the new batch of students settles in and feel at home. He helped in briefing them, showed them around, advised
them on how fast to settle in and also advised them to work hard in their studies.
As a General Secretary, he also sees to it that there is togetherness in students especially since they are from different places
and tribes. For students’ challenges he says the biggest challenge they are facing is language barrier that is the local
language which makes it sometimes difficult to communicate especially when it comes to educational postings, but despite
the challenges, he says he is glad that in whatever situation, the administration is always there to stand with them and help in
any way possible.
Academically, Lado says the institute is doing the best they can to provide the students with quality education to make them
professional health workers "the institute is doing productive work for example, we are from time to time taught by doctors
volunteering from different places like India, England which is good and we learn a lot from them, this will help us in being
what we are supposed to be”.
He adds that he is appreciative of the environment, the staff and tutors are doing the best they can, though he feels there is a
need to increase on the teaching staff and on learning materials. He gives much thanks and appreciation to ICMDA, to all the
staff, government of South Sudan and to the donors for supporting the initiative.
Staff Profile: Gilbert Agaba
Gilbert is the Administrative Assistant in charge of Finance and Logistics. He has been at the Institute since April
2014. He has training in Accounting and Finance as well as Computerized Accounting Systems. As part of his work,
Agaba accounts book keeping, financial filling, financial data entry, financial reports, booking tickets for institute
visitors or director, making travel arrangements for both students and staff (if any), visa renewals and passport for
students among others. Working at the Institute so far has been fantastic, “I have been fortunate to work with a
very collaborative team, that is competent and helpful especially the Executive Director and other managerial
staff, I have gained some experience in administrative work, financial reports, financial management and team
work”. He adds that working in a multicultural environment is quite a good experience.
On what he has achieved working at the institute so far, he says perfecting his financial reporting system to the satisfaction of
the external auditors is something he is quite proud of as he made numerous effort and worked hard on accuracy of the financial
statements, being very careful to avoid errors of omission, commission and errors of principle. He further adds that he has
been able to visit different offices as administrative assistant and borrowed different skills and met different people. “I have
crossed boarders on administrative roles, I have travelled several times to Juba, which has been a dream come true.”
Gilbert is grateful to the following people for responding to Gods’ call and realizing the need to establish such an institute in
Jonglei South Sudan; Executive Director, the CEO of ICMDA, members of the steering committee, Mengo Hospital and other
support partners. May God richly bless you. He says that the training the students are getting is indeed a necessity to the people
of South Sudan especially at this point in time when the country is experiencing a health dilemma.

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ICMDA NIHSJ Newsletter Volume 1 Issue 3 Dec 2015
Events and Activities
Conference attended by students: Twelve (12) students attended the 4th Annual Uganda Christian Medical Fellowship
(UCMF) conference that took place from the 8th to 11th October 2015 at Busitema University in Mbale, Eastern Uganda.
The theme of the conference was “according to His power that works within us.”Ephesians 3:20
Global Prayer Day: On the 26th of November 2015, we held a global prayer day at the institute. Students and staff came
together to pray for the nation of South Sudan, the financial situation of the institute and the future of the institute. We
asked our worldwide partners, friends and supporters to join in praying with us.
Sports: Students had several friendly sports games in football and volleyball with neighboring universities and institutes.
The football team had a friendly match with the Sudanese students from St. Lawrence University (Rubaga) as well as a
volleyball game with Mengo School of Nursing.
Students Christmas Party: We held a Christmas Party for the students at their hostel on Wednesday 16th December.
Students, staff and invited guests participated in several games, and singing Christmas carols. Reverend Engineer Paul
Waswa Ssembiro was a guest speaker, we had members of staff from Mengo Hospital
Singing on the Prayer Day
Students at the Conference
Friendly Volleyball match
New Staff: Immaculate Namulindwa
We are happy that our teaching staff is growing! In November, we hired Miss Immaculate Namulindwa, a
Nursing and Midwifery Tutor. She has a Bachelor of Science in Nursing as well as a Diploma in Nursing. She
teaches clinical procedures to the Clinical Officers, Nurses and Midwives, and Sexual and Reproductive
Health to the Midwifery Students. She also helps the midwives with writing their log book cases. Immaculate
says so far, it is a wonderful experience working with an institute that is Christian founded and that she
likes that she learns something new everyday as she teaches and mentors the students. She also likes the
team that she gets to work with at ICMDA NIHSJ for they are supportive and co-operative.

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ICMDA NIHSJ Newsletter Volume 1 Issue 3 Dec 2015
Conferences Attended
Dr. Anil Cherian, Director of NIHSJ presented a paper at this conference held at the Univeritas Pelita Haripan,
Jakarta, Indonesia. The conference was co-hosted by UPH and Biola University in California and held from the
1st – 4th of December, 2015. The paper was titled “Innovation and Strategic Thinking: Pivotal to impacting
health in economically challenged communities” The key speakers were John Lennox, Ravi Zacharias, Mike
Soderling and Elisabeth Styfie. The conference explored four major themes – Christian Response to Medical
care in economically challenged environments, Christian Response to emerging Global Health Issues, Christian Response to
Emerging Technology and treatments and the Christian Response to Pain and Dying. In a number of ways this conference was
unique and the first of its kind. It was also a wonderful opportunity to showcase and share the work of our Institute.
Jasper Damaris, Academic Registrar and Senior Nurse Tutor attended 2 day critical workshop organized by MOH, South Sudan
in collaboration with UNFPA on the 20th and 21st October in Juba. The objective of the workshop
was to critically review the new Nurse Curriculum. A consultant Mr. Philip Ndatsu, UNFP shared his
expertise and experience in reviewing Nurse Curriculum. 25 Member team of Nurse Tutors along
with Ministry of Health and UNFP were able to critically review the new curriculum. The members
were divided into 3 groups to review the content in terms of scope of Nursing in South Sudan. A 2
day hectic brain storming was done by the professional expert.
Visitors
Dr. Bertha Rathinam from AIIMS (All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences) Bhopal, India visited us for a month in October
and helped tutor the 2nd year Clinical Medicine and Public Health students in Nutrition ,Anatomy and Phycology.
Dr. Peter Waitt from UK has been with us since October and helps to tutor the Clinical Officers in Pathology, First Aid
and Nutrition.
Peter and Alice Caisley from Anglican International Development (AID) visited us for 4 days in September. They to
helped to make promotional material (videos) of the institute’s work.
Dr. Stephen Madgwick from the UK helped tutor the Clinical Officers in Mental Health and Microbiology.
Jasper (center) at the workshop
Dr. Bertha teaching Peter and Alice Caisley with students Dr. Stephen teaching COs

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ICMDA NIHSJ Newsletter Volume 1 Issue 3 Dec 2015
Feature Profile: Dr. Peter Waitt
Dr. Peter Waitt is a consultant acute physician and a GP from Liverpool, United Kingdom.
He has been volunteering at the institute since October 2015 teaching First Aid, Nutrition
and Pathology to the Clinical Officers. He is in Uganda with his wife Dr. Catriona Waitt.
They have been married for sixteen years and have that three (3) sons- Isaac 6 years,
Rueben 6 years and Micah 2 years. Rueben was adopted in Malawi where Dr. Peter and
his wife were working at the time.
Catriona is a clinical pharmacologist, a medical academic as well as an acute physician
currently carrying out research at Infectious Diseases Institute Mulago. The couple have
previously worked in Malawi where Catriona was carrying out some research on tuberculosis while Dr. Peter was teaching at
a medical school. They stayed in Malawi for 4 years. Dr. Peter and Catriona also lived in
Gambia for 3 months working in a mission hospital. They first came to Uganda in April
2014,when Catriona had some to do over here and to also partly see how well they would fit
in as a family. They have settled in quite well, Peter and the boys enjoy going to the local
markets, they enjoy the local foods such as ground stew and posho.
Dr. Peter got to know about the institute and the volunteering through a friend at CMF. He
says he find the students quite an interesting group. He says as long as there is a need at
the institute, he will always be happy to keep volunteering.
L-R Isaac, Rueben and Micah
Pictorial
Staff singing carols at the Christmas Party
The Christmas Cake
Barbeque

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ICMDA NIHSJ Newsletter Volume 1 Issue 3 Dec 2015
Pictorial
COs in Butabiika Hospital
Nurses at St Josephs Hospital Kitgum
Nurses at St Josephs
Guild Body 2015-2016
Rev Paul Waswa at Students Christmas Party
CO student in Mengo Ward
Students singing at their Christmas Party
End of Year group Photo

ICMDA NIHSJ Newsletter Volume 1 Issue 2 Dec 2015
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ICMDA National Institute of Health Sciences, Jonglei
Address: P.O BOX 14122 Mengo, Kampala
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Mobile: +256 787 906 687
+ 256 703 023 699
Email: director.icmdanihsj@gmail.com
anilcherian@gmail.com
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