We started in rented premises with a Clinician, a tin of Paracetamol, using a torch as our otoscope Back in church the following Sunday I recounted what I had witnessed and started drumming up action to start St. Stephen’s Hospital. I would have wanted to start small with a clinic or health centre, but they insisted that Hospital was their goal. St. Stephen’s Hospital began in a rented house near the church. Every Sunday I would stand in front of the congregation and encourage their generous contribution to the cause. They gave as much as they could but not enough to prevent the project sliding into debt. The rent was in arrears, staff salaries were a big problem and medicines were always in short supply.
One evening Mr. Suubi Birungi and I visited Namasole BagalaAyaze at her home and explained to her what we were trying to do and asked her if she could give us some land on which to build the hospital. She agreed and the following day took us and showed us the land which she had donated and on which the hospital now stands.