The staff and services at the old clinic site
The clinic started with one staff member, Joyce Bbosa, a midwife with many years of experience and fairly described as 'senior in age'. She was living in the small house behind the clinic. The staff faced challenges of no electricity supply, danger of break-ins, leaking windows and roof and unreliable water supplies. The committee asked friends and organisations they knew to consider Hope Clinic for help. Kampala City Council provided a vaccine fridge and the initial child vaccination programme provided by St Francis hospital could become our service. The committee helped with basic but necessary improvements - shutters, mosquito screens, partitions and ceilings, metal doors, a washing area for pregnant women and a latrine.

Reception, waiting room & dispensary	Hope Clinic - refurbished	Vaccine fridge and all our instruments

Joyce was helped in the work through Clinical Officer Sarah, the receptionist Mabel and several midwives and nurses who wanted their first experience after finishing their training. Later, as patient numbers increased the clinic's supporters helped with more equipment, a maternity bed (replacing a table with a towel on it) and eventually a microscope. We employed Doreen as our laboratory specialist and after Sarah left to start her own clinic, Bakari joined us during his training to become a Clinical Officer. From the earliest days, Jackie has been the cleaner, keeping the dust at bay and preparing the treatment rooms for the medics. Our administrator, Harriet Bangi, kept the whole clinic functioning and helped develop relations with Kampala City Council and the Makindye Division.

The patient numbers grew, and with their requests, so did the services. Starting with deliveries and fever management, we added counselling for HIV and treatment to prevent mother to child transmission (PMTCT). We began our model of 'hosted referrals' where we attract providers to do their work at the clinic - after the vaccination sessions, AIDS Information Centre came once a week to counsel and test, Straight Talk held youth discussions and the Ministry of Health provided mosquito nets to distribute to pregnant women. Joyce retired to the village and her house became a maternity ward with delivery room and patients numbered 300 a month in 2004.