Uganda: Butabika Hospital, Kampala
November 2011
This first workshop had 25 participants and one radiologist, with guest talks generously given by four local radiologists. ISRRT was represented by Cynthia and by the organisation’s Regional Director for Africa, Jenny Motto from the University of Johannesburg.
Cynthia added a session for the participants to talk to each other about their work and their lives, which I found fascinating.
It was quite a moment when one of the radiographers told the group that he did not have a viewbox. I confirmed this with him afterwards and he told me how difficult it was to write a report with one hand while holding the film up to the sun with the other.
Kampala 2011
We were keen to carry on the small-group teaching that we had used in Fiji, but the numbers made this impractical. So we had a quiz using PowerPoint slides, followed by everybody gathering around a viewbox to go through the cases.
Kampala 2011
As in Fiji, I was very impressed by Ugandan participants’ eagerness to learn and their professional attitudes even as they work under very difficult conditions.
Zambia: Cancer Diseases Hospital, Lusaka
June 2013
In Lusaka we had about 50 participants. Jenny Motto was the senior radiographer, and Dr Rodney Strahan from Monash in Melbourne gave some of the talks using his extensive Zambian experience.
Lusaka 2013. Rodney Strahan
There were some challenges during this workshop. The original venue was double-booked and the hospital lecture room had issues with light control and acoustics. And although we had film-reading sessions they were in another building, and the number of participants meant that we had to split the group in two for this activity. Also I discovered early on that I did not have all the lectures that I needed! So overall it was a difficult time, but I hope there was some benefit.
And I am extremely grateful to participants for their honest feedback!
Lusaka 2013. Jenny Motto
In 2013 I learnt that some of the sound tracks on the CD were not working properly.
So I produced a second edition, which now carried the logo of ISRRT.
Rwanda: Nobleza Hotel, Kigali
June 2015
Canstock photos, by megila
Between the Zambian and Rwandan workshops I edited or re-wrote the talks, adding many diagrams to illustrate underlying principles of anatomy and pathology.
This workshop benefited from the work done by the local organising committee, some of whom had attended the earlier workshops. We had a room which comfortably accommodated everybody and enabled people to write notes, but could be blacked out so that the slides on screen could be seen easily. And everybody could hear, thanks to an excellent sound system. A large area just outside the lecture room gave space for meals and even a small trade display!
Cynthia Cowling and Maria Law, the new Director of Education for ISRRT, were involved this time along with Boniface Yao, the Regional Director for Africa. As in Kampala, local radiologists gave some great talks which were well received.
The large audience prevented any film-reading in small groups, but we had a ‘Case of the Day’ which was reviewed at the end of each day.
75 participants from 7 countries. Kigali 2015
Here again it was humbling for me to see everybody’s eagerness to learn, and the feelings of the organisers were made very clear with a banner which was displayed on the street before the workshop and then inside:
