Adventures in Uganda, Part 12...Kampala and Good Bye

November 3, 2007
Call to prayer in the morning
Kampala


"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28

Directly underneath the famous Johns Hopkins dome, in the middle of the old main building of the hospital, stands a statue of Jesus with his arms open wide and the verse I listed above inscribed at his feet. I have thought a lot about that statue and this verse during my time here. I wish that I could show these people what that verse means through my love for them and how much I desire to love and care for them. Can they possibly see the reason for my love is Jesus? Do I look different to them because of Him or because I am white and from the west? Can they see You in me? I have struggled with these questions the entire time I have been here.

Adventures in Uganda, Part 11...More With Less

Coming soon

Adventures in Uganda, Part 10...Fall Fesitval

October 31, 2007

Coming soon

Adventures in Uganda, Part 9...ARV Clinic

coming soon

Adventures in Uganda, Part 8...Webele Kwejuna

Comming soon

Adventures in Uganda, Part 7...Prayer, HIV and Dr Jonah Kule

Thursday, November 1, 2007
Prayer, HIV and Dr Jonah Kule

The Kwejuna Project

HIV is definitely present here in Nyahuka, Uganda. Pamela Brown-Peterside is one of the most amazing individuals I have met since my arrival in Uganda.

Comming soon

Adventures in Uganda Part 6...The Children

Wednesday, October 31, 2007
“Suffer ye the little children”

But Jesus called for them, saying, "Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Luke 18:16

Children are everywhere here. They play naked in the mud by the road. They chase goats on the hill side. They fight with their siblings over a ball. They stare out their school room window as I walk by. They carry heavy loads of wood or food or supplies. They knock on my door looking for my roommates. They play in the kitube outside my front door. And they greet me every morning in the pediatric ward.

Uganda is full of beautiful things, but I think perhaps its greatest beauty lies in its children. Thus, it is fortunate for me that I get to spend a good portion of my clinical time here treating pediatric patients. Each and every one of the children we see in the pediatric ward has a unique story, but there are two which have captured my heart and that I would like to highlight.
Zawadi Kabugho
Kabugho is a six month old little girl who came to ARV (Anti-retroviral) clinic the first Wednesday after I arrived here. She was severely malnourished and anemic, so Dr Jennifer admitted her to the paediatric ward not expecting her to make it through the night. To all of our surprise and delight she was still with us the next day. You see, Kabugho’s mother died of TB and AIDS shortly after her birth and her grandmother has been caring for her as best as she can without any assistance from outside. Being a good grandmother, she had brought the child to the clinic to get her HIV mdications. Praise the Lord that she did, as Kabugho could not have survived much longer without out help. She weighed less than 8 pounds at 6 months and had a hemoglobin of 3.2. After two transfusions, gifts of milk and formula, TB and malaria medications, and two weeks in our ward, she has perked up, her eyes have become bright and she is eating well. I am not sure just how she will do once returning home, but with her grandmother’s love and care there is hope. She is truly a living example of the widow in Luke 21:1-4 who gave everything. Lord, please make me more like her.

Masika
Masika has been here since before I got here and now, on my last day, is headed home. I remember the first time I saw her. She was being placed into the woven basket by her mother for the morning weigh in. Her skin was patchy and pealing with large areas of pure white in stark contrast to the rest of her dark skin. Her hair was sparse and what little she possessed had an almost reddish hue instead of the usual black. Not to mention she was frighteningly thin, weighing only 6.4 kg (14lb). All of these I have learned are signs of severe malnourishment. As the weeks have progressed, I have seen her skin heal, some hair begin to grow and she has gained almost 2 kilos. For about a week now it has been a goal/challenge to all of us to get her to smile. We have made faces at her, danced in front of her, tickled her, given her toys and candy, and today for one brief second, I think I almost saw the corners of her mouth turn upward as she looked at her mother. We work on small miracles around here, so I am considering that a smile.

There are so many other children here I would love to tell you about, like our little 1.8kg infant with a cleft palate and severely disfigured feet, or little Bakechura and little Sharoni who are being treated for Kwashiorkor malnutrition, or Dina in bed 7 who was born without a completed scalp and we are slowly treating as it grows together, or Michael Ngonzi in bed 18 who has TB and is HIV+ and we are waiting to get his ARV’s so we can send him home, or sweet Friday Lezunga who suffers from seizures/convulsions, or Chance or Creation or Jovia or the twins we just sent home.

I think these kids are stealing my heart…and I don’t want it back.
With much love,
Rachel

Adventures in Uganda Part 5...Wonderful Weekend

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Wonderful Weekend

Sometimes the Lord blesses us beyond measure. This weekend, He did just that.

Would you believe me if I told you that in the course of 24 hours I went swimming with my clothes on, slid down a mountain on my rear end, traveled with the Ugandan military, fellowshipped with people from Seattle, was serenaded by children, and learned to calypso? If you had been there, you would have called it a wonderful weekend, too.

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. Romans 1:18-20

Ngite Falls
If you could see this place you would know for sure that this is true. The Lord is definitely revealing himself here. The mountains sing of His majesty. The soil here is so rich that they really don’t have a growing season. You just plant whenever you want and it grows! That’s good enough if you want to plant a garden, but makes for an interesting mountain climb.

Saturday, after finishing the rest of the missionary health check ups, a group of us took off for Ngite Falls. I love hiking, but I have never been on a hike quite like this. It wasn’t that the climb was almost straight up, or that it drizzled on us as we climbed, or that there was no path to follow that made this hike challenging. It was the rich soil, thick, black and completely loose which provided the new difficulty. Just like a thick coat of fresh powder snow on a ski slope, the rich dark soil was soft beneath my feet and kept giving way as I tried to get a good foothold. Even the branches and plants springing from the earth were not good climbing aids as they easily gave way as you gripped them for support. So we scampered up digging our toes and fingers into each step and becoming more and more like the earth beneath, black.

Ahh, but for the reward at the end of the climb! We emerged through vines and branches to discover a glorious waterfall and pool beneath. The water was freezing, but that did not stop any of us from diving in and enjoying the most exhilarating shower I have had since arriving in Uganda. (No one bothered to tell me I needed to wear a swim suit, so in I went with my clothes on…no way was I going to miss out on this!!!) Getting back down the mountain proved to be even more of a challenge than climbing up. The same loose, rich soil which made it hard to get a solid foothold made it even more difficult to walk down. So we did not walk…we slid…on our rear ends! During one resting point in the journey down, I grabbed a branch so I could stand up and look around only to have the branch give way and tumble straight down the mountain. Luckily, I did not go far and stuck to ground the rest of the way. I only thought I was dirty when I arrived at the falls, now the wet clothes mixed with the dirt equaled mud. What a sight…six adults and five children completely covered in mud! I loved it. Luke Myhre led us to a smaller pool of water near the bottom of the mountain and in we all went once again…this time to clean off. Of course it did not hurt that there was a ledge for jumping off straight into the pool. Bombs away!
Oh the Lord has definitely not forsaken this land or its people. He has just hidden its treasures so that those who dare to search for them are more in awe of Him than was previously thought imaginable. Now, if only the heart of the people were as rich for planting as the soil around them.

To Bundibugyo
Now Scott Will and I had packed for the weekend in Bundibugyo as a friend of his, Susan, was to be in town for a few days. So we changed clothes at the bottom of the mountain, thankful Scott had remembered to bring a towel, Dr Jennifer dropped us off at the road and we set off for the long walk into Bundi. We had not gone far, when a military truck pulled up along side us and asked if we wanted a ride. Of course we did, but was it safe to ride with them? Scott started to climb into the back, but they motioned us to ride in the cab. To make a long story short, it turns out we rode all the way to Bundibugyo in the back seat with the commander of the local military regimen with a large automatic weapon straddled between my feet. I can’t say I wasn’t a little nervous or intimidated, but they were terribly friendly and drove us straight to the hotel where we were to meet Susan. How’s that for service? Scott called me his good luck charm because, as of yet, we have never had to walk very far to get anywhere. I just think the Lord knows how much I like adventure and the journey to and from places around here have been anything but dull!

Scott and Susan in the market place in Bundibugyo

World Vision
We met up with Scott’s friend Susan at Hotel Vanilla. She was in Uganda with a group from her church in Seattle and World Vision. Apparently people from her church sponsor over 200 children here in Kisitu, Uganda through World Vision, and they had come to meet some of them and bring gifts. That would explain why she and seven others were here in such a remote area of the world and not far from our small town. Scott and I were able to book two hotel rooms for the night and spent the evening with Susan and getting to know the people from her church.

The next day was Sunday, and the team from Seattle invited us to go to a special church service in Kisitu put on by the local church in their honour. I am so glad we stayed. What commenced from that day was likely one of the biggest highlights from my time here in Uganda. The children sang and danced. The adults sang and danced. Everyone played various instruments and together we all heartily worshiped the Lord. I am sure He was delighted by the love and joy of that service. After an inspiring sermon by Bob, the World Vision representative with the Seattle group, and before stuffing our faces on some delicious food, the children taught me to calypso. I have never had so much fun or delighted in learning to dance as much as I did that day. It is true, rhythm and music is in the soul of Africans and they share it well. After all was said and done, individuals from World Vision went out of their way to get Scott and I back to Bundibugyo to catch a boda back to Nyahuka. What a beautiful team of believers they have working there in Uganda to serve those most in need.

Since returning home, I have become a sponsor of a young Ugandan girl, Betty, through World Vision. (I actually believe her to be the girl in the pink dress in the picture above. I was so impressed by her facial expressions as she sang and danced that I took her picture alone. I am amazed to have found her on their web site and blessed to be her sponsor.) Based on what I saw and the heart of those involved, I believe it to be a well run organization. If you are interested in sponsoring a child, please visit their web site at http://www.worldvision.org/.

“The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ “
Matthew 25:40