Tender Mercies

Yesterday, while walking through the wards and being frustrated (angry) that students, due to graduate in May, do not know how to take vital signs nor care to know. I was having some murmurings with GOD. I received a phone call from my Dutch friend Geesja, who is a midwife in the Netherlands and helps out the local moms with prenatal and birth if they so request.  She called and said she needed my help.  We have a Kenyan mom in the bible study who is 33 weeks and her water broke without labor starting.  She was put in a hospital about 7 miles from here and "observed".  (loose term here "observed") She did well until 2 nights ago when little movement and heart tones decreasing.  Gessja and I went about 1pm.  Induction had been started on Maggie to get the baby out soon.  In America they just take you to surgery for c Section.  Not here.  If they don't think the baby has a chance, they just let you labor and deliver and then say it is Gods will.  AGH!  Well Gessja has the Irish Mission Board here reviewing their mission project so I stayed,  she was coming back in 4 hours.  Maggie's contractions were mild. With repositioning we got heart tones back to 140-160 and baby was doing ok with the contractions, so Geesja left.  Midwife came in 1X to check heart tones and left. AGH!   I kept our equipment, that we brought, hidden. A midwife or nurse does not want to feel threatened or she becomes unreasonable and takes it out on the patient. Stories I could tell... Anyway,  labor started to get real intense about 4.  I had been reading (I went and got a book on problem births before Geesja picked me up) that baby would most likely need some help breathing as she was so young.  OK Jesus what are we going to do here?  I looked over there supplies and they have. A great new resuscitation cart from the states just like the one I used in Sleepy Eye. They didn't have it hooked up, nor know how, nor have an adapter for America plug to Uganda plug, nor have electricity when she did deliver...TIA  This is another example of NGO's giving stuff and not thinking through what does the hospital really really need.  Maybe a ambu bag for a baby, maybe a thermometer with a supply of batterys maybe a blood pressure cuff?  UGH NGOS!!! 
At 4:20pm Maggie  pushed forth a new life and the midwife handed me the baby... I got out the equipment before this happened and was wishing I had paid better attention in those boring premmie baby classes about what to do.  Vitals signs, Stimulation Suction CPR if needed and that is all I could do so Jesus you better help out here big time!    Baby was a little floppy but with some vigorous rubbing she pinked up and was moving well. Mom was doing well with the help of another friend of ours, Medline. She fetched the supplies for midwife, so she wouldn't start yelling. Midwives here generally are a volatile bunch.   I know the picture is graphic for America but just wanted to share what Jesus was doing as I looked on...  I present a happy beginning to prayers!  Weight 2.15kilo =4# 6oz baby girl

SEEING JESUS

The dilemma living here and being white is you are looked upon as rich.  And we are when it is measured financially.  So being white and being rich we are asked for money.  When I am on the street and beggars come I keep g-nuts in my purse and share.  Or, if the person has leprosy and no fingers and legs are deformed and he or she are in the market begging, I try to find a street vendor and get them a meal.  When they ask for sende (Shillings) I say no, but offer a food item instead.  Why? For me this is how I see to help without hurting a person’s dignity and my vulnerability.  Food I will give if you are hungry but money I am not sure what it goes for.  So I guess, it is a control issue, in many ways.  

Well,  meet Christine and her family.  She came to me in October of last year having nothing in her home to feed her children because she could not get work.  Her husband is dead and she digs gardens for people or does laundry or whatever they need to get some $ to get by She had burnt her hand on the palm and couldn’t hold a hoe.  I gave her some money ($2.40) to buy some food.         Next she came to me about a month later, early in the morning, crying. Asking for some help to pay for gas.  Her daughter who was 16 was in the hospital and had died last night and she needed $ for gas to transport her body to the home burial ground.  I told her I would meet them at the gas station when they got to town, the hospital she died at was the one outside of town. She died of liver cirrhosis.  (Probably from hepatitis or shistosamiasis.) In 2 hours she came back to tell me, 2 ladies at the hospital, had paid for the transport and were helping her with the food for the funeral.                 Always, she asks God to bless me for being kind to her. She said she came at Christmas but we were away and she had only cassava and lemons so she made porridge for their Christmas meal.  She came again last week with her youngest son who is 6, Patrick. He was not in the free school offered by government because she had no money for a uniform and small processing fees for school. $8 covered that.  Her oldest son James, 14, is in boarding school and she has paid $32. Of the $144 needed to send her son to this cheap boarding school.   Primary school is free secondary cost money for uniform, fee’s and supplies.                     Today she brought both sons here and I had some small work for them to do.  The young boys picked rocks out of the grass and made a heap by a water tank in the hot sun.  Christine, the mom scrubbed on hands and knees my house as I swept in front of here.  We are having tea here, which is what breakfast at 11 everyday is called.  I explained that the work they all did today would pay back the loan of $8 for school fees.  She was disappointed.  You are probably now asking why I didn’t just give her some money since I am “rich”? The woman is very willing to work as is her oldest son.  To maintain that sense of fulfillment is what I strive for. I am trying to not become the ATM. There is an Independent Baptist mission here called Grace and Peace that allowed some of the boys at the Nursing school to work their during Christmas break to pay down some of their school fees.  So when James has a break from school, he met Pastor Wright and he will go work there too. I need some feedback on this.  Please comment but do so after you read When Helping Hurts.  Now for the other story

A  17 year lad was riding a lorry into town when he fell off and landed on his head in June. This picture shows you a lorry full of wood, usually from the villages it is full of grain or produce stacked just as high and then the people from the village ride on top. You can see you would be quite high up.  This young man fell in June 2012. 

  His mother Janette with her youngest son Joel have been doing his daily care.  He requires a feeding tube and a foley (tube in bladder).  Mom needs to buy the millet and grind it and put through the feeding tube every day.  The bleeding in his brain has left him helpless.  But he did not die so he has been existing in the hospital and waiting to see if the bleeding recedes what ability’s will come back or if pneumonia will take his life.  Since I am in the wards I stop and pray with Denis that he would have a peaceful death.  The lorry driver has been giving mom some money every month for the millet but has started to refuse since Denis condition is not changing.  Mom has no recourse and since she has been in the hospital caring for Denis, her 3 goats are gone and no one in the village she lives in knows where they are.  Her cassava that she gardens as a cash crop was all stolen.  Thieves are very common here and police don’t do much about it.  If the village people catch a thief they beat them, some times to death, because of no justice in the justice system. She came to me on Saturday also and knelt down at my feet when I came out to greet her and wanted to talk to me.  She refused to get up. So, I refused to talk to her until she sat in the chair next to me.  She was asking me for 2000 (80cents) shillings to buy millet for Denis. She talked about the path of hope she still had.  Denis now has a fever and looks like pneumonia and has been getting antibiotics.  I patiently explained that Denis was not going to improve any further then lying in the bed and she would continue to care for him.  I suggested that we talk to the Dr. and have Denis moved home so she could again have her other sons in the house and be able to dig and feed herself and children again. We talked about Denis faith and his future being with Jesus. 

Denis being given physical therapy

 She was going to think about taking him from the hospital. I could see she still believed that he would fully recover.  (I asked about Denis father, she was rather disgusted, and said he is a drunkard and does not want to take any responsibility) The other children’s father is a thief and doesn’t work.  She did say that she has a hut with some land to dig. This is more than a lot of women have because when they marry they move to the husband’s village and share in his family.  If he dies the woman is put out often so that the land can be divided between other relatives.  It is sadddd, and a reality! So Monday, I will go to the hospital find Dr. Amando and have a conversation… Please pray.  So, even in Africa one sick child, is given the resources and the others are denied. The other boys are not in school because of $ too.  

     Pray, because is my view the right one? I don’t know, I just know that no one has told her that Denis will not fully recover.  These are 2 of the people who ask for help.  I try very hard to listen to God about what help is.  I may write about 2 people who asked for help and how and what help looked like. Just thought you might want to know what my biggest challenge is. How to minister to those in need.  DO I LOOK LIKE JESUS ONLY WHEN I GIVE $?          AM I FOLLOWING YOUR VOICE JESUS?

 Phillip Yancy wrote a book about Grace and in it is a chapter about the language of ungratefulness expressed by the poor.  The words remind me of how poor I am before Jesus and how extravagant He is with His possessions to me AND HOW UNGRATEFUL I CAN BE.    This is my Africa today.  Happy snow and cold, think of me and send some.  I did get a fan and it is wonderful…Marc

Happy34th Birthday to my favorite first born FEB 4

Sorry it is late.
You sent me video of your Christmas dinner
Thought I would send you pics of what we COULD have for dinner but won't.
Fresh goat with the hoofs still on

A local street vendor with his panga cutting the meat. Like his straw shop he works out of?

After he loads the screen up and stokes the oil drum fire, they put a piece of cardboard over the top to keep the heat in and give the meat a smoky flavor.  I remember in my American life being picky about things I ate for carcinogins. Don't have to worry here. There are bigger things that will kill you then carcinogens...
Oh yea this is organic goat. Not certified, but it only eats the town trash so how much more organic is there.

These are some of the students in front of our Maternal Child Health Clinic that just got updated (painted)
It took 1 week. Why such a short time?  Why the Uganda colors ribbon in the back ground?
Museveni came to town with all his troops. It was Uganda Peoples Defense Force Day. They marched around the parade grounds and Museveni gave a speech.  It was blazing hot and didn't start on time (nothing new) so we went to the parade grounds but left after an hour of massive people, trying to see, like we all were, and packed together in the sun we had enough of making history.  Did I mention it is hot here?  Anyway, with Museveni here, and all his troops, he put some of them to work.  They painted this ward unit with toxic paint so all the pregnant moms could have some fumes to inhale while waiting to see the midwives and babes could inhale as they waited for their vaccines. Then the Minister of Health came and cut the ribbon on the new updated clinic.  "A grand time was had by ALL".  I missed this event.
 He also had troops fix pot holes on the main street.  So a few companies of troops with not enough pick axes and shovels dug out and filled in all the potholes on our main road. About 2 kilometers in length, in the hot sun, with there hot uniform on.  We have smooth roads again at last...... till it rains...  LOVE FROM UGANDA

A week away

On the road, in a bus, going to the mountains, and coming home.  There is a coffee co-op that the Ag Think Tank went to and it is south west of here in the mountains by Queen Elizabeth Park.  Since all roads (drivable anyway) lead to Kampala, first, you go there to head in the direction you really want to go and mine was W. These are the lizards that await you.  Here in Arua ours have red face and neck with black on hands and feet. Harmless bug eaters.

Next is a picture of the main staple of the central area Matooke up here it is cassava. In this region they cook the matooke and serve with beans it is rather tasteless but is eaten by most not from the N. 

 The picture here is of the little hut the vilagers live in, sticks with mud between and grass thatch for a roof. The area around the house is swept clean every day and is free of grass for a  perimeter. A bundle of matooke weighs about 25# and you will see 3 bundles on a bike being pushed up the large hills in the mountains to get to town and sell for $4. Amazing to me as town is a long way to push a bike.

Next up is a view of the crater lake that this lodge sits on top of.  There are no houses around the whole crater on the inside, but the land on the back side is broken up into small plots that are farmed. I didn’t see any huts though which is unusual as most villagers stay close to the garden area’s. 

Last photo shows the lodge and cabins they are the pointed peaks on the top of the ridge of the lake on L.  Wonderful view and beautiful place but a hard climb up the steps to get there.  While hiking around the area I went down to the crater lake and took a swim.  A colubus monkey was taking a drink and I scared it.  It started at me for a bit and then took off for the trees. I was grateful.  Had it been a baboon, they are known to pursue women and take food away from them. I had no food

So that was my time away with another volunteer who lives in this area of Fort Portal See the statue?

Then it is back on the bus and the scenery from there this was the road back to Arua where the land flattens out and becomes the savannah again. 

 

The flat land after crossing the Nile into the W Nile. When the war was going on the bridge was the only way of connecting W Nile to the rest of Uganda.  A lot of people lost there lives on either side of that bridge as that is where both sides lined up to shot at each other.  Some of the expat locals remember the rides....

SIGN: Bridge ahead OR No passing, never sure. Bus is usually biggest on road so everyone else gets out of the way except the double lorry's then you get out of their way.

When there is a large large group of huts it usually means these were resettlement camps during the war.  This is a picture of what I would do the mission moment at church.  This is what people lived in to the tune of 3000 displaced people and a couple pit latrines and a bore hole or the river is close.  Most displaced people were kept in the hut area and food brought in.  Since boredom was a problem the corn subsidies were used to make liquor and a "Good time was had by all" for a few years. This is a large problem with  resettlement camps . 

 One of the many towns on the road notice the woman with babe on back and geri can in her hand going to fetch water and man with nothing on back and nothing in hand...

 Some more men..... Same scenario
Uganda National Road Association is what the UNRA means

 Fresh sugar cane for sale.  In Asia it was rolled and the juice sold. Here it is cut and sold and families cut it smaller and everyone gets a piece to chew on. It is extremely  fibrous.

 I tried to get a better picture of the elephant but wasn’t quick enough.  He was hanging out under a tree in Pakwach near the river.  You might see the difference in tree trunks.  The fat one is the one the elephant is under.  Because they hang out so close to the road and they are dark, it is a reason a bus hits them.  the one that got killed by the KK bus (and 7 people were killed when it rolled with lots of injuries)

KK had to pay the park for the elephant. An elephant in Uganda costs 70 million shilling. Don't know how much a person cost....

This is part of the railroad tracks that connected the country before Amin.  Now it lies in disrepair and it would be so much nicer to travel by this route. Since the discovery of oil this may be a way of transporting it because the roads are so bad for tankers. Mud in wet season and doomed roads with huge holes in dry season. Rumor has it they will get paved roads to move the oil... Stay tuned

Good to know you can get a decent place to stay in Nebbi.  Just 3 hours from home now

 The sign post are like going through N Dakota and telling how far to Billings MT.  It just makes the road seem that much longer....

 This little guy comes when the bus pauses in a town and begs for your empty water bottles.  He then sells them for 4 cents to the gas station who fill them and keep for boda boda drivers who run out of gas on the road. Cute KID see the next picture...

Same little guy but look at the size of his shoes.  Reminds me of when we use to buy basketball shoes for Jake and would always get them a little big. The only time they truely fit him was when it was summer and baseball season... Also notice the pile of bricks.  Everything in Uganda is under construction so every house or shop has a pile of bricks and sometimes a pile of cement...

 Don't see a woman or child on this boda do you?

Look what made it all the way to Uganda... This guy was meeting his wife and four children on the bus    

   LOVE FROM UGANDA