Week 4 Gulu Outreach

Me with some of the village children in Zambia (a small village) 

Lauren and Soloman squatting

Ronald 

All of the girls at Murchiason Rapids

Macomma Aquaway Omexa (May God Bless You)

Today marks the fourth week that our team has been in Uganda. Its crazy to think about all that has transpired between when I left U.S. soil and now! This journey has been filled with joys and sorrows, but through everything God has been so good. This week our team was blessed with the opportunity to visit Gulu (a city in Northern Uganda.) While we were there, we did outreach clinics for the children in the small rural villages where nationals normally have no access to quality care. Unfortunately there is only one small rehabilitation for children in Gulu and most locals do not know about it. Children in Gulu (and the surrounding villages) are sometimes hidden away or locked up in cages because disability is viewed as a curse and families are shamed to be seen with these children.

            Two employees at the center, Sam and Steven, make the trek to Gulu once a month. After experiencing Gulu, I’m not sure how they do it. Gulu is a grueling 8 hour drive from Mukono. What makes the drive grueling are the horrible road conditions and the traffic. Most roads are not paved, and if they are paved they are full of potholes and speed bumps. After arriving in Gulu (with sore butts and headaches), the trek to each small village was about 2 hours (one way). We spent Wednesday and Thursday in the hot sun ushering disabled children into lines to be seen by the physiotherapist. I had a bad attitude about it the first day because I felt like nothing that I was doing was really making a difference, but the Lord opened my eyes on Thursday in a small village called Otwal.

            After patients had waited in the hot sun for several hours, we could tell that they were tired and uncomfortable. Some of our team members decided to start singing Sunday School songs to try to entertain and minister to the people. The people loved it! The nurse translated the song lyrics and the people began to sing along and follow our hand motions. The nurse, Susan, told me later that one sick pregnant women had told her that watching us has helped her to forget her pain for a few hours. The trip was definitely stretching (especially with ice cold showers in a sketchy hotel and being woken up to Muslim chants at 6AM), but God showed us His sovereignty through it all. I never realized how unfair the playing field is for quality healthcare. I thank God for people like Sam and Stephen that go to those in remote areas to offer services that would not otherwise be available.

            We headed back to ACHERU on Friday. As a tourist adventure, our group went to Murchiason National Park. After four hours of driving around lost, we finally made it to the top of the waterfall exhausted. Unfortunately, we only saw rapids because we were too far up stream, but even the view of the white water was breathtaking.. Time constraints forced us to continue heading to Mukono. Luckily, the park was filled with wildlife including antelopes, water buffalos, warthogs, and giraffes. Unluckily, the park was also full of  man-eating flies…ok slight exaggeration… the flies did deliver some spiteful bites, but no fatalities occurred. By the end of the trip Ethan was offering a 5000 shilling bounty to anyone who killed a fly.

Okello

Who knew that one three year old could invoke so much mischief? Once after Lauren and I spent a half an hour cleaning crayon off of a white wall, Okello appeared 5 minutes later with a red crayon of destruction. After he marked up the wall happily, I wanted to strangle him. The physiotherapist has learned how to say “I will beat you” in Okello’s native language because of how much trouble he causes.  The problem is that you can’t be upset because he has a smile that melts any jagged heart and a laugh so joyful its impossible not to smile. There is a layer of sweetness and warmth under the ornery façade of Okello.

            Okello is a victim of Osteomyelis like many patients here. Although I’m unsure of all the medical specifics, Osteomyelis basically describes a condition where the bones rot inside of the child. This is caused by a bone infection brought on by malnutrition and a host of other factors. Okellos arm rotted on the inside and therefore his arm is deformed.  He is awaiting surgery at Corsu in Kampala. He will be unable to be operated on until October. Please continue to pray for him and his family.

Heres another good word from the Live Dead Journal. 

"In the mid-1800s, a ship took two missionaries to the New Hebrides, present-day Vanuatu. The missionaries went ashore and while the crew of the boat watched, the missionaries were captured by cannibals and eaten. Twelve years later in England, Patton felt the call of God to take the gospel to the New Hebrides. An elderly gentleman in the church--I believe his name was Dixon--rebuked him: 'You can't go to the New Hebrides. You'll be eaten by cannibals!'  

Patton replied: 'Mr. Dixon, your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms. What does it matter then if you are eaten by worms and I by cannibals? For in the day of resurrection, mine will be much more glorious." Live Dead Journal, Dick Brogden, pg. 83 

Week 3 ACHERU

Rehab Room Before

After we painted 

The Source of the Nile

 Debbie and I After Swimming in the Nile 

This was our last full week at ACHERU (Afaayo Children’s Health Education and Rehabilitation Unit). Next week we will be in Gulu (Northern Uganda), then we will be back at ACHERU for less than a week, the last week and a half we will be in the bush teaching vacation Bible school. There were many memorable moments this week including Canada day (We have one Canadian on our team), the fourth of July, and deep spiritual moments with the people who live and work here.  On Monday we celebrated Canada day by waking up Rory (our only Canadian) by singing Canada’s national anthem and making flags out of construction paper. We insisted on carrying Rory around for most of the day on our shoulders (like the queen) and gave Canada stickers to the staff.

Then Thursday was the fourth of July. Aaron and I made burgers and pasta salad for the rest of the team (the most American meal we had the food for) for dinner. We taught the men that live here how to play baseball with a bat carved out of a tree branch and a ball of duck tape. It was a huge hit! We played for almost two hours and by the end, the strong Ugandan men were hitting the ball over the house and out the road. Our team lost by 1 run L We finished the night with a big bang literally. We did not have access to fireworks and so we improvised by filling plastic bottles with vinegar and baking soda and throwing them hard into the house to make them explode. We scared Johnson (the physiotherapist) and Charles (the clinician) so much that they came running up to our house (they live down the road) to make sure we weren’t being attacked.

The more that I’ve been here, the more God has opened my eyes to the spiritual need here and in other parts of Africa. Many people here claim to be “born again,” but have no idea how to put their faith into practice or what being a Christian really means. Rory and I gave a sermon last Sunday on the importance of our life changing after we meet Christ. A Ugandan man came to us with tears in his eyes and confessed that although he was a Christian, he had struggled for years and years with a pornography addiction. We prayed for him and encouraged him to keep seeking the Lord in all that he does and to get good accountability from others.

Our team has collectively been reading the Live Dead Journal during our time here. It had a quote that really struck my heart and I pray that it changes the way that you think about missions.

“If every Christian is already considered a missionary, then all can stay put where they are, and nobody needs to get up and go anywhere to preach the gospel…But if our only concern is to witness where we are, how will people in unevangelized areas ever hear the gospel? The present uneven distribution of Christians and opportunities to hear the gospel of Christ will continue on unchanged.” C. Gordon Olson

Harriet’s Story

Harriet is a seven year old girl who lives at ACHERU. When she first arrived at the center she could not stand up straight because she had tuberculosis of the spine. Right now Harriet runs, jumps and plays like a normal child. After much rehab and treatment Harriet’s back is corrected and she will live a normal life. Unfortunately no one in her family wants her. She came to ACHERU with her grandmother. Her grandmother ran away and left Harriet here. The center tries contacting members of her family, but nobody is willing to come and bring Harriet home. And so she remains at the center alone with an aching heart. 

Continue to Pray for girls like Harriet and the other children at the center