UPDATES AND REQUESTS

The world is truly a small place! Last week I had the pleasure of working with and getting to know a group of people from Bedford, VA! One couple, whom I had never met, lives just down the road from my home - how strange that I would meet them on the other side of the world here in Jinja! I was able to go out to one of the villages with them and help run a medical clinic for a day and spend a couple of evenings at their guest house. A couple of the younger girls spent a day with me visiting Amani and the local hospitals. They brought me a video camera so I can capture more of my life here to share with you when I come home.


There has been some money donated to help the people I work with. After a lot of thought and prayer I think that we should dig a borehole, which is a deep well where people can get clean water right from the tap. The villages where I work with Suubi have no source of fresh drinking water. Because of this, the people are sickly and have to travel distances to buy water. Most of them cannot afford it and have no transportation other than walking so they end up drinking water that we would not consider using to mop our kitchen floors with. When I was painting in Danita I had to bring “jerry-cans” of water just to wash out the paint brushes. Please pray that the rest of the money can be raised and that all the details will come together so that the bore hole can be finished before I leave. The estimate that I have been given is about $3,500 American dollars; I have $1,000 towards the project so am looking to raise an additional $2,500. I am proceeding with arrangements to begin work on this end in faith that the money will be raised as the process to do anything here is soooooo slow! Any project here takes forever – we have a saying here, “TIA”; this is Africa!


Please be in prayer for a little girl who has hydrocephalus, a condition where your head is about 3 times its normal size. This little girl is only 1 and her head is bigger than mine. Katie and I are looking into a hospital here that specializes in a procedure to put tubes in her head to drain the fluid. We want to get more information about hydrocephalus and the treatment, and between the two of us we are going to pay for her to have this surgery. Please pray that her surgery will be successful. If not, this girl will never be able to walk or talk and she will probably die very young.

Thanks so much

Extended Stay!

PIC ABOVE: Betty from the Light Gives Heat Volunteer house and me!
We have officially moved into the new building! It’s really nice but definitely different as we used to meet under a big tree in the village. The building is great because we are no longer weather dependent, especially since we are coming into the rainy season. My friend Katie and I spent 3 days painting the whole inside and it looks really great! I love to paint (I paint a lot at home), but I have never had such an audience while doing it. It was hilarious and fun to experience all the reactions of the village children to our work!

In my last letter I told you guys how a baby died at the main hospital. Well this month I got help bring 1 into the world (well, kind of). When I finished painting the other day, one of the 2 Suubi Ladies who was pregnant took me to see her house because she was ready to deliver any day and I had told her I would take her to the hospital. She had been to the doctor that morning and she was in the early stages of labor, she said she thought it was going to be that night. Well, about 2 hours later I got a text from her saying her pain was increasing. I tried calling her to see when she wanted me to come but couldn’t get through, so after about 15 minutes I just decided to go. I threw Stephie in the car and we headed off.

It was one of those surreal experiences. One of the other Suubi Ladies met me when I got to the village to show me where to go. I was quite a sight dragging Stephie through the village- everyone was cooking dinner outside on the fire staring in amusement at the white girl with a child running by! We got to the house and the only source of light was just a little candle - it was so dark in there I don’t know how they could see anything. By the time I got there she had just had the baby. I helped wash the baby and get him dressed while the Mom delivered the placenta… I felt really bad that I missed it, but it was really a blessing because if I had gotten there earlier to take her to the hospital I think she would have delivered the baby on the side of the road in my van! That would not have been good. Mom and baby are happy and healthy, praise the Lord! Births in the village can be so dangerous; with no sanitation the possibility of infection there is huge.

There are some volunteers coming to work with Suubi soon. I’m not sure how everything will transition with more people to share the work load – I’m so used to doing it all myself and I still hope to be involved in things. I have grown to love these ladies so much! You know, when I came here it was to work with children. When I started to do things with Suubi I thought that my heart wouldn’t be in it as much, at least not as much as when I was with the kids, but I was wrong. Each one of the Ladies amazes me every day. I love what I do with Suubi so much and wouldn’t trade it for the world! I have learned so much and been blessed in just spending time with them. Each day I thank the Lord for this opportunity.

Till next week!

Quintuplets in Uganda

About a month ago a friend of one of the Suubi Ladies had quintuplets (5 babies) at the Jinja Hospital. It’s been in all the papers and on TV; actually I was on the News bringing her some things for the babies. The mother, Dorothy, had no idea she was carrying 5 children, so as you can imagine she and her husband were a little shocked! She had 4 girls and 1 boy. They are so cute! All of them were just a little under 2 pounds, and surprisingly healthy. I have been bringing Dorothy food (there is no cafeteria at the hospital here or even a refrigerator to keep a supply)… So I am at the hospital about 5 days a week now to bring food and help feed and bath the babies. Dorothy and the babies are going to be in the hospital for about 1 more month. About 2 weeks ago the fifth baby died. It was horrible, I got there one day and she wasn’t doing very well and had had a cough that week. The day before when I was there she had been doing much better, but that day her breathing was not quite right. I had brought another girl, Katie, with me and I sent her to go find a doctor or nurse while I stayed with the baby. Dorothy gave her to me because she did not know what to do (like I did). I have very little, if any, medical knowledge but I unwrapped her and just started to look her over the best I could. Her belly was really tight and her breathing was slow, so was her heart rate (or at least it felt like it to me). I did know that she needed to be on oxygen but there was none to be had. Her breathing kept getting slower and slower, and then her breathing stopped completely. I had no idea what to do, I was afraid CPR would just crush her. She was just so little, not even 2 pounds. By the time Katie got back 10 minutes later (with no doctor) she had already died in my arms. Katie and I declared her dead. Not a single doctor or nurse had come when we left 45 minutes later. No one knows why she died; I guess that Jesus wanted that baby with Him. The infuriating thing is that Katie ran around that hospital for 10 minutes and could not find a doctor, or even a nurse anywhere. In Mulago, the hospital known for the most births, an average of 60 babies are born daily. Out of those 60, 10-die every day - because it seems that no one really cares.

I know that many of you were concerned about all the rioting in Kenya. Although we are only about 100 miles from the Kenyan border that distance seems greater in Africa than in the States. For almost a week, there was no gas to be had in Jinja as all gas in Uganda comes from Kenya and they weren’t letting any across the border. Fortunately for me, the Light Gives Heat van is a diesel and the diesel comes across the border in an underground pipeline. It was available at the equivalent of 5 US dollars! Things have settled down a bit and although the border is still closed, they are allowing gas truck to leave and life has returned to normal here.

All around things here are fairly normal, or as normal as they can be when you live in Uganda. The day Lindsay left, two volunteers moved into the house for a couple of weeks so it continues to be lively here. I’m not sure when I will be coming home. I need to stay through at least the first part of April so that I can continue my work here until I can turn them over to someone else.

So Much!

So much is going on here in Jinja. The quick version is: I now live by myself at the Light Gives Heat Volunteer House, which is nice sometimes and then not so nice at others. It’s been fun! I’ve been learning how to spread myself very thin; being in charge of everything is not always easy. The Suubi building is finally finished. It has taken what seems like forever, but we will start to meet there next week. All the Ladies are very excited. I love just spending time with them on Sundays and Tuesdays. They love to show me around all the places they call home. They have been working extra hard to make enough necklaces to fill up a whole suitcase to send home with Lindsay. It is difficult and costly to send anything that bulky from Africa and there’s always the possibility that it may never even leave the continent (!) so it is a blessing to have a personal courier!

All the Amani(orphanage) kids are doing great! We are down to a low number of about 43 (when I came there was 60). It feels so empty without them. Ten of them went to their adoptive parents last month – the largest number that have ever been adopted in a years time here. My little buddy, Eddie, went home with his mother who walked to the orphanage to pick him up the day that she was released from prison. I almost didn’t get to say goodbye, but the Lord sent me there just in time to meet his mother and give them a ride home. It was hard watching him leave but I am grateful that he has a mother who loves him and wants to try to raise him. Some of my favorite times are spent at Amani playing, putting the kids to bed or just holding a baby or two. Under the dirt, grime and snot these are some of the most beautiful children in the whole world, inside and out! Sometimes I forget that on a day-to-day basis. On those frustrating days, when 43 kids are all whining or your piki (motor bikes with a driver for hire that are the Ugandan version of a taxi) breaks down at 11:30 at night in the village, it’s then that I just have to remind myself that I am living my dream. Uganda is where God wants me right now and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

My sister, Lindsay, came to visit me for 2 weeks. It was wonderful to have someone to tag along with me; it was also like a little vacation, which was also great. We had a lot of fun together. She got to meet the Amani kids, Suubi ladies and see all the places where I spend my time. It was really fun to have her here!! We took some video while she was here to send home. I hope that many of you will be able to see what the people are like here and get a glimpse of what my life has been like here in Africa.

More in a few days, thanks all!

Hope Amidst Sorrow

The past two post were from my first two days here in Uganda, after being here 4 months now, I am beginning to learn more than I had thought possible. Here are a couple thoughts over the past week....

I have been in Africa for almost four months now. I've seen lots of really sad things since I got here, but I have to tell you, one of the worst is visiting the government hospitals. Last week I went to visit one of the Suubi ladies’ sons who had been badly burned over ¼ of his body, he was in so much pain, and the treatment for burns here is next to nothing. However, I wish each one of you could have seen the look in that Mother’s eyes; she had such a peace about her and just this sense of calmness. I was expecting something more like fear and worry but was so amazed! I just love to watch the people here and the way they react. When things happen (good or bad) they just go with it, they know they can’t change the past or look into the future and decide how they want things to end up. I think that we could learn a lot from the people of Uganda. We as a nation like to be in control, and when bad things happen we tend to put the blame on someone else. Sometimes I think that what the people of Africa understand better than us is this; those bad things do happen in life. It’s a matter of being able to move past those things and still keep waking up everyday having hope for the next. These people have nothing, yet they are some of the most joyous people I’ve ever met. They have shown me that God uses our circumstances, no matter where we are to change us. Why is it that when things go wrong in our lives we lose hope and blame God, but the trials that people face every day here are just seen as a way to grow stronger?

Continued First Day

A few of the Suubi(hope) Women

On the way, Moses told me that God had told him that he needed to take me with him and Julie to the hotel and that he knew in his heart that he could not leave me at the airport, he said he saw how nervous and confused I looked, that's why he tried so hard to explain that he just wanted to help me. I thank God for him.

When we arrived and as we were unloading all my stuff AGAIN, a man pulled up and said his name was Abdula and he had come to get me. He said that he had gone to the airport but when he got there they told him the girl that was trying to go to Jinja had left in the Wattoto an orphanage that Moses works for in Kampala) van. What happened was Abdula was running late and he got to the airport an hour after I had already left. He called Ruthie and she sent him over to get me on his way back to Jinja. I did talk to Ruthie just to be sure I was going with the. The whole way I was trying to hold it together. I had so many doubts in my mind while I was weak and at that point I had been up almost 48 hours without sleep, so that definitely added to my emotional state. Abdula, my driver, probably thought I was a crazy woman. I prayed the whole way!

I arrived at about 1 AM and was greeted with a smile and open arms. It is hard to explain the thoughts I had that night. Thinking back I don’t even know how it all came about, but I do know that through that whole ordeal I felt the comforting presence of God.

On my first day here Ruthie just showed me around town and I un- packed all my stuff. There are 5 other girls living at the Volunteer house. I have only been here a few days but I think it’s safe to say that I absolutely LOVE it here in Africa!

More to come,
Renee

First Day

This is the letter I sent home after first arriving in Uganda in September.
Enjoy!

I finally made it!
Well, I prayed that I would have an amazing adventure while in Africa and God definitely delivered. After traveling for some 29 hours I was exhausted (I could not sleep at all on the plane) I wanted to get to Jinja as soon as possible and sleep for 2 days, but that’s not exactly how it worked, you see in Africa people are not very schedule oriented. I arrived
in Entebbe at 8:15 PM on Tues. night and it looked like a bomb had gone off in the airport(maybe one did!) everything was torn apart and there was trash all over. When I got outside there was a large crowd of people holding signs waiting to pickup weary travelers like myself but no for me.

People immediately hounded me trying to get me to ride in their taxi or go to their Hotel. I was just trying to make my way though the crowd in the dark with 3 very large suitcases. It was not going well. I kept looking for my driver, but was starting to get a little freaked out because it was very dark and I was alone in a completely strange place with people shouting at me in like three different languages. A little while later, a driver named Moses came up to me with an American girl and said, “Here Julie you talk to her, she does not believe me. She will listen to you.” She explained that she had come to Uganda as a medical Missionary and asked if I wanted to come with her to the Guest House where she was staying and then in the morning I could contact my driver. I agreed to go with them because I was praying for help and as far as I could tell they seemed to be the only option I had.

I put my stuff in the van and off we went. Both Moses and Julie were so nice. Julie actually comes to Africa all the time for medical missions and she had some very cool stories to tell. As we drove though the city, I kept thinking there is no way that I am cut out to live here. It might have been a little different in the daylight but at night the city of Kampala looks very dangerous. Let me tell you it was frightening and I really had no clue where I was going. We finally got to the guesthouse and unloaded all our stuff and hauled my very, very heavy suitcases up several flights of steps. I was trying to call my Mom because I told her I would call from the airport but there was no phone and no one could seem to figure out how to make a call to the States on a cell phone. I just wanted my parents to know that I was safe. About 45 minutes after getting to the guest house Moses came back and said that he had talked to Ruthie(my contact in Uganda) and she said in the morning someone would come and get me.

More of my first day in Uganda to come…