Blah, blah, blog...

I do not feel like blogging today. It is Friday afternoon, May 5, and it has been a long week. It is hot, must be at least in the 90's. The power is off at the hotel and my room always catches the afternoon sun and heat. The internet cafe is boiling, they generally have A/C running so it is a cool refuge, but not today. And to add to the heat, the server is running at snail's pace.

We went to a new camp today, Barr. They have an established health unit there, so we had to only put up one tent to work out of, as we had several exam rooms available to us in the couple of buildings that house the health unit. We also had the two health officers seeing patients with us for a total of 7. The crowds were big and continued through the morning. I heard at lunch time that we were already out of all the children's medications, and starting to run low on many of the tablets and capsules. The pharmacy staff was overwhelmed with all the patients we were seeing, and it was decided to just see a few more of the registered patients. In all we saw 470 patients in just 4 hours! Yes, that sounds impressive, but if you could only have seen the hundreds turned away once again. And, I am glad to not know the numbers, but I am sure there were many that were seen but unable to get the medications needed to treat their conditions.

Both Sally and I had feelings of futility, as we wanted to help the people, but why even see them to not be able to give them any medications? There is a budget for this mobile medical clinic program in northern Uganda, but it is hard for nurses from the U.S. to think budget when these people desperately need help. This past week, we had several patients that needed to be brought in to the referral hospital, and they had no money to pay for any expenses. So Elaine, Sally and I have been contributing out of pocket for these people's healthcare expenses. It is usually $30-70 for a hospitalization, depending on what needs to be done. If you have a desire to help in this endeavor of providing healthcare to the people here, please go to Northwest Medical Teams website at www.nwmti.org and make a tax deductible donation. Your contributions go a long way to buy medications over here!

Tired and ready for the weekend! Blessings to you, Brenda

Mother's milk and more...

The other day as we were walking in one of the camps a group of children was standing around us watching us, as usual. Alex, one of our driver's started asking the children their names, and I was shocked to hear that several were named Boy, or Girl, they have not even been given a real name. The other names seem to have a British bent from the Colonial times, names such as Lydia, Betty, Susan, Jaspher, lots of David's, and even some Brenda's. I also occasionally see Santa as a given name.

Many of the women have had 6, 7, 8 and even 10 children. But few have all of them living, if even half. When we ask if they are interested in family planning (birth control) most women say yes, if it is available. The problem is, we do not carry with us birth control, but the local health units do. The local health units are government sponsored and scattered throughout the countryside, frequently far from many of the camps. Distance is not the only problem as they are also know to run out of medicines frequently, or the personnel is gone without notice. I do believe that if it were more available and better understood, more of the women would take advantage of it.

Yesterday, at Alito Camp, I saw another itty bitty preemie. It was not my patient, so I did not get to see the weight, but I have no doubt that it was under 2 pounds. It was three weeks old like the one I had seen the previous day, but not feeding well. So we were taking this one in to the Medecins Sans Fronteirs (Doctors Without Borders) feeding center. Yesterday, I also had a set of twins that were quite small. I was shocked to see a bottle in the mother's hand, and asked what she was feeding the babies'. She said she just had a small amount of milk coming in one breast, so she was giving the twins watered down cow's milk! Oh, how shocked I was. Cow's milk does not have the right amount of nutrients and fat content for human babies, but there was no alternative for this woman. There is no formula available and if it were it costs and exhorbitant amount to them. I don't know what the outcome will be for these babies', but we cannot take all the babies in to the feeding center that we would like.

Blessings to these helpless babes! Brenda

Emotional Healing...

I have been blogging these past couple of weeks about what I have been seeing in the IDP Camps in Northern Uganda where our mobile medical clinic with Northwest Medical Teams International (www.nwmti.org) is serving hundreds of thousands of people with no availability to health care. I have shared just a little about what causes these people to move to an overcrowded, unsanitary camp far away from their farms and villages; their fear of the Lord's Resistance Army.

The LRA is a rebel group that twenty years ago decided that they would overturn the government and run the country according to the Ten Commandments, while not even displaying any kind of Christian virtues themselves. Since the beginning, they have not had much support in this venture so their way of drafting people into their army, is to abduct children from the various villages in the north and turning them into child soldiers. As you can only imagine the children don't want to be cooperative, so they use horrific initiation methods to "discourage" anyone from running away.

I met Peter yesterday, he is an interpreter for the film makers from Quebec, and he shared with me the story of his sister. About 8 years ago the LRA attacked the Aboke Girls School and abducted about 130 girls, his 15 year old sister was one of those girls. One hundred of the girls were released by the persistence of a little Italian nun that followed them into the bush and begged for her girls back. Peter's sister was able to escape and make her way home in about three months. Now 23 years old she continues to suffer from the emotional scars she received in the ordeal. For her initiation she was forced to beat to death another girl that had tried to run away. Most girls were sex slaves and expected to do all of the carrying, cooking, etc. There are two major rehabilitation centers for the children that are able to escape, here in the north. They do counseling and different therapies to help the children come to terms with all that they went through.

The people in the camps also have emotional scars that run deep. They are in constant fear of their children being abducted, or of being killed themselves. I have met many who have had their homes destroyed by the rebels, most have lost at least one family member at the hands of the LRA, and all have moved to the camps to seek safety. I met one woman today whose husband was killed in January by the rebels, and she is now left alone to raise two small children.

What continues to amaze not only me, but other foreigners that spend time here, is the fact that these people are so friendly, open, quick to smile, and laugh so easily. They are wearing filthy rags for clothes, are infested with various parasites, live in squalor, work hard to produce little, and still have no stability. Yet, if you smile at them or greet them in their Langi they just beam or burst out laughing!

I want to be more like them. I want to be able to smile and laugh no matter what my journey in this life might bring me.

May in Uganda...

I attempted to post this yesterday, May 2, however the computers were against me and I lost my draft twice. Emailing from a third world country does pose its challenges...

May in Uganda is quite pleasant. The frequent rain showers and spectacular thunder storms help to keep the temperatures down in the low 80's. The countryside is lush green everywhere and the crops seem to be growing nicely. Have I mentioned the mango trees? I love mangoes! And the trees are loaded and full of ripe mangoes. Happiness is eating a tree ripened mango, with sweet juice streaming down both elbows, knowing that a bag full of six big mangoes, cost only pennies!

We have now settled into a routine in going to the camps. Tuesdays and Wednesdays will be our heavy days as these camps have just recently been added to our mobile medical clinic route.

Today as we pulled up to Acokora Camp, there were several hundred people awaiting our arrival. People from the camps we passed along the way continued to arrive into the afternoon. One of my patients had walked over 5 miles to clinic this morning seeking help. Once again we were able to care for just a fraction of the people needing assistance of some kind.

At lunch time, I tried not to feel self concious while sitting in the van eating my portion of Chapati, two boiled eggs, and 4 little bananas, as hundreds of people watched us through the windows. I always save a portion of my lunch to give to children when they come to see me, I wish I could feed all of them. As I walked back to my tent, I glanced over to the admission desk, and saw lines of people the same length as several hours previously. They began to announce early in the afternoon that we were sorry, but we would not be able to see everyone. They went on to explain that we would continue to bring the clinic every Tuesday, and that they should come back. What a loud rumble followed the announcement! I was fearing that a mob could form, but I was reassured that it would not come to that. I can't imagine walking for miles packing a child or two, waiting for hours, even overnight, to discover that you or your sick child would not be seen this week.

The large numbers became the least of my worries when I was told that we were running low on children's syrups (antibiotics, fever reducers, etc.). I began to pray that somehow God would perform a miracle and not let the medications run out as we were still seeing patients and perscriptions were still needing to be filled. We eventually did run out of children's medications, and it felt futile to even see the little ones, as there was nothing to be done for them.

Tomorrow is another day, and hundreds more will need to be seen, so we must not get discouraged. We helped many today, and made a difference in the lives of several hundred. We probably impacted even more, as just our presence in the camps is an encouragement to them. To know that someone out there actually cares about their status and condition.

Praying that more will hear about the situation here in order to put pressure on the Ugandan government.

Sorting Supplies...

Today was Labor Day here in Uganda, so we did not go out to the camps. However, we all showed up at the Northwest Medical Teams office to sort a shipment of supplies that arrived just a few weeks ago from the NWMTI warehouse. Wow! Was there a lot of stuff! We sorted through boxes of gloves, dressings, IV tubing, tape, surgical supplies, and so on. These new and wonderful supplies will be distributed to three small area hospitals and 3 health units that serve most of the patients that we see. This will be like gold for them. Some of the things we are having to teach our own staff how to use as they haven't seen them before. I even came across a box that contained preemie diapers! We will also have to do some teaching with the hospitals and health units on the best use of the supplies.

The Health Units and one of the hospitals are government sponsored, however, they frequently run out of medications and supplies.

The patients that we serve in the camps are very poor, so if they require hospitalization or further care in Lira they have to come up with the money. That is actually the first hurdle. Then, in order for us to take them to the hospital or for the hospital to accept them, they must have a family member capable of attending to them. They do not have cafeterias that feed the patients here, so the family must go out and provide food for them. The family also helps to do their laundry, or at times to go and buy their medication at a pharmacy elsewhere.

Last week we had a 10 year old with a fractured arm (another mango tree wins!)that needed to go to the hospital. His family did not have the money, so Elaine, Sally and I pitched in for the $30 for his bill. It turned out that he does not have a father and his mother is blind, but a kind neighbor man agreed to come to the hospital with him. We had another elderly patient that needed hospitalization, but sadly had no one to go with him to the hospital, he had no wife and his children were all dead. Always challenging situations that make you think.

I continue to feel blessed and thankful to be here, Brenda

Street Children...

Staying in a hotel in downtown Lira has a few advantages, one of them is meeting other foreigners traveling through. We have had opportunity to meet three French Canadian film makers in their late 20's. They are here to film a docudrama about the children of northern Uganda, in the hopes of continuing to bring to light to their situation.

In their travels about town, Catherine, Melody, and Sebastian have run into many orphans living on the streets here in town. These children tend to hang out in their own age groups with the 7-9 year olds being the youngest. Catherine's heart has been deeply touched by these children that have been cast out or brought into town and abandoned. In our conversations this trio has discovered that we are here providing health care to the camps. So just a few days ago Catherine mentioned some of the physical complaints that one child is having to Sally, and Sally surmised that his belly is probably full of parasites.

This morning Catherine found us at breakfast and asked if we would look at one boy's foot as it looked terribly infected. Sally and I went to the front of the hotel, and off to one side on the steps Catherine had about nine children sitting on the steps feeding them sodas and biscuits, as they were hungry and that is what the closest store sells.

Sally began immediately handing out deworming medication to each child there and a crowd quickly formed around us. Everyone curious to see what we were doing. I was fearful that word would get out, and we would have a steady flow of traffic coming by seeking free medical attention, so Catherine attempted multiple times to disperse the crowd with some luck.

The boy with the injured foot was probably around nine or ten years old, and one of his toes had a cut on it which was infected. Sally washed his foot, which felt warm to the touch, and then applied antibiotic ointment and a dressing that we hope will stay on for a few days. I gave the boy my bottle of Bactrim (antibiotics) with instructions on how to take them, with the help of an interpreter.

This children have a usual place were they sleep on the sidewalk all in a row, side by side. There is a church that will feed them twice a day Monday through Friday, but the weekends are rough. I shared with Catherine two places that I knew where she could buy chapati and beans to go for a very good price, and told her I would be happy to pay for some meals for them while I am here. She has taken this on as her little project, so I doubt that she will ask me for any money. She has already invested in their lives and feels like she has made a difference in at least a few lives here. The needs in the camps are plenty, but then there are always more that need help and care.

My prayer is for more people that will feel compelled to get out of their comfort zones and help even a few. Blessings to the Catherine's of this world!