Uganda-Risti

Three nights ago, I had a traumatising experience. My colleagues and I had an excellent meeting with a local ugandan nurse. We made plans to work with her and set up Mobile Medical Clinics here in Uganda-even after we leave. This is the first time I have been involved in the planning stages of something that will be independently run. I was extremely excited to think of them doing it without us.

We arrived home for a meeting with a financial advisor-the manager of a local bank. We had just started the meeting when we heard haunting wailing coming from next door. We did not understand the words but could tell there was panic in the voice. The pastor we are staying with, Robert, said, “oh, someone has lost someone. I had better go see what is happening.” When I heard those words, I thought the woman was calling out to a child who had wandered off. I wasn’t surprised since I often see children playing in the lane without any adults in sight. I didn’t get up to help search since I didn’t think I could do much and we had a meeting going on. Beatrice, the woman we were meeting with, began to explain some of the words that were being screamed out. She repeated that the woman was screaming that she had lost someone. As she explained it further, we realised someone had died. Our hearts fell, thinking of the pain of losing someone. Each of us had experienced death at work and our minds went to those times and our hearts went out to the family.

Shortly after, Robert came back to the house and told us the woman across the street had lost her child. We all were sad thinking of her pain and we asked a few questions. Robert seemed in shock as he rushed around to gather his keys and belongings. We asked what had happened or if there was anything we could do to help. I asked how long ago the child had died and what had happened. It didn’t seem like there was much information, but it was possible the child had just died. He said he didn’t know but if one of us wanted to come with him, we could. We all hesitated to know who should go and who should stay and meet with Beatrice. I decided to go see what I could do. I rushed to get my shoes and ran outside. I went to the group of people gathered outside and tried to take the baby. The one holding the baby didn’t give her up right away so I waited until we got in the truck. I climbed into the front and as the mother climbed into the back, I held out my arms for the baby. The mother gave her up and I unwrapped her from the blankets. I undid the dress and felt for a pulse. I felt a very weak and thready carotid pulse but the child was unresponsive and not breathing. I initiated CPR while sitting in the front seat of the truck. As I started compressions, I prayed in tongues. The baby was still warm, I had hope that with the right medicine, we might be able to save the baby. It seemed like the drive to the hospital was the longest I’ve been on. The trucks in front of us crawled. The boda-boda’s zoomed in front of us-congesting our path to the hospital. Didn’t they know we had a dead baby we were trying to save?

I kept pleading with the baby to respond. I willed her heart to keep beating and her lungs to take a breath. I asked Robert to check if they knew the HIV status because I wanted to check if perhaps there was an airway obstruction. It was reported that she was negative. I gave two breaths which went in easily. As I continued with CPR, Robert was praying and speaking life to the baby.

We arrived at the hospital gate and waited for the guard to open the gate. My mind raced with a thousand thoughts. I could grab the baby, get out of the truck and run with her, but to where? I didn’t know where to go. As I continued compressions, I asked where I would bring the baby.

The hospital seemed lifeless. All the lights were out. We had been at the hospital that day-only five hours earlier. It seemed like a different complex-there was no “Emergency Room” nor any brightly-lit signs to guide me to someone who could help. I got out of the truck, all the while, continuing to do CPR, and asked where to go. We all walked around trying to find someone that could point me in the right direction to find medicine and supplies. All I needed was an IV or even an IO, some fluid and some epinepherine. Perhaps with those three things, we could get her back. We took her to the children’s ward. I stood and continued CPR while Robert tried to get the nurse’s attention. The nurse slowly came out of her station and I rudely interrupted their conversation. I asked where I can put the baby down so we could work on her. The nurse brought me to an empty stretcher. I placed the baby on her back and continued CPR. The nurse came over and shook the baby a few times, tried to feel for a radial pulse and made no effort to grab an IV or anything. I told her to get an IV and some epi. She shook her head and said the baby was dead. I argued with her and said, yes, but we can get her back. She said no, how would we give her the medicine. I said start an IV. She said but how would the medicine get to her. I said by pumping it through with CPR. She said they didn’t have any epinepherine at the hospital. She didn’t seem to get it. She grabbed her stethescope and listened for a heartbeat. By this time, there was no heartbeat. I asked for the stethescope and listened to the chest wall. There was no sound at all-I desperately wanted to hear any sign of hope. I couldn’t hear anything. My heart sank as I thought of the futility in my attempts. I knew that even if I could bring her back, there was no support for her until she could recover from the injury to her brain. There was not a ventilator in sight, there wasn’t even the ability to intubate a patient. Tears began to fall as I was forced to stop. I didn’t want to, I wanted to do all I could-to bring the baby back to her mother alive! Instead, I wrapped her up in the blankets and covered over her lifeless face.

A woman came over and opened the eyelids. She commented saying one word-anemia. Of course, there was no colour there-there was no blood flowing through!

As I walked with the baby in my arms, my heart broke, thinking I had to bring the dead baby back to her mother.

I brought her back, thinking I would hand the baby over to her mother. Instead, the mother wailed and wailed as I approached. She was in no condition to carry her dead baby. We climbed back into the truck and drove back to the house. Tears streamed down my face as I held the dead body.

We waited at the house as people climbed into the car. Some came over to my window and wanted to look at the baby.

We drove into the night and into the bush. At times there was no road. We drove for approximately 30 minutes until we arrived in the area where the father lived. We couldn’t find him at first and ended up at his parents’ house. I carried the baby inside-the mother wailed as I got out of the car. She wanted to touch her baby. Someone rushed her away and I called after and said let her see her baby. She said later, not now. We went inside the darkened room where the only light was a small, flickering flame in the corner. I felt like an outsider. The only muzungu, and yet, I was connected-even if it was only through death.

I sat down, still carrying my burden. We sat there as everyone grieved. Tears streamed silently down my face as I felt the pain of losing someone. My heart broke for the mother. In my mind, all I could think of was the anger of not having what I needed. If only....if only I was in Canada-this injustice would have had a different outcome. If only I had responded immediately when I heard the wailing. If only I had started CPR then-she would have lived. If only I had brought emergency supplies from Canada.

We grabbed cushions off the chairs and placed them in the middle of the room. Someone took my burden from me and placed the baby girl on the cushions. This brought with it a wave of grief that rose from the gutteral instinct of everyone in the room.

I sat there in the room, my head hung, and felt awkward. I didn’t understand the words, I had no comfort to give anyone, I could only sit in silence. I tried to hide my face from the new faces that came through the room. I didn’t want them to be shocked to see a white face. I didn’t want them to feel differently because an outsider was in.

Eventually I was rescued by Esther. She quietly entered the room and said that “pastor says we should go.”

I climbed back into the truck and a somber group drove back to the house.

I was soooooooooo thankful to have Heidi and Kate there to de-brief with. I was able to tell them my frustrations of not having enough. They understood the injustice of it all. They reminded me that this is not in vain. That we can make a difference here and change the tide of medical care in Mityana.

As we drove to the father’s house, I pleaded with God to bring the baby back to life. I know He can. I have heard stories of this happening-even in this day and age, but yet it didn’t happen. Would it be that I was too proud? I would think it was my righteousness or my holiness when I have none of that?

I was angry and felt like swearing at the thought of how futile my attempt was in trying to save her.

It is sobering to think that I cannot save anyone. I have nothing to save them and it is a helpless feeling.

As we drove out to the father’s house, I asked God where He was in it all. As I sat in the dark room with the grieving family, I asked Him where He was. I felt Him answer that He was grieving. There was comfort in knowing that His heart felt the injustice. In knowing my breaking heart was not alone.

Coming home to the comfort of Kate and Heidi was so sweet. Having them say sorry for not being with you was surprising but beautiful. I never thought of it when I was in the midst of it all, but them saying they wanted to just be with me and do what they could and that they didn’t want me to be alone was a comfort.

Haiti

I have arrived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti safely.
This will be a short post and I will attempt to write later.
Please pray for protection and safety for me.
I would also love to have experiences to share the love of Jesus with people and to see miracles and salvations.
Love,
Heather

Half Way

It has been a little over a week since I left Canada. It seems like such a different world here. In one sense, it is like we have entered a time warp and gone back in time. Driving into "town" is like driving into a pioneer settlement. The main "drag" is one street with storefronts facing the road. Everyone has a little business selling there wares-from photocopying services to pharmaceutical goods and everything in between.
We have completed three medical clinics. The people we have treated have been extremely sick and so grateful. I am honoured to be serving them. On every journey, the first clinic day always takes a little longer to get set up. We went to the church where I preached at on Sunday and set up. Once we were up and running, the clinic was flowing well. We saw approximately 175 people and were able to treat many with the medicine we brought. When it came time to close the intake, I went to the crowd to announce that we had to finish for the day. We were not able to see anymore patients, but we would like them to still have medicine. I was able to give out vitamins and anti-parasitic medicine that would help them to absorb nutrition for up to six months. As I made the announcement, I was nervous-wondering how the crowd would react. Here they had been waiting all day to see the doctor and we weren't able to help any more. As I completed my announcement, a few people in the crowd began to clap! I was floored. Many of them thanked me as I gave them each a baggie full of medicine. Such a little gesture, and yet, they were grateful. As we wrapped up the clinic and packed everything up, the group transitioned to the open air evangelism. We danced and celebrated Jesus. We had already shared the love of God in a tangible way and now we wanted to share the love of God with them on a spiritual level. Many were healed and several gave their hearts to Jesus that evening. I was exhausted by the time we had packed up the clinic. As I walked down the dusty road, a group of children shyly approached me. I sat down and gestured for them to join me. They all burst into smiles and gathered around me-some on my lap, others leaning into me. This revived me and reminded me of why I was there.
At the second clinic, we were greeted with over 600 people gathered around a field to be treated. I knew we couldn't see everyone, so I desperately attempted to draw the sickest ones out of the crowd so they could be treated first. So many had high fevers and it was difficult to choose who should go and who should wait. As I walked through the crowds, I was overwhelmed at the desperation and great need. I pulled those that needed medical attention immediately but there were so many that I had to ask to wait. Again, at the end of the day, many had not made it into the tent to be treated. I could sense the rising panic of the people wanting to be seen-wanting to have their stories heard. Many had brought little notepads with their "medical records" on them. They had no money for treatment, just the festering knowledge that something was wrong with them and they had no power to do anything about.
As I began to hand out vitamins, de-worming medicine and antacids, I felt the crowd pressing into me, anxious to not be forgotten.
I returned to the clinic only to find we had continued seeing patients for the past 45 minutes despite the fact that I had closed the clinic "doors". Although I was grateful we were able to treat so many, our team was exhausted and we had another clinic to do the next day. Dental extractions, skin infections, malaria, typhoid, TB, HIV, STD's, ear infections, pneumonia, bladder infections, eye infections and arthritis were among the diseases and infections we encountered.
Another celebration followed the clinic with singing, dancing and sharing the love of God. Many were healed miraculously and I once again ended up near the outskirts. I sat down in the field and several children gathered around. Some brought their baby sisters and brothers and we cuddled them and played with them. Josephine, an 11 year old brought her baby sister, Sylvia, to me. I was holding Sylvia as Steve gave an altar call. He said to the crowd, "turn to the person next to you and ask them if they need to go forward tonight". I turned to Josephine who was looking at me and wordlessly asked her, gesturing to the front. She silently nodded her head, and while I was holding her baby sister with one hand, I took her hand with my other and walked her up to the front. As an interpreter helped me talk with her, we found out she did indeed want to know Jesus and Josephine gave her heart to Him that evening.
The third clinic day was hot and the toughest challenge yet. I had announced to the interpreters and team members that if they saw sick people, they needed to check with Christina and me before bringing them to the front of the line. I wanted to prevent what had been happening at the previous clinics when many had jumped the queue and caused some confusion. All day, I was met with urgent needs of the people and it seemed as if every toddler and infant I put my hands on were burning up with fever. They were so malnourished and tiny. In Canada, I can pick out the age of most children-it is part of my job to know their age and weight, afterall. Here in Uganda, because so many aren't able to receive adequate nutrition, I underestimated their ages. Ones that I thought were 3-6 months were actually 1.5-4 years old! So many were too weak to walk and appeared listless and anemic. One child, Paul, was brought to me sweating profusely, breathing shallow, rapid breaths and couldn't walk more than two steps without falling over. I picked him up, feeling him burn up in my arms, and carried him to the front. I quickly rushed him through the clinic and brought him to our pediatrician on the team. One challenge we encountered her was the fact that the child and mother both spoke a different dialect, so we found a translator for the translator and found out their story. The pediatrician rapidly checked him over and together we decided this child needed to be in the hospital. Our pharmacy team rushed his medicine order to the front of the line and we had tylenol into him within fifteen minutes of him being discovered. Robert arranged for his transport to the hospital and not long after, they were brought to the hospital. Many more children were so feverish, their temperatures were at a dangerous level. They were nearing unconsciousness and seizure activity. Some parents brought their children to me, with genuine concern on their faces reporting that their children had been "convulsing".
As I ushered the sick ones into the clinic, I tried to help out in areas that were backed up, but I kept on being pulled away for emergencies! As I was helping out in the pharmacy, I was called away because someone reported that a woman was bleeding in the latrine. Those of you who know me, know that I have a difficult time with foul smells. As I grabbed some gloves and ran to the latrine, I prayed for strength from God-not only for wisdom to be able to help the woman, but also to be able to stomach what I would see. I approached the latrine and found a woman hunched over with blood pooling at her feet. Several underclothing items were soiled through with blood. She had just miscarried her baby. I wasn't able to tell how far along her pregnancy had been-not more than five months. I helped her get the bleeding under control and cleaned her off. Then we assisted her to a car and rushed her to a nearby clinic.
At the end of the day, I had to make the announcement once again. The people had been waiting so patiently, hoping to be able to be seen and I had to tell them we were closing. They were so gracious and at the end, EVERYONE clapped. As I snaked my way through the crowd, many pointed to swollen, painful joints. I was able to give some tylenol and the children who were remaining that had fevers, I gave out bottles of tylenol. Asking the interpreters to tell the mothers to please read the instructions carefully in order to give the appropriate doses.
Although we weren't able to see everyone that came, we were able to significantly help the ones that were seen. Approximately 290 people were treated and 150 more received de-worming medicine and vitamins.
Constantly, my mind is reviewing the clinics to find more efficient ways to treat more people. Doc Hendley, founder and executive director of Wine to Water says, "Humanitarian work must move away from the idea that the West is going to save the world". How true. At times, the need is so overwhelming, it threatens to render one ineffective. Many ask themselves, how can one person make any difference in a world with such need. True, one person working alone is virtually useless. And if we all adopt this attitude, nothing will change. But perhaps we could work together. Perhaps we could pool our resources and together we CAN make a difference.

Out of Order

Well, I'm on the plane on my way to Africa! As I'm 35,000 feet above the ground, I think back to when I was 14 when I was in Youth for Christ. The musical we did that year was "Please Don't Send Me to Africa". Haha, I remember thinking, "I'm not very interested in Africa". Number one reason: BUGS! Number two reason: my vision was so narrow-minded. I was preparing to go to Latin Amrica. I had received a few words on Spanish speaking countries. All I saw for me was North America. I never knew about the rest of the world.
So, I ventured out on my first mission to Tijuana, BC, Mexico. That was the hook, and soon I discovered I was caught-hook, line and sinker. I remember leaving Mexico and crying for an hour straight. I wept at how God had changed my perspective and my heart missed Mexico. I returned to Canada with a fresh persective on culture and the world-on what life is like outside of my bubble. Since then, I have had the opportunity to travel to several countries. And now, I am excited with anticipation of what God will do on this trip. I no longer am afraid that this trip might now measure up to the last trip. I know that He is faithful. I knowt that this is pivotal. I carry so much in my heart for what will happen.
Jesus, you are so good.

If I go to Africa....I might not want to leave.

As I reflected on the Journey to Africa, I thought to myself, "If I go to Africa, I might not want to leave". The weather is perfect-high 20's, the vegetation is lush and green. There is always fresh fruit available. The people are warm and welcoming.
I have been preparing for the medical clinics...meeting people, buying medications, preparing the formularies, bagging medications, etc... and there is so much left to do, but I feel at peace and feel like there is time.
The church I preached at on Sunday was small. The wood slates on the walls had many spaces between them. The corregated metal for the roof had sunlight shining through. The floors were dirt. But that didn't stop the congregation from worshipping God in a way I had never experienced. There were the drummers on one side, banging out an incredible rhythm. The children-even down to the three year olds sang a song and danced in time to the drums. It was beautiful. I felt like God was pleased with their praises. I could sense the presence of God there. What a priviledge to be among them and worship God with them.
I went in to town today to make some photocopies. On the way, I turned to Robert and asked him if he wanted me to drive. He said, "do you have a driver's license?" I said yes. So he agreed to let me drive! haha. I only drove for about five kilometres, but it was fun!
:o)

Arrived Safely

We have arrived in Uganda safely. Our flights were uneventful and we even got a bit of rest. After 30+ hours of travelling, we were able to relax at a "guest house" for a couple of hours. Emery and I went for a swim (played some pool games, of course) and we had lunch on the deck. I know, it's rough being a missionary.
And now we are on our way to Mityana. While there, we will be preparing for the rest of the team to arrive and checking out the availability of medicine for the clinics.
I will write more extensively later.

A Repeat from An Email

Well, the time has come where I am venturing off on another extreme adventure! I am so excited to let you know I will be going to Africa in two and a half weeks! I am sending this letter to close friends and family who I know will support me by praying while I am away.Here are the details of the trip. On January 20th, I will be flying to Mityana, Uganda. My flight is through Amsterdam, Nairobi and then on to Entebbe in Uganda. I will be flying with Christina Stewart, my good friend, Kristie Waterman and her cousin, Emery Prette. We arrive in Entebbe the morning of the 22nd and will be met by Robert Mponye from King's Kids ministry in Mityana. From there we will travel by land to our destination in Mityana, Uganda. For the next two days, we will be preparing for the team to arrive. As I will be the medical team leader, part of my time will be spent making sure all of the medical supplies and medicine is there. We will also be participating in a women's conference.The Impact Nations team will be arriving on the 24th. For the next two days, we will be spending time in preparation and orientation. Some of the team members have never healed the sick or even prayed for anyone. This time is special as we will be getting to know each other and this provides cohesiveness and unity. And then the fun begins! We will be conducting medical clinics in the daytime and healing evangelistic meetings in the evening. I am hoping we will be able to provide medical care to approximately 1,500 people. We willbe going to the surrounding villages and setting up mobile medical clinics. While there, we will give out vitamins, de-worming medications and health care for each individual. Teams will go out into the village and see if there are any too sick to come in. Our team members will also be praying for each person that comes to the clinic. Many times we see miracles while the people are waiting in line!Then in the evening, we will return to that same area and have an open air meeting where we will share testimonies and the love of God with the people.We will have six clinic days and one of these days will be spent at Kings Kids Ministries. Kings Kids houses 381 orphans and employs 26 full time staff. We want to bless them and provide them with medical care as well.I will be flying home February 5/6th.So, now that I have filled you in on some of the details of the trip, you probably have some idea of what my prayer needs will be. This is what I would like you to do for me while I am away.Please pray for the following:1. Health and safety for each team member (angelic body guards)2. Healings, miracles and salvations!!!3. For the next 2.5 weeks of preparation that everything is workedout and that there won't be any complications4. For unity among the team members5. Travelling mercies6. Yes, here it is again, that smells would not bother me :o)I have been under the weather for the past two weeks so if you could please pray that I would heal quickly, that would be great.Thank you so much for your love and support in this endeavour. I value your prayers and look forward to giving you a good report when I return.If you think of anyone that would like this prayer request, please feel free to pass it on. If anyone would like to check out more of Impact Nations, the website is www.impactnations.comAlso, if you would like to give a small donation to this ministry, you can find details on the website.