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.