Swimming with Babies

Today was a great day! We woke up and had devotionals, and after devotionals we headed to Katawalma children’s hospital. My group’s job today was to talk and pray with the parents of the children at the hospital. I went with Jeff, a Ugandan, so that he could translate for me. We met with four different families. The first family had a son with bow legs. They were waiting to meet with the doctors to see what the doctors could do for them. The 2nd family had a small daughter with bow legs. The family was Muslim, but unfortunately, they did not speak Luganda so we had no way of communicating with them. The little girl was terrified of me because she thought that all white people were doctors. I felt so bad making her scared and being unable to tell her that I wasn’t a doctor.

The next family was a boy who had broken his arm and his father. The boy had broken his arm almost 8 months, and Ugandans doctors had unsuccessfully tried to heal him. They left him with a huge lump on his wrist, and the father and son were trying to see what the surgeons could do for him.

The final father and son pair we saw were very sad. The son had fallen from a tree and required a bunch of back and leg surgeries to repair all the damages. The father told us that a Ugandan doctor had estimated the surgeries to cost around 6,000 US dollars. A Canadian surgeon had found a way to get the UN to pay for his surgeries, but the Ugandan doctor wanted to keep the money for himself and had purposefully lost the paperwork required for the surgery. The Canadian doctor had found out and refilled the paperwork, but they were still waiting to hear the results.

As it turns out, the health care system in Uganda is very corrupt. Most of the doctors and nurses will give priority to patients to whose families will pay them extra, this means that the poor are at an extreme disadvantage.

One thing from the morning that really frustrated me was communication. The healthcare provider in me wanted to know exactly what had happened to each patient and exactly what surgeries and treatments were being provided. Most of the patients could only tell us that something had been broken and something had been operated on. It was very frustrating.

Also frustrating? The therapists and surgeons were in a meeting the entire morning, so I still didn’t get to view any therapy. Hopefully next week.

Despite all the frustrations, I still love the hospital. All the kids there are so adorable!

After the hospital we came home and ate a quick lunch and then spilt into 3 groups to go to 3 different high schools. My group went to Kiva Ka high school and met with a group of students during their lunch hour. We sang a few songs, played a few games, and then Kevin gave a short message.

Perhaps the best part of this trip was the conversation we had on the way there. Benon made everyone share their testimony and it was really interesting to hear everyone’s stories.

Once we got back, we had to leave immediately to take the kids from Sanyu baby’s home swimming. We got there, got assigned a kid, got our kid dressed and headed to the pool. My kid was a 2 year old named Raymond. He was absolutely adorable! He is at the stage where he is learning how to talk so he tries to repeat everything you say. It was so cute.

He wasn’t, however, a huge fan of the water. He clung to me the entire time and refused to be spun around, dipped or anything. He was shivering the entire time because all the kids had to swim naked. He also cried whenever he was splashed. We only lasted about 15 minutes.

After eating a snack and getting dressed, Raymond and I spent the rest of the time moving a red chair around the garden and waving hello and goodbye to cars and trucks.

It took us almost an hour to get back to the house in rush hour traffic, and Raymond just sat calmly with me while the rest of the babies cried. When we got back, I also got to feed him dinner. Raymond cried when I left.

I think it’s safe to say I am in love with Raymond. I’m currently working on finding a way to sneak him into my suitcase back home. Unless mom and dad, you are interested in finally getting me and Ally that little brother we asked for every Christmas growing up!

I know you’re laughing, but I’m not making a joke.

Maybe about the suitcase part.

Right now it’s only about 9 pm but I feel like it might be 2 in the morning. I am absolutely spent. Tomorrow we are getting up early to go back to the baby’s home. Felix the therapist has asked me to look at a baby with cerebral palsy and do some treatments on him, so I’m excited about going (Laura, I may need you to e-mail me some notes!).

Today’s word: Nkwangala nnyo (In quad ga la an yo) which means “I love you a lot”

Nkwangala nnyo guys,
Jenna