I have sweated an inconceivable amount today; it is the rainy season yet so incredibly hot! (Thank God it poured last night so that the crops we have planted may survive to feed our children.) The shower I took last night was a complete waste; I had showered after returning from town only to go on an impromptu run, after this run I was feeling lazy and did not want to shower again so I asked, “so if I showered before I went on my run, do I have to shower again? I mean can’t we just go with I have clean sweat right now?” My thought process was voted off the island and I took a pointless extra shower. I got to take that extra shower and go to bed feeling clean, the people I visited today will never have that feeling as they sleep in filth and bathe periodically in dirty water from the side of the road.
Let’s back track, I had to finish my shopping in Jinja today as I can only withdraw 1,000,000 UGX every 24 hours. Today I paid off my debt for the food (1,494,000 UGX) and bought enough medicine (786,000 UGX) to cover the 51 people I would be bringing to our clinic. I had to take this journey alone with Papa Isaac since Morgan had to teach at school and Leah was craving some time in the clinic. This meant that after my business was complete I had to travel back to Buziika alone since Papa had to stay in town. I definitely felt like a champion as I bartered my boda boda price in Luganda and got a pretty great deal. I then hoped on how a real Africa woman in a skirt would… side saddle, while clutching my big bag that held the plastic bags I would be dividing the food in to. The boda boda has become so completely normal to use as my only form of motorized transportation, I believe I may feel claustrophobic in a car now. As we swerved down the rode to miss the massive potholes and other oncoming traffic I stared at the view and could not believe how this place has come to feel like home in such a short period of time and how it brings me joy daily. I almost fell off the boda boda when we passed the “ice cream truck” that plays Christmas jingles as it goes by. This is because I was on the verge of hysterics as I saw that it was actually a boda boda with an orange Gatorade cooler strapped to the back, and today it’s jingle was the Titanic theme song. I love these people and I love this place!
That ride to town was hot, the ride back to home was baking then sitting in the canteen dividing the food into separate bags with Josephine and Anna was sweltering. There was no hope of me NOT dripping in sweat while I tied knots on the bags that my two generous, loving friends filled. We worked quickly to fill as many as we could before Pastor Isaac came to collect the bags and me so we could start our trek. I had no time to shower before distributing my food and in my silly vanity I felt a mess for looking the way I did… I am disappointed in my vanity especially after being amongst the people I fed. We loaded up a boda boda with food for our first home cell, he would meet us at each house as Morgan, Pastor Isaac, the home cell leader (Sandy), and I would trek miles to.
How do I put into words what I saw and smelled this afternoon. The smell of rot and sometimes manure coming out of the doorway of each hut we visited. Children running around with no shoes and swollen feet. Ringworm making a young boys head appear ash gray. A woman who planned on splitting one hard-boiled egg between herself and 6 children for dinner tonight. We made a total of 8 stops in Butema A, 7 were so that we could provide food and 1 was to let a very sick man know that the funds we have raised would be covering his medication at our clinic. We provided each family with rice, posho, beans, salt, sugar and soap and told the head of the house that my fund raising would be able to cover only their medical expenses. My rationale for this is as follows, if we feed the sick who truly are trying to provide for their families but cannot due to a treatable illness we can help give them the strength to fight the infection plus we will provide them with medicine so they may heal and be able to get back to work to make the necessary money to feed their family. Most of the people were speechless when they received these gifts, they quietly let us know they did not plan on eating dinner tonight and we had answered a prayer they had no hope was actually heard. I was almost brought to tears on our last visit when the woman made such a fuss telling us that God see’s this and we deserve blessings beyond belief… I have already been blessed, I do not deserve more, I pray my “extra” blessings will go towards these people who have nothing. We also made sure each person had a way to get to our clinic the next day to receive the medication I had bought today; if they did not, I covered their transportation cost. I keep saying I when it is not actually me who did this, it is my family and friends who have donated so that I could buy what was needed. I am so blessed to have so many beautiful hearts in my life. I was so blessed to have Morgan along side me taking notes and helping me brainstorm further plans and ideas. Morgan’s main fundraising has gone to building the children at our school a shelter to eat in. No matter the differences in our tasks and fund raising here, the three of us are together in our love for this place and desire to do whatever we can to help them rise above.
We all need sheltering trees
Gypsy RN
