Our Volunteer Effort

I suppose my trip wouldn’t have been quite as complete without visiting a local health clinic and the International Hospital in Kampala. That’s what ended up happening on Thursday. Let me preface the story by saying how wonderful all the people at Chain are and how caring they were to me these past few days. Not once did I feel like a visitor or a volunteer; I felt like family. They took off work, comforted me, stayed with me and made sure I was okay. I couldn’t ask for better friends.

As I previously said, I felt very sick Wed night. I ended up vomiting all night long, twice an hour, and until the next day. I didn’t sleep at all and I had some fever and a headache but mostly stomach pain. At 8am Sula, an employee and driver at Chain, took me to a local Mukono health clinic and Juliet, Chain’s nurse, went along with me. She had to help me walk in because I had no energy to hold myself up. They checked me in rather quickly and then I waited for the lab to draw blood to run tests. They thought I might have Malaria and/or E-coli or some other bacteria. (It’s not Malaria, it ended up being some type of bacteria from something I ate.)

Juliet, nurse at Chain

The waiting area for the lab was an uneven, wooden bench outside. I say outside and I mean just that–out on the dirt ground with the grass and trees in front of me. Unfortunately, the bathroom was a latrine (hole in the ground) located up a pretty steep hill out in back. Not the best news for someone in my particular condition! Juliet had to walk me up the hill so I could use the bathroom and after that one experience, I pretty much crossed my fingers that I wouldn’t have to go again.

I waited on a wooden bench inside a narrow hallway with Juliet until the lab results came back. Then I was given a room with a bed. There was no pillow, no lights, no running water to wash anything, and no trashcan or receptacle. I had to give Juliet money to go buy a bucket for me to throw up in. I know this is gross. Sorry. But can you imagine going to the hospital in the states and having to go buy your own trashcan for your room? No, you can’t imagine that because it would NEVER happen!

They finally hooked me up to an IV and gave me 2 bags of fluids. I was pretty dehydrated so it was challenging for them to get a vein going for the IV but they did. Then, they gave me pills for my nausea. All I could think was, “Why would they think that would help?” Of course I threw them up minutes after taking them. I threw everything up that I drank and tried to eat there. They also gave me a shot for fever or something and more pills. At one point, they gave me 5 pills to take and I remember just looking at the nurse and thinking, “are you serious?” They were very positive thinkers though because they would say, “you’re going to be okay, it’s going to be okay” over and over. I felt like I had to take the pills and be sick so they would see that giving me pills wasn’t actually working.

As the sun began to go down, a new doctor came in and ordered a light bulb for my room. Shortly after the bulb was installed, it was dark outside and the lights went out. It was pitch black and I didn’t have my flashlight with me. I had nothing with me, actually. Bridget had brought me a pillow and a mosquito net and she stayed with me all day. (She is a wonderful person and was so sweet to me. At one point, I told Bridget I was sorry she was missing work and she said, “No! You are more important than work.” Of course, that just made me cry.) Anyway, the lights are out, they get the generator working and then the lights strobe for about 2 ½ minutes and go out again. They do not come back on for a while.

Sula, Stone, Dorothy & Bridget at a Mukono Clinic

Stone comes up with others from Chain and realizes that the attendees seem to have left and no one is caring for me at this point. It’s about 9pm and I’m still vomiting, although there’s no food left in my stomach. We get to the hospital and they give me 2 more bags of fluids, an antibiotic and anti-nausea medicine through the IV and I finally sleep a bit. Trudy was so kind to come up and stay with me so Stone and Bridget and the rest could go home and sleep. The treatment was over at 2am so Trudy checked me out and we got 2 small rooms at a place nearby. I slept finally and stopped vomiting.

In the hospital with my Doctor in Kampala

We got up at 9am and I managed to eat breakfast and keep it down. I bought some food at a store and got a ride back to Mukono. I have been in this bed at the orphanage ever since and it’s been disappointing to me to end my visit like this. I know I can’t help it and it’s just life but still. I wish it hadn’t happened. I did manage to have my driver stop and buy pineapple for all the kids here at the orphanage so, this afternoon, some older girl students came to check on me and we went to cut it all up. We’ll serve it at supper and it will be a real treat for the kids.

Josephine and others preparing pineapple

I also sat with these girls for awhile and took short bios of about 6 students that live here so I’ll post those soon. They all wanted their picture taken and were happy to talk about themselves. Thanks to Joseph for burning me some movies before I left on this trip because I’ve watched them while stuck in this room. I am eating but only a little and I get so tired when I walk. Mostly, I just need to get better so traveling home won’t be too bad. I hope to feel much better in the morning so I can spend time with the kids before I leave for Kampala in the afternoon.

Daphine helping cut pineapple

I woke up today from a dream where I had gone home to Austin, washed all my clothes, and packed to return to Uganda.  My friend Bo was saying, “Hurry up, you’re going to miss your flight!”  That’s when I woke up.  I suppose coming back to Uganda has been on my mind for a while now.

Today is the first day I felt sick.  I had a bad headache and no energy and felt like I would faint all day.  I think it was due to hunger.  I have been eating portia and beans for the past few meals and its nothing.  It’s a filler and like, 15 beans.  I had a pbj for breakfast but I don’t really have any other food here.  They said they’d feed me but they meant, portia and beans.  That’s what the kids eat for every meal.  Except they have porridge for breakfast which is portia with water and a little milk in it.  Terrible, actually, but if I added sugar I could stand it.  However, I can’t drink milk.

We had another class in the library today for check-out and it was more challenging than yesterday because they were older and less attentive.  We successfully checked out books to everyone and I saw students reading their books during break time and lunch so, I know they are happy to have them.  I made a few posters after that and then had to take some Tylenol and a short nap because I felt so bad.

I woke up all sweaty and realized I had to eat something more substantive so, I went to town with Christine, a German volunteer here, and we had chicken and chips (fries) and I drank 2 Cokes, just for the energy boost!   I felt immediately better but as I sit here huddled in my mosquito-netted bed, I feel sick again; just really tired, achy, hot and sick to my stomach.  I’ve been fine this entire trip and I’m sure I don’t have anything bad.  I think perhaps fatigue is setting in and I’m not eating enough protein, etc.  I’m sure I’ll feel better in the morning.

It’s amazing at this orphanage.  You would cry if you were here because it’s joyful and it’s also extremely sad at the same time.  Just the food part is enough to make you feel depressed for these kids.  Throw in that they have very little free time, sit in a hot class with 50 other kids and a teacher that’s allowed to cane them if they’re bad or if they don’t learn quick enough, and they either don’t have a family or they are away from their family for one reason or another.  Some kids here are from the slums and some from the streets.  It’s great that they have a place to live and get fed, however little, but it’s still not something that’s easy to witness each day.  It’s one thing to visit for an hour or so and leave feeling sad because then you become busy with something else.  It’s another to wake up and go to sleep here and see all aspects of life here.

I don’t know how I’ll go back to Austin and care about some of the things I normally care about.  Like, for one, how I look.  No one here cares how you look, what your size is, what you’re wearing, etc.  It’s been a wonderful, relaxing time just existing in a natural state.  Also, I don’t feel stressed out here like I get sometimes at home.  Even though everything is super slow and sometimes not working or not possible, it’s still okay here.  People don’t get bent out of shape over things.  (Now, the drawback is very little progress is made here because of that.  Improvements to systems and organization are not a high priority.)

At home, every little thing seems to matter.  I mean, not everything but you know.  You have to be on time everywhere and you have to be ready for anything & everything, all the time. Just think if the electricity went out for half a day, 3-4 days a week. People would have a real problem with that back home. Here, it’s way laid back.  And, honestly, you’re thinking about your next meal lots of the times (even me, lately!) or the work that needs to be done.  You’re not even considering world issues or even discussing them.  Everyone else seems so far away that you forget that anything exists but Uganda.

I’ve enjoyed everything about being here though and I’m especially glad that I have the chance to stay at this orphanage/school for the last week.  It’s giving me a completely different experience and it’s allowing me to gain a better understanding of life in Uganda and “ways” of the Ugandan people.

Tonight after supper (portia and beans), I went to Auntie Margaret’s house where the blind students (we call them VIPs here so, I will use that term from now on) gather for preps (homework). Monday night I had visited and students were outside using Braille machines to do their work. Tonight, they were practicing their songs. Auntie Margaret teaches the VIPs and she’s a VIP herself so she’s an excellent model for the children. She cooks and cleans and takes a boda-boda to Kampala when she needs to-all herself. She also writes most of the songs the VIPs play and sing.

Nathan, an older VIP, is one of the most talented musicians I’ve ever met (and I have lots of friends who are musicians). He has some vision but not much. He plays guitar, sings, and plays a drum like no one I’ve ever seen! His hands moved so fast on the drum it was like lightening. It was incredible. He’s a leader of the VIPs along with Brenda, who sings and leads the songs. She’ll sing out the line and everyone will repeat it or respond with a different line. I have never seen anything like this group of about 22 students, leading themselves in song and dance. Oh, and we were all in the front room of this house, totally crowded and hot but having the time of our lives.

They call me Auntie Jenny here and when I arrived at Margaret’s, the kids started singing even louder and jumping up and down. Monday night they had asked me to come again and I guess perhaps they were waiting on me. I sat and watched them and felt so much joy I can’t tell you. I felt that combination of joy and sadness. But these kids only have joy. They are competent and confident and have no use for pity.

A couple songs later, I joined them in dancing and jumping around and it was the best night I’ve had in Uganda yet! It was kind of what I had hoped I would experience while here-the celebration of just being alive and being together. It was beautiful. A little while later, Auntie Margaret came in and led the students in some poems she had taught them. One student would say, “I am glad that God made me blind because I…” and they would give a reason why they were glad. As soon as that student would finish, another would begin saying the same thing and giving their reason.

They spoke with such conviction that I couldn’t help but feel inspired. These children were grateful for being alive, having the Chain Foundation to support them, and for having the ability to do things themselves. Now, I’m grateful for many things. But rarely am I grateful for something that has made my life more difficult (like being blind would). However these children don’t think of it like that and that reminds me to change my thinking about difficulties I may have.

By the time our night was over, we were all sweaty and tired from dancing and singing. I said goodnight and sweet dreams to everyone, probably twice!, and then headed to my room up the hill. Again, it was the best night I’ve had here. I took a cold shower (the only kind here!) and ended up falling asleep with this computer on my lap. I was totally exhausted but it had been a wonderful day!

[View with PicLens]