Dearest Everyone,
If I could put into words the feeling you get when you return home after a very long journey… the wellness of soul, the deep sense of comfort… that’s exactly how we feel right now. There have already been too many adventures to put into an email, so we’ll give you a few of our favorites.
This trip is so different than our last. We were the only ones here the last time, except when Jeff and Jared were with us, but now at our house we’re living with Shane, and her adopted daughter Jesca, and two other guys Jeremy and Ian. Soon our friends Brianna, Julie, and some of Julie’s family will be coming to stay. Not to mention the other house that we’ve rented just up the hill where all the other volunteer teams are staying. There are tons of people everywhere working on newly developed programs, and projects, and it’s been a bit overwhelming going from this experience alone, to this experience with so many other people. But we love it all the same, we’re getting a lot done with so much man power!
Yesterday, a team from Oklahoma University left, and today an Inner-varsity team (Navs east coast style) from some east coast schools are coming in, and doing some work with us for a week. It’s been crazy doing all the prep work for the teams, turning over the houses, setting up the rooms, and making schedules, and checklists for what all needs to get done at the kids house, in the slums, for our hospital outreach, and around the church.
Sue and I were just thrown right back into the swing of things running errands around the crazy streets of Kampala, using all the lingo, and finding our way around the city, it all remarkably came back to us. We feel relatively useful right now, which is also different than how we felt last time, because we have tangible things to do everyday, and we’re always busy, and have a program. So much has changed in the development of all our projects, and it’s part of our job to keep them running.
All the kids remembered us right away, which felt really good, and their English has gotten so much better, so we’re able to communicate more effectively. Their new house is farther away, but so incredible, there’s a yard where they can play, and enough bedrooms, and beds for all of them. They’re getting medicated for malaria, and infections, and there are more house-moms, and house-dad’s that are able to give each kid more attention. All the kids look so healthy, and they’re happy! It feels so good to be back, we can’t even say it enough.
So two nights ago, it was the OU team’s last night, and they all went to prayer mountain to debrief with all the leaders (Ugandan and American) about their trip. Susan and I were exhausted, so we weren’t going to go, but as the team and everyone left, we found out that one of the previous house-mom’s, Linda, had fallen sick with malaria at boarding school, and was having really bad convulsions, so her headmaster was sending her to a clinic. Susan and I immediately wanted to go, and help in whatever way we could, so with our new friends, Phil, Brad, and Mike (three guys that are staying here doing various projects with CLD, and other things around the city) we went to the Namungona clinic a few towns away from us.
I don’t know if you remember our bath time story from last year, but Linda was the house-mom that washed all the kids. We waited for her to arrive at the bottom of the steep hill that led to the clinic. I sometimes wonder what all the Ugandans must think when they stare us in the eyes as they walk past. We got to know our three new friends better in the hour it took for Linda to get there, and then walked in pitch darkness up the winding puddled hill to the clinic. I don’t think we forgot what it was like to be in an African clinic, I think it’s that we just decide not to think about it too often, but returning brought back our feelings of helplessness, and disgust. We sat with no other option than to look at the deformed and diseased men, women, and children that lined the walls, and rooms of the clinic. There were un-sheeted dirty mattresses with no pillows, some patients with visiting family would bring them some comforts from their homes, but some weren’t so lucky, and laid in the fetal position shaking alone from a common cold that got out of hand. Linda was continuously convulsing, and Susan and I took spots on her hospital bed rubbing her back, and stroking her feet. The very informal looking doctor came to do an evaluation and had a nurse hook her up to a drip, and she stopped violently shaking enough to recognize us, and tried to give us hugs. Mike went to go get her blankets and pillows from his house, while we spent some time with Linda. We were now leaning against the white wall, a breeze drifting through the hole designed bricks near the ceiling. It was a bit chilly, and as my goosebumps began to form, I tried to take it all in, and sort through the ambivalent feelings developing. I looked at the sick faces in the room we were in, wishing that I could do something, and knowing that I couldn’t. And that’s when it hit me… is it really that I can’t do anything? Or is it that I’m lazy, and at the heart of it, I don’t want to do what it takes to actually help the hurting strangers I walk past everyday. Could we have gone home and gotten blankets for those that had none, could we decide to spend the night with Linda, and others who had no family, could we have paid a few more medical bills, and ensured proper attention from the nurses and doctors? And the answer is yes, but we didn’t…
It’s a lot to balance, with where we pour out all our efforts and money, and trying to decide where we’re going to do the most sustainable good. I stared down at the torn up, patchy yellow floor revealing the red crumbling foundation below it, and I really hope I am not like the floor, with a crumbling foundation beneath some cheap paint. And time will tell, because the choice is ours what we’re going to do with each day.
We are so glad to be back learning, and living life with people who have greater hearts than I have words to describe them. We hope all of you are doing so well, send us news!
Nicole and Susie
