Notes from: April 13, 2012

It felt like a very productive day. 

Timothy, Sharon, Dr. Philip

Arrangements were made with the surgeon, Dr. Philip and the anesthetist, to do Sharon’s surgery on Monday.  She will come into the clinic Sunday for preparations.  Dr. Philip is still getting back to me with the price.  Little anxious about this.  I have no idea what is a reasonable price.  Some might say any price is reasonable if it saves Sharon’s life.  As we discussed the plan with Dr. Philip, the anesthetist, and Timothy Dr. Philip inadvertently remarked on the size of Timothy’s feet.  Now, Timothy has monstrous feet to be sure but transitioning from how to find safe blood for the surgery to this observation jarred me a bit but all of us laughed from a deep place of amusement.  I asked Timothy what size his feet were and he said 12.  I put mine, which are 11, next to his and they passed mine by a country mile.

Incidentally, Timothy got a hold of my iphone and I had him listen to some music with the earphones.  That really did it for him.  Keep in mind this fellow is probably 6’4, 280 lbs, with massive hands and feet now visualize him with the iphone marveling at how clear the sound is, swaying to the music, and then…singing along.  Of course, like most of us when listening to earphones, he had no idea that he was singing, and then providing commentary on the songs, at a volume that carried deep into the recesses of the clinic.  He then had Sharon listening along.  Because Timothy is a Pastor and has no trouble breaking into a sermon he took the chance to translate the lugandan song that he was listening to.  Evidently the song was about Lion of Judah, fire from heaven, and God’s power.  Such fodder for the beaming Timothy.      

Sharon's Dad, Sharon, Timothy

After this I met with an engineer and we went out to the Railways community, known as, 'loco', to visit the site for the proposed latrine.  Just to back up a bit, the Railways is a 'slum' by the water in Jinja.  It is the old barracks of railway workers so it has long blocks with probably a hundred individual units about 10x10 which serve as 'home' for families.  Most families have a mom and dad and at least 3-4 children.  People rent these units from the Ugandan Railways for 15 000 schillings per month ($6) and many families have difficulty making their rent.  Many people here are displaced from other parts of Uganda.  Some came because of the unrest in the north.  Some came to escape the poverty of living in villages only to find a more difficult life in the city.  Some came fleeing the Karamajong (lawless primitive bandits) in the east.  There is rampant alcoholism, domestic violence, and despair evident in the community. Nonetheless, the place grows on you and there are plenty of shining jewels in this battered place, including several hundred children and some young women determined to live a different life.

The community has no functioning latrine which means that the risk of spreading fecal oral diseases, especially now in the rainy season, is very high.  It is one thing to step around manure or droppings from goats or even from dogs but trying to steer clear of human excrement is very disturbing.  There is one latrine that is full that we think we can empty and refurbish to make functional again.  On the other end of the community we are hoping to build a new latrine.  We are having a community meeting on Sunday to discuss this project but mostly to get some 'buy in' regarding the proper use and maintenance of the latrine.  Without this we might end up with another full and broken down latrine in 6 months and be in the same position if the community does not feel responsible for the cleaning and emptying.  This will mean each household will have to contribute toward the costs associated with this.  It is very unsettling to sense a dependent mindset.  I have been bolstered in my resolve to try and address this by other ugandans who know that to consistently expect help to come from outside leads to a feeling of powerlessness and loss of ambition.  It is something that we all deal with in various ways but we know that when we own something we tend to take care of it in a way that we simply cannot if it has been given to us without effort on our part. 

The whole project is an exercise in community development and working on the attitudes of the people regarding their health and well being.  But today was a great day in terms of meeting and mobilizing people of influence.  We have the Local Chairman-Boniface, City Councilor-Paul, Health Inspector-Chris, Public Health Manager-Wilberforce, LC3 Councilor-Allen (a woman), and a public health counsellor-Samson all on board for a meeting with the community Sunday. The Health Officers and politicians are fully supportive of the project and have been lobbying their government for some time to gets funds to do this. 

So just wanted to give an update on this aspect of my time here.