Last week Melanie, Sandra (another volunteer at Amani), and I had the opportunity to work along side an organization called Spring of Hope Uganda. The day started out pretty rough. Sandra and I have been sick with a bad cold for the past week or so, which is called the “flu” here. When we woke up that morning it was pouring rain, so we called and asked if it was still okay that we came along to help even though we were sick and we wanted to make sure that we were still going because of the rain. Here in Uganda, everything stops when it rains. It’s like people are allergic to the rain, so we knew finding a boda to take us to where we needed to go was going to be difficult. But, her answer was yes. We were still going rain or shine and it didn’t matter if we had a cold. So, we waterproofed everything. Mel and Sandra got their rain coats on, however, I only had a poncho to wear, so I slipped it on and over the backpack I was wearing. You can only imagine how ridiculous I looked! So, we were like great it is going to be a long walk to the taxi park if we can’t find a boda driver to take us there. Luckily, Joseph, our groundskeeper, pulled up on a boda, so we asked his driver if we could have a ride. Thankfully, he said yes! So, Sandra, Mel and I all piled on one boda. Keeping in mind that I have a poncho on, so going fast on a boda my poncho was flying in the wind like a cape. Needless to say we were all soaking wet when we got to the place we were supposed to meet. We got there and called the lady who was supposed to be meeting us there to let her know that we had made it there. When we arrived we were supposed to meet her there and then take a taxi to the final destination. There ended up being a miscommunication between us and the lady we were going with. They weren’t planning leaving until the rain had stopped. So, when I called to see where she was I was told to find shelter and wait for her because they weren’t going to be leaving until it stopped raining. After an hour and a half went by we decided to call again, and say “Sorry, we’re going back”. Because with two of us already being sick we thought it wasn’t the best idea to be standing out in the rain. But, she was just around the corner with a private car instead of a busy taxi. So, we decided to go still. We got in the car and drove for a while to her office. We then got out of our private car and got into a private taxi, which was very nice because a taxi here is a 15 passenger van, but they cram as many people as possible into one. They will even pile live chickens in the taxi as well. We arrived at the clinic late because of the rain delays. We would normally arrive around 9 or 10AM, but we didn’t arrive until almost 12:30PM. We pulled up and hundreds of patients were waiting to be seen by the doctor and receive the medications they needed. So, we got started right away. We spent the next 5 hours counting multiples of 33 pills of various different medications into separate baggies for the patients. After seeing the doctor, the patients would, one by one, pick up the proper medications that they needed. We handed out medications to about 150 people that day. Most of the medications we were handing out were for patients with Epilepsy. It was a very humbling experience to be able to hand a child medications that would potentially save their life and prevent deadly seizures. At the end of the day we were so happy that we did not back out at the last minute because despite the rough start to our day we thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity of working with SOH and with the amount of people that came to the clinic, they really needed our help. SOH is such a wonderful ministry and we can’t wait to work with them again!
Above is a picture of the clinic.
Above is a picture of us getting to be pharmacists for a day!
Please, pray a blessing on this ministry. It has blessed us and blessed so many others and saved so many lives! Also, please, pray that God will bring a car to SOH. They are in desperate need of a car to better meet the needs of their ministry.
A little background info on S.O.H:
Spring of Hope is a community-based rehabilitation non- profit organization for children with disabilities in local communities of Uganda. We currently work with 500 children and their families in the areas of education, physiotherapy, medical, sensitization and income generating projects. Our aim is to see that these children are able to reach their true potential. Before the work of Spring of Hope began disabled children were being abused, locked away and tied up due to the stigma of having a child who is disabled.
Blessings,
Megan & Melanie
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