Where's 911 when you need it?

I don't think a month can go by without me posting a story involving my car. This past Friday night I was coming from my teammates, the Wilks', house with their oldest daughter, Emily. We were then going to my Ugandan friend, Patience's house to pick her up to go to aerobics in town. Traffic was moving slowly because there was a large truck with matooke (the green bananas they eat here) a few cars in front of me. We eventually came to a dead stop while this truck was going over speed bumps (there are speed bumps every 2 ft in town here). Emily and I were talking about what movie we should watch after aerobics when all of a sudden...BAMMM! Oh yeah, pretty sure a Toyota van (these are the taxis here) plowed into the back of me! I quickly pulled to the side of the road and surprisingly the taxi also pulled over. The driver and two men got out and came to my window. I tried to act really confident and say, "Baseebo (sirs) what happened?" The one who spoke the most English said, "the car was not able to stop." I said, "so you were not paying attention?" They didn't really say anything so I got out of my car and went to look at the damage that had been done (there is a picture below you can see). These men didn't just have trouble stopping....they weren't even trying to stop I don't think! Our necks were jerked back pretty hard and a good bit of force caused this dent. I asked what they were going to do about this and didn't really say anything. Unfortunately we can't just call 911 here, there's no such thing.  

So I got on the phone to call Dr. Pepper my supervisor. Dr. Pepper said to try to write down their driver's license and information and then try to get 50,000 Ugandan shillings out of them. Well, when I asked to see their license they said they 'left it at home' a.k.a. they don't have one. They thought 50,000 was too much and asked where I lived so we could go to my residence and talk about this...WHAT?! Yeah like I am going to bring 3 men to my house. Dr. Pepper called me back and said he was on his way. By this time it was becoming dark outside and a few other men were stopping to see what was going on. Dr. Pepper pulls up and I tell Emily to stay inside the car with the doors locked. Larry has his camera and immediately starts taking pictures of my car and the other car. He can be a pretty intimidating guy (not because of his size, but because of his demeanor). He then begins to try to take a picture of the man who was driving 'illegally'. The guy gets scared and tries to hide his face, so Larry grabs him and continues trying to take his picture. All the other men who were crowded around begin raising their voices and talking in Runyankore. I felt like we were on the TV show 'COPS' or something. 

The men refuse to pay any money or show proof of their driving information so Larry says we are going to the police station. The men 'agreed' to come and we all got into our cars to go just as it began to rain. I was leading and then I saw that they turned down a dirt road and Larry followed them. I waited a couple minutes then called Larry. I heard his car horn blaring in the background....he was CHASING THEM! Hey when you can't call the police....YOU become the police. I went to the police station to wait. By this time it was pouring down rain, just like a movie or something. I finally get a call from Larry and he said he chased them to the other side of town. They drove to a bakery apparently where they work (how dumb is that?). So Larry talked with their boss and was able to document what happened and they paid the 50,000 sh we were asking for so we decided not to turn it into the police....like that would have really done any good anyways. I still cannot believe Larry chased down these guys! Just another crazy story from my life here. But seriously praise the Lord we were ok and nothing worse happened. Safety is a constant prayer request for life here. Everyday I get behind the wheel and make it home safely is a miracle!

The dented 'Rav'. Thankfully my taillights weren't broken and the 'trunk' door still works. I don't think 50,000 ugandan shillings (the equivilent of about $30) is going to doing anything though for the amount of body work it will need! 

3rd World Healthcare...

Today after a long day of home visits I was coming home to do some things when I got a phone call from Evas, the Ugandan nurse I work with in Words of Hope. She told me that one of our patient's family members had called us to tell her that our patient was very sick and vomiting with high fever. We had just seen the patient the day before and Evas was afraid it might be cerebral meningitis. So I knew I needed to help transport this patient to the hospital or else she may not get there since transport is expensive and she was too weak to walk. 

When we got her there we found many people waiting at the Medical Ward to be seen by the admitting doctor. It's hard to explain how they do things here in the hospital. A new patient doesn't come through the ER or admitting like they would in America. Based on their symptoms they go to the ward they think they would be admitted on and wait to see the admitting doctor who then assesses the patient and decides whether they will be admitted or not (that is if it is after 5pm, before 5 they go through the outpatient department). There is no nurse 'triaging' on the medical ward... there is just a bench where patients sit or a floor where the ones who are really sick lie down in a dark corridor and wait to be seen. I asked why it was so dark and I was told that the light bulbs were 'finished'! Can't just call 'maintenance' to come and fix it and who knows when it will ever get fixed.

By the looks of the line today I knew we were going to be waiting a while. Even though I am on the wards frequently I stood and watched this 'system of healthcare' shaking my head. A 14 yr old girl came in who was lethargic...she couldn't even hold her head up without her mother's help (every patient here has to have an 'attendant' when they come to the hospital who bathes the patient, cooks for them, helps them to the bathroom etc. because there are sometimes 2 nurses for as many as 60 patients...how's that for patient load!) We found out that this girl had overdosed on phenobarbital! I asked Evas, "doesn't this patient need to go to the Emergency ward?" She said 'no poisonings come here to medical'. I watched as this girl vomited outside in the gutter...I tried to stay near her because I was scared she might stop breathing. I tried to talk to the other health care workers and get her to be seen, but one of the intern doctors examined her and said, "ah what do we do? It will eventually wear off!" Uh, yeah I guess it will if she doesn't die first! I asked if they would do gastric lavage and they said maybe. The intern left and I found a wheelchair for her to sit in and to wait in the line again. 

The sad thing is because the patient Evas and I brought in 'had connections' (Evas is a nurse on the ward, people know me with the AIDs clinic plus I'm white) we found a doctor to come and see her quicker while this poor girl who had overdosed had to wait. No one asked why this 14 year old had taken too many pills and I'm sure there won't be any kind of 'psych consult'. Even after our patient had been seen and admitted and an IV of quinine was started (diagnosis probable malaria) this poor lethargic girl was still waiting. Who knows what will happen to her. A day at the hospital here definitely makes me appreciative for our healthcare back home. We are so blessed! Just thought I would give you a glimpse into what 3rd-world healthcare is like and this is just one of many stories!

This is one of the large mosques here in town. Islam is growing here and many of the patients I visit are muslim. This past Thursday we visited a patient, Aishah, who was a muslim. Aishah said that she was raised protestant but married a muslim and then coverted to Islam. Many of the muslims here don't really know what they believe. Because 'religion' is such a part of African culture most people know about Jesus. Many muslims will say that they believe Jesus is God's son, and think that Allah is the same 'god'. They can't even really tell us what they believe...all they know is that they pray five times a day with the call of the mosque and hope that in the end they will have eternal life because they have followed their religion. Aishah's husband has now passed away; however she still practices Islam. After sharing the Truth with her, Aishah said (through a translator)...."so now when we are praying, we are doing nothing?" And as sad as it is we told her, "Yes"...Jesus is muhanda (the way), n'amazima (the truth), n'amagara (and the life) no one comes to the Father except through him. After reading more scripture Aishah said she accepted this truth and prayed to receive Christ as her savior! Her neighbor who is also our client is saved and Aishah says she will 'pray with her' this week. Praise God!

Please remember Aishah as she begins her new life in Christ. Ask that she would find a church that teaches the Bible and find fellowship with other believers. I have been wanting to start some 'work' in this area that is strongly muslim and this just may be the open door. Please ask that God would guide us as we look into this possibility.