This was our first meeting of the Kiyanja group. Each Thursday afternoon at 4pm (8am CST) we are meeting to share Bible Stories. Our first meeting we had about 15 adults and they were really excited about us coming. This was the area I asked you all to lift up in my last update about the possibility of starting a group, and God really opened the doors. One of our patients, Safina, a former Muslim accepted Christ one day when some other believers came to her house to visit her. They said they would come back and take her to church, but they never did. She stopped going to the mosque, but didn't know where to "pray from" now. So we took this as an open door and started a fellowship near her hom;. so far she has been attending. Please continue to lift up this group along with Safina.

Medical Clinic in the village...

This is Nakinombe Baptist Church in a village about an hour outisde Mbarara. A couple weekends ago we hosted a medical clinic as an outreach for this church. We were able to provide free treatment for basic sicknesses for over 500 people, all Praise to Him!! It was really hard seeing some of the children who were so sick from common illnesses that could be treated so easily in America. I could tell you many stories, but let me tell you one..... I triaged a lady with a very sick little baby that was paper-white and struggling to breath. Her temperature was 40 degrees Celsius (like 105 F)! We immediately got her back to see the doctor who told her that she needed to get the baby to Mbarara immediately for a blood tranfusion (the baby was extremely anemic from malaria). The woman had no money for transport but we were able to help her, so she left for the hour trip to Mbarara. Later that night after we had closed the clinic for the day the same woman came back to us crying saying she wanted to kill herself...it was obvious that she had been drinking. Through a translator I found out that right as she handed the baby to the doctor in Mbarara the baby died. I looked on her back and saw she had her dead baby strapped to the back of her (she had no choice she had to carry the body home to the village). The woman's husband had left her and she had already had 7 children die. She had no family and no support, and she kept asking us, "why did God take another baby from me?" It's so hard to answer those questions when we look like we don't have any problems and our life is so perfect. These people have such hard lives, and while I don't know why this child died of a sickness that could have been easily treated in America, I DO know that God is in control and we can trust Him!

The team was made up of university students (both medical and non), church members, missionaries, and volunteers from the States. Even though the conditions were a bit rough....it was a great experience, and about 40 people came to know Christ in those 2 days! 

We didn't have to just triage one person at a time, but sometimes entire families! Trying to take blood pressures with screaming kids was pretty frustrating. I had never taken a blood pressure while holding a baby before, but hey whatever it takes! We noticed that some of the people started coming back again the second day to be seen. It was kind of annoying because we were already so busy, but I was reminded that some of these people may have never seen a doctor before, so you can't hardly blame them...they want healthy families as well.  

Here are some of the "pharmacists". Sam, Melinda, and Jenna. This was our pharmacy/dispensing room out of the back of a van. Thanks FBC Henderson for your donation for drugs; your contribution paid for almost half of the medicine we distributed!

One of the many precious kids we saw...look at that face!! She was scared of Debbie taking her temperature; poor thing. (picture by Pam, a volunteer). 

Here's me and Patience, my good friend. We nurses have to stick together! Patience teaches nursing at the university and is working on her master's as well. I always tell her she is the real nurse and if there was a problem we would get her!  

The ladies got to sleep in tents inside the church (i know we weren't really roughing it). Here we are trying to put up the last tent. Simon (in the mddle with the gray shirt) is the pro at pitchin' tents, thankfully. 

This is where we used the toilet for the weekend (well some of us)....I have more stories about that, but I will spare those of you with a weak stomach; just use your imagination! 

"How beautiful are the feet...." well these feet aren't too beautiful, but we did try to share His love to the people who came to the clinic. Needless to say...it was really dry out there and our feet can show you that! I haven't been that dirty in a while. Bet you can't guess which foot is mine...I'll give you two guesses! :)

Give it up for the nurses! Me, Patience, Debbie, and Evas...triaging 560 people was not easy but we stuck it out and had a lot of fun as well, of course! 

Debbie and I in our "African wear". Debbie grew up in Nigeria so Africa is home to her. It was really nice to have a friend around to experience this part of my life with me and who also knows my past life (in America)!  

"Abazungu... Abazungu". This is a sound I hear many times a day. (This is plural for white people). As I stopped the car while doing a home visit all these children ran out of the school to look at the "muzungu". It's kind of cute at first then it starts getting annoying when you hear it everyday all the time. My house is near a primary school so there are always children walking in front of my gate. When I leave in the morning or come home they stand and stare at me as I open the gate and drive in. If I wave to them they laugh and runaway..it's crazy! Sometimes they yell at me in this really high-pitched voice "muzungu, how are you". So I answer back in an equally high pitched voice "I am fine, how are you?" For some reason they think white people talk really high I guess. "How are you...I am fine" are some of the first English words Ugandans learn to speak and almost everyone can say that even if they don't speak English. The crazy thing is it is not just children who stare at me but also grown men and women. Sometimes I think men riding bicycles are going to kill themselves as they turn and stare at me while riding past! It's like come on, "yes my skin is white, don't you think I know that?" Sometimes I wish my skin wasn't a different color so I wouldn't be stared at all the time! (Just some of the day-to-day frustrations of life here in Uganda). But you gotta admit these kids are cute!

Here's Debbie (my friend I went to nursing school with who came out to visit me), Peace (words of hope counselor), Natukunda (a client), and me on a home visit. Natukunda is all dressed up getting ready to go for "burial" (as they call it)...funerals are a part of peoples everyday life here. Natukunda has allowed us to meet at her house to start a storying group. Her husband is also our client and they have 2 kids. He is a believer, but Natukunda is not although she seems to know all the right answers. Pray that she will come to know the Lord personally as we tell Bible stories at her house each Thursday afternoon. 

Meet Anna....isn't she precious. She is the youngest of the four children in the Wilks family (my new teammates). She is one of the cutest 2 year olds I have ever met. She loves to ask "what's that?" These kids love animals...they are going to have a zoo at their house before they leave! They had 3 rabbits, but unfortunately they have all died now :( 

Queen Elizabeth Game Park

Well, after 6 months of living in Afica I finally went on my first game drive when my friend Debbie came out to visit me. I know some of you guys think I live out in the bush, right? We stayed at an amazing lodge and had such a fun time! This game park is called Queen Elizabeth National Park and is about 2 1/2 hours from my house. There are all the "big" animals except giraffe at this park (and no rhino...there aren't any rhinos in Uganda). We went on an early morning game drive and here you can see the sun rising...it was really beautiful.

We were pretty lucky to get to see a lioness and several cubs...and we didnt' even see them during the game drive, but on our own as we were driving into the park! Pretty amazing, huh?

A family of elephants crossed right in front of us! Aren't the babies cute :) These people in front of us were some volunteers from Mbarara with another organization...they were crazy all running up to them trying to take pictures. Our driver got mad and told them how dangerous that was...a person was killed last month by an elephant at a game park in northern Uganda. You've gotta remember that these animals are WILD...this is no zoo!

Uganda Kobs were everywhere! They are of the antelope family....doesn't this just look like what you think of Africa?(picture by debbie) 

Here's "Pumba" right outside our room. Wart hogs were everywhere....it's really interesting how they kneel on their front legs to eat the grass. They aren't supposed to hurt people, but one came up right by us at the pool which was kind of scary...the pool attendent tried to chase it away with a stick and it almost charged at her; so much for safe! They aren't the prettiest animals but the baby ones were kind of cute.

One of the many crater lakes in this park..formed by volcanoes. A lot of salt mining takes place at these lakes now. 

The Crested Crane (Uganda's National Bird)...there are over 600 species of different birds at this game park more than any other park in Africa! (picture by debbie) 

Hyenas are weird animals. I know this picture looks "double", but it is actually 2 hyenas side by side...isn't that strange! They are on the road right in front of our car...it was hard not to think of "The Lion King" as we saw all these animals. (picture by debbie)

We took a boat ride on the Kazinga Channel and saw lots of hippos, baffalo, waterbuck, and tons of birds....i kept trying to get a picture of a hippo "yawning" but couldn't get one. Hippos are crazy...they hold their breath for like 5 minutes at a time and are some of the most vicious animals. They can actually charge at their prey at speeds of like 18mph..isn't that crazy! (picture by debbie) 

Our night ended with entertainment by traditional dancers and a full course meal...I hadn't been pampered like that in a while...it was like being back in the States! (sort of...I mean we were out in the middle of nowhere with wild animals, but hey) 

Bet this has never happened to you....

Tonight I went out to a village where we are doing some Bible Storying with another missionary, his 12 year old son, a male volunteer from the States, and my friend Debbie who is here visiting. Things started as usual...we were the first ones there. So we waited under the mango tree where we meet for others to arrive. Slowly they came...we greeted them and asked them how they were as best we could in Runyankore. But we happened to get a little more imformation than we had wanted (or at least the guys) when we asked a lady (actually one of our AIDS patients) how she was. I heard her speaking in Runyankore then I looked over to find her raising her shirt showing us her breast where she had been bitten by an insect of some sort. Pretty sure there where at least 15 people around. Bet you haven't had that happen in your Bible studies or Church meetings before!! I didn't even look at the guys faces and poor Jared, the 12 yr. old...he was probably about to die! But that is just another one of those cultural things...breasts are just a part of the body here...like a leg or your arm. Women breastfeed in public (and they don't try to do it descretely either), and when you are seeing patients in the hospital or clinic they begin undressing even if you don't need them too. It's so strange cause back in the states in nursing school we are taught to take every messure to ensure a patient's privacy...here they are like, "who cares it's just our body". No such thing as modesty here! Thought you might enjoy reading about another one of those fun cultural adjustments for me. I sure hope poor Jared isn't scarred for life!