We are off and running with our eye clinics in Uganda.
Our team arrived in Uganda at 4:00 am on
Monday morning. We slept a while and
then went to Wentz Medical Center to start packing our trunks and ordering our
medications for our 6 eye clinics. We spent
Tuesday visiting some friends in the Kampala area. You might remember Nakiganda
and Tendo. They were some of our “that
one person” (TOP) friends that Due Unto Others supporters helped to get medical
care in 2012. Tendo is now about to turn
13, is in 6th grade, and is doing well in school and physically. Tendo came with us for the day and told Jayne
that she was “more active before”.
Nakiganda, now 14, seems to be doing well. She has grown and seems to understand and
communicate much better than she did in the past. She is in top class, which is like pre-k in
the US.
We also got to spend a couple of evenings with Jamil. Jamil is busy preparing for his primary school leaving exams. He will get to join us for more time in the
latter part of our trip.
The bus was loaded and the Due Unto Others team of 2019 headed
out to Mbarara on Wednesday to start our clinics.
On Thursday and Friday we hosted eye clinics in
Rushere. We had been to Rushere in 2012
and 2013, but we have not been back since that time. On our initial trip to Rushere, the church
was just a frame in the middle of an open field and was partially roofed. We stayed in guest rooms around a bar and we
took care of a boy named David. On our second
trip to Rushere, the church was completed, and we were introduced to Kevin, a
boy with severe burns. On that trip, we
stayed in a guest house near the hospital.
This guest house was at the top of a hill and with the relative lack of
lights, we saw some of the most spectacular stars.
Now, in 2019, the church building has doubled in size, they
have added 2 school buildings and have dug the footing of a large sanctuary
that they plan to build over the next year.
It is currently a school holiday here in Uganda, but on a regular school
day, the school educates more than 100 students.
On day 1 in Rushere, we saw 150 patients for eye treatment. Through this first Rushere clinic, we were
also able to experience 12 people accept Christ and 16 patients were signed up
for operations. We also gave out many pair of reading glasses, primarily to the
aging patients that could no longer read or do things up close.
The Rushere church helped us with great
translators and a nurse. On day 2 of the
Rushere clinic, we saw 110 patients and added 5 salvations and 8 surgery
candidates.
In preparation for this year’s trip, we had gathered some
sport coats and suits to bring with us.
I gave 3 sport coats and one suit to Pastor Herbert in Rushere. I asked him to give them away as he deemed
appropriate. I did not realize that the
3 gentleman that had been manning our “spiritual care” clinic were local
pastors. One from the church we were
working in and 2 from other nearby churches.
He gave the sport coats to them and they were giddy with excitement. It was more than a little warm in the church
as we finished the day, but they kept the coats on their body and a smile on
their face. I randomly picked out the
coats and suits from our duffle bag, but they all seemed to fit perfectly. This was one of the highlights of the
day. Many of the suits belonged to my grandfather, Jack Gregston, and this made it all the sweeter.
We have a day off on Saturday and plan to attend Ishaka
Community Church on Sunday. Ishaka will
be the site of our clinic on Monday.
Please continue to keep our team in your prayers. We are anticipating great things in all that
we DUE.
Whatever you DUE!
1 Chorinthians 10:31
Jay
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