Adventure Missions

Yes kids, the lions did eat people.

Today was one of the most adventurous and wild days that we’ve had here in Uganda.  It started out simple enough with a short Sunday school lesson by Jaklin and me for the little kids at the nursery school – I’m sure Daniel and the Lion’s Den on felt board has never been so real.  We fielded many questions from 3 year olds about lions eating people. Katie went over hygiene with the kids and Scott and Georgianna did some field day activities. Then we had a late breakfast at Pastor Steven’s house (No adventure meats this morning, but we’ve dubbed Pastor Steven, T.O. because he looks like an out of shape Terrell Owens to me).  Then the adventures began.

Primary school kids were sitting CLOSE

Pastor Steven wanted “to take us to the local primary school and do some activities.”  That’s about as much detail as we were given as far as info about the school and what we were doing there.  We get to the Ibule Primary School and it consists of about 300 kids that all gather around us when we drive up.  Let me be clear. Gather all around us means get as close to us as possible.  The last “muzugu” (Caucasian) team they saw was in 2009 and I’m not sure if any aid team came out to this school before then.  The children were fascinated with us, and at times it felt very consuming. Every time we turned around they were closer to us and trying to sneak touches of our clothes, skin, etc. Needless to say, it was pretty overwhelming to try and lead our activities with only 5 of us but we broke them up into their respective classes and did similar lessons to what we did at the nursery school.  They actually had a short closing ceremony for us and thanked us for the teaching, visit, and encouragement.  They’re really just happy to know that people out there care.

Then, Pastor Steven told us we were going to drive by the government school in that area to see the layout, but something was lost in translation because before we knew it we were driving down a footpath into the bush. After a few minutes we were driving through a combination of corn fields and grass as tall as our van. That’s when the primary school children went “children of the corn” on us.  Full of excitement from our brief visit at the Ibule Primay School, many of them decided to run after the van when we were pulling away from the school.  It was adorable at first, but the large herd of children just kept following us.  Then they would try and jump on the back bumper of the van, hang onto the windshield wiper, and jump up and slap the window. It was bizarre. We continued to drive the minivan through the maze of grass and crops for several kilometers. The kids just kept running with us.  This scenario went on for about 30 minutes until we arrived at the next village.  We never made it to the government school. Other plans had been made.

Village of around 700 came out to see us.

A "line" formed quickly to see Katie.

It was apparent that the remote village (Ayera) was expecting us. After we arrived, the village elders called us into a hut and served us sodas and then the elders led us to a clearing in the bush where the ENTIRE village was waiting for us. They performed a few songs for us and asked us to speak.  We did our usual introductions and decided we could do a health clinic, since we had the medical supplies with us and this area is next to a swamp so malaria is a very bad problem here.  With Katie leading the charge, we did an impromptu malaria-focused medical clinic. This time it was mob style. I have a whole new understanding of mob mentality. As soon as we announced that we would be doing malaria testing, it seemed the majority of the village started running towards us to be the first person in line to be tested.  Mothers scooped up their children and fought for a position close to Katie. It became so out of hand that the community leaders had to intervene.  No one was beaten, but one of the leaders did wave around his large bamboo stick as he yelled over the villagers.  It was very hectic, loud and intense.  Katie was grace under fire and we were able to help her with charting and medication dispensing.  30% of those tested in the village were positive for malaria and we were able give them the medicine that will cure it.  Catching and treating malaria early is key. Many people here don’t catch it in time or they can’t afford the treatment and they die from the malaria.

By the time 5:30 rolled around, we had to wrap up the clinic. Unfortunately, we offended the village leaders because we had to leave before dark – but there was no way we would have been able to drive on the footpath in the dark.  They wanted us to stay, take tea, and eat dinner with them. But we graciously apologized and hit the road. A smaller herd of children followed our van again to the main road.  Overall, we learned a lot of lessons today.  Number one, you have to be flexible when doing missions in this continent.  Things get lost in translation and the culture is on a whole other set of rules (and clock) – you just have to roll with it (which our team has been great at doing).  Number two, setting up a clinic is an exercise in logistics and you should always have a plan before announcing free medical care to a village.  Number three, the villagers here desperately need better medical care. These folks are lucky if they get to see a doctor once every few years. Most can’t even afford the motorcycle taxi into the nearest town to even see a doctor (which is why we got mobbed – wouldn’t you fight your way to the front of a line to have your child see a nurse if they hadn’t had any formal medical care in 5 years?).  And lastly, the villages/tribes here are very formal.  Opening/closing ceremonies, afternoon teas, dinners, etc – these are all standard for “important” visitors and to refuse them is naturally offensive.  Whoops! But our team leaders knew that our team’s safety was the biggest priority so they made the right decision in leaving before dark.

Like I said, today was one of the most adventurous and wild days that we've had here in Uganda - it was totally awesome. Adventure Missions!