Today marks one month since I have returned home to my Uganda/South Sudanese family, after being stuck in America for six months due to Covid-19. My homecoming was full of joy and singing and dancing and the celebration went on for three days with various activities planned for my return. To say that I was missed and am loved is insufficient to describe the welcoming which I received.
I hadn’t driven a car here in almost seven months and a few days ago I finally left the compound on my own to take care of some business in town and I actually remembered to drive on the left hand side of the road automatically. It’s a strange thing what our minds are capable of and how we just readjust however is needed according to where we find ourselves. We are now in the days of heavy rains and my room has flooded twice in the last three days. We learn to store things under our beds in plastic cases just for these times. I am reading the biography of Hudson Taylor who was a missionary in China in the 1800’s and he tells of the time he awoke to snow on his blanket which came in through holes in the roof of his humble dwelling as he slept. These small inconveniences are just that, small in our eyes. We just do what needs doing and get on with things.
Just yesterday six of us had to sit in the back of our Land Cruiser in order to join an Iris Global Leaders Zoom meeting. Our internet is poor and is very expensive and we ran out of our small amount of data. So we had to carry my computer and cell phone into town to join the meeting. The place we had in mind was already being occupied and it started to pour down rain, so we had no choice but to make due and hold the meeting in the back of the Land Cruiser while our windows fogged up. We had such a wonderful meeting as we joined over 30 other Iris bases globally. We just do what needs doing and get on with things.
When I left here in March we had taken a three year old girl in our community to the big city hospital because of her severe hydrocephalus. Her head is so large that she cannot sit up and spends her life lying on a blanket on the hard ground. Her mother cannot work because she cannot leave the girl alone and the girl is extremely heavy as her head is really that large, bigger than a basketball. Once the skull grows that large there is no cure. We have been taking her for treatment to relieve the pressure on her brain and we bought her a stroller so her mom can go to work. Just last month we got her braces for her legs and she will soon learn how to navigate the world on her legs and will receive physical therapy to strengthen her neck. The mom is so happy and full of hope again. She has another baby who is still breastfeeding. The husband left because he couldn’t deal with all the stress of the situation. Unfortunately, this is not unusual anywhere in the world, much less here where money and resources are limited.
Last year I noticed a young girl of about thirteen who has only one leg walking all the way from town using one crutch and carrying her heavy backpack of books, walking along an uneven dirt road into the village. I didn’t know where she lived but wanted to help her. Last week as I went for my walk I saw her! Yesterday we visited with her grandfather, whom she lives with, along with many brothers and sisters, and they have agreed that we can take her next week to get a prosthesis so that she can walk again without a crutch. The smile on her face could have lit the house. I am so excited for her. When she was ten she fell from a tree and broke her leg. If one has a compound break here and no money, the hospital just amputates. If one has a cavity, the tooth is pulled. I am always praying for God’s protection that none of my team or children gets into an accident because the care here is so limited.
Here at home our house remains so busy with many scheduled activities centered around learning; educational learning, psychosocial learning and spiritual learning. I have also learned that our children LOVE Word Search Puzzles and I cannot print enough of them to keep them busy. There are rarely idle hours in our family. The TV is never on yet the children remain happily engaged in all these other activities. Some of our older teenagers have stepped up and have become the teachers for the others, helping us in our daily classroom environments. School will not resume here in Uganda until next March, after the elections. It can become quite dangerous during elections and people are instructed to stay away from the city areas because of riotous gatherings. School would normally begin again in early February.
Although Uganda’s Covid cases remain small compared to most of the world, we are still told to wear masks and every establishment has a handwash station out front. It is a plastic jug on a stand with a basin to catch water. All drivers and passengers are required by law to wear masks even in the car at all times. Everywhere I’ve been in the last two weeks I have only seen about 5% of the population wearing masks and there is no social distancing at all. My staff and I wear masks and follow the rules for the sake of our children’s health and to set the example for our children that rules set in place by government should be followed regardless of what society thinks or does. Here in Luwero we now have over ten active cases of Covid. Our children are still not allowed to leave our compound area. I am so thankful that we live in a village and not a city.
Over the last few weeks we have been taking the children in small groups to a local hotel for swimming. The hotel has no business because its popular nightclub is shut down due to Covid. So we get a super discount rate as no one goes there. Our children also have been able to go to our land and plant crops. The government here has granted us special favor to carry more than four people per car to do these two things. The law says only four people per car during Covid.
While I was in the US I started to do YouTube updates. I still intend to do these from Uganda for those who are interested. Just go to YouTube and every update title I post will start with Iris Uganda. The kids just did a dance recital for me on Sunday so I posted 15 videos of their dances. Although we are still somewhat locked down as a compound our children do get to go just outside our gates to play soccer (football) and volleyball and stickball. They are handling it all with great grace and I am so very proud of them because they remain happy and uncomplaining, even though they are loosing yet another year of school. This is life in Africa.
God bless you as you navigate this new world situation in your part of the world. We pray for you and love you and are so grateful for your continued support in spite of all that is happening in the world. We could never continue what we do without you.