Hello again everyone! As I’m writing this we just completed our second full day here in Uganda.
Yesterday, after not much sleep, we began our morning with a delicious breakfast and a devotion time with a local pastor, Philip. He will be leading us in devotions each morning before we head out!
We then had a cultural orientation with Ben and Kari, and learned more about what to expect. Then after another delicious lunch we headed to visit the first therapy center!
This center is in a nicer part of town and is private pay. It has the offices, 4 therapy rooms, a great yard, and will soon be adding a therapy gym! Here we had an orientation about what we would be doing at the clinics and how they do their documentation .
On the way back from the clinic the staff offered to negotiate us short rides on the “boda bodas” which are essentially motorcycles that serve as public transportation for many in the city. You simply negotiate a price and the driver will take you wherever you’d like to go. Although riding on these sounded extremely stressful and scary it ended up being an incredible taste of what it is like to live as a local, even if we only went on the non-congested neighborhood roads!
After dinner that night we took a hike up to the top of the hill in the neighborhood we are staying. From this vantage point we could see the a lot of the city as the sun was setting!
This morning we had an early wake up call with breakfast at 6. It was another great meal, but we were all intrigued when popcorn was included 😂.
After another devotional time with Pastor Phillip in which we talked about the hopelessness experienced by those bound by poverty we headed to our clinic for the day!
Unlike the therapy center we toured yesterday, this clinic is in one of the poorest slums in town, Kasokoso. Since this is an area of extreme poverty, the proceeds from the private pay center are utilized to make the clinic free!
The clinic is a small rented space with twin rooms approximately 10×10. One room has a large open garage door and is used as a waiting area for families. There are mats to sit on on the floor and a small desk at which staff check in patients. It is on a first come, first serve basis and moms can come whenever is convenient for them!
The second room is used for therapy, and although it is a tiny space it has four mats in the ground which serve as stations to treat patients. They have a small selection of toys and activities and use them in amazing ways to make progress.
My main role for today was to observe sessions and help out however I could. This took the form of playing catch with a large foam dice and a large group of curious neighborhood children for a few hours in the morning. In the afternoon I was also able to help one of the professors with hearing screenings in the waiting room.
The coolest experience for me was working with my professors to treat a little girl with severe hearing impairment. She was only about 2 and was attending a school for the deaf. With my profs assistance I worked with her on some simple sign language. We passed a toy car across the floor and I would sign the words “want”, “please”, and “thank you”. Although she was not yet able to independently produce these signs she responded to and copied them! I also got to fill out “SOAP” notes for the therapists on how we worked towards her goals!
On the way home from Kasokoso we stopped at Cafe Java for smoothies, milkshakes, and drinks before heading to the guest house for an amazing dinner and debriefing time!
Things I’ve learned and observed these past couple days:
In no particular order because I’m tired!
-Kids are kids anywhere, they love to laugh and play!
-It’s okay to not know what you’re doing God will work through you in amazing ways to impact lives
-Ugandan street food is amazing
– I know I’ve said this a million times before but the traffic is literally insane… the only rule seems to be that you drive in the left, but even that seems negotiable!
-the sheer amount of people and shops you see lining each street is overwhelming and seems to be the most organized chaos you can imagine!
-my team is amazing!
– uganda is extremely community centered and everyone takes care of and looks out for everyone’s kids! This was evidenced by the mother who left her 3 year old son to play with us and walked away fully trusting he would be fine. It is also evidenced by the line of kids waiting to receive a single slice of bread for lunch from the clinic. Wherever there is food they all flock, and their eagerness for whatever food they could have broke my heart.
-it’s hot here- like 85 and humid- and we have to wear pants… but I guess as long as I’m not in snowy Michigan I can’t complain!
There is so much more that I have learned and experienced, and it is honestly hard to process it all, let alone put it in writing. But I hope this post helped shine some light on the needs in the community and the ways we are partnering with hope speaks to be blessed and be a blessing!
Please pray for continued health and strength- both mental and physical as we continue our journey! Thank you everyone for following along and please feel free to comment any questions may have and I’ll do my best to answer!
P.s. here are some bonus pictures because I personally love photos!
Disability and Hope in Uganda 