"I was sick and you looked after me."
Matthew 25:36
Uganda Trip - Jan. 2014
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VIDEOS
Westminster Medical Missions 2014 Uganda Mission Team Report
On Saturday, January 18, 2014, a team of eleven people left for Northern Uganda for the 21st year trip of Westminster Medical Missions. The 2014 Westminster Medical Missions Servant team members were Dr. Bill Harden, Becky Harden, Dr. Johanna Owings, David Duritza, Tera Joyner, RN, Meredith Hayes, RN, Michelle Anglen, RN, Laurie Wood-dental hygienist, Dr. Travis Culver, Brock Swanson, and Kristie Raulerson. All of the team arrived safely as did 22 of 23 bags.
Beginning on our first night we saw many heartbreaking cases, many of which would not survive.
We were able to pay for 42 surgeries.
We saw over 400 people in our back and neck pain Chiropractic clinic.
We were able to see hundreds of children for dental hygiene.
We paid hospital bills for patients who had no money to pay their bills.
We visited Lira Babies Home and Ngetta Dispensary giving them beanie babies, clothes, food and medicine as well as medical supplies.
We had clothes for infants and children donated by people in the US.
We visited all of the hospital wards giving food, beanie babies/toys, knitted caps, booties, blankets and medicine. We prayed with and for many of the patients there.
We paid to have several huts roofs repaired or replaced because of termite damage. As always our outreach/hut visits continue not only to encourage our many patients with AIDS but are a highlight especially for all of the new team members.
Many patients that we had prayed for the year before with TB and AIDS were so excited to see us return to their homes. We were able to visit many other patients and support them in their need.
We were given funds to support many of these families but especially one family where the grandmother was supporting four orphans whose parents had died from Aids and were buried in the front yard. Last year we helped them again and how delighted we were to see their new latrine and now the grandmother is able to dig and plant ground nuts for sale.
This 2014 picture (left below) with Lucy (the grand) and Immaculate (the baby) is in sharp contrast to the 2012 picture (right below).
We were able to assist the nuns in finishing the renovation of their convent.
The feeding center is still in the planning stages but we were able to assist several of those infants while we were awaiting final cost estimates for making a place for them to be able to be better supported.
We paid to have the AIDS clinic repaired before we arrived and it looked very good on the outside and on the inside.
Again, what a blessing to see the joy on the faces of the team members as they distributed clothing, food, and blankets to newborns, patients on the wards, to a Babies home, at a dispensary and especially at the AIDS clinic and hut visits. We spent more on food to give away this year than ever before in part because of donations at the last minute before leaving this year for Uganda.
We paid for transport many patients to be able to get to the clinic and/or transported to and for care that they could not get locally. We will return to see them next year to continue our support in other ways.
We thank each of you for your continued support. The 2015 Westminster Medical Missions Team trip to Uganda will be in January. We ask for your continued prayers as we continue to do the work that we feel God has set before us.
The covenant on our web site defines more explicitly what a Servant team is, but to remind you the first paragraph reads:
“As members of a Westminster Medical Missions Servant team, we are sent out in the name of Jesus Christ, to tangibly and effectively demonstrate the love of God, through our ministries of compassion. The goal of each team is to bring honor to Jesus Christ through all that we do and say while carrying out His command to love our neighbor as ourselves.”