"I was sick and you looked after me."
Matthew 25:36
Uganda Trip - Jan. 2016
SLIDESHOWS
VIDEOS
Westminster Medical Missions 2016 Uganda Mission Team Report
On Saturday, January 16, 2016, a team of seven people left for Northern Uganda for the 23nd year of Westminster Medical Missions trips to Uganda. The 2016 Westminster Medical Missions Servant team members were Dr. Bill Harden, Becky Harden, Dr. Lisa Nelson-Robinson, David Duritza, Sarah Rodes PA-C, Cynthia Gary PA-C, and Tiffany Young Pediatric NP. We were able to pay for 57 surgeries and our surgeon held a surgery clinic after our arrival to plan for the following surgical days. Initially over 250 patients had wanted to have surgery that our team would pay for. This was subsequently decreased to a more manageable 57 surgeries performed by the Ugandan doctors and our surgeon. Our pediatric NP worked in the children's ward where the census at times was over 100 patients with many very sick children and infants. There were too many deaths from malaria, meningitis, and premature infants.
We returned to see Harriet (who has polio and "walks " on all fours). Her children had accidentally burned down her hut last year. We gave the family a new bicycle so that they could have a way to get water and all of the other things that they needed. We also saw the new hut that we had paid for last year. I have never seen a family so happy and we were delighted to be able to help Harriet and her family.
We bought and packed hundreds of bags of giveaway food that included handmade bags, sugar, beans, oil, posho and soap. Daily hut visits as always was a very special time to assist those "weak" ones or those whose huts had been burned or the "child head" family with no visible means of support except for their neighbors. The privilege to be the giver of new clothes, toys and a "sweet" is something so special that one cannot describe both the joy and the sorrow at the same time.
We visited all of the hospital wards giving food, toys, knitted caps, booties, and blankets. This year was the most crowded that we have ever seen the hospital with many patients sleeping on the floors. We prayed with and for many of the patients there. We were able to continue the tradition of giving rubber band bracelets thanks to the many people who made them for us during the year. It is always 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 at the AIDS clinic and hut visits.
We paid for transport for many patients to be able to get to the clinic.
We were even able to give the hospital soccer team jerseys and a new soccer ball.
We thank each of you for your continued support. The 2017 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.