"I was sick and you looked after me."
Matthew 25:36
Uganda Trip - Jan. 2023
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Westminster Medical Missions 2023 Uganda Mission Team Report
On Saturday, January 21, 2023, our team of twelve left for Northern Uganda for the 30th year of Westminster Medical Missions trips. The 2023 Westminster Medical Missions Servant team members were Dr. Bill Harden, Becky Harden, David Duritza, Cynthia Gary- PA-C, Liz Myers, Sarah Rodes PA-C, Meredith Hayes RN, Susan Alston, Brock Swanson, Clyde Davis, Sherri Walker R.N. and our only new team member- Maggie Pourrajabi. Because of Covid restrictions, we had not been back to Uganda since our 2020 trip. Since then they had had both Covid and Ebola in Uganda. Fortunately, both were no longer a problem where we were.
This year we again held a surgical camp and in total we contributed for
104 surgeries to be performed. We were able to give food bags to all
patients in the children's ward (with toys/sweets) as well as the
maternity, surgical and medical wards and the neonatal and nutrition
wards. We even had time to paint fingernails and toenails on the wards
and on many of our hut visits and even in the staff quarters at Muga
Muga. We bought and packed hundreds of bags of giveaway food that
included handmade bags, sugar, beans, oil, posho and soap. A continued
highlight was our daily hut visits. Hut visits included those needing
clothing or food; those whose huts had been burned or in very bad need
of repair or replacement; or orphans with no visible means of support
except for their neighbors. We gave jerry cans filled with clean water
and serving utensils when needed. It was especially evident this year
that the need for clean water was as important as ever. We saw
repeatedly children and adults drinking dirty water from whatever source
they could get it from. We were
again privileged to be the giver of new clothes, toys and sweets,
balloons, soccer balls homemade jump ropes ( made out of T shirts),
blankets, hats and money and as always rubber band bracelets. We not
only gave bags of food to be prepared later, but food for immediate
consumption
As always, the team did a great job riding in the back of the truck with much patience. Fortunately or unfortunately while returning from hut visits, we came upon an accident that had just occurred. A motorcycle carrying four adults (an adult family of three and a neighbor, not at all unusual for Africa) was hit by a cattle truck. The truck did not stop. We stopped and began to render aid to the victims. I felt that one man was injured critically and was dying. The other three were unconscious. We stabilized them as best we could and dumped all of our supplies from the back of the truck elsewhere and loaded all four of them into the bed of the truck. We were about 40 km from St. Johns hospital (where we are based). Driving as fast as was safe, we arrived at the emergency ward at the hospital where we all worked to unload the living and dead. Subsequently a brother and sister died from the accident and the mother and neighbor survived. The family was very grateful. As it happened, St. Johns hospital is probably the only hospital in the north with a CT scanner which was used on the patients. The family came back and presented us with four breeding hens as a token of their appreciation for our efforts.
We went to a Babies home, a dispensary, the AIDS clinic as well as hut
visits. We gave much needed medical supplies to the dispensary.
With Susan and Liz's leadership we were able to hold a children's camp-
All of our “treat bags” that numbered approximately 200 were given out
as well as soccer balls, beach balls and volley balls.
We thank each of you for your continued support. If God wills, our 31th
year for the 2024 Westminster Medical Missions Team trip to Uganda will
be in January 2024. We ask for your continued prayers as we continue to
do the work that we feel God has set before us.
Doctor Bill Harden, Team Leader