Makerere
During the final 18 months of Henry’s nearly two-year detention in a juvenile prison in Uganda, he served as the “Katikiro” in the internal prison government. Part of his responsibilities in this Prime Minister post included taking the juveniles who got sick to the local hospital. It was there, watching the doctors treat the patients (often after excruciatingly long delays), that Henry decided he wanted to someday become a doctor. After he was finally released, he enrolled in Bob Goff’s Restore Leadership Academy, where he excelled in the sciences. For his final two years of secondary school, Henry transferred to the top science secondary school in the country. He graduated in November of 2013 and is now awaiting his national exam results, hoping to score well enough to be admitted to medical school, which is a five-year university program following graduation from secondary school. The top medical school in the country is at Makerere University in Kampala.
On Monday morning, Henry and I reported to Makerere Medical School for an appointment and tour that one of my judicial friends arranged. We met with a lovely and kind administrator who connected us with a current medical student for an excellent and informative tour. She answered every question Henry and I had, and even several we didn’t know we had. Later that afternoon, we met with the Acting Dean of the Medical School to discuss Henry’s candidacy. While the meeting was good and informative, it was clear when we left that so much is riding on his national exam scores. As Henry is want to say, “we shall pray hard” for good results when they are released toward the end of February.
Between our two meetings at Makerere, we traveled to two secondary schools where Henry’s younger brother Joseph (two years behind in school) would like to complete his “A” levels – the final two years of secondary school. His first choice is the school where Henry completed his “A” levels, so we ventured out to meet up with a physics teacher with whom I have become friendly and with the Head Teacher – the one making the final decisions. Like Henry, Joseph’s educational opportunities will be largely determined by the results of the national exam he took after completing his “O” level education at Restore International. Those results should be released in about two weeks. We also visited another school that is his second choice, but it is a step below the school Henry attended.
We also had the chance to connect for lunch with a friend of mine from the court. You gotta love the directness of Ugandans. “Ahh, Jim! You are fat! What happened to you?” Anyone reading this who can figure out an appropriate response to this should feel encouraged to send me an e-mail.
In Sarah’s defense, however, calling someone fat here is not as bad as in the States. In some ways, it is akin to saying, “you have been eating well,” or “you have not been starving.” The bright side is that I lost about ten pound in the month preceding my trip here, so she probably would have called me a hippo had I come a few weeks earlier.
Throughout the day, we received updates from Henry’s father as he made his way toward Kampala from Hoima. As mentioned in yesterday’s post, he had been experiencing severe stomach pain and his eyes were quite yellow. The doctor in Hoima was unable to diagnose the problem, so he suggested that Henry’s father journey to Mulago Hospital (depicted in Last King of Scotland) for a CT scan.
The kind administrator with whom we were meeting at Makerere on Monday morning was able to direct our paths so we knew where to take him. As providence would have it, Henry’s father’s doctor was going to be at Mulago on Tuesday and promised to meet him there to brief the Mulogo doctor on the tests he had already performed.
So by late Monday evening, Henry’s father had arrived via bus and was staying with some relatives just outside of Kampala. On Tuesday morning, I needed to head to Entebbe to speak on plea bargaining to the entire Ugandan Judiciary, so Henry would assume responsibility for getting his father admitted to Mulago and examined.
Before we went to bed on Monday night, we had a one-hour Skype with an eighth-grade class in Quincy, CA. I got to know the teacher, Anna Shea, through some mutual friends. She had been following this blog and knew all about Henry and his family. After one thing led to another, she and her class are now reading the manuscript Henry and I are putting together about how meeting each other dramatically changed our respective lives. Since I was going to be with Henry, we arranged to have a live Skype call with her students so they could put faces with names and stories. Both sides of the call enjoyed the opportunity to share each other’s lives, even if only for an hour.
The next post will discuss the opportunity I had on Tuesday to participate in Uganda’s annual Judicial Conference and will provide an update on Henry’s father.
Thank you for the detailed update, Jim! Our class read the last two posts out loud this morning and were delighted to have our paths cross, even across the globe. “We shall pray hard” for a good score on Henry’s exams and entrance into Makarere. Blessings on your trip! And keep the updates coming!
Thanks, Anna. We appreciate your prayers!
Hello Professor Gash, I am Connor Caiazzo, one of Ms. Shea’s students and I just wanted to tell you that I really love the book Throwing Starfish. I really would love to be posted via email of how you, Joseph, Hillary, and your family are doing, and some of the things you Hillary and Joseph are going through……please tell Hillary and Joseph I said hi, and really respect them.
THANK YOU,AND GOD BLESS
Thanks, Connor, for your kind words and for reading along on our adventure. I will continue to post here the updates on Henry, Joseph, and their family. Over the next few weeks, we will be receiving important national exam results for both Henry and Joseph, so check in with the website periodically.
Hi! I am one of Miss Shea’s students. It was a pleasure to be able to talk to Hillary and Joseph about what they like to do, and what life for them is like. Please tell Hillary and Joseph that Noah said hi, and that I am praying for them. It really pleases me that there are other Christians around the world that our helping others who are in need. I really look up to all of you in Uganda who trust God even when things seem to be going wrong. Keep up the good work!!! God bless!
Noah Hardee
Noah, It was a pleasure talking with you last week. Thanks for engaging so well with Henry and Joseph and for your interest in their lives. We are all grateful for your continuing prayers.
God bless you, as well!
Jim
As we were reading through your blog our class was very excited when we read that you put our Skype conversation in your article. It was so cool to be able to talk to Hillary and Joseph and hear part of their lives from their mouths. Thank you so much for the opportunity our class has had to be a part of your manuscript. The whole story is quiet amazing.
We are praying hard that the scores come back with very good results and that Hillary can follow his dream to be a doctor and Joseph can go to his first pick of schools.
Thank you again for our opportunities to become almost a part of your stories.
Send our greeting to Hillary and Joseph.
Ms. Shea’s student,
Abria
Abria, Thanks for your interest in Henry’s and Joseph’s stories and lives. They really enjoyed speaking with you and the others last week. Your questions were insightful your feedback was helpful on the manuscript. Many blessings to you as seek God’s will for your own life.
Jim
Hello! I am one of Ms.Shea’s students. I am enjoying your book(Throwing Starfish) and I wish I could have been here Monday to see Hillary and Joseph. I will be praying for Hillary’s exams.
Thanks, Josiah. Sorry we missed you on this Skype call. Perhaps there will be another opportunity during my next visit to Uganda.
Jim
BTW DO U HAVE INSTAGRAM
I am afraid I don’t. My 8th grade daughter has one, but I haven’t yet figured out how to use this new tool:(