Settling In and Booting Up

Because none of the four others who have joined me on this trip – Professor Stephanie Bell, Mediator Denise Madigan, and Judges Mitch Goldberg and Paul Beeman – had been to Africa, they were eager to see the local wildlife.  Given the intense training schedule this coming week, the only time for them to go on safari was this weekend.  Accordingly, they were in bed for about four hours before climbing into a safari vehicle Saturday morning for the five hour drive to Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda’s premier game park.  Having been there three times myself, I opted to stay behind and connect with others in town.

I began the day with a quick trip to the local mall to get my wireless internet stick charged, and then had tea with Justice Kiryabwire (Justice K), who is the liaison for the Pepperdine program and serves as a Justice on the Ugandan Court of Appeals.  Halfway through our meeting, he picked up his law professor wife (Winnie) from the doctor, where she had her final pre-natal checkup in advance of Tuesday’s C-Section delivery of their third child.  As I always, I very much enjoyed getting their insider perspective on recent legislation and developments in Uganda.

During my last trip to Uganda in January, I met up with someone whose family was on an unexpected adventure in Uganda.  She, her husband, and three children had traveled to Uganda in the fall with a plan to stay four to six weeks.  Six months later, they are still here, still in the process of navigating some challenges they encountered during their stay here.  It was a blessing and an encouragement to see them flourishing and trusting fully in God’s timing as they wait for things to unfold on Uganda time.  Their kids are adapting so well, and they are such a positive influence on those around them, especially other American families who come through Uganda.

On the way back from lunch, I stopped at Mulago Hospital to meet up with Henry and his father, David.  During my last trip to Uganda, I did my best to assist them in getting David admitted to the hospital and evaluated for symptoms that included a swollen and painful stomach and worryingly yellow eyes and skin.  I will never again complain about the length of time it takes to get a referral or test in our American medical system.  They waited in the hospital two weeks for an MRI and CT scan, and then ten days for the results.

And the conditions in which they wait would make an uninitiated westerner weep.  The hospital beds are placed wall to wall in open rooms that lack any semblance of sanitation.  The beds are bare mattresses – sheets and blankets are strictly on a BYO basis.  Same with food, water, and any hygiene products.  Same with medicine.  The beds are approximately two feet apart, providing barely enough room for the relatives who care for the patients to sleep on the floor between the beds.  The doctors and nurses come by infrequently, and usually only when specifically bidden by the relatives.  The sights and sounds and smells of literally dozens and dozens of injured, ill, and incurable cannot be adequately captured in words.  This is a waiting game of the worst kind.

Feelings of helplessness barely fended off waves of hopelessness as I scanned the room.  When I enter a prison, whether juvenile or adult, I can envision each person’s case.  I can understand where it is in the process and how it can possibly be moved forward to resolution.  I can see the starfish stranded on the shore and I can operate within a system that holds the prospect of bringing them hope.  But in a hospital, I don’t know what to do.  I don’t speak the language of medicine, and I don’t know where to begin.  I see starfish baking in the sun, and am thankful to those who are making an effort to help those in this realm of need.

As Henry and I snake through the labyrinth of patients, I finally see Henry’s father.  He is hooked to an IV drip that Henry has himself prepared and inserted, after he purchased the contents of the bag.  One of the silver linings in this dark cloud of David’s life-threatening illness is that Henry has had the opportunity to dive deep into Uganda’s medical system.  Having just completed his Secondary education in November, Henry is hoping to enroll in Medical School in August at Makerere University – Uganda’s top school, which is located at the Mulago Hospital where David is a patient.  Henry has now been by David’s side for about six weeks (mostly here in Kampala at Mulago), which is four hours from their home town of Hoima.

Henry has been proactively interviewing and interrogating doctors as they try to figure out the source of David’s ailment and the best treatment.  The tests and scans show that he has a tumor in or near his gall bladder that is blocking his bile duct.  Henry had been visiting with numerous doctors around the city and finally got one to agree to operate on his father in the next couple of days.  But by the time I arrived on Friday with the money for the surgery, David’s blood tests revealed an alarming lack of certain chemicals/minerals and a worrying excess of others.  The doctor declared him to be unlikely to survive the surgery unless he was stabilized.  Accordingly, this next week will be critical as he aims to be ready for surgery by next weekend.

David painstakingly mouthed words of gratitude as we talked.  His face gaunt, his belly distended, and the color of his eyes reflected the battle raging inside his organs.  Conflict raged inside of me, as my mind raced through the options.  Should I move him to a private hospital?  That was the plan just before I took off from the United States.  The private surgeon had recommended as much because of the lack of success they were having getting the attention of any doctors at Mulago.  But when I arrived on Friday night, Henry had secured the assistance of a doctor at Mulago who was now overseeing the treatment in advance of surgery.

Should I fly him to India for surgery?  That was the suggestion of the doctor who initially reviewed the CT scan and MRI.  But David had no passport, no support structure in India, and didn’t want to go there for surgery.  And what if I persuaded him to go and he died on the operating table there?

Ultimately, I accepted Henry’s conclusion that the best plan was to the stay the course, even if that course meant remaining in the substandard conditions where he currently resided.

On the good news front, Henry’s younger brother Joseph was just admitted to Mandela Secondary School in Hoima for his A-level, which is the last two years of high school.  On Saturday afternoon, I converted dollars to shillings and Henry sent the $600 necessary to pay for Joseph’s first-term (of three per year) school fees and the books and supplies he needed for this boarding school.  Joseph is excited to continue his studies closer to home and will be focusing on physics, economics, mathematics,  and information technology.

Just before we left the hospital, Henry’s older brother Kegan arrived from Hoima with some food and essentials for David and Henry, and plans to stay in Kampala for a few days to keep Henry company as he cares for David.

I brought Henry and Kegan back to my hotel room and gave the surprise I had been waiting to deliver for more than a month now.  During my last visit to Uganda, I had learned during a tour of the Makerere Medical School that Henry would need a laptop for the fall (assuming his admitted).  Fortunately, the Zacharia family (Michael and Debi are the proud parents of Tyler and Dana, whose separate weddings to Katie Black and Jason Hinojosa I had officiated over the past few years) had graciously donated some money to the work I am doing here in Uganda.  Providentially, their donation almost exactly equalled the cost of a new Dell laptop I was able to deliver to Henry on Saturday.

Ecstatic doesn’t even begin to describe his reaction.  And since Joseph will be studying computers in his secondary school, Joline and I decided he needed a laptop also.  Because their older brother Kegan runs a small business burning CDs and DVDs, he is sufficiently conversant with computers that he has promised to teach Henry and Joseph how to use them.  For a few hours on Saturday afternoon, Kegan booted up and formatted the computers for Henry’s and Joseph’s immediate use.

More tomorrow.

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