Uganda, Day Two, 8/12/07

This has been without a doubt one of the most special days of my entire life. (How's that for a teaser)? Where do I even start??? We began this Sunday with breakfast at the hotel where Francis, our attentive waiter asked me, "Are you born again? Are you saved?" I found this odd considering the only question he had asked anyone else at the table was whether they wanted more coffee or tea. I forgot that I had my Bible sitting beside my pineapple juice.

"Oh yes, I am! How about you...um...Francis?"

"Oh yes please, thank you sir!" he replied with an ear-to-ear grin.

From there we met Pastor Senyonga for a trip to Mandela National Stadium--the official football stadium of Uganda. It's magnificent for this area--reminiscent of old Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta. His church is growing at such a rate that he plans on buying the stadium for the congregation and actually renting it out to the national soccer team!

We then proceeded out of town, on to the village of Seeta. ...And I thought Mulago Hospital was eye-opening! After an exceedingly bumpy ride, we finally arrived at Pastor Senyonga's orphanage (although they don't use that term). The children came screaming out of the school house and down the hill to greet us. As we piled out of the bus, they latched on--starving for affection. They literally wouldn't let go! This orphanage consists of children--ages 3-12--whose parents have died of AIDS. The women that care for them and teach them are widows. They live in a smattering of small houses that cost about $15,000 to build. Senyonga explains that one of the reasons behind the cost is that they are built with the finest corrugated steel roofing in all of Uganda! All in all, if it weren't for this "camp," all of these people would be fending for themselves on the streets of Kampala. We spoke with them, enjoyed their songs, but mostly listened to one of the teachers report on the childrens' performance in school. She raved about their reading skills, how some were already at an advanced level, and how all dreamed about moving on to an outside secondary school. I'm finding it very difficult to wrap words around this experience. Just too much...

On to Pastor Senyonga's church. Talk about charismatic! We were seated in the first three rows, and before we knew it, we were being asked to come up on stage. Senyonga spoke about our purpose on the trip, allowed Dr. Haglund to address everyone, and then, they prayed over us...and I mean PRAYED OVER US! Imagine about 4,000-5,000 people--spread out as far as you can see--wailing at the top of their lungs in prayer for you...unbelievable!

After lunch, we headed back to the hospital to finish setting up the theatres for the week. It was there that Jenny Parker, Augusta Bartis, and I learned that we would be "scrub nurses" for the week in Dr. Parker's pediatric room, Theatre 2. (This person is scrubbed into the OR, runs the "sterile field" with all the instrumentation, and assists the surgeon by holding retractors, maintaining pressure, cauterizing bleeders, etc.). Needless to say, I was a little disconcerted by this news, but hey, what else were we there for? So, Yvonne Carver gave us all a crash-course in sterile technique and all the instruments. We even took some back to the hotel to practice our terminology.

We finished the day with a nice reception back at the hotel thrown by Dr. Mallinga. It was there that I met some of the few neurosurgeons in all of Uganda, Dr.'s John, Joel, Hussein, and Michael (hopefully they'll forgive me for forgetting last names). We would be getting our hands dirty with these guys throughout the week at Mulago, so we bonded pretty quickly.