day four in uganda was one of the busiest and most rewarding.
we started off the day painting at mbale regional hospital.
we spent several hours brightening the walls of the children's icu.
this was a particularly hard place to be.
all around us were sick babies and children, coughing and crying.
we saw a lot of difficult, and what seemed to be hopeless, situations.
i was feeling in the way,
and that i should be doing something more important to help these people.
shortly after expressing my feelings to jeff,
a mother holding her sick baby approached us.
she said, "thank you so much for bringing life and color to these bare walls".
i then learned before the volunteers arrived,
these walls were covered in feces and dried blood.
even though our act of service was so small and seemingly insignificant,
these mothers and sweet children noticed and were beyond grateful someone cared.
it's hard to believe that this is the intensive care unit for small children and babies.
after painting, we went to divine school to teach a hygiene/hand washing class.
we taught four different classes about cleanliness and why it is important.
these kids were so well behaved.
they all stood when we walked in and sang us a welcome visitor song.
after a short lesson, the kids lined up and we helped wash each of their hands.
they were super excited, if you can't tell!
the water before and after washing one classes hands.
clean hands!
our final stop of the day was to the namatala slums.
jeffrey and i were able to teach a group of women about proper health & nutrition.
some of the women spoke english, but most did not.
therefore we had a translator who helped relay the information.
the women seemed eager and interested to learn.
they had many questions regarding the health and well-being of their children.
we tried to answer their questions as best we could.
one question we found particularly difficult to answer was,
"how should a mother, who is hiv positive, feed her newborn."
we first mentioned formula,
but quickly realized these women don't have the funds or access to a doctor.
one women mentioned, "another mother in the community could nurse the newborn".
some liked this idea while others quickly dismissed it.
those who disliked the idea,
thought the child would prefer whoever was feeding it, over the mother.
the fear of losing the love of a child,
was not worth the breast milk from a mother in the community.
instead they mentioned feeding the new born cow's milk mixed with water.
this discussion went in many different directions and there was not one solution for all.
even though we felt very inadequate to help these women with the problems they face,
the class over all was very interesting and we learned a lot teaching it!
we brought pineapple for the women to share after class.
these are some of the translators and leaders in the community.
on our walk out of the slums, children came running from every direction.
most of these children are too poor to ever receive an education.
they come from broken families and live on very little.
these children were ecstatic to see the muzungu's passing through.
they love to hold hands, and squeal with delight to have their photo taken.
this beautiful little girl latched onto jeff immediately.
she wouldn't stop hugging and clinging to him.
it was so cute but also heart wrenching.
we learned that the majority of these kids are fatherless.
they receive very little positive attention from men and seemed to crave it.
when we tried to leave,
this little girl literally started hanging on jeff and wouldn't let go.
he was unsure what to do and felt sad to leave these kids.
eventually we said goodbye and escaped to the boda boda.
she wasn't too happy about it...
we saw a lot of difficult situations on this particular day.
i was beginning to get a glimpse into these peoples lives.
even though they go through so much suffering and hardship,
they are full of faith and hope.
they are incredible examples of resiliency and optimism.
what a great day!
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