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FROM THE FIELD

My Years in Uganda
15 Jul 2008 14:09:00 GMT
 Source: Medair - Switzerland
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After three-and-a-half years working for Medair in Uganda, Henrieke Hommes, a manager in our health programme, reflects on her experience and on the hope she sees in the embattled country.

These last few years were full of intense hard work for me, with many ups and a few down times too. It was a time of great development and growth on an organisational, professional, and personal level; it was a time of meeting many new people and developing great friendships. I lived through periods of major instability and times of relative security. I witnessed not only intense suffering but also situations where people found hope for better lives. Through all these events, I experienced strongly how God was guiding us through the challenges and how he answered our prayers.

In the Early Years

When I first arrived in Uganda in 2004, there was nobody on the roads apart from soldiers. The security situation was really unstable and people were getting shot and abducted all the time. We travelled with huge escorts and people were all crammed into a few big camps. Apart from armed checkpoints every few hundred metres, the roads were completely empty. People didn't dare leave the camps for fear of getting abducted or shot. There was almost no water, no health care, very little food, and very poor hygiene.

Medair started running mobile clinics in the overcrowded camps. We saw hundreds of patients every week and always had to send people home at the end of the day. The children were very poorly nourished, and many were suffering from malaria, diarrhoea, and respiratory infections. We gave away thousands and thousands of mosquito nets to prevent even more people from getting malaria.

Responding to Outbreaks and Crises

I remember a bloody diarrhoea outbreak in 2006. We started an intensive programme of hygiene education and diarrhoea prevention. We distributed soap and helped people sweep their compound, clean the latrines, and eliminate pools of stagnant water. Meanwhile, the medical team was treating a lot of patients with bloody diarrhoea and malaria. We lost a little baby that week from dehydration. It is really sad to have a baby in your arms whose death could have been easily prevented. But with God's grace, all the efforts of the different teams were eventually able to contain the outbreak, and conditions improved.

Another time, we got a request for help from the maternity ward in Nyakwae, a far-off place in Abim district. A heavy storm blew the roof off of the maternity ward, and mothers were forced to deliver their babies in full exposure to the sun or the rain. If the time of delivery was close and they were still able to walk, the mothers-to-be were encouraged to make a four-hour walk to Morulem health centre. Otherwise, they delivered in the health centre under the burning sun. Fortunately, we were able to provide the clinic with a new roof.

We experienced many heavy rains and floods during my time in Uganda. Cars would frequently get stuck in the mud for hours, bridges would break down, and camps would sometimes be unreachable for weeks. We sometimes found ourselves driving through rivers, and other times teams would be stranded, unable to return to the base. It was sometimes frustrating, but we often had good laughs and fun, despite the weather. Over the years, the roads have improved dramatically and the main roads are now much more accessible.

The Rewards of Progress

I have seen excellent progress made in the restoration of local health care services. We made a complete shift from hands-on medical work (treating patients, putting them on drips, etc.) to a system where we only train and supervise the local health staff in the health centres. It has been gratifying to be able to place more and more responsibility into the hands of the people we came to help.

When I look back over my time in Uganda, I can see a big difference. I have been impressed with the development of our Medair teams and how we have become more and more professional in the way we serve the beneficiaries. Our teams are made up of incredible people who are hard-working, flexible, compassionate, and very supportive of each other. I am really going to miss them! Thanks to their commitment, all of our projects have grown and we have been able to help the people in Pader and Kaabong in many ways.

Before heading to Somalia to join the Medair project there, I travelled once more through Pader for a few days and saw many signs of hope that really encouraged me. I walked through some of the satellite camps and saw little girls with proper dresses and beads in their braided hair, a group of little boys playing in the field without the fear of getting abducted, parents playing with their children instead of beating them. I saw people working in the fields outside the camps to work for their own food, and watched one evening as a room full of women worked to learn English. In front of the health centre, I saw only a few people waiting to be seen, and there were no long line-ups for water anymore either. Everywhere I looked, I saw encouraging signs of hope that make me really thankful that I have been part of it!

Medair brings life-saving relief and rehabilitation in disasters, conflict areas, and other crises by working alongside the most vulnerable. Its internationally recruited staff are motivated by their Christian faith to care for people in need, providing practical and compassionate support, regardless of race, religion, or politics. Founded in 1989, Medair has an unwavering commitment to bring hope to the world's most vulnerable.


[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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