Blog

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One afternoon busy at work in the office I heard a heart wrenching scream and saw a pale Sam, running, carrying an even paler Leejay in his arms over to me. Sam had been riding his bike with Zak on the back carrier and Leejay side saddle on the front bar when Leejays foot got caught in the spokes of the front wheel, and the wheel kept moving, twisting his little ankle with it. The ankle looked really bad, skin grazed off down to the bone, and already swelling up before our eyes, Leejay was screaming in pain, so we jumped in the car and raced to the local hospital, thankful it was a Wednesday as they only do x-rays Mon til Fri. Although in classic African style the radiographer/ x-ray technician was nowhere to be found, and the only doctor around really wanted to give Leejay an IM (into the muscle) injection of pethidine in his butt. It took a lot of reassurance from me that this would be more traumatic to Leejay, who at this stage was hardly even crying, and could he just determine whether or not there was a fracture! Without really even looking at his ankle he suggested we should come back tomorrow when the orthopaedic doctor was around as he didn’t know!

 

Ok, so me trying not to get impatient asked again about x-rays and was told someone had gone to find the x-ray guy. Good. So we patiently waited, eventually got the x-ray, of course by now the doctor could not be found, so I held the x-ray up to the sunlight, was 99% convinced there was no fracture, that and the fact Leejay was now able to limp around on it was enough to assure me all was ok and we headed home. I cleaned the wound, bandaged up the now very swollen ankle and told Leejay to rest it, but in classic Leejay style, later in the day he was back outside climbing trees and riding his bike. We expected it to heal just like the many other wounds that had healed since been here.

 

 

Two days later, I came home after spending the afternoon out, and found Leejay lying on the bed, pale, crying in pain, his whole foot and lower leg red, hot and swollen. And Sam cleaning up Lucys vomit off the floor! In a bit of a panic I rung my friend who just happened to have a visitor who was a Paediatrician staying from the states. She confirmed what I already knew, a very seriously infected wound, and gave us some antibiotics to start. I spent half the night awake, sponging Leejays burning forehead trying to bring down his fever, giving him pamol, brufen and antibiotics around the clock. But by the morning he was worse, the redness and swelling now tracking up his leg and he was starting to look septic and dehydrated from being on fire with fever. We rushed him to the hospital, but of course it was Sunday so there was no doctor on duty. (It’s just tough luck around here if you get sick on a Sunday!) Thankfully the paed doc from the states came to the hospital and saw Leejay herself and said he needed to start on IV (into a vein) antibiotics straight away, but of course the antibiotics we needed weren’t there. She was really worried about Leejay and told us we should get to Kampala International hospital asap, so we desperately starting trying to sort out how we would get to the capital (7hrs drive away!)

 

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The mayor’s driver got us to Kampala in just over 5hrs! Sitting in the back of that UTE with a very sick, pale, lethargic, child in my arms, driving at 160km/hr on a bumpy, pot-holed road, knowing it was going to be hours before we got to a decent hospital, that’s when I was so thankful to believe in a God that has the power to heal. About half way through the trip I got a text from a friend in NZ who told me our entire church in Hamilton was praying for Leejay, I could literally feel Gods presence and protection and healing on Leejay, the redness that had been slowly creeping up his little leg stopped and I had such an overwhelming sense of Gods hand on this little boy. We are so incredibly grateful and blessed to have such an amazing church family and an amazing network of friends here in Arua.

 

The trip to Kampala went amazingly well considering the circumstances, Leejay and Lucy (who was also still sick) slept most of the way, Zak sat up front with Sam and got to see loads of elephants, monkeys, baboons and even a warthog out his window. The mayors UTE had government license plates, which meant we were waved through all the police security stops, of which there were many since the recent Kampala bombings. But I was still so grateful to arrive all in one piece and we got to see a very competent doctor at a private international hospital, where Leejay was given the best treatment, antibiotics and wound care and thankfully didn’t have to be admitted. We just had to take him back each morning for review, dressing changes and more antibiotics. This meant we had to stay in Kampala for 3 days, which initially seemed like the worst timing with so much work to do back in Arua with the Barkers, and an ORA board meeting I was supposed to attend. However the silver lining of it all, was a relaxing few days staying in a guest house with hot showers and western food; a shopping mall, supermarket, real coffee…the kids loved the toy shop and milkshakes, Leejay got his gun (a plastic water pistol) and we all got to chill out a bit and unwind. Leejay got better, Lucy got better and to be honest we all felt a bit reluctant to go back to Arua.

 

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This morning at our Sunday school, we did the story of David and Goliath and got the kids to do a drama, each having a turn acting out David and Goliath. As each ‘David’ defeated goliath, Sam and I would hold them up, high on our shoulders and get everyone to clap and cheer for them. As we did this, I felt this simple act was probably one of the first times these children have been ‘held up’, clapped for, cheered for, a much needed boost for their low self esteem. My heart is so here, as much as the sickness, flies, lack of hot showers, long drop toilet, remoteness, third world health care is all a part of it, our work here is far from done.

 

 

We are now half way through our time here, and have so much more to do. We have just started some exciting new projects that I am so passionate about. One is an after school education programme for the kids that live in the residential care home. These children, like most in Arua attend primary school where there is about 150 kids in each classroom with ONE teacher, as you would imagine, there is a lot they miss out on. So, as their school day finishes at 1pm I have started an afternoon ‘school’ at the ORA base, teaching them the basics. The timing of starting up this school was impeccably, miraculously timed with 3 huge boxes full of educational materials that Marian School (Zaks school in Hamilton) had sent us. We were amazed and humbled by the generosity of the children, teachers and parents at the school, who provided so much. Stationary, art supplies, books, puzzles, pencil cases, balloons, calculators, stickers, learning aids, posters, as well as so many toys, clothes and much more.

 

  

 


It was so wonderful to see the sheer delight and amazement on the faces of the kids when I gave them each their own pencil case filled with pencils, pens, rubber, pencil sharperner, felts. To all those that donated you have no idea how much your simple act of generosity can change a life. Our vision for ORA is to eventually extend this extra education programme to every child on sponsorship.

 

My next project is getting the medical clinic/sick bay up and running. We are starting small with more of a ‘sick bay’ set-up to avoid the logistics of starting a clinic. However, I still have big plans for this project and my vision is to see it develop into a full medical clinic with a registered nurse working in it. I am so excited about getting all the kids on sponsorship together next month to start basic health assessments and education. I’m also so looking forward to having a good set up of donated medical/first aid supplies coming from NZ with my lovely friend Catie. If anyone is keen to add anything to Caties suitcase for the medical clinic, she has a list of things we need. Contact her at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

 

Its easy to wonder in the midst of a crisis if this is the right place to be, but I always know in my heart we are no greater protected or safer where we live, but rather, what we are doing with our life, and whether we are living in his will is what’s important. It may have poured down on us a few times since we have lived here, but the blessings that are pouring into our lives and the lives of the people we are working with are what keep us doing what we are doing. We are so so humbled by, and thankful for, the amazing prayer and support we’ve had from all our family and friends. You guys are amazing.

 

Love The Trennies xxxxx