His Hope Uganda

“TYPHOID SEASON” - April 20, 2011

Greetings everyone,

I hope this email finds you well despite the lack of spring in Western Canada. While you deal with the prolonged winter, I’m still here, sweating. Something to ponder while you’re complaining I guess.

Something hit me the other day while we were driving through a village and listening to the song “This Time for Africa” on the radio. I LIVE in Africa. Crazy.

It’s been an interesting (in a bad way) last few weeks as we’ve recently declared war against a very persistent and vicious enemy called typhoid. Actually, I think it was typhoid that declared war against us. So far we are losing (but only by 35 to 3, a comeback is still possible). In the past two months, we have tested 35 people and 32 of them have had typhoid. We have started a Typhoid Club and, if you ask me, you aren’t cool unless you are a member. I only say that because I am. So are Uncle Eman, Auntie Annet, and our newest member, Auntie Christine.

From my experience with typhoid, I have to tell you that it really sucks. While I had it I was pretty much bedridden for four days because I was too weak to do anything productive (which was actually a blessing because I needed the rest). It seems much more determined and stubborn than our other sworn enemy, malaria. The biggest problem is that typhoid and malaria often join forces and attack at once, which really brings our kids down. Many of the kids we’ve tested for typhoid and malaria have had both at the same time and almost all of the others have had them about a week apart. In March, all of our staff had typhoid and malaria, which made it a pretty crappy month (literally).

In the past couple of months we’ve also had a lot of houseguests (human ones, not the usual creatures that I cohabitate with every day) as our house has been serving as a hospital for the sick. Usually when a child is sick, he or she ends up staying here until recovery or until finishing a series of injections. There are a number of reasons why they stay here, including that many of them live too far away from the clinic to come back for their shots twice a day. We also want to make sure they are resting and eating properly (and I just like taking care of kids and having them around).

One big frustration with getting typhoid is that everyone says to me “Don’t you drink boiled water?” Granted, I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed but it doesn’t take much to know that drinking tap water in Africa is not a very good idea. I don’t think I got typhoid from the water I drink (because that would make me look like a fool and my pride can’t take that). So I have two theories about why everyone in our house has typhoid.

My first theory is cockroaches. As you all know, I hate cockroaches and it’s true that I would love to blame everything on cockroaches because I hate them that much. But considering that they are everywhere and that there is not one dish in our cupboard that is untouched by cockroaches, I think this is a good theory. Actually now that I think of it, it’s very possible that they’re eating mosquitoes and spreading malaria too.

My second theory is children. It’s a toss up as to which are dirtier, cockroaches or our kids (but I’d probably bet a chocolate bar that it’s our kids). Because our children don’t know proper hygiene and hand washing techniques, most of them don’t wash their hands after coming from the toilet. In fact, last weekend we taught our children how to do just that. We told them that if we caught them washing their hands after coming from the toilet, they would get a sweetie (candy) but if we caught them not washing their hands they would get “kiboko”, the Ugandan word for “caning” (which we wouldn’t actually do). There were about 40 kids here for about nine hours and we only gave out two sweeties.

The worst part is that after coming from the toilet with unwashed hands, they pass through the kitchen. They touch the fridge, counters, and cupboards. And they like to help out by doing the dishes so they wash, rinse, and dry them with dirty hands.

Typhoid, anyone?

That’s why I get frustrated by people’s assumption that I must have typhoid because I drink dirty water. It’s like when my children tell me that I have diabetes because I eat too much sugar.

So, I can’t say that the past few weeks have been fantastic (we also had a three week power outage in there somewhere) but there have been enough fantastic blessings and moments within them to confirm that all the bad stuff we’ve been going through is worth it.

The biggest blessing, as always, is the kids who can make me forget sickness or any other problem within minutes. I can’t feel discouraged or frustrated when we have kids around because they are such a joy and blessing (and such brats sometimes but that doesn’t really fit in the sentence). They remind me why I’m here, to love them and teach them and pray with them and appreciate them and learn from them, and they are a great remedy for just about anything. Knowing that God is using us to make a difference in their lives is worth all the typhoid and malaria and uncontrolled vehicles that might come my way.

We’ve recently made some changes here at the house. Auntie Christine, who has been a great roommate for the last two years, moved out a few weeks ago. She now has her own place just down the road and it is working out really well. I am currently staying with my two teenage neighbours, Grace and Brenda, because I don’t feel comfortable living here alone (mostly because I really wouldn’t know what to do if I saw a big spider in the middle of the night). It is a temporary arrangement but it is working out well.

We’ve also introduced sleepovers in the past couple of months. So, when there aren’t sick kids around, there are healthy kids around, which is nicer because they’re not sick but not nicer because they’re much louder and more energetic. We have permission to have kids from our program stay here on weekends and holidays so we decided to start allowing some of them to sleep here on weekends. This has proven to be a lot of fun for the kids (and for me, I won’t deny it). It has also proven to be very entertaining.

I think one of the greatest sounds in the world is the sound of kid’s laughter, especially when it comes from kids that you know don’t laugh enough. I love laughing with these kids. But I also love laughing at these kids.

There is a new group of children in our program who come from a village that is more rural than a lot of the other villages we work in. We call these kids “The Villagers”. The first time they came, we found them outside at the tap, laughing and having a great time. They were absolutely fascinated by the running water coming out of the tap because some of them had never seen it before. We had to teach them how to use the inside flushing toilet, which they only use in the middle of the night, because they had never come across one before. But even after we taught them, they still couldn’t quite get it right.

One morning I woke up and the whole house stunk. I went in the bathroom and found what looked like an entire week’s worth of you know what in the toilet (I don’t know how many girls used it in the night but it took five flushes to get it all down). Another night Brenda found one of the girls trying to push her product down the toilet with the toilet brush. But the best moment was when one of the girls (who must remain unnamed for my protection) thought it would be a great idea to use the toilet brush (or “big brush” as she called it) to comb her hair.

That’s why we call them villagers. And that’s why we love them.

I can’t explain what an incredible feeling it is to be surrounded by these amazing children, who can laugh and dance despite their circumstances. I only hope that I can teach them and bless them as much as they’ve taught and blessed me.

We have just started building a house for a family who currently live in a house built out of mud and cow dung. You can try to imagine how bad the conditions are (especially the smell) but it’s something that I can’t put into words or capture in pictures. The only way to believe it is to see it for your self.

God has given me a gift for writing and a heart to share my experiences and my stories with all of you and I love being able to do that. But I often get frustrated by all that I can’t share because there is only so much that I can put into words.

There are moments when the poverty and the injustice in this world become overwhelming. It’s all too big. It’s too much.

I feel overwhelmed when it rains at night and I lie in bed thinking of all the children who are cold and wet because they don’t have blankets and their houses are leaking. I feel overwhelmed when we drive by grandmothers and children digging in their gardens in the heat of the sun with no food and no water. I feel overwhelmed when I think about the number of people who suffer and die from preventable diseases, diseases that have vaccines which are only available in rich countries where those diseases don’t exist. I feel overwhelmed when we come across families who haven’t eaten in days because they have no money and no food in their gardens because of drought. I feel overwhelmed when I think about the number of children who will sleep hungry tonight.

And I feel overwhelmed when I think of the number of people in the world who are drowning in money and worldly possessions but who don’t know how it feels to be happy.

It doesn’t make any sense.

When this typhoid thing hit, I got really pumped up about it. I was ready to fight and I was ready to defeat typhoid. I honestly thought our purpose in being here was to help rid Uganda of typhoid. But the more it grew, the more I realized that all our ideas had flaws and that there was really no answer to defeating this sickness. I got discouraged. I got angry. Then an interesting thing happened.

I got typhoid.

Last month one of my kid’s grandmothers got very sick very suddenly and she passed away unexpectedly. She was a woman that I knew well and she was a woman who was always full of energy. She was so active and so strong willed. I visited her in the hospital just before she passed away and she was so weak and small that I couldn’t even recognize her. I was shocked by how humbled and changed she was by sickness.

Sickness humbled me last week. I was reminded of not only how fast things can change, but of how I am not in control (much like when I was hit by the car, I think God’s trying to teach me something).

Without God, I am nothing. I have been reminded again that I cannot stand on my own. I cannot do anything by my own strength. I can try, but I will fall.

When I try to run this organization without God, I fail. When I get too busy doing His work to include Him in it, I get burnt out and frustrated very fast. And when I let pride into my heart, I am humbled.

We cannot stop typhoid in Uganda. We cannot stop poverty. But I am here working anyway because I believe that nothing is impossible with God. I believe that God could stop typhoid and poverty in a second if He wanted to. But I believe that He has a greater plan than that. And I believe we are part of that plan.

Poverty is big. But God is bigger.

God continues to show me how big He is in all that He is doing here. He is working in people’s lives but more importantly He is working in their hearts. And even though there are moments when I feel overwhelmed by it all, I know that we are where we are supposed to be and that God is using us to make a difference.

Thank you again for being part of this, on behalf of me and all our grateful families and from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you for your prayers as I know without a doubt that even though we’ve been attacked by sickness, we have overcome it because of your prayers. Please continue to pray for protection and health for our children and their families and for strength and wisdom for our incredible staff.

A few weeks ago one of the girls in our program accepted Christ. It was the most exciting thing that has happened in the two years we’ve been here. Praying with her was such an honour and such an encouragement because it confirmed that God is working through us. Please continue to pray that we would teach and show Christ’s love in the right way and that children and their guardians would open their hearts to Him.

Please pray for strength for me as I’ve been exhausted and a little burnt out recently. My diabetes has been adding to my stress as I can’t get my sugar levels under control. Pray that I would find rest and peace in God and that I would find time for Him every day.

We have three volunteers coming here at the beginning of June that I met last year only briefly. They will be here for one week. Pray that their time here will be a time of joy and blessing and for God’s protection over them while they’re here.

Thank you again. You might think I say it too much I think I don’t say it enough. Happy Easter and God bless. Much love,

Kimi