Masaka

Masaka is the fourth largest town in Uganda. It has little in the way of tourist attractions, a few decent hotels and plenty of hills. This Easter weekend, Brian and I journeyed across the Equator to this place with our friend Keneth and a new friend, Patrick. These boys have worked with a small church that Keneth's grandmother attends. This church is made of mostly mud and sticks and a lot of love. Keneth's dream is to make this church a beautiful expansive church to reach everyone in his grandmother's village. This will take a lot of work but it is his dream and he is dedicated.

Us in front of the first church we visited in Masaka with some of its members. The church pastor is the one standing between us.

The church children welcoming us with a song.

Brian and I spent Saturday there, teaching about hygiene, nutrition, and of course, AIDS. We were greeted by the people at this church with open arms. They sang us songs welcoming and thanking us for coming. We were touched and a little uncomfortable as we weren't sure that we had really done anything to be worthy of their praise. After introducing ourselves, Brian and I split into two groups. He and Keneth went to another area to work with the kids, Patrick and I stayed to teach the adults. Keneth and Patrick were our interpreters and it went incredibly well. The questions ranged from how to make water clean and safe to drink, what foods are healthy to eat, alternatives to toothpaste, how HIV is transmitted, how to protect oneself from HIV, and ways to child-space. Brian's questions from the children included "Do people die in America?" After the group session, we split into groups with some of the church members and went door to door answering villagers' questions about health. We met an old woman around the age of seventy, she had stomach problems and was very constipated. I told her to eat pineapple but of course she had no money to buy pineapple. I promised that we would return later on with pineapple from the market. I told many about the importance of boiling water before drinking it and natural insect repellents. The kids here just get eaten up by mosquitoes and probably fleas. Of course later we returned to give the old woman her pineapple. She accepted it with surprise and tearful gratitude. I'm not sure if she believed we would come back. We returned Masaka town and had a nice dinner and discussion.

Renee answer questions about health from members of the community on Saturday.

Brian talk with a family in the village about how to keep their growing children healthy and strong. I know, this picture looks like something out of a Peace Corp brochure.

Us with our Jjaajaa (Our African grandmother who is also Kenneth's grandmother).

Easter Sunday, we went to a village a ways further from the first one. We were late but incidentally so was everyone else. The program was slightly different on this day. We went to the kids first to teach them hygiene and nutrition. Brian led the show with Keneth translating. It was great seeing Brian teach children and see how rapt they were. We passed out candy and pictures of Jesus for them to color and then joined the rest of the parishion to hear the sermon. It was in Lugandan of course so another guy stood on the stage trying to translate but the pastor was loud and passionate and so most of his words were drowned out. Oh well, we got the gist. Afterwards, we were introduced and they sang us songs with a dance performance. It was all pretty cool and a bit overwhelming. Then it as time for me to stand at the pulpit and answer people's questions about health. These ranged from what meats are healthy to eat, how often should they eat, and what to do about aching muscles. At this point I demonstrated some useful stretches to help ease their pain, to be done before hard work outside. Then some people with personal questions came up to me and I did my best to answer. Some things just need doctors and that is something I am not. One poor woman was laying on the stage to show me her swollen foot. She explained that she had high blood pressure and her ankles always swelled and it hurt to walk on one foot. I got down beside her and asked if I could touch her, when she agreed I began massaging her foot, ankle and calf. She seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. I suggested for her to soak her feet and get a walking stick as her knee was also quite damaged and possibly needed surgery. I would have done more for everyone and had it not been Easter Sunday we probably would have been there hours longer.

It was amazing.

Brian and Patrick explaining the importance of brushing your teeth to a group of Sunday School children.

Saint Renee massages the sore foot of a village woman.


Brian and I discussed our trip on the bus back to Kampala. We agreed that it had exceeded our expectations. These people at those two villages are amazing. They have so little but work so hard to help each other. They have a tiny well that provides cloudy water, that they also take their livestock to drink from. They want to expand it and make it safer but that requires money that NGO's nor the government seem willing or able to provide. A lot of organizations exist in or near Kampala but that's the big city and there are so many people that are doing without and need help. These are good people and Brian and I were so happy to meet them and do what we could to help their small village.

-- Renee