Wheelchairs and the good 'ol USA

Alright, so the title of this post does not remotely capture all of the excitement of the week, but on Tuesday, I had the privilege of both fitting my kids in new wheelchairs and visiting the US Embassy. It was a great day!

Visiting the Embassy
The most fantastic part of my time there was when I thought about the fact that I was technically standing on ground owned my the USA... yes I teared up a little bit. I am so happy and content with what God has me doing, but I miss my home!!! It was a really great time of hearing from the consulate office about what services they offer US citizens, hearing from the head of security, and hearing from Ambassador DeLisi about how the US is partnering with Uganda. And I can tell you that unlike most of our European friends.... the US has been much smarter about how they have invested money in Uganda! We closed our time there with homemade chocolate chips cookies made by the consulate office. I have a little beef with our government though, in that embassy workers can get food and other things overnighted to them from the US with no extra cost to them (AKA the rest of us pay for it). So things like chocolate chips are not a big deal to them.. but the rest of us were Oh So HAPPY to enjoy them!

The US Embassy - Beautiful but HEAVILY guarded outside. You cannot see any of this from the road.

Ambassador DeLisi speaking to us. Cameras, Phones, Water bottles - EVERYTHING had to be left outside... this is the photo from Ambassador DeLisi's Facebook Page, and my head is on the far left!!!! In case you are confusing me with the gray haired man..  I am in the purple polka dot dress with my hair up :)

After leaving the Embassy, I went with some AIM friends out to an Ethiopian restaurant! I am here with my friend Amanda, another short termer

Praise the Lord for More Wheelchairs!!!
At the school we have 6 children that use wheelchairs. Two of them have very good wheelchairs, two have their own chairs but they do not remotely fit them correctly, and the last two have school chairs that they have outgrown. Four of the kids were on a list to get new wheelchairs from Fathers Heart Mobility (the organization I worked with last week) in August. Well, we had extra wheelchairs from last week, and Francis said that we could take four of them now! Praise the Lord!

The school truck loaded to bring the wheelchairs home

Low and behold we ended up with 5 wheelchairs. Kato had his own nice wheelchair, and over the weekend his completely fell apart. We are hoping to get it repaired, but it doesn't look good :( The school put him in a fold-able chair that they had, but poor Kato had to hold onto the back to keep himself from falling out. Kato is completely dependent on his wheelchair not only for mobility, but just to sit in class. He cannot sit by himself, so his wheelchair is essential. God's timing could not have been better for getting these new chairs!!!

Kato in his temporary chair... can you see how he is holding on?

Kato in his new wheelchair - He was SOOOO Happy!!!

Sumaya in her old chair... her feet dragged on the ground when she was pushed, so she had to be leaned back. She clearly had outgrown this chair!

Sumaya is very happy in her new chair! And her feet don't touch the ground!

Sunna had a small chair like Sumaya's but one of the front wheels fell off. Since then he was put in this one, and it is also just way to big for him and it is not very supportive.

Sunna in his new chair giving me a high five. He cannot verbally communicate, but he communicates with noises and hand gestures... he made it clear that he was VERY VERY happy!

Maria is one that is in her own chair, but it is far to big and her feet do not reach the foot plates. Nor is the chair supportive enough for her. She does not have her own wheelchair at home, so we are going to send her old wheelchair home so she at least has something when she is on holiday from school. But when she leaves the school her new wheelchair will be hers to keep

Maria in her new chair.. it fits so nice!!!

Vicky in her new chair (I forgot an old chair pictures). Her story is similar to Maria's and now she can sit properly in her chair!

 Thank you Francis and Adrienne and the people that donated the money for the chairs!!!!

A little randomness from the week!

Unfortunately I did not take this photo, it is from my friend Amanda... but I have seen this and have been wanting a picture. In case you are confused... those are all chickens!

Why is there a stick in the windshield? That is what I asked the school driver. Apparently it is for when cattle refuse to leave the road and when boda boda drivers get a little obnoxious!

Our new friend Ibram started at the school this year. Behind him on the wall are the crosses I decorated with each of my kids as we get ready to celebrate Easter!

I have not had geckos in my house for awhile, and now I have two again. I caught this one, only to take a picture and then he got away. I think he is kind of cute!!!

My 3 favorite girls: Lucky, Sumaya, and Doris wanted to have a photo shoot! This was my favorite one!

I always joke that I have the best family ever, and I stand by that being true. I have received so many cards and packages, it just shows me your support and I could not be more thankful! My Aunt Jill deserves some recognition for her creativity in what she can get in an envelope without paying any extra money. My favorite item to date... pretty Band-Aids :) The get well soon card I got this week from her also rocks... "Just in case you are sick" :)

 I think that is all for this week. We have a 4 day weekend as Uganda recognizes both Good Friday and the Monday after Easter as national holidays! (USA... you need to work on that!) As always, thank you all so much for your support and prayers! I could not do what I am doing without each one of you!

Much Love,

Wheelchairs and Power Outages

One of my favorite things I have been able to do here is help with a few wheelchair distributions. You can read about the previous ones here and here. The one this week was in Kampala for the Wakiso District. We ended up giving away around 160 wheelchairs in 2 days.

In Uganda, it is generally quite expensive to get a wheelchair. They cost around 500,000 UGX or $192.31. Most people cannot afford to pay for a wheelchair and end up just crawling to get from place to place. On top of that, there are many more illnesses here that can cause physical disabilities. The organization that I worked with is called Father's Heart Mobility and they are able to provide donated wheelchairs to these people that only cost $100 or. 260,000 UGX. If you would be interested in donating a wheelchair to someone in need click here.

Meet some of the people that I worked with the past 2 days:

Meet Kato: Kato's only problem is that he has an untreated club foot on the right. We referred him to an organization called CorSu that does orthopedic surgeries for free.

Kato

Meet Phiona: Phiona acquired Spinal Tuberculosis when she was 7 years old. It has led to paresis in her legs and a hump on her upper back by her shoulder blades (where the infection dwelled). She is now 19 years old and has only been able to crawl to get around since she was 7. She was so excited to receive a wheelchair!

Phiona

 Meet Daphine: My favorite part about Daphine's story is her step-mother. In Uganda, most people do not care for children with disabilities and most step-mother's do not care for their husband's kids. This women went against both of those cultural norms to care for this girl. Daphine was developing normally until she was 3 years old. She got really sick and went to the hospital and they sent her home saying it was just a fever. Daphine ended up losing function of both her arms and legs and now cannot talk, sit or feed herself. She is now 12 years old, and her step-mother came into her life 7 months ago. Daphine's mother basically left Daphine to do nothing. This new step-mother is now fighting for Daphine, trying to teach her to eat, sit, and trying to get her a wheelchair. I started crying talking with this women, she is so amazing.

Daphine with her step mother

Meet Sarah: Sarah is 20 years old and has cerebral palsy. I think she at one time had a wheelchair that became too small and she has had to be carried ever since. She was so incredibly happy to receive a new chair!

Sarah

 And some other people that warmed my heart in the last few days!

This wonderful women Phiona translated and was my helper for the last 2 days. I am so thankful for her!!

This sweet little boy has severe hydrocephalus, but his mom is doing everything right in trying to get him the treatment he needs. The mom was so sweet, she said my little boy is perfect, except that he has some extra fluid on his brain.

I do not remember this little guy's name, but he was just so sweet. He appeared to have spastic diplegia (cerebral palsy affecting only the legs)

How cute is he in his chair!!

This sweet little guy, has hydrocephalus and what is called plagiocephaly- or something similar, basically a flattening of the head (PT friends... have a better name for this?) He is pictured with my good friend Florence, who has a non-for-profit that helps kids with diabilities. She also is a PT!

This little girl was so sweet too!

I think most of the adults I saw, were paralyzed since childhood secondary to having polio.

One more of the sweet kids I met!

I just loved this man in the wheelchair on the left. He goes into his village and finds kids that parents are trying to hide and shows them that it is ok to have a disability. He brought 3 boys to the distribution for wheelchairs.

I cannot tell you anything about this man... BUT he is wearing a baby onesie on his head! He is talking with Francis the founder of Father's Heart Mobility

My favorite part of these distributions is just being able to show people God's love. They call it Father's Heart because they want people to learn about how much God has given them through the gift of this wheelchair. 

I felt like a real African this week!
Normally if the water goes out.. it is gone for a few hours and comes back. This week it was gone for nearly 36 hours before we had water again. That meant I had to go get water from the rain tanks outside (which all of my neighbors do daily) and then use it in my house. Well.. in the mean time we also had about 5 hours without power... No power and no water.. hence why I felt like an African - that is how so many people live in Africa outside of the cities. However, even some people in the city do not have water or power in their homes. Well the power came back... and 12 hours later the water came back... Only for when the water to come back the power went out for another 48 hours.. well I have no idea when it came back on since I left for the distribution.. but it had been 48 hours when I left. God has wonderful timing!!!

Filling my jerry can with the rain tank

I had to work out in candle light... I am pretty sure that was a first!

This week in pictures:

Some other really fun things happened this week that I wanted to share about as well!

Friday: The kids had elections (I still cannot figure out entirely what happened). The student who was running had to sit with their backs to the other students with a bucket behind them where the other students put their vote.

Saturday: My sweet friend Julie Matthews came to visit me from Jinja. It was so wonderful to catch up with her!

Sunday: My neighbor Christine made this dress for me, so I decided to show it off and wear it to church

Sunday: My friend Margret came over after church and I taught her how to make Snickerdoodles. However, her aunt's oven where we were going to bake them was out of gas... so we learned how to make the dough.. froze it... and will finish the process another day!

Sunday: Margret's son Matthew came over while we make cookie dough and colored. He use to be so afraid of me, now I think he thinks I am his best friend!! :)

Monday: It hailed for a long time... I decided this was Ugandan snow!

Tuesday: I played games with the girls. They love Memory and Connect Four!

Wednesday - Friday: I was fortunate enough to stay with this lovely couple during the wheelchair distribution! Bill and Ruth Stough are retired missionaries with AIM and they are from Wheaton, IL. They have become my grandparents here and I am so thankful for them!

Grandma Capp - This photo is specifically for you! Ruth has fully embraced that geckos live in her house. When she finds their eggs, she puts them in her bowl of potpourri so they can safely hatch! She calls them her house geckos!!

 You all deserve a gold star if you made it all the way through this post! It was such a good week, God is so Good!! Thank you all so much for your prayers and support!

What do Polygamy, Homosexuality, and Shorts all have in common?

What do Polygamy, Homosexuality, and Short Shorts all have in common? They are all major cultural differences between life in America and life in Uganda.

So why start with Polygamy and Homosexuality?
Every time I hear someone talk about his "wives" or "your other wife", I get completely caught off guard. This has probably been the most shocking cultural thing to me! Me being naive in my own little bubble I thought polygamy was illegal world wide. NOPE! One of the teachers at the school even told me that since the population of women is so much higher than the population of men (due to war) it is good that Uganda allows polygamy. I have no idea if that is true.. but still I am completely shocked! One of the workers at the school even has a second wife in the village... he has his "city wife" that also works at the school and he has his "village wife". So why do I write about all of this????? My shock at the open discussion about polygamy is how Ugandan's feel about how we openly discuss homosexuality. In Uganda, it is absolutely illegal in any way, shape or form to be gay. Most Ugandan's are equally shocked about our openness to discuss homosexuality in America.

Short Shorts????
In America, everyone wears their shorts and allows their thighs to show when it is hot outside. In Uganda, it is no problem if your bra or even a women's full chest shows.. but you MUST NEVER allow someone to see your thighs! I had Teddy & Phoebe (two older girls in their 30's that are orphans and still stay at the school) over to watch High School Musical 3. The second the movie started I thought... oh no there are lots of thighs showing in this movie..... And sure enough about half way through Teddy commented about how short the girls shorts were and that it was really bad!

Blowing on Hot Food
I think I have mentioned this one before... but blowing on your hot food is considered extremely rude! It basically is looked at as rushing and therefore rude. I never realized how often I do it, until I found out it was culturally unacceptable!

Last one for now... Freedom of Speech
One thing I am thankful for is our freedom of speech in America. Even though Uganda is a democracy, people are not free to discuss whatever the please, ESPECIALLY about the president. It is illegal for any news stations to say anything negative about the president, and it is illegal for government workers to speak negatively about the president. I asked someone what they thought about Musevani, and they basically just declined to answer out of fear of potentially losing their job.

So why am I sharing all of these cultural differences on my blog?
My blog is not only my way of keeping in touch with all of you, but it is also my way of journaling about my time here. All of these cultural differences are things I have had to wrestle with while being here. Lately, the discussions on polygamy and homosexuality have become a regular conversation with my neighbor and she was the one who enlightened me about how Ugandan's are also shocked by culture in the Western World.

On to the Week
This week has been really great. There was finally a break in the heat and I was able to wear a sweater for part of the day today! SO THANKFUL! I think it is easier to describe the week in pictures, so you can read the captions below :)

My friend Ingrid use to work as an occupational therapist back in the US. She knows far more about molding plastics than I do, and agreed to come last Friday to help me adjust the ankle-foot orthotics donated to us from Midwest Orthotics in Chicago. She was so helpful!

I was so excited... do you recognize this hoodie! Its from Illinois!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited! (This is the same student with a Team USA jersey) For the record, no I did not bring extra clothes for the kids with me. Most of the clothes that you find here are second hand from other countries.

3 of my favorite little boys! - Cole, Graham, and Owen! I was blessed to be able to babysit for them Friday night so their parents could have a night out!

On Tuesday, I was able to skype with my Sister-in-law's class! It was so much fun to meet each of Collyn's kids and answer all of their questions? My favorite question they asked - "Do you have candy in Uganda?"

Matthew - This is my dear friend Margret's son. Margret runs the first store right outside of the school gate. She has been coming faithfully to my Wednesday morning Bible study, and I have been absolutely loving our discussions as we work through the book of James. She did not own a Bible when she came the first week, and thankfully someone had just given me an extra one so I passed it on. I love when I walk by her store and I see her sitting there reading it!

The most exciting part of my week! On Wednesday, I got to take these two (Sumaya and Kato) along with Clare to Katalemwa. Katalemwa is a government organization that works specifically with kids with physical disabilities, and they make their own equipment. So the 4 of us squished into the backseat of a truck...... thankfully it was not a long ride and they had good attitudes. Both Sumaya and Kato have spastic tight muscles.... so as we bumped along the pot holes I was trying to protect the rest of us from their stiff elbows. Clare has very low muscle tone... and just sort of flopped every where, so I was trying to hold onto her and keep her in her seat. It was quite fun as you can see above! I just love these 3 kids!

Clare smooshed with me as we went!

At the workshop at Katalemwa - Kato need his wheelchair repaired, and we were able to order 2 walkers, one for Clare and one for Sumaya. Praise the Lord!!!

The kids had filled up most of their charts, so I just moved on to making new charts for the rest of my time here. According to the sticker chart we had about 250 physical therapy sessions since we started.. but I think that is an underestimate since I am some times forgetful about giving a sticker at the end of each session and many stickers have been ripped off.

My funny moment of the week - a coffee press is called a coffee plunger here :) I asked a teacher if she knew what a plunger was, and she asked if it was a type of fruit :) Toilets are definitely different here since there is no need for plungers!!!

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support as always. I really could not have survived my first 6 months here without all of your prayers. I am so thankful for each and everyone of you!