Friday I had the great privilege to spend the day with Herb and Ellen Cook and Beth. Ellen has contacts at two crisis pregnancy centers and she thought they would be great places for me to take a few of the “Mama Kits”. She also had heard about this hospital that had a great maternity ward. She wanted to check it out and see if they might need kits or not.
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| Outside of Paragon Hospital |
First stop was Paragon Hospital. Oh my goodness. It was like a resort. You pull up and it’s very tropical looking with tons of beautiful plants and flowers. Nothing about it looked like a typical hospital, especially in Uganda. We walked in and were instructed we had to wash our hands well. Then we waited for the director of the hospital. He gave us a tour and explained their philosophy of doing everything with excellence and with the patient in mind. They also focus on making a visit their pleasant for all of your senses. Seriously, I felt like I had stepped out of Uganda and into Hawaii. The rooms were amazing. Beth and I both asked if we could check ourselves in. The whirlpool bathtubs looked very inviting. Then we went to the maternity ward. They have all private rooms. Most hospitals in Uganda have open labor wards with at least 20 women in them at a time. Each room had an incubator, oxygen, and many other high-tech gadgets. They also have delivery rooms specialized for left-handed or right-handed doctors. WOW! As a lefty, I can really appreciate this fact. Needless to say, we decided they did not need my “Mama Kits”, but it was such a treat to visit such a top-notch facility. If I do get very ill while I’m here, I know where I will be going. They gave us a brochure with price lists. This hospital of course was very expensive by Ugandan standards and is only for the elite, but compared to American health care costs, it was not too bad. A full c-section delivery with everything was only about $2500. I think mine in the States were about $25,000.
Next stop was Wakiso Ministries. This ministry is run by a Ugandan woman named, Vivian. It’s an in-house facility for pregnant teenage moms. They prefer for the girls to come by the time they are about 5 months pregnant. They spend the rest of their pregnancy counseling them, giving them job skills, prenatal care, and teaching basic parenting skills. Right now they have 23 girls living there from about age 13-18. Many of these girls are victims of abuse and the counseling is a very important aspect of the ministry. Vivian explained that culturally, most families do not want their unwed, teenage daughters walking around pregnant. It’s an embarrassment to them and the family. However, once the child is born, most of the girls are allowed to go home and are welcomed back into the community. The girls are allowed to stay at the center until about two weeks after the baby is born, unless there are extenuating circumstances. We met one 15 year old girl that is from Congo. She was raped by soldiers. She now has a 5 month old baby boy. She’s never known her mother and her father died. This poor refugee girl has nowhere to go. So Vivian is allowing her to stay until they can find a safe place for her to go back to school and live with her baby. This is an amazing ministry. Vivian truly cares for these girls and is doing everything she can to help provide a future for them. After we visited for a while, I told her about the “Mama Kits”. She did a little dance of joy. She was thrilled to get them. She explained that they make up their own kits for each of the girls to take to the hospital with them. The girls all deliver at the government run hospital. This hospital is free, but there are many horror stories of the quality of care there. And believe it or not, there are many girls that cannot afford the simple supplies required at the hospital, which keeps them delivering at home with none of the proper tools. Vivian could not believe that all of the things needed were right there in this little package. She also promised to call me if a girl goes into labor soon. I told her that I really wanted to see what labor and delivery was like at the government hospital. Hope that works out! I was so glad that these kits were something that can really be a blessing to the girls. I promised to bring her more soon.
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| The girls learn to make their own quilts from donated knitted squares |
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| The dorm room |
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| Me explaining the kits to Vivian |
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| Example Mama Kit |
Each kit includes cotton wool, plastic sheeting, razor blade, cord ties, gloves, soap, preparation sheet, and a child growth chart, as well as instructions on how to use everything.
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| Vivian showing us their store room of supplies |
Finally, we visited Comforter’s Center. This is a ministry that Herb and Ellen have worked closely with for several years and is very near their home. The center is run by a woman named Veronica. Veronica has an amazing story. Her mother got pregnant with her as a result of an affair. She decided to have an abortion so her husband would not find out. The abortion was botched and Veronica was born with a deformed leg as a result. Also, Veronica’s sister died while having an abortion. Needless to say, God uses her story every day to minister to women. Her center provides counseling, baby supplies, job training, and also helps to get young moms back in school. Veronica has negotiated with a couple of high schools so that the schools provide scholarships for these young moms and then she convinces the girls’ parents that to help provide child care so they can complete their education. Herb and Ellen’s housemaid, Harriett also gets the students for her “school” from this center. Harriett teaches the girls cooking, cleaning, and everything they would need to know to become an excellent housemaid and then helps them find jobs. Ellen also leads the girls in daily bible studies and encourages them as young new moms. Beth and Jeremy’s housemaid, Medias, is a graduate of Harriett’s school. It’s been such a pleasure to see Medias the past couple of months grow and improve in her house skills, but also grow as a mother and person. Her son Michael and Mercy have a love/hate relationship. They always want to be together, but beat each other up when the other has something they want. It is so fun to watch them play together.
(Sorry all of the pictures are not in order... my skills are limited by Ugandan internet. ha!)
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| Veronica showing off her new Mama Kits |
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| Veronica's Center |
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| Mercy and Michael |
So after Veronica told us all about her ministry, I presented the “Mama Kits” to her. She too was amazed by them and did a little happy dance. She said they make up their own kits to give to girls, but that theirs are always big and bulky. She loved how compact it was and said it had everything in it that the girls need. She also told me that it costs them about twice the amount I paid for the kits to buy all of the things in the market and do it themselves. Again, I promised to bring her more.
It was such a blessing to get to see the wonderful work these women are doing. And I was so glad to be able to provide them with this small blessing. Thank you so much to all of you that donated. I promise you that there are many young moms very grateful for your gift. And if you are still interested in giving you can certainly do so by clicking on the PayPal link at the top right of this page. I’ll be ordering more kits this next week. Right now I can buy at least 200 more.
