Nets being hung

Jimmy and David hanging nets in 4 of the students homes

Net distribution- thankful recipients

These are some of the recipients of the nets that were donated on Thursday.

Interesting myths and fears

Our day in the village on Wednesday was a huge success, but almost didn't happen. It was due to myths and fears that the villagers had concerning having blood drawn and immunizations administered. These are the things that we deal with here on a daily basis which makes our work harder and things taking longer as well.
I thought you would find this interesting..............
When we arrived at the village Wed. morning to start the HIV testing and immunizations we had a surprise waiting for us. 50 of the parents from the school and refused to allow their children and themselves be tested. From there the others had decided to reject the testing as well based on the myth that "white people or Muzungus" come into the villages and "suck" peoples blood and then take it and sell it for alot of money. We had to spend quite a bit of time counseling them and explaining to them how the process worked, how much blood was actually being taken and that we weren't going to "sell" their blood. We got them settled down and ok with having the HIV test but then they all refused having the children and themselves immunized.
The fear there was that they were all going to die or be crippled. We didn't know this but apparently in 1991 one of the government heads went on a campaign to immunize all of the villagers. They said that many people died afterwards and that the children all became crippled. I have no idea if there is any truth to the story, but it was firmly ingrained in their minds that this would happen to them. So we again had to speak to them and let them know how it actually worked and the benefits to them. After much talking and reassuring they finally consented and they all agreed. Afterwards when we ran out of vaccines the ones who didn't get done begged us to please come again so that they could be taken care of. We will see them again on Wednesday.

Bakka HIV Testing

We had a very successful day yesterday in the village. We had MildMay clinic come and do the HIV testing and Wentz Medical Clinic donate the vaccines, de-wormer's and vitamins for all of the students and their families. Help International volunteered 11 of their people and we had an additional 23 volunteers come and help make this possible. We were able to test 212 for HIV. Only 9 were positive which really surprised us and we are so thankful for the numbers being that low. We were able to vaccinate, de-worm and supply vitamins for 128 people. We ran out of supplies so we will be out again next week on the 9th to finish up with everyone who did not get tested or vaccinated.
Every student had some kind of fungal infection, was malnourished to some degree and all had worms. We will see what we can do about the fungal infections, but the de-worming is now being taken care of and the malnutrition will only be helped with education on how to eat properly and raising the level of incomes for these families.
A big thank you to all fo the volunteers. We started at 6:30am and arrived back home at 8:00pm. Everyone worked so hard and it was hot yesterday. We couldn't have done it without their help. We had one person bit while holding down a child to draw blood and another stuck with a needle after drawing blood. Everyone is ok. The volunteer was stuck with the needle after he had dawn blood and the child flinched. The child's blood was tested 3 times and was neg for HIV, but we took him to the clinic so that they could test for other things to make sure he was ok.
I was helping in the vaccination room. I have become an expert now on "jabbing" people. I feel so bad when I do it and have to tell them I am sorry afterwards. I was afraid that the kids wouldn't like me anymore after I did it, but they all came around and I think have forgiven me. We will continue to supply the school with vitamins and de-wormer as the Wentz Medical Clinic has agreed to keep supplying them for us. We will begin having regular vaccination clinics as well.
The clinic has also supplied us with 360 mosquito nets which we got today and are taking out to the village. They have a team from Canada that will deliver them and also educate the kids and families how to hang, care for, clean and use properly. We have a couple from our church that is staying in the village right now that will begin hanging the nets for all of our students. He will have some of the villagers come with them so that they can learn how to intall them properly.
Will have another update on how the net distribution went and then again next week after our 2nd clinic is finished.
We are also busy getting all of the students stories so that we can better raise support for these precious little guys. Look for that in the next 3 weeks. Enjoy the pictures below of the HIV testing, vaccinations and kids being played with during the process.

Bakka Medical Clinic Success

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independence Day! We already celebrated here as the US Embassy threw a celebration on the 29th. Burgers, hot dogs and fireworks. Not quite like being at home, but it was better than nothing.
This past month has flown by. We are getting ready for the village medical clinic tomorrow. We will begin testing all of the students and their families for HIV and also immunizing all of them as well. We will do half tomorrow and then the other half on the 9th. We have 34 volunteers coming to help us out.
We saw our first family take home their precious new daughter this past month. What a privilege to be able to help facilitate that. We have several more families coming to pick up there waiting children this summer.
All of the birthing kits have been passed out. So far every woman that has delivered with the kit has had a healthy baby and no problems with the mom. What a blessing for these babies and mothers.
Our school grew when we reopened from 150 to 210. We had to send them home as we don't have room for them. They heard that Muzungu's (white people)had taken over the school and wanted their kids to be able to attend. Our students are now eating breakfast and lunch and the teachers are much happier as they are eating as well and getting morning tea.
We have had some volunteers and visitors from the states this past month. They have been so gracious as to donate some items for the school and one couple is here for two weeks to live in the village and help with the school, do some social work for us and hang "mozzie"nets. They are doing all of this while on their honeymoon!
On a personal note....
We have started our house hunting as we have to move out of our home in August. We have found one house that seems like it will meet our needs, so now we negotiate and look some more. We are also starting to look at some vehicles as we feel like we will be able to purchase one in the next month or so. So that is a positive.
Our son Jesse competed in his first East African Motocross race this past weekend. He did very well and we are really proud of him. I posted a picture of him.
Our daughter Kaci's internship in Switzerland fell through so she will be staying here for now.
We hope that you are all doing well and enjoying your summer vacations. We will miss hanging out at the lake and playing at Schlitterbahn. Those of you in Texas know what I mean.
I will update again after we get back from the village.

Passion

We had the privilege this week of having The Passion Tour come to Kampala. Their site is www.268generation.com if you are not familiar with the event. What an incredible opportunity for Uganda to be able to host this team. They had 25,000 students register and participate in the 2 day event. I believe that the students of Makerere University will never be the same.A friend from Austin who now lives in Israel, who has been part of the Passion Team for 10 years came and we were able to spend some time with her. We had a wonderful visit with her although way too short. I know that she thinks that she came to be part of this event, but God had other plans for her as well.
Last Monday night I collapsed in our kitchen and started seizing. I was rushed to our local clinic where they did tests to see what had caused this to happen. The tests were inconclusive so I was sent home to rest. The next day I went back for more tests that all came back normal. So, the conclusion was that the seizure was brought on with a slightly elevated white blood count, dehydration, low blood sugar and stress. I continued to feel "funny" for the rest of the week, resting a lot. Fear tried to grip my heart as well as my families and we all had a hard time shaking it. On her way over from Israel, David had called her to tell her what had happened with me and she said that God told her two things to do and pray over me when she was here. 1. that my head and brain would be healed and restored to normal and 2. to bind fear and that it would be gone. I am happy to report that fear is gone and today is the 1st day that I have felt normal since the attack! God is good. It brings me to my knees in tears to think that God loves me so much that He would send someone all of the way from Israel to minister to me. Those of you who knew what was going on with my health and that have been praying for me, thank you!