HELLOOOOO

Dear PEeps!~ Hello from Northern Uganda! I'm sitting outside the guest house at Lacor Hospital! I'm having an INCREDIBLE TIME with my Social Medicine class. Today we drove out to a rural HIV clinic and had a dialogue with ~150 HIV positive people who are living well, some of them for 16 years, with HIV on ARV therapy. We were able to ask them questions, they asked us questions, and we had an incredible exchange about their challenges, hopes, questions, etc, and learned a lot about what works and doesn't when it comes to medical interventions on the social scale.
Also, thanks a MILLION to those of you who donated, or who still may. I am so fortunate to be taking this class, which evaluates the social, economic, political context of disease and healthcare, & provides opportunities to see & examine patients with the diseases we learn about in their social context. This has given me an incredible insight into doing global health that I never dreamed of before. Thanks in part to much of the input of this class, and to dialogue with my dear Ugandan brother Dr. Francis and other healthcare providers, I have decided to donate the drugs you purchased through your donations to Kitgum Hospital, and let them do what they will with them. By strengthening the public sector health care provider network, we help Uganda's people to put resources where they think they are most needed. THe IDP camp of Puda where we were going to do our mobile clinic is on a list of priorities for Dr Alex, Francis's father, and for Dr Francis and Father Leonsyo, all a part of the team that helped bring Dr. Francis & his mobile clinic to Puda, and so far as I understand things, they will receive medical help, directed through Kitgum Regional Hospital, which will conduct outreach to the camps in an official capacity, instead of me and Francis heading out there to do our own mobile clinics. This means the people will be plugged into the health network centered at the regional district hospital. These plans are still not in any way final, but please know that with what I'm learning here in Social Medicine, and what I'm learnging from my Ugandan Colleagues, I will make a decision that all parties involved believe is the most effective and compassionate.
IN other news, I went for a run today, I'm working out every day, and I'm happy as a clam. I was 2nd assist on a c section yesterday that went swimmingly and I saw a bicorneate uterus to top it all off. Love yo guys! PEace, Nathan

Dear Friends, yet again I seek your support for another mission to Uganda. First I must thank you all. Your support both monetary and otherwise have made all the difference. I apologize I haven't been able to stay better in touch, but as usual, medical school keeps me pretty dang busy.
This January I'm going to Lacor Uganda to do a rotation at Lacor Hospital. I'm also bringing 4000 bucks worth of medical supplies to give to Dr Francis, my dear Acholi brother, who spends his weekends running mobile clinics in Internally Displaced Persons camps far from the reach of any NGOs, government or other sort of help, particularly medical. Francis' simple clinics, set up on a papyrus mat under palm trees saves countless lives. He and his friend Dr Justin will see 150 people in a day and work sunup to sundown.
The problem with the medical supplies I'm bringing is this: I still have no antibiotics. I have found with the help of my favorite American Dr, David Boulware, an NGO called JMS that sells drugs in Uganda at cost to medical professionals and organizations doing work for the poor. With one or two thousand dollars, we could save hundreds of lives. With these medicines, children will live who would otherwise die of diarrhea, worms, pneumonia, malaria, etc. Please click on the PayPal button to the right to give your life saving donation, and partner with me and francis in caring for the poor. Help us give children a fighting chance at life.
Thank you all and bless you!
PS I'll be going on 2 mobile clinics if we can raise the money for the medicine, so I'll be able to share photos and stories personally, so you'll be able to see exactly who your generosity helped!

UNDERWAY

So I'm in London passing the time in the airport! I'm tired and my back hurts, but I just read my brother's blog about the patience necessary to survive and thrive in Uganda, and I'm reminded of the amazing patience, resilience and quiet Grace of the poeple I'm going to live amongst for the next 5 weeks. My prayer now is that I will be able to live in the moment, be fully present, and experience Beauty and Grace of my surroundings no matter where I am or how my body feels. So, I thank God for the pain in my back, for the incredible generosity of those who were able to contribute to my trip, and for the adventure that is before me. For now, I'm waiting in the airport. I think I'll catch up on my knowledge of infectious disease. I brought some great books. Until we meet again, please, send emails, pray, and don't be a stranger! I love you all. Many of you will be in my heart as I once again travel the red earth and the green fields of Uganda. Peace, Nathan

JUST A FEW DAYS TO PLAN!!!

WOW! Ok, I just found a ticket to Uganda for a thousand bucks, and if I can raise it, I'll be meeting Fr. Leonsyo in Kampala and traveling to Gulu to rendezvous with the now "DR FRANCIS" (now called "DR" thanks to your donations), and my brother Patrick. But I NEED YOUR HELP! Anything you can give will help. This year, as I travel to Uganda, my focus is entirely on learning tropical medicine, learning about the lives of Ugandans, and the strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and resources of the poor communities of northern Uganda. One thing I saw on my last journey was that many of us westerners travel to the poor with our OWN mission, instead of waiting for one to be given to us. Sometimes people with such preplanned missions do wonderful things. But I feel personally called to simply go and make myself available. Francis has arranged for me to work in the hospital outside Gulu, called St. Mary's Lacor. There, I will simply do whatever I'm asked to do. As a 3rd year med student, I will be more prepared to learn effective medicine from my Ugandan colleagues than I was as a second year, since I already have some clinical experience under my belt.
So, I travel to Uganda with your help as a simple student. I do not go with any lofty goals, but simply to open my ears, eyes, and my heart to God and to the people of Uganda. Please click the button on the right to donate. I have only a few days to plan, so if I may be so bold as to ask you not to wait...
Thank you, and bless you ALL!!!
If you cannot give financially, PLEASE send your prayers and positive thoughts and or emails to me, to Father Leonsyo, Dr. Francis, and the people of Uganda and of DMP. Stay well and stay in touch! I'll update this blog when I can!
Peace, Nathan

Let's do this!

In just a couple hours, we've already made it a fifth of the way there! 100 bucks and counting! Thanks, and keep em coming!! Let's tell Francis he's graduating tomorrow!

My Friend Francis

Dear Friends. On the right of the screen, you will see a picture of Francis, a dear friend of Evan's and mine, and a medical student in Uganda in his final semester. He is so close to being a doctor, but yet quite far, because he can't afford the tuition he must pay in order to take his qualifying exams. This is a man who often spends weekends in refugee camps caring for people even poorer than he is, all day long, for zero pay. He is dedicated to serving his people through medicine. He is a good guy, and it's a crime that he's not better taken care of. He lives in a single room, and when I was there, he had no electricity. So he studies by candlelight. To become an MD, he needs exactly 1,089,000UGX. That is 558.46USD, at the rate of 1USD=1950UGX today. Please take this amazing opportunity to have a hand in helping Francis to become a physician. In only 2 minutes, you can change a life forever by clicking on the paypal link at the right and donating. I will send everything donated, and pay the transfer fee myself. ANd it's urgent. He's in dire straights. Thank you, and bless you. Peace, Nathan

PS this is my personal paypal account for the record.
PPS, I'm also sending Francis a note with all of your first names so he knows how many people are supporting him. If you want to opt out, let me know.

The Kidz

I met Agik Joan yesterday, our first girl in the DMP to make it to secondary school. We and the people of the Dwon Madiki Partnership (and YOU, our donors over the years, participants in the IC Plunge, etc) have been supporting her education for three years now. After a four hour journey, talking our way past guards at 4 boarding schools, only to find that she wasn't AT these schools, we made it to a school where the guard told us that Agik Joan was indeed inside, but that it was impossible for us to see her, as it was very late and past visiting hours. We argued for twenty minutes to no avail.

I had with me a bag of clothes given to me for Agik by her cousin in Chicago. It had traveled from Chicago to London to Entebbe to Kampala to Mbale to Sipi to Gulu to Lacor to Gulu to Kampala to Entebbe back to Kampala, to four of the wrong schools, and finally found its way to her school, only to be turned away. But Elena and I did not take no for an answer. We had to drive down the road to fill our phone back up with credit (it had run out during the day's journey as we tried to locate Agik), call the vice principle whose number the guard gave to us after promising we wouldn't tell where we got it.

We called the VP, and were apparently persuasive enough. I handed the phone to the guard and he opened the gate. When we finally found Agik outside the dining hall, everything was still for a moment. we were standing on a hillside overlooking lush palm covered landscape soaked in warrm orange sunset, and accompanied by the songs of parrots and other tropical birds. The children at the school were laughing and all had their own styles. Agik Joan, who is in her 2nd year of secondary school (high school) was wearing JEANS. This was the first female I had seen wearing jeans in this country that I can remember. The school was clearly providing an intense level of education that would be impossible in the wartorn public schools of the north.

We gave her the clothes, gave her greetings from her family in the states and in Gulu, told her we were proud of her, chatted about school (she says it is hard to learn with boys in the classroom), and were cut short by the vice principle who came to tell us Agik needed to go study for her exams. This was incredible, as in many places, our Muzungu status would obviate any possiblity of such an interruption. But here, our desire to see Joan was secondary to her need to be educated. We were VERY encouraged by this demonstration that education was given the highest priority here.

Now I'm off to Fort Portal with Elena and Evan to hang out with Ashis and learn about public health education in Uganda... Then on to DR COngo...

PEACE to you all. I am alive here, and living more honestly than I ever have before. Thanks for your support and prayers...

I miss and love you all dearly