Jan. 24, 2012

I arrived in Soroti unsure of what to expect. What I found were people who impacted me deeply. I believed I would see, in the midst of rural Uganda, great poverty and hardship. What surprised me was the immense joy of the Ugandan people in the face of such hardship, and the ease with which Soroti would become my home and the people my family.     

Life in Uganda is not easy. Especially because of the economic downturn, families struggle to obtain necessities like food. As I walked through the busy market with Grace, who works at the clinic, I was shocked to hear that the costs of staples like rice or sugar have gone up 200% in the past year. Hunger is a reality for many Ugandans in a world where I think of my computer and Internet access as fundamental necessities.

I even took electricity for granted, but after constantly experiencing power outages and times when water would not run from the tap, I realized that power is not vital, while water is necessary for survival. As I watched others walk miles along the red dirt road to the pump water, my perspective of life's essentials began to change.

A particularly memorable moment during my time in Uganda was watching the delivery of twins (something I would never see in the US). One of the sets of twins really touched me because after their delivery I interviewed the mother, Joyce. It was Joyce’s third set of twins in a row and life was very hard since her husband had left her. I thought of the twins as such a beautiful blessing, but after talking to Joyce I realized that twins also meant more mouths to feed in a difficult time. Even so, Joyce praised the clinic and the services; she was so grateful that she asked to speak to other mothers at the next outreach in Aboket, near her village. Seeing her and the twins a few weeks later and greeting her like an old friend was really special.

I welled up with emotion when she and Richard talked to the thirty-eight mothers that arrived for antenatal care that day. You could see the expecting mothers grow more confident as someone from their own village explained what it was like to deliver at the clinic. Afterwards, Joyce asked that we come to her village and see where she lived. We went with the twins and saw the rest of the family and their three small grass thatched huts. Joyce represented many of the women with whom I talked—she had a bright smile and showed love to her children even though every day presented a struggle to find even food. I felt so lucky to get to know her and other patients and see how they lived because they inspired me and gave me perspective on what is important in life.

My experience in Uganda has transformed my perspective of the world. The Ugandan people welcomed me and allowed me to live with them for these few months. Our exchange at times seemed one-sided—I merely taught them about computers, and they taught me about living a faithful life in the midst of difficult and often tragic situations. I cannot think of a better experience to have before entering medical school because I have seen the impact that medical care can have in desperate situations. I witnessed how people with seemingly nothing can live with joy, which challenges me to appreciate the joy in my own life. Most of all, I feel grateful that even amidst differences in culture, language, and race, I was able to discover a second home and family in Soroti. I look forward to a medical project that takes me back to Uganda in the future.