First Medical Outreach

Today Mark held his first medical outreach in Mazimasa, a village outside of Mbale. He has been spending a lot of time these past several months thinking about the best way to do such an outreach. Those of you who know Mark know that he is a thinker. He wanted to be sure that he supports the medical infrastructure that is already in place here in Uganda. The system here isn't perfect, but he didn't want to undermine it by providing treatment outside of the system.

So, what he ended up doing was partnering with a government health center 3. A health center 3 consists of a medical clinic with a maternity ward.

Here is a picture of the health center we visited today:

About a month ago Mark visited this health center to ask how he could assist them. The staff there indicated that they would love for him to give a talk about a health topic of his choice on a day that they would be conducting pediatric vaccinations and distributing de-worming medicine.

This is Sylvia, the midwife at the clinic:

So, Mark prepared a talk about worms. Yes, it's gross, and I learned things I didn't really want to know, (Did you know a single worm can lay 200,000 eggs in your body in a single day?), but it is so crucial here where indoor plumbing is a rarity, and where a bad case of worms can keep a child from gaining any weight.

His friend Milton translated, as many of the people in the villages speak very limited English.

When Mark was done with his talk, Pastor Herbert, the pastor of the local church there in Mazimasa, shared about Jesus with those gathered at the clinic. I think it is a great arrangement, because then if people have questions or want follow up, they can talk to the pastor that is right there in their village.

After Pastor Herbert spoke, Mark distributed de-wormer to everyone gathered there.

Many of the church members came over to the clinic to greet us and their neighbors that attended the outreach.

Here are the boys hanging out with some friends from the church.

Here is Harriet, Milton's wife and a dear friend, holding baby Eric (who was terrified of us white people by the way).

Thank you for praying for us. Please continue to pray for wisdom as to how to serve here well. We want to make sure we are coming alongside and encouraging all the good things that are happening here, rather than coming in like an elephant and imposing our own agenda. Pray for Mark, who really misses full time medicine, and is still trying to figure out his role/place here.