Through the Eyes of a Newbie
October 27, 2015

Typically, our blog is written in a way that you really are not aware of the author.  But today, I want to write it so that I can give you the inside scoop on Gulu and more importantly, on Jo Ann and Pat.  Here goes….

Pat and I arrived in Gulu about five weeks ago.  Although I had been here in 2010 for about two weeks, I had forgotten how absolutely beautiful and welcoming the people are here.  They are sooo grateful for our presence.  One Little Sister of Mary Immaculate from Gulu said recently “it is important for our people to see you here and know that you care about us.”  Having just read Aboke Girls and Girl Soldier, I better understood what her words meant.



Water Woman with her daughter



As most of you know, one of the parts of the ministry Pat and I came to do was help implement the Water With Blessings program.  Our Sisters and Associates raised enough monies to purchase forty water filter systems to be shared with mothers who have at least one child who is five years or under.  These water filters purify water 99.9999% so that families no longer have to worry about the diseases that come from impure drinking water.  The mother also commits to share clean water with at least three other families.  Pat and I had one vision about how things would play out regarding sharing this good news with the women; and yet…what’s the old saying…”God’s ways are not our ways” kicked in and things are moving much more slowly than we had anticipated.  The good news is that two of our Associates, Charles and Santa Rita, are very involved in helping us organize the project.  They have also helped us grow in our cultural awareness so that this project will be presented in such a way that the mothers themselves will ensure that it will be sustainable. I have included a picture of one of our Water Women with her daughter.


 

Jo Ann with Lamara Jo Ann

In the meantime, we have had the opportunity to go with Sister Jo Ann to the maternity clinic and meet all the folks who work there with her.  To say she is beloved among the workers there and those who come for care is an understatement!  They all recognize her medical expertise and know that she is compassionate and will be honest with them.  One of the mothers even named her daughter after Joann.  In this picture, Joann is holding little Lamara Jo Ann and her mom is watching from the background.  The maternity clinic has had 250 births to date and there have been 688 women who have come for pre-natal care and 506 women and infants who have come for post natal care.  The maternity clinic is truly a blessing for the women in this community!  Special thanks to Lynne Cooper and all who helped make this dream a reality!

 



Student practicing to pass his exit exam

 And then there’s Pat!  You would think she is a rock star from the welcomes she has been receiving!  Word spread quickly that Sister Patricia had returned and her former students and colleagues at school have come to greet her.  All of them expressed gratitude for the positive influence she has had on their lives.  Some of the students that Pat was able to support financially through your generosity have continued on with their schooling and one of them is studying to be a medical technician.  Pat is very aware that these successes could never have become a reality without lots of people’s support.  What was new to me is that all children, if they want to attend school, must pay tuition.  There are three terms in a school year and it costs on average $50.00 a term in the primary grades, P-1 through P-7.  Of course, that is only the tuition for a day student.  It doesn’t include supplies, uniforms, or other fees.  Yes, students wear uniforms in all of the schools, private or public. Many of the children are unable to attend school because their parents are unable to pay the tuition.  I have included pictures of one of the classrooms at St. Joseph’s which is a government school.  Looks a bit different from the schools we know!  I went there on a Sunday, thinking I wouldn’t disturb anyone and I found three young men, studying for an exam they have coming up.  At Mass on Sunday, we prayed that those who are taking the P-7 exam will do well.

As a typical city girl, another new experience for me is eating food that we grow.  I know….hard to believe!  I love being able to go in the back yard and cut lettuce, pick green beans, peas, and green peppers.  You name it and it is growing there.  We are still waiting for the tomatoes and mangoes to ripen.  I have included pictures of the garden where Joann and Mary Louise Basler have worked.  The rest of us just enjoy the fruits of their labors.  Our friend, Obita Charles helps care for the garden as well.

 

I don’t know if I have ever seen more beautiful skies than we have seen here.  With no tall buildings and very little pollution, the sunsets are beautiful.  Here are some pictures we took from our back yard.

 

 

 

 

If my brother, Pete, were reading this he’d say…”enough, Patty” and so I think I’ll close for now.  I promise to return to give you a bit more of the inside scoop on Gulu, Jo Ann, and Pat.  Thank you for your continued prayers and support for all of us and the wonderful people with whom we are in ministry.  You are remembered in our prayers as well.  God bless!

NEW BEGINNINGS

Greetings from Gulu

October 13, 2015

Jo Ann has remained busy in the Maternity Clinic.  The good news is that a third mid-wife, Vicky, has been hired!  This relieves the original mid-wife, Nighty, to not only get some rest while the second mid-wife, Pamela, is on maternity leave, but also allows her time to take care of her other responsibilities as head mid-wife and in-charge of both the out-patient clinic and maternity clinic.  Although Nighty is very capable, we also have to remember that she is married to a wonderful man and is mother of four small children!

The Maternity Clinic seems to be thriving as more and more people are showing up there.  Several are asking how long it has been there.  Lots of new babies are coming! Bibiana works in the Outpatient Department next door to Maternity, and rotates through Maternity.  She "rotated" in a different way this time! Below are Bibiana and her baby.  Her husband, sister and mother had accompanied her on the day of giving birth. These photos were taken on their Day 6 check-up.

See me wink!

Bibiana and her baby boy

Patty and Pat need to remember that things move more slowly than we might expect here in Northern Uganda.  On 25 September Patty and Pat met with Charles (Associate) who volunteered to help us get started.  Although Patty and Pat had made a variety of plans, these were soon unnecessary with Charles at the helm!

Morris and our buckets

The next item on the water project agenda was to purchase the buckets needed to attach the filters we had brought with us.  This was accomplished with the help of Bernard, our driver, who knew of good places and prices.  Although we will eventually need 40 buckets to match the 40 filters, we only bought 20 on this first trip...  Storage is a problem.  Each bucket needed a hole large enough to fit the filter.  We were unable to use the small drill bit provided, so we ended up having them drilled by Morris (up the road at "For God") with an electric drill. The picture shows his method of transporting them from here to there and back again!

We’ve been back in Gulu about 4 weeks and have only had this one gathering with women who are interested!  At the gathering Patty spoke about the program while Santa Rita (Associate) animatedly translated so the people would understand what would be expected. 

Women with children under age 5 were then invited to volunteer to be a water woman and were helped to sign up. 

It is interesting to notice the seeming age of the mothers and the many, many children around the area.  The children here were lined up by some male community leaders to see how many were under age five (and probably to convince us that the filters were greatly needed!)  In the meantime, many of the women were volunteering to be water women.

Their papers were put in the large bucket to be drawn out by a child, but Santa Rita wanted the group to see them laid out as you can observe in the picture.  This may be the customary way of drawing names.    

Below you can see the early crowd.... The numbers grew as passers-by stopped to see what excitement was going on. It may be that they had not been told of this gathering. The next pictures show the crowd from the left, center, and right....

In her enthusiasm, Santa Rita read off the three names in Acoli (below)!  The following picture shows the three women chosen by the Holy Spirit standing to be prayed over by the group. 

Reading the chosen names

The three women chosen by the children

Following the meeting, a group of the youth gathered to practice a few of their cultural dances.

On another front, our Associates gathered here at our home on Sunday, 27 September.  Jo Ann had discovered a DVD about the origins of the Congregation, and believing that it would interest our Associates, showed it that afternoon.  Along with prayer that had been prepared by Fran before she left for her home visit, the DVD was well-received.  Afterwards, we all enjoyed “big bread” with butter and jelly and hard-boiled eggs.  This was a simple but satisfying meal.  We scheduled another Associate gathering for this Sunday afternoon, 18 October, but now realize that the date conflicts with the annual pilgrimage to Paimol to honor the two martyrs killed in Paimol in 1918.

Charles, Santa Rita, and Elizabeth 

And finally, just this morning, a beautiful snake was discovered by Obita Charles, sunning itself on the top of our hedge!  Since it was a poisonous variety, it is no longer living.... Alas!

Dear Readers, this is all we have for this blog entry.  Thank you for joining us.  We hope you will return for future editions! 

NEW ARRIVALS in GULU

September 14-20

Changes! Changes! Changes!

Around 12:30 PM on September 14 Sisters Patty Clune and Pat Murphy were sent off from Carondelet to the airport with a blessing by the Sisters and Employees (and a few others who came for the occasion).  At the airport we were also blessed to be assisted by a marvelous baggage handler who made life easier for us as we checked all five suitcases plus a container of water filters.  The remainder of the trip was smooth, including the changing of planes in Atlanta and Amsterdam.

 

Tabernacle at Notre Dame

At the Entebbe airport only Sister Jo Ann and our driver, Bernard, met us because we needed all the sitting space for luggage!  The place we stayed was close to the airport, so it didn’t take long to get to the Notre Dame lodging, greet Sisters Marion and Fran, and then fall into our beds! Neither did it take long to realize that mosquitoes were a real threat in this area, so we all needed to be extremely vigilant!  We were awakened to the familiar sounds of roosters, storks, and goats. A little while later the voices of the nursery school children on the grounds were added!

The five of us spent the next day together before heading out to dinner and the airport again. This time we said our goodbyes at the restaurant.  While we were eating, Bernard went back and picked up the luggage, so only he traveled to the airport with Sisters Marion and Fran.  It was both happy and sad as you will certainly understand!  When we retired to our rooms we discovered that there was no water available for anything!

 

Jo Ann driving between Kampala & Entebbe

Stones to keep cars from driving on this half of the road while being repaired

Our greeters near the Nile

The following morning was Thursday, our day to drive to Gulu!  We were ready to roll by 8:30 AM.  After stopping for a bite to eat and an actual restroom break for about 45 minutes, we continued on, arriving at our house in Gulu about 4:30 PM.  We had expected a quicker trip since they are working on the road, but it still took over 7 hours!

Sister Jean Abbott warmly welcomed us “home” both at the door and with a welcome sign in our rooms.  Esther, our cook, arrived shortly afterwards, so it was a great homecoming!  After supper we unpacked some of the items, separating clinic and personal things into various places before again falling into our more permanent beds.  It is worthy of note that we have been "home" for one full week this evening!

While Friday was a “lay-low” day, Saturday was a day of celebration beginning with a special brunch prepared by Jo and Jean who had decorated the dining room and prepared a big breakfast for Pat’s birthday.  Jo Ann, Pat, and Patty took a walk to visit Sister Agnese up at the Animation Center, but met her driving down the road to go to town.  We had a short visit with her and laughed a lot. 

Jean  has been busy at Caritas training and writing grants with them. The work is not easy to accomplish due to cultural expectations and differences.

Patty and Pat have also begun plans for Water with Blessings.  They have their first meeting to understand  "local protocol" on Friday morning .

Later in the evening we had a marvelous spaghetti and meat sauce meal (sauce prepared by Jo), with homegrown avocados and lettuce, along with garlic bread!  We certainly enjoyed ourselves!  And to make the day even more special we viewed a Woodland Kingfisher sitting on our laundry pole. Here is a picture of this type bird.

Sunday morning found us worshiping at the Chapel in our compound with Fr. Jino and the Catechists who are taking courses. The music they can make together is inspiring. Without any written music they harmonize and play homemade instruments.  After Mass, Fr. Jino came out to welcome us.  He seemed to remember both Patty and Pat, and promised Pat that he had work in mind for her…. She thanked him but remarked that she knows how to say “no” if necessary!  He laughed and indicated that is good!

Monday morning Jo Ann drove Pat and Patty to the maternity clinic for their first look.  Besides seeing all of the beautiful construction and landscaping, observed that the staff members were excited to have Sister back!  Jo Ann had been gone two weeks dealing with issues that needed to be dealt with.  And then we saw the babies and their parents!

Mother and child

 

         

Sr. Jo Ann and Lamara Jo Ann at 6-week check

There were two newborn boys present with their parents and aunties. Pictures are included here! So far 110 babies have been birthed at the Maternity Clinic - 5 since we arrived. Many others received pre and post birth care.  

Parents and child

The day finished happily with a visit from Father Joseph who used to be in charge of our compound. Father Jino came for a visit the next evening, so we've been kept busy!

 

That’s it for this edition!  See you later! Blessings on all of our readers!