Reaching out to the Community.

One of the things that Whisper really believes in is the necessity of community outreach work.  There are several different projects dedicated to helping those in the community around the orphanage. Not that it is always necessary to go out, people come to all the time seeking help and assistance. This next post will touch on a few of my experiences in the time that I have been here. 

My first experience with outreach came when Emmanuel and I travelled to Nsuube last November to meet a family that we were told needed our help. Before we found that family we were ushered into this mud hut and the first thing that hit me was the stench. There were two rooms with no windows, so very dimly lit. The first one was a sitting room of sorts, dirt floor with a wooden bench in it. The second was a bedroom and there was a thin foamie on the floor, the dirt floor, and various items around it. There was an emaciated man lying on the “bed”; David. I was told that he had been in a fight with a police official over 20 years ago and had been struck in the back. The vertebrae in his back were
bruised to the point where he has not been able to walk since then. He moves rarely and judging from the smell he doesn’t get bathed very often. His older brother is the husband of the family that we were heading out to see. I ask about his body, if he is able to move at all and I was told the pain is too great. So all he can do is lie there in this dark, awful smelling room. We took a look at his back and bottom and there are these horrifying bed sores all over the lower back. I could also see the scar from where he was operated on. He has pain all over his back and no wonder, he has been sleeping on the floor for years. He has these bed sores and no wonder, his foamie and blanket have not been cleaned probably for months (to say years would probably not be an exaggeration).  

I quite often get overwhelmed by the quality of life out here, for so many people life is simply a constant struggle for survival. The resources that we have in developed nations, that the government provides us with (social services) are either non existent out here or out of reach for many, many people. So we decided to do what we could to help this man. Within a week we brought him a bed and a new mattress. We cleared out his home (2 frogs leaped out through cracks in the mud wall) and put the bed in. The mattress that we took out of his home was putrid, covered in bugs and falling apart.It was amazing, the change that a simple bed made in his quality of life. 

Another one of these project is their Jigger Free Community. It consists of travelling to different areas around Mutai and helping to remove jiggers from the bodies of people in the village. It is always an opportunity to educate the community on hygiene and sanitation and the proper way to keep their home clean. The hope is that they will then be able to teach others and help to support each other and keep each other accountable. 

One of the vibrant colours in Uganda's  environment is the rich, red dust that flies into your face when on a boda boda, spreads on your feet when you kick it up as you walk. What people constantly warn you about is the tiny, tiny little bugs that reside in the dirt and when transferred to you, the person, they burrow into your skin. Jiggers. They have to be the bane of everybody's existence out here and they are everywhere. About 2 months ago I had to take one of out my toe and it was horrifying. Even for a woman who cleans her feet fastidiously every night, the hole it left in my foot was HUGE and I felt so completely violated. Ridiculous right? 

When we arrive at the home of the family who need our help, two men start talking to me. Both of them reek of alcohol. One is the older brother, Paul, and he does not speak english but this other man does. The only problem is he is drunk. His speech is slurred, but he is surprisingly alert. I think he is probably a functioning drunk. We take a look at two of Paul’s eight children. I sit one of them down and take a look at his feet. I have not ever seen such decay in real life. His toes and heels are so infected that his toenails are falling off in places, while his heels look like crustaceans are attached to them. I take a look at his hands and the tip of his pinkie finger is so swollen and hard and that is my introduction to what it looks like to have jiggers under your skin. There is so much crusting dirt that we have to wash the boys hands and feet before we do anything. Instantly the water turns brown. People have gathered around to watch and Emma (Emmanuel) encourages them to take part. Which makes sense, the more people who are educated, the faster change spreads and children heal. 

Then comes the time to take the jiggers out. We sit the two boys down on a wooden bench  and I sit the older boy in my lap. We have brought safety pins and tweezers which are too thick, but useful anyways. There are 4 people who put on gloves and start in on the feet. Both boys are pretty stoic to begin with, but after about 5 minutes the younger one (about 4 and 1/2) starts to cry. I look at the non responsive boy, Keneth, in my lap and decide that the other one needs me more. I hand the older boy to his father who sits there listlessly. I go and put Deum in my lap and hold him while Emma takes chunk after chunk out of his feet. You think I am exaggerating when I say chunk, well I am not. Those boys are now missing sides and tops of their toes, there are holes in their heels. The way Deum screamed, it will leave me. He screamed for his mama and then his baba and I had to physically hold him to me tightly and wedge his leg between mine to keep him still. I could not hold back my tears, I was so angry at everything. the fact that these kids are going through hell because they don’t have the most basic of sanitation and hygiene and they have parents who are neglectful. I teared up, but realized that I had to be strong for the boys, my tears do not help them right here and now. 

I look over at Keneth and he is now screaming too and his father has let him fall between his legs and does not touch him while Keneth’s face is in the dirt. I try to catch his eye and tell him it will be okay. Finally after we finish applying polysporin and wrapping Deum’s feet, I go and pick up Keneth and and hold him to me. Immediately he quietens down and I feel his rapid breathing against my arms, his breath catching every time he inhales. We wrap his feet and promise to come back with shoes, a basin to wash themselves in, soap, clothes washing soap, and a broom to sweep the dirt out of their home. 

The man who is able to speak english and has been quite pro active in helping us work on the two boys, leads us to his home. He has five children  who also have jigger infected feet and there is this little baby boy. We work on the children’s feet and are finishing up when I look over at the baby and look at his back side. He has sores all over his lower back and he has a bumpy rash all over his body with a fungal infection that is spreading. It is possible he might have syphilis. I could not believe my eyes. This naked beautiful little boy is incredibly sick and there was just not enough time in the day to address it. 

At the end of the day we went to Mutai trading centre and picked up some things are returned to Nsube. We brought shoes for the boys to wear and more medical supplies so that the family can keep up the care of their poor feet. We washed the boys right there with their new soap and basin and it was an amazing transition. The boys looked healthier and smelled 100 times better. We also bought chapatis for the boys and the father. In the afternoon that we spent there, they had not had any food. Something tells me they don’t eat very often in a day. We also brought chapati for David, the invalid. the next week we were able to bring a bed and mattress and mosquito net for those two little boys and the look on their faces when they lay down, well it is what I try to remember whenever i complain the work is tiring or I feel frustrated. 

The costs for these projects varied. The two beds we provided cost around 90,000 (shillings) each and the mattresses cost 65,000 each. The washing basins cost 7500 for a large one and 3500 for a small one. Bathing soap and washing soap cost 2500 and 5000 respectively. 

Again and again my breath is taken away by the tragedy and simultaneous beauty that I encounter out here in Africa. 

Written by Volunteer Sienna Holden

Veronica who needs a plastic surgery

A week ago we received at our home in Mutai visitors, a mother with a very beautiful girl (4) requesting for help.

Veronica was burnt by a domestic fire when she was just two years old. It caused a severe damage to her right arm, right side of her face and severe skin damage on her head. The top part of hear scalp is covered with only a layer of soft skin tissue.

The accident also caused Veronica a muscle ulcer just right above her eyeball which has developed inside of her eye.

She needs a plastic surgery on her head, where a piece of her skin from her thigh can be removed and replace the once damaged skin on the head. Until then, she is a high danger of damage since the soft skin issue can break at any point.

Also the muscle from her eye needs to be removed as it is hurting her and makes her uncomfortable when using her eye.

The plastic surgery is estimated for around 3Million shillings (£731), which would be performed in Kampala.

The eye surgery would be around 200.000 Shillings (£48)

Whisper has promised to try and help this girl.

I am asking for a kind request of helping us to raise the funds for her operation.
Veronica is very jolly and happy girl but she is going be facing a difficult future overcoming many life-challenges that will not be easy to handle.

Please consider donating to Whisper for her treatment.
www.whisperorphans.org/donate.html

Saida - a New Whisper Child

In December we visited Saida's grandmother in Magamaga village, around 40km from Jinja town.

Saida is an orphan, living with two old grandmothers. She is a 6 year old girl who has been only in the company of those old people, never attending school and not being confident enough to engage with the children of her age.

Her mental development has been retarded.

When we visited this family at first in December, we learnt that all day what they worry about is to get food or fire wood for their dinner. That day was already 5pm yet none of those people have had anything in their mouth.
We realised those people cannot plan for tomorrow or plan for this young girl because they cannot full fill their basic needs to survive.

When we came again in January 21st to follow up on them through the regular outreach work, the child was sitting on the floor with a big sad face. When our team started to discuss what are the best next step for the child, she came to us and hold us around our waste, kept holding onto us and telling us she wants to come with us.

This was the moment where we knew what to do next...

At her arrival at the orphanage, our children welcomed her with opened arms, they asked for her name, they run to their own box and gave her their own new clothes to wear. Then they took her to the mama to bath her, they even brought for her skin doctor (cream) to apply on her dry skin.

 She felt loved

Today this girl is so happy at our orphanage home in Mutai, she demands lots of hugs and attention...

She also started to go to school for the first time...

The home for Saida her her two grandmothers

Saying Goodbye

Meet Dan Wangira.

I should say right off the act that the top photo is Dan's favourite position. he loves to look up at you! I met this boy in Nalufenya on November 27th, 2012.  Emmanuel and I had actually brought another boy in for treatment against tetanus and x-rays for a possible fracture o his collarbone and rib. After making sure that Shafik, age 6, was settled comfortably in the tetanus room, I went for a walk through the children's ward. It was my first time there and it was overwhelming to say the least. There was a smell that came from each room, of decay and sickness. Mothers, grandmothers, aunts bent over these little children. The first baby I came across was so tiny and malnourished if his head didn't peek out of the blanket, you would not know he was there. He had had surgery where they put a tube in this head. Horrifying to imagine the pain that the baby must be in. I walked along the narrow aisles between rows of beds and I came to one bed. There was this tiny little baby lying by himself on this huge bed. Half wrapped in a blanket, I could see his body was covered with skin that was peeling and his poor head was bleeding and scarred. I nearly started to cry, and I leaned over him and took his little hand. His grip was so strong and he turned over to look at me. The was this instant recognition in his eyes that went straight to my gut. He was surprisingly alert and responsive and he loved to lean his head back and look all around him. There was nobody with him that I could talk to, so I had to leave.

 I went back the next day to check on Shafik, the tetanus boy, and I went to look for the little baby again. This time his grandmother was with him. This is what I learned. His name was Dan Wangira. His mother died from a headache when he was 2 months old. His father abandoned the family before he was born. Dan lived in one room with his grandmother and his two sisters and his cousin. He had been in various hospitals since mid november, being treated at various points for severe acute malnutrition, acute diarrhea, acute sepsis, oral candiasis, and malaria. That second day I took them both on a boda boda (3,000 shillings) to get an x-ray for his chest (20,000) and bought them some food and water (5,000). The examination of his x-ray showed that he had bronchial pneumonia and the doctors put him on treatment for that as well. On later visits, I bought pampers (23,600) and baby wipes (8,000x2) and a few sets of baby clothes from the orphanage.

 Every time I visited him, I was amazed by how content he was and how little he cried. It was like he knew how lucky and blessed he was to still be alive and so every breath was a gift. One day when I went to visit him, Winifred (the grandmother) told me that they had not had water for 2 days. So I went and bought some water and we washed him together in a basin. He did not like water back then. Now that he is able to sit up on his own, he loves to hold onto the side of the basin with one hand and splash around with another. Fun for him and wet for us! On December 18th Emmaunel and I travelled to his home in Bugiri to visit him and look at taking him to stay at One World Orphanage.

 We ended up taking him home that day and he has improved drastically since then. An early Christmas present! But the night he came home with us, he cried and cried and cried. Maybe it was the unfamiliar environment, he was sick with a cough and a rectal infection at the time, but he cried through the night. I was worried that we would all end up sleep deprived. But the next day it was over as quickly as it began. Now he only cries when he wants to let us know that he is hungry. It is almost like clockwork!

With his nutrition treatment and the porridge that we give him, loaded with sugar and calories, he has gained quite a bit of weight and his development looks to be back on track. He lifts his head and looks at everything, he is very tenacious. He will pivot his body 360 degrees and touch everything in his path! Except when he is tired, he nevers stops moving. Trying to dress him after bathing can be quite tricky! Because he wants to see and touch everything, sometimes I sing to him just to get him to focus on me and then his body lines up! I think he may start crawling in the next few weeks. He laughs at everything and just seems happy to wake up every morning! This little baby is so special and loved by the children at One World orphanage! I wake up and am so excited to go and see his smiling face and his gyrating little body in his bed.

                                                     He is so hungry...for everything!!

                                                     A surprise in our Christmas stocking!

We are so lucky to have Dan in our lives! He continues to be a blessing and a joy everyday! Prayer for his continued recovery and development are vital. Good thoughts are like a virus, extremely contagious!!

Written by volunteer Sienna Holden

Shafiq - Remember this little boy?

Little Shafik has come so far in the last four months. Whisper has been helping his mother take care of him since August and up until october he had been in and out of hospitals; being put on oxygen and extremely malnourished and diagnosed with tuberculosis. Whisper has taken care of many of the costs involved with his care and treatment. X-rays (20,000) and medication

 He came to stay at One World orphanage in November and the changes that have occurred in him are incredible. The funny thing is most of those changes happen normally during the development of children, what makes it incredible is that a few months ago he was on death's door and now he is hitting milestone after milestone. When he came to stay, he was still quite malnourished and he had this look of a wounded puppy in his eyes. Like he couldn't believe that we would not leave him to starve like he was used to. The akin all over his body was loose and flappy. His thighs had more skin than muscle and felt like thin crepe paper. He couldn't be left alone in a room. He would scream and scream. I remember the first night, he would not stop screaming. Finally I picked him up and put him in my lap and pressed his head into my chest. Within minutes he fell asleep and I could feel his heart beating rapidly against my stomach.

 As we continued his treatment for malnourishment and his medical care for tuberculosis, he started to thrive. He crawled from room to room, he would actually follow me from room to room and with his little bum stuck up in the air, he would lay his head down. He didn't always sleep, but that seems to be a comfortable position for him, he has also been used to sleeping on the floor. He started to gain weight and gain strength in his body and he developed a little pot belly. I started calling him chubby monkey because of it and now it has caught on and half the time people refer to him as Shafik and the other chubby monkey. Chubby because of the belly, monkey because monkeys are mischievous. And is shafik ever mischievous.

 As his strength started to come back he started to pull himself up to standing and we started walking with him. Now he was able to reach things at two levels. He had, and still has, us on toes. Consequently, he was from then on, able to get himself out of bed. It is now no surprise, an hour after putting him to bed, to see Shafik wandering around in the hall.

 More recently he has started to walk on his own! It was amazing the moment he took those first steps. all of the children were gathered around him and chanting "chubby, chubby" and cheering as he walked. And Shafik just beamed. As well, we have been teaching him to eat on his own with a spoon and after about two weeks of working with him, he will sit at the table and feed himself; making a huge mess around him of course! We wouldn't have it any other way!

It is amazing to talk to Veronika, who has been there from the beginning. She marvels at the changes and growth that have occurred in shafik! He is such a bright, intelligent little boy, who understands english extremely well and will acknowledge you when you ask him a question with a head nod. I am pretty sure this sharp boy is going to start talking soon!

Your continued thoughts and prayers are much appreciated for this special little boy. He has a bright future now because of the help of Whisper. Or I should say, he has a future, period. Thank you Whisper.

These are the first steps for beaming little Shafik!!

Written by volunteer Sienna Holden