I can’t believe I’ve been at GSF for almost four weeks. Caring for the kids here has been a lot of fun, but exhausting. My day begins at 6:30am and ends around 7pm. I do morning rounds where I administer medications and check all the kids to see if they’re sick. Having 91 kids in close quarters, it seems nearly impossible for all of them to be healthy. The kids will also come up with all sorts of ailments in order to get medicine or a bandage, so I’ve been doing a lot of teaching regarding that. During the day, my teammate Sarah and I will also care for the students at the primary school at GSF (around 300 kids). We will also take kids to doctor’s appointments or take them to the hospital when needed. Sarah and I are also doing a lot of teaching with the Ugandan house moms regarding hygiene, feeding, positioning, and medication administration and so forth. As you can tell, there’s a lot of work to do here.
The first week I was here, this all was new and exciting and I loved it. As the weeks went on, I became frustrated as I felt all of my time here was consumed with nursing duties. I was called to be a disciple of Christ, not just a humanitarian. I really desired to live life with the kids and build relationships with them. Thankfully, as time has gone on here, Sarah and I have become more efficient in how we do things and have been able to create time to hang out with the kids. I of course love playing with the little ones, but really feel like my heart is with the teenage girls. Realizing a lot of the teen girls are not walking closely with the Lord and will be leaving GSF soon has pushed me to get to know them more. This all seemed very intimidating as the girls are standoffish and hard. Last week though, a lot of walls started to come down. Since the girls finished their school year and are on break, they have a lot of time on their hands and are always looking for something to do. I've taking this opportunity to have them work with me. The girls will hang out with me at the clinic and do small tasks. They will also be my translator when a patient does not speak English. This has allowed me to spend quality time with them while doing my job here. In the evenings, I've also been able to eat dinner at their house or have them over to mine. I've been encouraged as the girls have started to open up. Behind their hard faces and “I don’t need you attitude” are scared, fearful women who want some form of security in their lives. Through these conversations, I now know how I can be praying for these women and encouraging them. I really look forward to what God will do in these relationships.
