Here’s a short clip of Batwa Pygmies near Kabale, Uganda, giving me and others a singing send-off after our visit. It culminated one of my greatest days in Africa and left me in tears.
They are delightful, hospitable, wonderful people who make the very best of everything they have.
Am in my third week here and enjoying every minute. It is amazing to me how comfortable I feel. Familiarity really helps. Am taking some formal Rukiga lessons and have moments where I can riff pretty well….then I forget the simplest responses. Oh, to be human.
Spent weekend in Kabale visiting my friend, an incredible servant and host, Bishop Enoch Kayeeye. I have my own room, with a key, and an invitation to use as often as I like. Move books and clothes here, he says. “You are family.” Wow!
We are planning a week in DRC in early June to visit the Batwa. Should be a great experience.
Life in Bwindi is good. I live in a great house. Well, it is Dr. Scott and Carol Kellermann’s house located in the forest. I will use it until they arrive for the dedication of the Uganda Nursing School-Bwindi next month. The president and prime minister are invited. Hope to get a selfie with Ugandan President Museveni. When Scott departs I’ll return.
I love it here more than I thought. I am blessed each day. I am right where God wants me. Am very happy. An incredible time in my life. While I would love to share this with my mother, Cam, I do feel her presence nearby. She is with me.
Mukama nimarungi….ebiro byona. God is good…all the time.
Check out my lodging near the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest…
Dr. Scott and Carol Kellermann receive the “Unsung Heroes” award from the Dalai Lama for the work among the Batwa Pygmies in Bwindi, Uganda….
Five days of visits to Syrian families seeking refuge in Jordan introduced me to many children. Some were ill requiring examination from the three doctors on our team. Their siblings, cousins and grandparents crowded into the apartment to see if the Americans could improve the health of one of their own.
The ailments ranged from winter viruses making the rounds in throats and sinuses, to vision problems, to diabetes. One 11-year-old boy lost hearing in his left ear from the artillery shelling by the Syrian army. Nerve damage, he was told, cannot be undone, but it wouldn’t get worse. The Davis doctor who told him that had lost hearing in her right ear 20 years ago.
There is a stigma here that an injured or sick child is damaged goods. Refugee families qualify to get medical care from the Jordanian government. For the most part, and the patient, it works. Receiving house calls from American medical professionals this week was a unique event.
All children suffer from the effects of the war in their country. Running for their lives into a refugee camp or a foreign city with all they could carry is not ideal. Innocence is lost when leaving your home, friends and routines because a desperate regime turns on its own people.
The light in their eyes is not extinguished, however. Childhood has its resiliency despite the emotional walls that may be erected. Not all refugee situations are the same. Some are able to get children into schools in Jordan. Others do not. Continuation of education leads to the possibility of a future, hopefully in Syria.
Learn from the Batwa Pygmies as they demonstrate their skills near the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in “The Batwa Experience.”
Info and booking: www.batwaexperience.com
