Dry Season

Everyone helps haul water during the dry season.

Hair Clips

A new way to use those hair clips!

New Sweaters

Orphans receiving new school sweaters through the Mutolere Orphans Program.

Looks like they need them, doesn't it??!

Equator

This photo was taken at the equator (obviously) when Lou's family was visiting.

Post from Teresa

Here is special blog post, from Lou and Marty's daughter Teresa about her time in Uganda with the family.

Mom thought that for the last group e-mail from this particular Ugandan adventure, it would be a fun shift in perspective to have me, Teresa, write about the month that I (along with my brother John and Carla, a friend from church who has tagged along) have had here in Mutolore. 

The month has been a mix of relaxation and work.  Carla and Anthony are manning the playroom at the hospital for the pediatric patients and their siblings; John accompanies Dad on his rounds at the hospital; I’ve been teaching classes at the local nursing school on the spiritual dimension of nursing.  I have loved seeing what my family’s day-to-day routine looks like, after having heard many stories.  Dad spends his days at the hospital, of course, Anthony does his school work and various other artistic pursuits (guitar playing, drawing, sculpting his abs), and mom puts the social into social work by heading the hospitality committee.  Various people visit her throughout the day – the vegetable man, the passion fruit lady, so-and-so from down the road, this person from the hospital, that person from church, etc.  The rest of us retreat when we hear a knock at the door, but mom represents Americans well with a smile, a cup of instant coffee, and friendly conversation.  Sorry, America, I’d rather read Les Mis!  Additionally, it is a full time job for mom to cook for a family of six (or seven or eight, since we tend to pick up various visiting medical students and whatnot).  In a land where there are no shortcuts or convenience foods, much of the day is spent scrubbing, peeling, chopping, boiling, and baking.

One of our frequent and favorite pastimes here is taking long walks throughout the surrounding mountains and farms.  It really is a beautiful area.  Last weekend, a friend of my parents invited us to his house for afternoon coffee and tea.  We all hiked there, were welcomed in by the friend’s house-helper who was expecting us, and enjoyed drinks and cookies together.  After two hours or so, we left without the friend having made an appearance.  It was a mildly awkward encounter (or lack thereof), but hey, we avoided pleasantries and small talk and got to be our full-Coda selves (read: slightly cynical and a tad bit snarky) without offending anyone.

All in all, it has been a fantastic month.  I will say that a few days ago, I had my first “I’m ready to go home moment.”  Dad was putting his shoes on before work, and when his foot felt something nestled in the front part of his boot, he reached his hand in to retrieve the object.  He quickly snatched his hand out when it was bitten by a spider that had found itself a new home.  He dumped the spider out, and I am not kidding you, it was the size of my hand.  Okay, maybe that’s a little bit of an exaggeration…but not much!  The spider was HUGE.  Of course Dad had a great time reflecting on the bite: “If I lose my hand, I lose my hand.  If I die, I die.  It will have all been for a good cause.”  Needless to say, the spider was not poisonous, Dad was fine, and it is making an easier parting for me.   

Love,
Teresa 

Ugandan Tea

A Tea Plantation.  

Uganda is trying to export tea.  Lou drinks Ugandan tea every morning.

Queen Elizabeth National Park

Relaxing

Anthony and Joe relaxing.

Shower and Sink

The bucket toilet was inside the tent, but the sink and shower were outside.  Each morning someone filled the small tank at the sink and a larger tank perched in a tree that supplied the shower.  You can barely see the shower there in the tree, the spigot is above the flat rock, which you stood on.  By afternoon, was the water was a perfect temperature for the equator.

Housing

Our lodging at Queen Elizabeth National Park. 

Ultrasound

Using the ultrasound machine to diagnose liver cancer in this older gentleman.  Of course, there's nothing that can be done
 with that diagnosis, but it helps the patient and his family understand the situation and to know that it's not worth spending the 80 cents a day to stay in the hospital in hopes of a cure.

Beans

The beans have been planted!

Good Friday

The long line of folks leaving church on Good Friday afternoon.

Wheelchair

Check out the homemade wheelchair on the back of this pickup!

Surgical Ward

The male surgical ward.

Sign

This sign hangs above the entrance to the male surgical ward.

Traction

This boy is in traction for a broken bone.  Traction is provided by the weighted can hanging from the end of his bed.

Road and Homes

A typical stretch of road, with typical homes.

Water Taps

Notice the water taps on the front of this building.  This is where folks go to get safe water.  We ourselves are very blessed to have running water in our house.

Our house

Our house

Kisoro

The town of Kisoro, where we shop.  Those are shoes for sale in the grassy area in the middle.

Caretaker

The patient's family member or "caretaker" stays with them in the hospital, sleeping at night on the floor beside or under the patient's bed.

Lake Mutanda

Finally, a beautiful view of the nearby Lake Mutanda.

It takes a village

This child is using the battery-operated oxygen concentrator which John the social worker at Waynesboro Hospital arranged to have donated to St. Francis Mutolere Hospital and which the Kehrs carried over earlier this month.  They also carried over the ultrasound machine, purchased with donations to Mission Doctors Association.

It has always pierced Lou's soul to have babies die when the power went out and the regular oxygen concentrator couldn't work.  We all know the expression "It takes a village to raise a child."  Well, this is an example of a big beautiful global village working together to raise our children.

Thank you!

Ultrasound

Lou, using the ultrasound machine on a newborn with a possible brain injury.

Ascaris!

This is what was surgically removed from a small boy with an obstruction: Ascaris!

Anthony's Photos

 A passion fruit flower.  The experimental organic farm here on the hospital grounds is surrounded by passion fruit, growing on barbed wire fences.

These three little girls followed Anthony home after the orphans' program on Saturday.  When he stopped and snapped their photo and then showed it to them, they were THRILLED.

 One of the hospital ambulances.  Not exactly comfy.

A crested crane in our front yard.  This is the national bird and you've never heard such a racket as when they land on the roof and start calling out.

On Rounds

This is Lou doing rounds with the nursing students and Sr. Emmanuel. 

He is teaching the nursing students as he rounds on the patients.

Why overseas work?

Thoughts from Lou Coda, the night before departing the U.S. to return to Uganda:

Is it because my heart will soon be reaching out to each person at the bedside scene of an ill African child? The patient suffering in the bed, the caregiver, anxious and weary at his side, and the other family and friends who have come to help.  At times the care is straightforward, and other times a broader differential diagnosis of treatment plan is needed.  For a few, I will need the willingness to admit that the illness is beyond the care available.

Is it because I look forward to meeting travelers from a multitude of countries who also find it important to reach out to others in need?

Who enjoy the adventure of traveling and are not afraid to take risks, put up with a few hardships, and who enjoy the simple pleasures of a visit, a shared meal, or a game of cards where the stakes might be a few M&Ms or a stick of gum?

Is it because back in the U.S. the day-to-day drudgeries of paperwork, budgets, reimbursement rates, production, and documentation have buried the patients and their needs so deeply I have forgotten why I went into medicine?  Am I forgetting what it means to be a human being, to help and not worry about the cost?  Have I lost my way without a compass to point my steps in the direction of life-giving service?

Is it because deep down there is a gentle voice, a quiet movement, the slight urge that says: Act, Choose, Believe, Trust, Reach out, Let go, Live, Love?

In the end I go because I must.  To not go is to slowly drift into an unawakable  sleep, to go is to wake from a long slumber, to breathe the free air, walk the dusty path, take the hand of God, and know that I am alive.

Us

We have been blessed to serve through Mission Doctors Association several times. We completed a long-term assignment in Papua New Guinea 1990-1993, and several six-month stints in Cameroon and Uganda in 2004 and 2009 respectively. We are preparing to return to St. Francis Hospital in Uganda this January, again for six months. It feels wonderful to return to a place we have already learned to enjoy!

While there, Louis will cover the pediatric ward and will once again teach the nursing students, both on the ward and through formal lectures in their classroom. He considers this one of the most important aspects of his work, since he is helping to prepare future nurses, young men and women who are the front line of medicine in Uganda, especially in the more remote areas of the country. I, Martha, will be the official blogger and communicator.

Accompanying us on our mission will be our youngest child, Anthony, age 16. As a busy, social, and technology-friendly high school junior, we appreciate that his sacrifice in serving with us is considerable. And this will be the first time that he doesn’t have his older siblings along with whom he can commiserate! His good nature and ability to adapt will come in handy as he does his long-distance learning through our local Pennsylvania high school and soaks up the varied and rich experiences of living in a beautiful and unique part of the world.