RG Hospital & Sister Rosemary

On Wednesday (10/12), I walked upstairs for breakfast, made coffee with Molly, and sat on the veranda, talking with her about Christianity and growing up. I loved listening to her stories and hearing about her walk with Christ. We started talking about some of the RG kiddos, and she said that the day before, they told her, "Your nose is so sharp" and "I can see through your skin" 😂. Most of the kids noses are very rounded and don't stick out or slope as much as ours do. And, since our skin is lighter, some of our blood vessels are visible, whereas the kids' skin tone covers the appearance of the greenish/blueish color.

Diana and Bryn showed Molly and I the hospital, which I had seen very briefly with dad, Will, and Dr. Tim. Most spaces are very open because most, if not all, of the hospital does not have air conditioning. Diana shared lots of information with us about the hospital, including one big difference from American hospitals that I found very interesting! Each patient comes with a caretaker like a parent or other relative who will do their laundry and cook for them. The hospital does not provide these services. Although it may sound like a hassle, it works out well for the Ugandans because they can be with their loved one who is sick, and it decreases the cost of medical bills. Patients do not have their own rooms but have beds a few feet away from each other. They all have a mosquito net that hangs on a metal stand above their bed and drops down over the edges. I'll expand upon the healthcare in a week or so when I talk about my experience as a patient 😂.

RG also has a dental clinic, which doesn't get used much, but we must have gone at the right time!

I went to the auditorium again to see Zac and Moses. Zac taught me a new song, Glorious Ruins, and I recorded part of it. Robert played guitar, and Zac was incredible on the keyboard and vocals. I've decided to put the video in a separate post due to sizing issues. 

Patrick was also in the auditorium, and he asked if I played guitar. I told him that I could play ukulele but not guitar, and then he told me something that blew my mind. If you put the capo on a specific fret and only play 4 strings, you can use all the same finger holds as you would if you were playing the ukulele. 

After singing and playing around in the auditorium, we had lunch and headed to Restore Leadership Academy. This is a primary and secondary school that Bob Goff started, and it is flourishing!! 

Then, we went to Experito's church, the supermarket in Gulu, an ATM, and finally to Sister Rosemary's. We weren't going to stop at Sister Rosemary's, but Experito said that we might as well just check to see if she was home. She was! She is a friend of Diana's and has done some really cool things for Uganda. During the end of the war, she made a school for girls as well as a daycare for babies whose parents are in prison. She would literally chase and hit LRA soldiers who tried to harm or kidnap the kids. She also sews, knits, makes bags out of pop tabs, and used to make buildings out cement and empty water bottles filled with dirt.

Sister Rosemary is Ugandan but studied in the US for sometime. She said that she doesn't like how when kids go to school they get uneducated. I was a little confused, but she also added that much of kids' knowledge comes from their parents and learning from people, not just computer screens and books. Her major was education with a focus in indigenous people, except the school barely taught about the cultures and togetherness of these people and taught even less about Africa. So, for her thesis she wrote about African education, and when she had to defend her thesis she said, "No, I am not 'defending' this. In my language, to defend means to separate the things that are right from wrong, and that isn't what I am doing". And, she told her professors that she wanted them all to come over to her house and sit down because that is what people do in her culture when they want to talk about something, not present a bunch of slides in front of a room. She is a very influential woman! This is a link to a Q&A with her if you want to learn more: https://www.globalsistersreport.org/blog/ministry-qas/q-sr-rosemary-nyirumbe-using-fame-springboard-shout-51796

From left to right is pictured Experito, Justine, Molly, Bryn, Sister Rosemary, Mike, Diana, and me.

On the way home, Diana told me about a potential opportunity with another mission in Uganda called Musana. The directors were looking for someone to help with photography, videography, and social media as well as help out with their biological kids. It sounded like a good idea because the directors at RG were leaving to go back to the US at the end of October. Diana spoke highly of Musana, and so I started making steps to contact the directors.