Wednesday at the UCI and UCCF

We arrived at work this morning and took our big suitcase full of supplies straight to the UCCF (Ugandan Child Cancer Foundation). We were greeted by Ben, Moses and Winnie (I don't know if I am spelling it right). They were so excited to get our supplies. Moses took pictures of us handing the supplies to Winnie. They do this so they can record all donations. They should send us pictures as well.

 

Before starting Ben explained that he is a christian and how involved in his church he is and how prayerful his wife is. Pretty impressive. He also went on to say they start everything with prayer. So he began our little meeting with an incredibly beautiful prayer of thanksgiving and petitions for all of us and our work. 

 

James went to work and we chatted and waited for the others to get there. Becky came and we were then given a tour of the new UCI building up on the hill. James and Patrick joined us for this tour as well.

This new building so far houses the pediatric in-patient cancer patients (2nd floor) and on the 4th floor, the “private” room adult in-patient cancer patient. “Private” rooms aren't what you'd expect. First they are only for those who can pay “some” for their care and secondly, they have 3 beds per “private” room. This is instead of the 6-8 beds per room in the general in-patient ward.

Much of the building is still very empty. In the basement/1st floor we saw where the mortuary is and is being used, but the radiology sits completely empty. Funding isn't in place yet.

The 2nd floor houses the ICU and the “theater” which is their term for operating rooms. I know the surgical unit is in used, a nurse met us and stopped us from going in but I'm not sure about the ICU, I didn't see anyone around. The 3rd floor is the pediatric ward. There are 6-8 beds per “room” (3 rooms) and they were all full. They had several private rooms on this floor as well but they were empty. They also have a big area for the “play room”. This is where Becky goes up and holds play times for the kids. I will be helping her with this on Monday and hopefully some other days next week.

The 4th floor is where the “Women's Ward” will eventually be but is currently empty. And the 5th floor is the “Men's Ward” for “private” care. Currently both men and women are there and private care really isn't the American standard of private care.

The facility is really quite amazing compared to the older facility we toured on Monday. Truly amazing. 

This picture is the view from the 3rd floor of the new UCI building.  All the closest buildings you see the roofs of are the older UCI campus buildings.

 

After our tour up the hill we went back to the UCCF briefly. I met some more new faces, another Winnie. Then Patrick and James gave the 2 Winnie's and Becky a tour of their new UCI facility.

Becky then told me about their incredibly busy week and that she probably won't be taking all the supplies up to the children until Monday. I never did meet with Ben for a “work plan” like I thought he said he'd do. I told Becky though that I would only be there another week and the look that came across her face was pretty much heartbreaking. As I suspected they didn't understand that my stay was very short. I will go in on Monday to hopefully keep busy helping Becky out. 

 

The rest of the day was spent with James and Patrick. We had lunch at the Good Samaritan again where they have the best G-nut Sauce which is such a perfect lenten (our Wednesday meal) dish. While there the marabou stork visited us.

James had to then go measure the new Repository space in the new building for all of his equipment. I did a rough sketch of the space and wrote down all the measurements while he and Patrick measure. 

Today I will draw up the space on a good sized sheet of paper so he can use that for planning.  

Today, Thursday, I opted to stay home. I will try my hand at relaxing, reading, writing and drawing up those plans for James. It really is somewhat of a foreign idea for me, especially since Marion is here to do just about everything including making my bed, washing dishes and doing the laundry. I can't even wash my own cup without being chastised.