CHILD SERIOUSLY INJURED ... UGANDA BOOK

And, this was NOT fictionalized.  This is a true portion of the book.  Info immediately emailed to my husband and friends from Uganda ... slightly re-written just for you, to readjust the amount of space.  But the reality is the reality.
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 [This child is not the one from the story, but the same age.  A dear one Jill and I met at the Rescued Children's Camp, mostly teens, but a few like this one who had somehow been lost from parents when running from the rebels.  The fact that she smiled has always amazed me.]


.. Cary turned around and wandered through Pastor Justin’s area.  Everyone stopped and stared at her because they so seldom had a white person in their part of the country, especially those who had been living in the villages.  She was a whole new experience for them.

While looking at the cement pad next to Justin’s place, just a few feet away, she suddenly noticed a young child laying on a straw mat.  At first she assumed the child was sleeping, although she wasn’t sure why it would be outside, but when she looked closely, she saw tears on the child’s cheeks.

She interrupted Joseph and Justin.  “I noticed that child there is crying very quietly.  Can you ask why?”

Joseph set the papers aside and walked to the mother and the two of them spoke for just a short time.  Joseph turned to Cary.  “They were heating water in a kettle on the 3-rocks

At the Refugee Camp, too large, of course, but example.

fire, and as the water began to boil, a stone fell over and the kettle hit the floor and the water splashed on the girls neck, shoulder, and chest.  It happened not long before we came.  She is in great pain.”

“She’s hardly crying, though.  If that happened to one of my grandkids, they’d be screaming their heads off.  Why isn’t the family doing anything?”

“In our culture, if a child is hurting, it is right to be as silent as possible.  One reason is because our people are so poor they can’t afford to go to a doctor.  In fact, one is rarely around.  So, they simply learn to live with their problems.”

Cary said, “Well, this time that’s not the way it’s going to be!”  She looked intensely at Joseph and said, “Tell them that I will take her to the clinic the ministry supports not far from here... I think we passed it, didn’t we?”  She paused and Joseph nodded.  “OK.  Have them dress her and we’ll go.”

He told the family.  An older sister brought out a dress to put it on the little one.  The dress had a tight-looking neckline and tight sleeves.  Cary remembered that the skin on the girl’s shoulder was sloughing off already, and she knew that this dress would cause a lot of pain.  Before she even processed it all, Cary said, “NO!”  Everyone froze.  She turned to Joseph.  “Tell them that would hurt her.  Have them put a loose top on her.  She doesn’t have to be very special-dressed to go see a nurse.  They need to understand that.”

He explained.  They did what Cary told them to do, then the wounded girl, her older sister, Joseph and Cary got in the van and went to the clinic.

When they pulled up under the trees on the edge of the clinic site, people were sitting in the shade.  A number were lined up being examined by a nurse.  She would determine where they should sit and wait for the next nurse to care for them.  When Cary climbed out and took the girl’s hand and walked towards the nurse, she stopped what she was doing and came over.  Cary told her, “This little one has been burned by boiling water.  Her family has no salve or other medicine to help her.  I knew you would be able to do so, so I brought her here.”

The nurse smiled very gently, moved the shirt away from the wounds, and looked a bit startled.  “Yes, Madame, this is serious.  I will do so right away.”

The nurse quickly went to the medicine area and returned with a creamy salve.  She gently spread it over the entire area.  Then she found some gauze and tape and covered it loosely.  She gave the sister some pain pills, and, Cary found out later, told them in Teso, that they should come back the following week and that they would reassess the burns.

When they returned to their home, everyone was very happy, so pleased that their little one had been helped.

Later Cary realized that she knew no names, nothing.  And they didn’t know her for more than that hour.  She wondered if the years would come along and they would think that God had dropped an angel into their lives.

Cary, exhausted and so filled with weakness from that intense, but helpful time, thought, “Well, I sure don’t look like an angel, don’t talk like an angel, don’t walk like an angel, but am blessed that they appreciated my entry into their lives.

Cary relaxed.