Today was our team’s first medical clinic, at Jjokolera Village a little outside of Kampala. Loving One by One goes there frequently, and last time I was in Uganda it was my first location at that time as well.

Just a quick rundown of today… we saw approximately 700 patients, and gave away around 80 pairs of reading glasses. If I had to put a theme on today, it was Malaria and More Malaria. Malaria is the number one killer of children under 5 in Uganda, and we sent a lot of people to the hospital today. Not all of them had malaria symptoms, but many did.  Temperatures in the air were comfortable today, but temperatures on some of the patients were 104, 105, 106 and up to over 107.

As I worked in our pharmacy area filling bags with prescriptions, I noticed two things – One, we gave out a lot of malaria medication, and Two, a lot of that medication went to children. In the pharmacy area I always see a little form with the patient’s name and symptoms, as well as the doctor’s prescription order. One form struck me – the patient’s name was Joan, and she was 4 years old. I never actually saw Joan, just her form. And the only medication Joan needed today was malaria medication.

So it was an intense day, especially after being away from this for two years. It was a both-feet-at-once jump into it, and a reminder of why we do what we do here.

Tomorrow is Sunday and it’s our day off. Then we’re back at it again on Monday. Meanwhile, here’s a picture of an older woman, just because I think she was cool…