Georgia Girl Speaks...: Malaria Bites in Wasiki village

We spent the day outside of Jinja, in rural Wasiki village with Healing Faith ministries and the McMorris family of 7.
Healing Faith is a malaria prevention and Christian outreach that establishes relationships within villages and communities in need.
The morning started out with downpours, so our journey into and out of the village was eventful and muddy, as cars could not make the drive in the wet, African mud. We headed out on foot, walking/wading a mile or more into the village, where the clouds parted and dozens of barefoot kids came out and escorted us "mzungus" along the path to an open field.
We gathered with 100 or so village kids, teens and a few adults and had a time of singing songs, playing silly games and then Emily, from our team presented a short bible story and skit for the kids
Afterwards, the McMorris' who are currently leading Healing Faith set-up Malaria testing for all, along with providing de-worming medicine for the kids as well. While testing was under-way, (3 malaria cases confirmed on the spot & medicine dispensed!) a few of us gathered with the mob of kids and attempted a craft of making paper bracelets and handing out stickers. Chaos ensued as most of these children could not speak nor understand English, along with their great desire to have whatever we were giving out. The culture, especially for those in rural villages does not understand that everyone will be included and that there will be enough for all, which makes for an intense setting when trying to conduct an activity where anything is given away. A few of the girls, including myself also set up an area of painting finger nails for any of the children interested and again, chaos was the result at first as everyone wanted to participate! Luckily with the help of our team's friend Issac who spent most of the trip with us in Kampala and Jinja, he was able to direct and translate and lines were formed and everyone was able to get a turn!

We spent the greater part of the day within this village, loving on and ministering to these people - I was able to spend time with a young new mom, loving on and cuddling her 3 week old baby girl!, making friends with Gloria, a precious little girl who was recently treated at the SoleHope Outreach house, donning her new "pillow case" dress and spending time walking with Violet, a young girl who lived in the village with her dad and siblings, and dreamed of visiting America some day.

Along the way, we met a young boy named Musisi (5 or 6 years old) outside of his home whom the McMorris family knew and had treated before for malaria. His little feet were severely swollen & infected and he was unable to walk. My team includes an EMT & pharmacist who also assessed his condition, and all agreed he needed medical attention as soon as possible for fear of losing toes or possibly a foot ... Since Musisi could not walk, sweet Maddie from my team and one of my roomies carried him on her hip all day long, loving on him and ensuring he was able to participate and also carried him out of the village through the mud. The McMorris' were committed to take Musisi to a doctor and later home for further evaluation. The following day at their "house church" Katie Davis (author of Kisses from Katie, mother of 13 girls, founder of Amazima) learned of his situation and enlisted her nurse to assess his condition as well. By the end of the day, Musisi was moved to Katie's house to stay in her "boys quarters" where she later brought his mother & baby sibling from the village, to stay as well while he was treated and healed. Needless to say, the purpose of our time in this community was much bigger than we could see, and thankfully this sweet boy is being cared for by so many and is healing!

Minor downside to this day in the village was the intense, African sun! After spending many hours outside, with little to no shade, most of my team along with my own delicate self suffered some fairly intense sunburn ... SPF and all, this white girl on the equator with her malaria prevention antibiotic is sporting quite the blistered burn many days later ;/