VOSH Mission Report
Arua, Ouganda
VOSH / Sud-Est
November 2011

 

After several months of preparation and a few long flights, our team of 11 VOSH volunteers met each other and Mr. Vasco Oguzua at the Entebbe airport in Uganda. Nous avons ensuite voyagé environ 10 hours north by bus. Nous étions prêts à fournir des soins oculaires de base aux populations sous-desservies de la région du Nil occidental du nord de l'Ouganda à partir de Novembre 10-20, 2011.

 

Our team was blessed with the experience of well-seasoned volunteers, who had been on numerous trips and with the enthusiasm of young students. Nous avons été invités par les soins du Nil, a non-profit organization which is dedicated to providing basic services to the people of this region and to improve the quality of life. M. Vasco Uguzua coordinated efforts between the members of VOSH, the local volunteers, interpreters and the local Lion’s Club to produce a successful endeavor which served 3403 people.

 

 

We brought over 5000 pair of used and new glasses, either from StudiOptyx or from the Lion’s Recycling Center of Wisconsin. We brought over 50 lbs of eye drops, many of which were donated from Allergan and Bausch and Lomb. Laura, our team RN, brought along equipment and supplies to screen for diabetes and hypertension.

 

Arua is a city 500 km northwest of the capital of Kampala. Nos chambres étaient très bien au centre ou sur le campus diocésain Arua, ‘Christos Center’. Repas inclus ananas frais, bananas, avocados and jack fruit. Nous avons mangé habituellement des œufs et du pain grillé, rice, beans, cassava yams, sweet potatoes, matooke, chicken and goat. Bien que la langue ethnique de la région était Lugbara, many of the people we encountered spoke English.

 

We traveled by bus Sunday morning to the small town of Maracha, environ 15 miles to the north of Arua. Il était sur un trajet en bus heures, close to the South Sudanese border. Nous sommes arrivés avec notre équipement et des lunettes, surprised to have such large crowds waiting for us. Ils avaient entendu les annonces à la radio qu'il y aurait une clinique ophtalmologique gratuit. Après une longue journée de voir les patients que nous sommes rentrés dans l'obscurité et sommes rentrés à Arua à environ 9:00 pm that evening. Nous avons tenu une clinique sur ce site pendant deux jours.

 

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday clinics were held at the Arua Regional Referral Hospital-eye department; their staff was very supportive of our efforts. Les habitants de la région ont attendu plusieurs heures pour être vu et de recevoir, espérons-verres; the lines were so long. Mardi, just as we were finishing up, we were notified that a bus had arrived from eastern Congo and the people had been waiting to be seen. Il n'y avait pas lieu de rester la nuit et on nous a demandé de les aider. Parce qu'il n'y avait pas d'électricité dans la clinique, it was difficult to put away our equipment in the dark. Après clinique de jours 3 et 4, we arrived back to the campus to gladly work with more local people and staff from the Radio Pacis station.

 

We provided over 2658 pair of glasses during the 5 days of clinic and referred approximately 161 patients who needed to have cataract surgery. Nous avons assisté à de nombreux cas de cécité, either unilateral or bilateral; due to trauma, glaucoma, diseases, cataracts or unknown causes. Avec les verres, we provided many donated bottles of drops including anti-allergy drops, artificial tears and glaucoma drops. Nous avons travaillé aux côtés des cliniciens locaux et aidé à les éduquer sur la façon d'utiliser les gouttes et la façon de traiter certaines maladies. Nous avons examiné avec eux nos protocoles pour les soins post-op de la cataracte. D'eux, we learned so much about what they encounter on a daily basis and what their treatment protocols are and how they deal with the lack of health care.

 

Although we encountered barriers which we found to be lack of water and electricity, illness, injury, transportation, language barriers, large crowds, lack of supplies and dead batteries, we certainly found the satisfaction of caring for others in this beautiful part of the world.