Almost
a week ago, teams Dunamis and Judah visited the Mildmay Centre in the Wakiso
district of Uganda, where Peter happens to be a Public Relations Officer. Our visit began in a room where he busted out
his handy-dandy PowerPoint and documentary of the Centre’s 10th
anniversary and now I’m in love. Let me
explain a wee bit.
This
hospital isn’t a typical one. Based in
the United Kingdom, Mildmay International is a ministry whose mission is “to
improve the quality of life of those living with HIV/AIDS”; they long to see “a
world in which everyone with HIV/AIDS can have life in all its fullness.” The Mildmay Centre in Uganda opened in 1998,
with Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal of the United Kingdom on hand. In recent years, Bush’s President’s Emergency
Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has enabled organizations like Mildmay to provide
care and antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) for free.
The
Centre carries out its mission through two ways. The first is HIV/AIDS care and management,
which spans the gamut: general and
specialized medical and nursing services, dental care, counseling, pastoral
care, therapy (occupational and physical), laboratory and pharmacy services,
children’s programs and day care, et al. The second is training and education;
by teaching people (not only health care providers, also teachers, social
workers, etc.) how to manage HIV/AIDS and care for those affected by the virus,
the Centre has extended and increased access to quality care in Uganda and a
substantial part of the continent.
We
hadn’t even started our tour of the campus, but it was like love at first
sight. When I return to the U.S. and
resume my financial support for other missions, I am adding Mildmay to my
roster. I’m writing this so that you can
be a part of the impact this ministry is making in Africa.
I
grew more enamored as we walked through the place: the adult and children’s wings, the pharmacy
area, the labs, the day care facility, Jijja Home. . . and the children’s
hospital, which was named after Queen Elizabeth II upon her visit. Did you catch that? At least three members of the British royal
family set foot in this patch of Uganda, including its matriarch.
I
felt so much hope I almost forgot this was a hospital that treats a still
incurable disease. Please check out the
website: www.mildmay.org if you’d like to support
their ministry – financially or by volunteering (especially if you’re a
dentist!). I left that day wanting to
work there. . .
.
. . then I had a couple conversations with a friend we’ve made here, Vince*,
who is HIV positive, that burst my bubble. He brought me back to the reality that places like Mildmay are more the
exception than the rule when it comes to AIDS. As he himself waits to receive care and treatment from Mildmay, he
lamented about the lack of resources of most clinics.
Then
he threw down the gauntlet – why don’t you build your own hospitals and
clinics? Mildmay doesn’t really need
your money as much as some other places, he said (well, not in those exact
words). I reacted internally to his
thoughts in several ways.
I
was at first defensive and thought him impertinent to tell me how I should
give. Mildmay has made such an impact in
the country and brings so much hope; I want their ministry to advance and
grow. Why shouldn’t I invest in the
Centre? Mildmay has plans to expand not
just in Uganda but in neighboring parts of Africa.
Yet
Vince has a point. It’s far easier to
build on someone else’s foundation. Much
harder to be the pioneer and forge a new path in the frontier; “to boldly go
where no one has gone before.”
Thus
I was challenged, but also deflated. Vince seemed to forget that I am a missionary, and as such, am poor; in
fact, I didn’t have anything to liquidate prior to leaving the U.S. and have a
bunch of loans to look forward to upon my return. Needless to say, I didn’t appreciate the
underlying implication that all Americans are in the same income bracket as
Bill Gates or Warren Buffet.
All
the same, one Mildmay will not be enough. Brenda met with a Kenyan doctor here in Kampala who said, when Brenda
informed her we spent most of December in Lodwar, “you couldn’t pay anyone
enough to go [to Lodwar].” And I don’t
think it presumptuous when I say that there are lots of Lodwars in Africa that
lack and desperately need access to quality health care – not just for AIDS.
So what’s a poor, very
soon-to-be 26 year old, Korean-American missionary to do?
