I introduced you to this woman at the beginning of last month, and showed you her videos but I wanted to share a beautiful/unfortunate ending to our time together!
The day before we were supposed to leave Uganda for Nairobi, I got extremely sick. I woke up at 2 am with a stomach ache, and was praying that it wasn’t anything worse. I had planned on taking Maggie to the pool, to town and to get a pedicure the following day. I was praying that I wasn’t sick, but that wasn’t answered the way I thought it would be. I had to get out of bed to head straight to the bathroom and puke my guts out. Right after I was finished tossing my cookies as my dad would say, I could hear someone in the other bathroom and as I walked past, I asked, who’s there? “It’s me, Bambi.” I said, “are you sick too?” Bambi says, “yep” We had found each other both sick at the same time of the night the day before we had to leave for our debrief the next night. We stayed up all night going to the bathroom and trying to get any moment of sleep that we could. In the morning we rested more and tried not to eat or drink anything because it was going to just come up. My dear Maggie was right by my side, making sure I was comfortable in my bed, had water and attempted to feed me. Then I took a nice nap, woke up and walked around and drank some passion juice. About five minutes after, I was in the bathroom puking. I didn’t just puke, I actually peed my pants while doing it. It was so violent I lost control of my bladder. I called for someone to get extra clothes and Maggie came running. She cleaned up my mess and helped me take a bath. I was so weak she actually had to bathe me. I would say it was definitely up there as one of the most humbling moments on the race.
Next thing I knew we were heading to the hospital to get tested for Malaria. I was so weak, tired and sick. We got tested and waited. I was laying my head on Maggie’s lap and she encouraged me by saying, let the word of God strengthen you. I asked her what her favorite scriptures were, and she said Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
I felt so encouraged and she prayed for my healing, then I prayed for her and found myself crying. The tears were of joy and sadness. The joy was from the blessing of having her in my life and the sadness was that I would have to say goodbye to her.
She walked me home, made me eat, take my medicine and then got me in bed. That night she fed me my food, checked on me and ended up sleeping in the same room as me to make sure I took my medicine. By the morning, she had nursed me back to health and I was ready to travel to debrief in Nairobi. We said goodbye and it was full of tears and hugs. She held me and said I don’t want to be away from you, I don’t want you to leave me, I love you! I was deeply grieved because she we touched each other’s lives and I couldn’t have asked for a greater blessing.
I learned so much from Maggie and hated leaving her. I fell in love with her and I wish everyone could have such an amazing Ugandan friend! I learned to love BIG! I miss her so much now and hope and pray I can see her again! Enjoy her last video!
