Julia was asked to type up a trip report for our trip to Bushenyi which was from the 9th to the 12th. It is a follows:
Bushenyi Trip Report
September 9th 12t, 2010
The first day, we spent driving to Bushenyi. We traveled 300 Km to Bushenyi which took about 8 hours. Dr. Val brought 2 interns with her from Karamoja Joseph, an animal husbandry student from the Sudan, and Heidi, an American pre-vet student from New York. Dr. Liz Hoffmann from Oregon came with her daughter, Julia and another vet named Luke, from Kampala, came with us as well. Dr. Val's driver, Godfrey, from Karamoja made a total of 8 in our group.
The drive, though very long, was surprisingly not very boring. We talked a lot, slept some, and got to see some wild zebras! We stayed in the house of Dr. Kasiime's father and, though they didn't have any electricity or running water, the house was very nice. We used pit toilets, kerosene lamps and wash basins, and cooking was done over charcoal fires. The food was very good as well!
That morning, Dr. Kasiime had contacted the local radio station to see if we could advertise our clinic and talk about UCVM. They gave us 1 hour of free air time! So, that evening, after we had left all of our stuff at the house, we went over to the station for our program. We all introduced ourselves and Dr. Kasiime quoted Scripture and talked about the purpose of UCVM. Dr. Val, Dr. Luke and Liz talked about zoonotic diseases such rabies, brucellosis and anthrax. When we returned to the house it was full of local people there to welcome us. They sang and prayed with us and served us a very nice meal very welcome after 8 hours of driving follow by 2 hours doing the radio program! The people were very glad we were there as many of their animals needed care.
The next day, the 10th, we held a clinic at several locations and treated about 300 goats, 50 cows, 10 pigs and a few dogs (mostly puppies). They were all treated for worms using either Ivermectin or Albendazole depending on the animals condition or stage of pregnancy. We sprayed all the animals with Amitraz for ticks and lice. We also treated some animals for mange, mastitis, pneumonia, and trypansomiasis. After treatment, all the animals were marked on their forehead with a colored marker to prevent double dosing (we were out of marker by the end J ). We gave an evangelism message at the end of the clinic and 1 young man was saved.
We had another full day of clinics on the 11th with about twice the number of animals including about 10 cats! The local TV station sent a videographer with us to document the event. They planned to air it on the TV there although most of the people did not have a TV for lack of electricity.
Of all the animal we treated, we saw anaplasmosis in a cow, treated an abscess in a goat, dehorned a cow, saw RDA in one cow, a few nasal bots in some goats, photosensitivity and liver toxicity from toxic plants (Lantana and Camera), and treated lots of wounds, mostly on the legs from where they tied the animals up. All the people seemed so grateful for the small amount of help we were able the give them. They had never had veterinarians come in and do work for them free of charge and most could not afford to pay for services. Dr. Kasiime asked Dr. Liz to give the evangelism message and two more came forward to be saved. At the end of the day, we had treated a total of 548 goats, 54 cows, 65 sheep, 32 pigs, 16 dogs and about 10 cats.
We were invited back to the radio station that night to do another broadcast on our work and again had the opportunity to evangelize over the radio. The show was live and most people there had access to radios and listened to that station so we know they got to hear it. We listened to their DJ report the news before our program started and Dr. Kasiime was indignant that we were not mentioned in the news! He insisted this was a very important event and must be on the news. He insisted they talk to the manager about it. Sure enough after our show, the news was aired again with Uganda CVM being mentioned several times. Dr. Liz teased him that he would be a politician some day!
On the 12th, we packed up early in the morning and planned to head out after the church service. Dr. Liz was the main pastor for the day and gave a very moving message about truth and servant hood and tied it in with her testimony about her own salvation and how God wants us to live as believers in Christ. Many of the people there were already believers but 1 young man and a young woman came forward to accept Christ when she was done! When the offering was called for, everyone came forward to contribute something. If they did not have any money to offer, they offered some produce which was then auctioned off. The proceeds were then put into the offering.
We brought 3 huge bags of clothing with us from Kampala and distributed them at the end of the service. There were many widows and orphans at the service who were very grateful for the free clothes.
Next was the 8 hour drive back to Kampala, which was pretty much the same as the last time. We got to see zebras again as well! We all felt that the trip was very successful, the people were very grateful and we wished we could have done more. Throughout the clinics, we were joined by the local Veterinary District Officer, Dr. Manuel, who was extremely helpful and hardworking. He knew the people and areas very well and we were able to exchange knowledge and services. Many of us felt that making connections like this in other areas was very useful in furthering the purpose of UCVM. Everyone is excited about trying to reach out to more locations in the future!
No comments:
Post a Comment