My name is Dena Mojo and I went on a short-term mission trip to Uganda with Children to Love. We visited Mercy Childcare Ministry, which includes Mercy Village, the boarding school, the international school, the church and the medical clinic, as well as ministries outside of the town.
I would say one of the most rewarding, fascinating, and just overall blessed events that we took part in was going out into the very primitive town of Pallisa where quite literally the residents in the villages live in mud huts.
We ran a little mini medical clinic. I’m a nurse– there were two of us on the team– and we taught the teachers on the team how to take blood pressure, height and weight, etc.
People came from all over the many villages to attend this medical clinic and we had a little bit of time with each resident. Thankfully we also had a translator there to help us communicate with each person. We saw kids and adults and they were all so grateful for us to be there, but we were so incredibly blessed and privileged to be able to go out there, meet them and help them as best we could. We brought some doctors as well as prescription medications with us from the Medical Center and I'm hopeful that everyone received the care they needed.
After the clinic, they treated us to a fabulous meal in the mud huts, cooked outside, which is how they cook for themselves. Rice, pasta, potatoes, plantains, beef, chicken and fresh vegetables and it was just amazing. Their hospitality was incredible.
We got to meet the pastors (and their families) who live out there and work with Wilfred. And kids were everywhere. We got to see the schools, which was just completely amazing. The kids are living in grass huts and they go to school in grass huts.
It was an incredible blessing – one that I don’t think that I would ever have been able to experience were it not for CTL and the work that they’re doing in Pallisa. Wilfred and Vena’s ministry is just completely amazing.
Another event that I got to take part in, as one of the two nurses on the team, was being able to help out at the Medical Center. The first day, we walked in and they said, "We have a lady that’s about ready to have a c-section, do you want to help?" That is what I do as a nurse, I take care of babies. So within 15 minutes, we were scrubbed into a c-section and catching a baby who was beautiful and wonderful.
I can’t say we actually did everything – they had personnel there who were perfectly capable of taking care of everything, but they let us experience it and help out. We got to meet the mom, introduce her to her baby and pray with her.
We also saw a little girl with severe burns and prayed with her. Two more sick babies came in that we were able to assist with and pray for. The care at Mercy Medical Center is good for what they have available to them. The nurses and the doctors are wonderful and are very committed to this community. We saw God through them and their work, work that they probably don’t have to be doing. But they still choose to help Wilfred and Vena at this medical clinic and be there for their community.
It was very wonderful just to experience being with people who live differently than us but who are exactly the same as we are. I cannot emphasize enough that it is a totally life-changing event to be on a CTL team.
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