Dental Delight in Nyendo!

All were welcome when a fantastic team of dentists from Dentaid came to serve the members of the River of Life family and community, as well as many others besides!
 

In Uganda, it’s really costly to have your teeth filled or removed, and because of that many people end up simply enduring the pain. It’s a wonder that Ugandans are so smiley and friendly – I definitely wouldn’t be if I had a constant toothache! Well, as you can imagine, our community was certainly excited to hear the good news that Dentaid were coming back to visit!

They started early and worked hard, treating nearly 400 street children, school children, orphans, widows and other members of our community over the course of their two-day visit. Even our own worship leader Julius got some assistance.
 

And it wasn’t just the blood-thirsty tooth yanking… they also ran oral hygiene sessions at two of our neighbouring schools (Good Foundation School and Hope School), as well as running a session for social workers/healthcare workers around Nyendo.

So on behalf of our community and some neighbouring communities, we would like to say a MASSIVE thanks to Dentaid for all you’ve done to help us keep our pearly whites ... er... pearly white!

Meet Marvin!

We received a desperate plea for help at our Church, from a lady requesting money to enable her to transport a sick child home to the village. The child was initially hidden behind the pulpit, but when the lady held him up, the congregation was shocked to see his condition.

Even after a few days on the nutrition ward, his condition was shocking!

The reality was that this little 4 year old boy (whose mum had apparently died in childbirth) was on the brink of starving to death, with “lifeless eyes” and a tiny emaciated frame. On seeing the state of this child, our church members (many of whom only had enough money for food for the day) pulled money out of their pockets (NOT their tithing, as the offering had already been taken!). Together they were able to raise enough to send the child to the Nutrition Unit by themselves!

The first thing Elder Emily did was to rush to get a little milk for the boy, and apparently the little fella spotted the milk and strained his neck towards it with a look of real desperation in his eyes, as he was so so hungry. He wasn’t physically able to feed himself with his hands, nor could he walk (or even sit), but he started to heal slowly.

 

And just look at him now! Well on the road to recovery!

What a handsome boy!  Less than 6 weeks after he was admitted!

It’s actually hard to believe that this is the same little man. We’re so grateful to the staff who have diligently looked after him during his stay. We believe that God brought Marvin to River of Life for a reason and that this won’t be the last of our involvement with him. Please hold him in your prayers as we work out the way forward!

Life saving developments at the Baby Unit!

We were recently able to admit a tiny little baby of just 980g. The mum had given birth in another hospital about 6 miles away, and they were rushed to the Baby Unit for intensive care.

Wrapped up tight in an Embrace Warmer

The poor little baby was badly hypothermic. She was quickly dressed in a sweater and covered in an Embrace warmer. Each day she got warmer and after just three days she had made a massive improvement.

Mum and Head Nurse Cathy

On the 27th she was discharged - still weighing a tiny 1.2kg - but breastfeeding well with additional feeds. Mum and Dad were so excited to see how their daughter improved whilst at the Baby Unit, and they thank everyone for supporting the Unit and saving the life of their little one!

If this had happened just a few months ago, there would have been nothing we could have done for her. Our hands would have been tied. Why? Because until recently we were unable to admit babies born outside the hospital because of the risk of infection. But now, we've managed to partition the Unit so we can keep the babies separated, and so this baby got a chance at life.

And what's more, last week, we were given a fantastic new piece of kit - a Firefly Phototherapy machine - which will really help jaundiced babies born from outside the hospital.

Thank you so much for your continued support and prayers for the Unit and its Babies!

Saving Babies Lives at the New Baby Unit

It wasn't the best start in life. In fact, "life" and "start" probably shouldn't be used to describe it, as the little (barely over a kilo) lifeless baby turned steadily greyer as her helpless mum looked on. The simple truth is that this is Uganda and she was well on her way to becoming one of the 39,000 babies that will die this year before they reach 28 days old.

Well that might have been the story if this was 2012. Or even a week ago. But for this little 'un, "life" itself was about to explode onto the scene with a bang! Seeing the life leaking out of her, the attendant nurse rushed to the newly opened Baby Unit, just down the corridor. After greeting everyone meticulously, as we do here, she very politely wondered whether any of the present doctors and nurses being expertly trained by our very own Dr Sarah in resuscitation would mind coming down the hall to check on the very small baby of our story. Cue a rapid exit of the "Baby Rescue Team"!

However, it wasn't looking good. Dr Sarah recalls: "Honestly, we felt like it was getting futile, but with all our new nurses observing, it seemed a good thing to continue until we had emphasised all the important parts of baby resuscitation." Suddenly, things changed: "However, Praise God (x100!), after removing all the milk from her stomach, she suddenly decided to start breathing again! What a blessing that we had all been there training! A serious case of God’s good timing!"

Dr Sarah, along with others at Kitovu Hospital including Nurse Brigitte, have moved heaven and earth to get this baby unit up and running, managing all the challenges of setting up a new programme in a busy, under-resourced, over-stretched hospital. You too can be part of it - we're looking for regular gifts that can help pay the running costs. And our Miracle Baby, as we call her? She's still doing fine :)

Premature Baby Unit Opens at Kitovu Hospital

Dr Sarah has some INCREDIBLY exciting news to share...

It’s been a loooooooong time coming, but we are finally ready to open our Baby Unit! We want to care for sick and premature babies, at Kitovu Hospital, simply because too many die, and it's heart-breaking.

The room, and some really quite high-tech equipment (mainly donated by some folks in Ireland), has been there for a long time, but the barrier was a lack of nurses to staff the Unit. River of Life has teamed up with Kitovu to resolve this, recruiting donors to finance the salaries of the nurses that are so desperately needed.

I cannot tell you how grateful we all are, both to the individual sponsors helping us to fund this, and to God for getting all the strings pulled together at the right time.... not to mention for teaching us patience (oh, it’s a learning curve!!) as progress can be incredibly slow.

Opening of this Baby Unit will really impact on newborn death rates, not to mention improving general health of babies, at Kitovu Hospital. Our nurses have been brilliant during the training and will be involved in resuscitating sick newborns, caring for them, educating mothers, identifying sick babies, and also picking up on problems in new babies that might otherwise be missed (as they will be doing “baby checks” on each newborn).

We’ll keep you posted on progress - it’s a busy but joyful time right now! Please do pray for further funding, though. We have enough for now, but we are only about half way towards recruiting the necessary number of regular donors to ensure the Unit can continue. If anyone has a real heart for sick or tiny babies, then please do get in touch, download a sponsor form here, or head straight over to our donation page (MyDonate by BT).