Gearld's story
on Um Zayd wa Atheer (Uganda), 17/Jun/2009 18:43, 34 days ago
I first met Gerald last summer after he was involved in a road accident and suffered a spinal injury. He lay in Masindi Hospital for months coming to terms with the words paraplegic and incontinent and acquiring pressure sores. The future looked bleak for this 24-year-old fisherman with 2 children under 5 and no wife. When she realised the extent of Gerald's injuries she ran away. Despite all this he always looked cheerful, a bit of a rogue but likeable. Eventually the pressure sores started to improve and there was talk of wanting to walk. I tried telling him it would not be possible but he insisted he wanted to be transferred to Kampala. It's a long story in itself but small miracles do happen. With the help of a lovely Scottish physiotherapist he eventually was able to return to his home, able to stand with a Zimmer frame and shuffle a dozen or so steps. All he needed was a wheel chair and I was finally able to deliver this last Saturday.Gerald lives in a village near Bulisa and near to the fishing lake at Butiabe where he used to earn his living. It's a two and half hour drive from Masindi. You head northwest, leaving the sugar plantations and out growers behind. The terrain becomes flatter and drier. The soil is sandy and arid. Oil has been discovered in this area and it has brought limited wealth to a few chosen projects including schools and roads. This is important cattle rearing country.The house was difficult to find. Villages do not have street names, huts names or numbers and the tracks are many. I was partly to blame for getting horribly lost. Gerald had told me to follow the sign for the cow and I didn't take him seriously. Sure enough as we finally got onto the right track there was the Highway Code red triangle complete with cow.The family home is 2 mud huts. There's Gerald, his 2 children Winnie and Nerbert, his orphaned nephew, his mother Joyce, an elderly lady (probably younger than me) and a large clutch other unexplained children. Were they related or hopefully neighbours' children? They all welcomed the shiny new red wheelchair donated by Rotary International. Now Gerald can visit his grandmother and the nearby Trading Centre. The children sang, we sang and pressure areas checked. As we prepared to leave we were asked to look at a sickly child of 16 months, wrapped in a cloth and nursed by Joyce. This was a grandchild abandoned by Gerald's sister. The baby was suffering from malnutrition with the tell tale signs of puffy feet, anaemia and apathy. Irrespective of age everyone in this family eats 1 meal a day at 7pm of a little fish mixed with cassava flour. This baby needed protein, a little and often. Fortunately there are cows around and we were able to negotiate with a rancher enough milk, 3 cups a day for 40 days. We all chipped in. Hopefully it will not be too late.This family were too poor to offer us a gift so a neighbour brought over a small cockerel to say thank you for our visit. I adamantly refused but they were offended. Still I couldn't accept. Reluctantly a note was accepted into the giver's palm as I said Goodbye. The chicken had been bought and honour restored. It was 2.30 as we left Gerald's house and we were hungry too and so out of sight the car pulled over to the shade of a tree and we drank black coffee, ate chapattis and mangoes. I felt guilty at each swallow and thought about that family waiting another 5 hours before they could eat. Another day of sights and emotions that were not prepared to leave the mind and the heart.