Service Above Self - Fellowship Through Service

I had the great opportunity to go to Sesse Islands with the Rotary Club of Kampala-Sesse Islands. The service project was a medical outreach to a rural/remote village on one of the islands. To be honest with you, the island reminded me much of Jurassic Park with the giant ants thick forest. It was great though getting to know the Rotarians and Rotaractors that came on the trip.  There was a big turnout at the medical outreach. For many, this was their first time going to a doctor since the last medical outreach only because it’s too expensive to go to the mainland for a doctor or they can’t afford the medication.  I was also delighted to see World Vision with Rotary as well as some pro bono doctors.  The phrase service above self reaches beyond Rotary and extends to other NGO’s and volunteers that believe in helping those that are in the most need.

Getting to Sesse Islands was actually an adventure in itself! We took a 4 hour ferry ride to the main island. Being on Lake Victoria felt like being in the middle of the ocean.  There were plenty of over islands in the distance, some with beach coast and some with cliff coast, but overall, it reminded me of being in California looking out to the Pacific at Catalina Island.  I definitely had some childhood memories come back while on the ferry.

Once on the island, we were greeted by the owner of the resort with refreshments and snacks.  We were all quite tired but managed to figure out our rooms and come back for a bon fire. At the fireside, I decided that this was a great time to get to know some of the Rotaractors that came on the trip.  They were all so friendly and I was able to make fast friends with them while dancing. Dancing in Africa is so different from dancing back home. I realized that they had incorporated some traditional dance moves while dancing to some modern reggae music. I was highly impressed! They were also quite impressed with how I danced.  For some reason, they think Americans are uptight and don’t know how to have a good time. But I’m proud to say that I represented the U.S. very well.

The next morning we set off to the medical outreach village, however, it was raining so hard that we had to wait for the rain to pass on our island as well as the island we were heading to. Once the rain slowed stopped, we all got on a boat that I was extremely doubtful could hold all of us. It took about an hour for us to get to the other island, which wasn’t bad compared to the ferry to the first island. We docked, carried supplies to the village, and without any hesitation, we were helping the community. There was a family planning room, dental care room, pharmaceutical room, and a room to see the doctors if you had any problems.  Without a doubt, the most crowded room was the one with the doctors.  These people didn’t see a doctor often if at all. In some cases, the only time that they did see the doctor was when the Rotary Clubs had a medical outreach to their location.

Because I don’t know Luganda, I was in charge of registration with Rotarian Justine and Rotarian Florence. I was handing out the numbers, but was still shocked at what I saw. The people had to state their name, age, and which village they were coming from. What shocked me was how young some of the mothers were and how some people looked to be about 60 but were actually 40. There could be a number of reasons for this inconsistency in age and how the person actually looked. I didn’t take any pictures of the patients because of my background with HIPAA for Fairfax County. It felt unethical to snap a picture without them knowing where it was going to be posted and used for. All in all, I could see the importance of Rotary here in Uganda. The Rotarians are important to their society because when the government doesn’t provide for the people, Rotary steps in and makes sure the basic needs are met with the help of other NGOs. That was quite inspiring to witness. I am very happy to be a part of such an organization.