Gordon Lindquist of Grand Marais hosted two Ugandans on a trip to Minnesota in May to raise awareness of needs at a health clinic in southwestern Uganda. He is helping them raise funds for a surgical facility that is expected to save many lives. Father Dennis wore a green stocking cap of Gordon’s for most of the visit because the May weather in Minnesota was much colder than what they are used to near the equator in Uganda. (L-R) Sister Christine Nakanwag, Gordon Lindquist, and Father Dennis Abagaba.
Over 50 indigenous languages are spoken in Uganda, but the official language of this former British colony is English. In 2009, Gordon Lindquist of Grand Marais found himself in Uganda, where he visited a health clinic and unexpectedly formed a bond deeper than language leading to a month-long Minnesota visit by two Ugandans trying to help the people back home.
Since he retired over 20 years ago, Lindquist has been working on economic development projects around the world as a volunteer with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). At the end of a 2009 visit to Uganda for a USAID research project on HIV, a Ugandan physician persuaded him to stay long enough to visit one more place – the Nyakatsiro Health Center in the Bushenyi District of southwestern Uganda, which lies on the east side of Africa right near the equator.
Lindquist later wrote about his experience: “…I was given a tour of the clinic, which didn’t take long.
“They had a laboratory with one microscope, a pharmacy with some basic drugs, a delivery room and a small room with a few cots for the patients, all of which were filled.
“What really got my attention was patients were lying in the hallway on bedding they had brought with them and several connected to IV tubes.”
The clinic was in the process of constructing a new birthing center, but their work had been halted due to lack of funding. On impulse, Lindquist said he thought he had some friends who could help them get the building finished. Over the next couple of years, people donated almost $16,000 from all around the U.S. (and even Kenya), enabling the clinic to finish the birthing center, construct a water tank and build a foundation for a surgical facility.
“It is hard for me to describe in words the gratitude expressed by these people living in a poor and remote part of Africa,” Lindquist wrote. “A little bit is making such a big difference in their lives.
“My new challenge is to help raise the funds necessary to build the operating theater. Presently, they can handle routine cases, but [with] anything serious they need to transport the patients in a pickup truck over rough roads to the nearest hospital. Many do not survive the trip. With an operating theater, they will be able to bring in a doctor quickly to attend to patients with serious illnesses or accidents. This will be more ambitious because the cost will be nearly $60,000.”
In May, Lindquist and his wife Joyce sponsored the two Ugandans on their trip to Minnesota to share their insights on what a difference help from outside can make. Sister Christine Nakanwag is a nurse, midwife, and administrator of the clinic. Father Dennis Abagaba is the clinic’s chaplain. He travels around to six churches and several schools on a motorcycle known as a “boda boda.”
The clinic serves 38,500 people. It is surrounded by rough mountain roads that are difficult to navigate during the rainy season. Most people travel on foot, but when a small car is on the road, it is usually carrying 10 people. Living conditions
Ninety percent of the people in the area rely on farming for a living, growing their own food, raising their own livestock and selling their products at market. While the area is agriculturally rich, it is still affected by floods and droughts, and families often have 8-9 children.
Few people attend school. The government pays for part of the cost of school, but families must contribute.
People in this region have no means of storing food. They have no power and no refrigeration, including the clinic.
On May 31, Sister Christine and Father Dennis sat down with the Cook County News-Herald. Many children in the region are malnourished, Sister Christine said, because people lack knowledge of proper nutrition. Bananas are a staple of their diet, but many children eat mostly bananas and don’t get the protein they need. The work of the clinic
The clinic offers outpatient, inpatient and lab services, prenatal to-post-natal maternity care, counseling, and outreach clinics where they immunize children. While HIV/ AIDS is on the decline (5-7 percent of the population have the virus), most children under the age of five die of malaria.
Several tools are used to prevent malaria, Sister Christine said: sleeping under a net (but many families cannot afford netting), clearing bushes around homes, avoiding stagnant water (all water must be boiled, and having enough wood to burn is a constant challenge), and for pregnant women, taking a drug called Fansidar.
The clinic delivers about 75 babies a month, but without surgical capacity and with transportation so difficult, many mothers and babies die. The nearest hospital is two to three hours away.
The clinic currently is staffed by nurses, with doctors visiting occasionally. They do have solar-powered cell phones, and when a surgical facility is in place, they will be able to call surgeons for help when needed.
To date, 10 percent of the funds needed for a surgical facility have been raised. “The response here in Grand Marais has been tremendous,” said Lindquist.
Sister Christine will be glad when enough funds are raised to build the operating room. “It will save many lives,” she said. Impressions of Minnesota
Father Dennis said when they arrived in Minnesota, he asked if there had been a huge fire that had left the trees barren—during their month in the Twin Cities and Grand Marais, they saw the leaves come out. On their way up the North Shore, they were appalled at all the dead wood—much needed for cooking and boiling drinking water back home. They were also “overwhelmed” by the amount of water in Cook County.
Seeing “roads on top of each other” was another strange sight for Father Dennis. Lindquist said they couldn’t get over the fact that cars on the road would have as few as one person in them.
What did they think of the snow that was still around when they arrived in Grand Marais? “Oh, it’s very cold!” said Father Dennis. He thought it was odd that he could go out into the sun and not find it warm. He and Sister Christine were incredulous over how late in the day the sun stayed up.
“You people,” Sister Christine said, “you live in heaven here!”
“The hospitality of the people is so high. People smile at us, and they wave,” said Father Dennis. “The American people are very generous. Whenever there is a disaster in Uganda, they are the first to reach it. It’s hard to find the words to express our gratefulness.” Contributions for the Nyakatsiro Health Center can be sent to either St. John’s Catholic Church (P.O. Box 549, Grand Marais, MN 55604) or Grand Marais Evangelical Free Church (P.O. Box 396, Grand Marais, MN 55604) – The memo line should designate the funds to the Nyakatsiro Health Center. Gordon Lindquist can be reached at (651)633-1003 or g.lindquist@juno.com. One hundred percent of the donated funds will go directly to the clinic.
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