Lake Victoria Island Medical Mission

By Doug Parker, M.D.

On our first day in Africa, Nadine informed us that we were going on something called 'Island Mission.' The next day our bus dropped us off in the rain at a church mission building on the shore of Lake Victoria in Entebbe. Nadine had other commitments, so she turned us over to Diana, a feisty Ugandan nurse. She herded all of us into a long, handmade wooden boat with a blue canvas canopy and small outboard motor. Though I had no raincoat I wasn't cold, just a little damp. Diana broke the ice with introductions between our group and her staff members. In all there were 17 of us hunkering beneath the tarp roof. Soon we were all friends, sharing Ugandan flatbread and tea followed by peanut butter sandwiches. The 90 minute boat ride went by quickly. We saw numerous sea birds, including graceful white cranes and huge gray storks like pterodactyls overhead.

The island came into sight, lush and green with a small, round golden church looking down on us from the first outcropping of land. We passed the church and encountered numerous small, weatherbeaten fishing boats moored in front of a line of wooden shacks and huts of random size and shape. The narrow beach was crowded with people of all ages, but our true welcoming committee was the flock of excited, beautiful children. They mobbed us as we came ashore, and soon we were all carrying one or holding hands with several at once.

The children followed us up the shore to a small alley between shacks, where we turned to reach the clinic site. This was a small open courtyard between buildings, with a sloping dirt floor and overhanging awnings along the sides. We set up makeshift clinic stations using our own chairs and card tables. Soon the villagers lined up, and we worked madly for the next four or five hours.
We had a station for HIV testing, another for immunizations, a pharmacy table, and a spot for clinical exams. I was doing the exams at a card table with chairs for me, the patient and the interpreter. My tools consisted of a stethoscope, a head lamp, and my four senses. There was no privacy and no place to have someone lie down for an exam. When older children had a "personal" symptom that required some disrobing, we just held up a blanket to shield them from the view of the others waiting just a few feet away.

Soon all of us were coated with a sheen of sweat under the African sun. We shared our clinic space with occasional chickens passing through to see what we were up to. A duck with a rope dragging off one leg kept us company for quite a while. A kitten provided entertainment as he chased the duck's rope and pounced on it repeatedly. Once a child started dragging the poor duck backward by the rope. It quacked and flapped as its claws tore grooves in the soft dirt. An adult yelled at the boy and he let the duck go.

Most of the patients were sick children with lung infections or diarrhea. There were a few newborns with HIV positive moms. One mother just wanted her baby checked because he was so much bigger than the other three-month-olds. I diagnosed one phimosis, a few cases of pneumonia, one possible malaria, and a whole bunch of "I'm not sure." We used up our supplies of cough syrup and most antibiotics, but still the patients kept coming. When Diana finally announced that we were closing up for the day, I sighed relief but felt a little guilty for turning several people away. 

At last it was time to load the boat and bid our new friends goodbye. The children waved and shouted until we passed out of sight, while we collapsed gratefully in our seats and let the boatman do all the work. Once revived with water and flatbread, we animatedly swapped tales of our experiences. What an amazing, wonderful day, and what beautiful people of Lake Victoria, Uganda.