Celebrating Home

As we begin our fundraising for the September 2012 trip we are partnered again with Celebrating Home.  Celebrating Home is formerly known as Home Interiors so that speaks to the quality of the products.  The candles are wonderful and their dips mixes are delicious.

Please join us in support of our efforts and help us reach our goal. You may review our program by clicking on this link http://www.celebratinghome.com/fundraiser/Ezekial37/.

Remember that 50% of our sales are returned to Mercy Uganda-Ezekiel 37 Medical team when you make a purchase. 

If you live locally please see a team member to place an order and save on shipping.  We would be incredibly grateful if you'd share this website link with your friends and family.

Thanks in advance for your support.

God Bless,
Becky & the Ezekiel 37 team

Mercy Uganda's Student of the Week--Solomon #5407-BG-11

I am so happy to report that we received a sponsor for Florence last week.  Thank you Charleen and Dave!!

Please allow me to introduce you to this sweet boy.  Solomon is about 12 years old.  He is part of a large family that is special to Mercy Uganda.  The father is Charles Onyango.  Laura (founder of Mercy Uganda) had the privilege of meeting Charles in 2008.  He is such a precious young man of God who has had a life of loss and hardship.  When he was a young teen, his parents were murdered by the Lord’s Resistance Army while living in Gulu.  This left Charles to care for his younger siblings.  A year later, one of his siblings died leaving Charles to care for their three children in addition to his own six.  That’s 9 children all together.  Charles struggles to meet their needs, always loving each child and never showing partiality.  Charles works hard to keep the children in school.  He with little education himself does whatever work he can to provide for the family.  He is unable to pay all the school fees but does all he can to barter goods in exchange for their education. 

The children are sick often with recurring bouts of malaria, malnourishment and dehydration.  If the children were in school they would have food each day.  They would have a mosquito net to cover their bed and help protect them from malaria.

It costs $500.00 per year to sponsor Solomon.  This includes all of the school requirements, 3 terms of school, boarding, food, and transportation.  The school fees can be divided up into the 3 terms, January, May, and September, with the January term being higher to purchase requirements for the year.  Term one: $200.00, terms two and three $150.00 each.  Each student is required to bring a list of items for their first day of school.  These items typically include a mattress, mosquito net, trunk to store items, school supplies, school uniform, socks, shoes, bars of soap, a carton of laundry detergent, among many other items.


With Your Sponsorship:

1. We send you pictures and updates as often as possible. The updates are done by our team in Uganda when they travel to the areas and the schools, and by our team members who travel to Uganda during the year.  You may receive 1 to 3 updates a year depending on our ability to travel to some of the more remote areas.
2. We will let you know if the child has siblings in need of sponsorship in case you want to help a family, or know a friend who may want to partner with you.
3. We will be more than happy to deliver letters and small care packages to your child when we travel to Uganda. We try to let our sponsors know ahead of time so they can send us letters for us to take with us. You can also send small monetary gifts that we will deliver to your child which provides special items, and extra food.  It also allows us to purchase things for them there in Uganda so your gift is maximized.

If you have more questions or would like more information about our child sponsorship program, please contact us. We would love to share with you.  Remember, your sponsorship is tax-deductible!
  

If you would like to sponsor Solomon please contact Becky at ezekiel37medical@gmail.com.

Click here to see other children that are waiting for sponsors.

Student of the Week

UPDATE-- 1/14/12 9:07pm--Florence has received a sponsor!  Praise God!!  Now Florence can attend school along with her sister.

There are many children in Mercy Uganda's database that need sponsorship for school.  So, we're going to start doing a Student of the Week.

This is Florence.  She is 8 years old and lives in the Konkwa village in Karamoja.  She has been unable to attend school due to the fact that her mother has died of AIDs and her father is expected to die at any time of the same disease.  She is in critical condition. Florence and her sister Marisca are staying with relatives who cannot afford to care for them.  Neither of the children has been tested for AIDs.

Seeing that Florence's mother has passed away and her father is terminally ill from AIDS it is imperative that she get in school soon.  The school she will attend is a boarding school.  She will have a roof over her head at night, a mattress to sleep on, at least one meal a day, and receive an education.

It costs $500.00 per year to sponsor Florence.  This includes all of her school requirements, 3 terms of school, boarding, food, and transportation.  The school fees can be divided up into the 3 terms, January, May, and September, with the January term being higher to purchase requirements for the year.  Term one: $200.00, terms two and three $150.00 each.  Each student is required to bring a list of items for their first day of school.  These items typically include a mattress, school supplies, school uniform, socks, shoes, among many other items.

Will you consider being Florence's sponsor?  Or maybe you know someone?  Will you share this blog with your friends and family?  Please feel free to share on Facebook, Twitter, or email.

Contact Becky at ezekiel37medical@gmail.com

Medical Clinics

Dr. Dietrich is an orthopedic surgeon however the medical clinics that we do in Uganda are general medicine.  The most frequently seen conditions are malaria, intestinal worms, fungal infections, and upper respiratory infections.  We purchase medications and vitamins from a medical supply company in Uganda.  This company supplies a lot of the hospitals and medical clinics in Uganda so we feel confident their products are good quality.

Malaria is caused by a person getting bitten by a mosquito infected with a malaria parasite.  In the early stages, malaria symptoms are sometimes similar to those of many other infections caused by bacteria, viruses, or parasites.  Symptoms may include fever, chills, headache, sweats, fatigue, nausea and vomiting.  Malaria can be prevented by the use of a mosquito net covering the family while they sleep.  During our trips we have been able to distribute 400 nets.

Pastor Hayes, Dr. Dietrich, Brandy and Becky handing out mosquito

nets to a long line of happy people on our first trip January 2010.

Intestinal worms are caused by ingesting dirty and contaminated water and food that are infected with parasites.  The villages in Karamoja had no access to clean water prior to the installation of wells by Mercy Uganda in 2011.  Water is vital to the improvement of overall physical health.  Not only do they have clean water to drink and cook with, they also have water to grow fruit and vegetables in the garden and water to give their animals.

This poor little guy was VERY sick.  His belly is

distended because he had a belly full of worms.

When we go into the villages for medical clinics it is sometimes difficult to not get overwhelmed.  Not just because of the extreme poverty and the health issues but because EVERYONE in the area shows up wanting to see the doctors.  On our first trip we went into a village and when we arrived were told that over 300 people were there to be seen.  With only 2 people able to treat the patients we knew it wouldn't be possible.  When we got to the end of the day, the people waiting are so desperate that they are pulling on your arms and pleading in a language you don't understand it's hard not to feel like we failed.  We want to help everyone and make them better but the reality is that we saw over 150 and we did make a difference in their lives and were an answered prayer.  It was a learning experience for us.  We needed a bigger team and some patient prioritization in order to make the biggest impact.

During the trip in September 2011 we were able to work with a local physician from the Catholic Hospital in Matany, Karamoja.  Dr. Timothy is a 4^th year medical student and we were very impressed with his knowledge and was helpful in our clinics with understanding what the patients were having issues with.  We also toured the hospital and met with the Medical Director.  The hospital has physicians and surgeons from Europe that visit on their vacations.  Visiting physicians are extremely helpful to the hospital as they are able to train the Ugandan physicians more modern ways of treating patients.

In future trips we hope to continue to grow the relationship with the hospital in Matany.  They are making strides to help the people of Karamoja.  Witch doctors are still in these areas of Uganda.  We pray that we can continue to earn the trust of Ugandans so if they have a medical problem they will seek medical help at the hospital and not at witch doctors.

Our prayer is that medical professionals will discern whether the Lord is calling them to join us on future trips.

~Becky

Mercy Uganda

Ezekiel 37 Medical Ministries works under the non-profit organization Mercy Uganda.  Laura and Mark Knetzer founded Mercy Uganda about 3 years ago.  Mercy Uganda was born as a result of several trips to Eastern Uganda, seeing the needs of the women and children there, and the lack of resources available to them.  The main areas of focus are:

·         Faith 500—They are working to purchase at least 30 acres of land in Uganda in order to build an orphanage and school and an area for agriculture and livestock.

·         Living Water—Mercy Uganda has raised funds and installed 3 new wells in different villages in Uganda.  All three of these wells were the first ones in their respective villages.

·         Hope for Children—Sponsors of Mercy Uganda are giving children the opportunity to attend school and receive an education.  For right around $500 you can send a child to school for a year.  Most children board at the school which means they have a bed to sleep on and shelter over their head.  They also receive meals which is not a guarantee when they are at home.

·         Dorcas Program—Mercy Uganda is dedicated to helping women in remote areas of Uganda by providing sewing machines and training in sewing. 

Mercy Uganda is a 501(c)3, Christian, non-profit organization and has also obtained International NGO status.  The wonderful thing about Mercy Uganda is that the funds that are donated go directly to the area they are earmarked for.  No one that works with Mercy Uganda receives a salary which means there are no overhead expenses.

Since Mercy Uganda’s focus is on the wellbeing and social welfare of women and children it makes sense for Ezekiel 37 Medical Ministries to partner with Mercy Uganda.  Now that 3 villages have received new wells we are striving to improve the general hygiene and overall health.  As a medical team we are able to identify people who have medical needs that are more severe than we can handle in a few days and Mercy Uganda assists in coordinating the care of the patient.

We are looking forward to continuing the partnership with Mercy Uganda in 2012.

History of Ezekiel 37 Medical Ministries

Hi my name is Becky and I am a member of the Ezekiel 37 Medical Ministry team. Below is an introduction to our work in Uganda. In future posts we'll be sharing our hearts, our prayers, stories, pictures, and videos.

The Ezekiel 37 Medical Ministry team was formed when Dr. David Dietrich, an orthopedic surgeon, agreed to join his pastor, Pastor Bob Hayes, on a medical mission trip to Uganda. Pastor Hayes has been going to Uganda for 20 years. Becky Carreira and Brandy Riggins joined Dr. Dietrich on the first trip in January 2010. During that trip there were 250 people treated in 3 different villages. We knew right away that the Lord had bigger plans for us! We started planning our next trip as soon as we got on the plane back to the USA.

Pastor Bob Hayes, Dr. David Dietrich,

Laura Knetzer (founder of Mercy Uganda), Becky Carreira, and Brandy Riggins, LPN 

 

Medical clinic in a classroom.  We had a local nurse midwife working with us as well.

Beautiful rainbow at the end of the day. This is the school in Kyamagemule

(clinic was in the door on the right)

The team returned in September 2010 with two new members. On the trip we partnered with Mercy Uganda and their team who helped tremendously with organization, crowd control, and translating. We were able to treat over 450 people in 3 villages. Mercy Uganda also works in a VERY remote region named Karamoja which is in the northern part of Uganda near the Sudan and Kenya borders. It was like walking into the pages of National Geographic. Karamoja was an incredible experience and further solidified for us that this is what the Lord has called us to do and where we were meant to be.

Becky Carreira, Don Lourcey, PA, Dr. David Dietrich

Brandy Riggins, LPN, and Rebecca Vaught, OT

Little girl in Kokorio (village in Karamoja) receiving much needed medicine, vitamins, and toothbrush.

Nurse Brandy taking vital signs on children.

Medical clinic under a shade tree in Kayapas (a village in Karamoja).

In September 2011, the team once again grew in members and we returned to the villages in Karamoja. During the trip we treated over 500 people and we worked to establish a relationship with a hospital in Matany, Karamoja. We distributed medicines, vitamins, 400 toothbrushes, 300 pairs of flip flops, 600 pairs of underwear, 200 mosquito nets, and 150 pairs of reading glasses.

Dr. David Dietrich, Rebecca Vaught, OT, Nicki Burnett,

Brandy Riggins, LPN, Becky Carreira, and Don Lourcey, PA

The team outside Mulago Hospital along with Mercy Uganda's Laura Knetzer,

Gabriel Lobu, and Henry Mello.

 

We worked in the outpatient orthopedic clinic at Mulago Hospital. It was a very interesting and educational experience for all of us. Mulago Hospital is Uganda's referral hospital.  It's the last resort for anyone in Uganda that is ill.  It is also where the country's medical school is.

 

We held a medical clinic at our hotel for some of Mercy Uganda's sponsored students and children who are awaiting sponsorship. This young lady is Phiona who was stabbed in a mistaken identity attack. She has spinal cord damage from the knife.

 

A child in Kokorio 

 Children of Kokorio

Dr. Dietrich along with Pastor Philip (translating) with an older man who received medicine, vitamins and a pair of prescription glasses. We had over 150 pairs of glasses donated for distribution.

  

These ladies were very happy to receive mosquito nets. There was 200 nets distributed on this trip.

We were happy to have a local 4th year medical student and some nurses from the

Catholic Hospital in Matany join us in the medical clinics in Karamoja.

We were also able to distribute 300 pairs of flip flops
and 600 pairs of underwear during the trip.

Our prayer is for the team to continue to grow so we can continue to share God's love and provide medical care to the people of Uganda. Will you join us in prayer?