James

“Nurse there is a sick boy over here.”

When someone in Uganda uses the word “sick” you know it must be bad.  Illness is normal here, and for many of the street children we work with you could classify all of them as having some illness.  The past week we have seen things that break parts of your heart you never knew existed.  I have seen sorrow on the faces of 7 year olds that are not seen on the faces of elderly. 

I heard the many shouts of “Nurse!”  and “Auntie Kate!!!”  What else is new.  There are always at the least 20 children surrounding the medical table.  Most of the time they are shouting something at me, and I have learned to focus in on the task at hand while filtering out the needed info from kids.  So today when I heard a frail voice say “Auntie Kate” I glanced but didn’t immediately see anyone in need.  But then a child sitting nearby said those words.

“Nurse there is a sick boy over here.”

When I finally saw the boy, it didn’t click yet that we had met the day before.  His name is James, and he has just been diagnosed with HIV this week.  The virus has been beating his immune system for some time because the symptoms were the reason for the doctor’s visit and the test.  He was put on the necessary medication at the time of diagnosis, with a little bit of counseling from the doctor.  Yesterday he set down in medical and told me he had lost his appetite, and doesn’t want to drink anything.  I talked with him about trying to drink plenty of fluids and to talk to his doctor about his symptoms this week.   Saying he was much worse today would be an understatement.  He could barely speak, and all he could say is “Energy is not there.”  I looked around me and called to my friends who are visiting from America.  He needed as many people as possible fighting for him now.  We all gathered around him and started crying out to God for healing.

I have always had a difficult time really believing in Jesus for physical healing.  Maybe it’s because I could always go to the doctor, or that I was always well taken care of, or maybe it’s just the nursing mind.  I don’t know.  Today was different.  As we looked at James we saw tears running down his face.  He was shaking and understanding every word being said.  We were totally dependent on the name of Jesus.  James had no other option, and neither did we. 

Even amidst the pain and agony we all felt, we also felt God holding us closely; we could see Him holding James tenderly and affectionately.  Once I walked away the tears came.  Tears for how much God hates the desperation and pain his kids feel.  Tears for how thankful I was to be on that dusty field with 100 orphans shouting at me.  Tears for how my life is nothing close to what I thought it would be.  Tears that just simply needed to come out.  I’m thankful James was there today.  I’m thankful he trusted me enough to call out to me.  I’m thankful that we have a God who hears our every prayer.  Whether you are in a dusty field in Uganda or you are in an upper-middle class neighborhood in the U.S.  He is holding you just as affectionately, with great care.

 We got James to the bus and took him to the local government hospital.  I know God healed something in all of us today.  I know James story is not over.  I pray that he knows that too.  We are asking for your prayers because we know we desperately need them.  Praise God for that.

We have been asking God to take our fear, to ignite a deep love in our hearts for the people of Uganda, to give us vision, to give us guts, to love us how He desires to love us.  His plans are big for what's next.  We know that, and we are saying yes.