Once there was a boy called Arnold. He lived with his brother and sister and his parents and grandmother in a two roomed house made of sticks and mud with a tin roof. When he was 10, both his parents died of AIDS and his brother moved away to live with a relative so he could carry on going to school. The family had a small plot of land where they planted bananas, egg-plants, beans, sweet potatoes and cassava. Arnold’s grandmother had heard of Global Care and applied for sponsorship and as Arnold was in effect the head of his household and a double orphan, a UK sponsor was found for him.
Over the next 4 years the little family unit of Arnold, his sister Betty, and his grandmother struggled to survive. They had no source of income and the only food they could eat was what they could grow on their land. Every year they had to work the land and plant whatever they could and hope that the rain would be kind to them. To vary their diet, Arnold’s grandmother made baskets to sell for a few shillings at the market.
Betty and her grandmother had one room and the other room was used as a living room during the day and Arnold slept in it at night. He was given a mosquito net but there was nowhere to hang it so he couldn’t use it. There wasn’t any money for a mattress and anyway there was nowhere to put it when they were in the house. They didn’t have a proper latrine so Global Care built them a pit latrine at the bottom of the land. It made their lives much better but the neighbours were unhappy as they said it was a better building than most of the houses.
Every day Arnold went to fetch water then worked on the land while his sister cleaned and if there was any money, his grandmother made millet porridge. At weekends the children did most of the washing and the grandmother washed what she could of her own clothes. After they’d done their chores, they walked the 2km to school, setting off at about 7am. They both had a meal at school thanks to Global Care and often that was their only meal of the day.
When Arnold was 16 and had started Senior school, he began to feel unwell. He developed a rash and was taken to the local health clinic in Rukungiri by Moses, the Global Care Area Manager. There were no doctors at the clinic but they gave him some medicine. For 2 months he was ill, gradually feeling worse even though the rash had gone. When he started to develop joint pains which affected his walking, he began to be worried about how the family would manage. It was very painful to dig, hoe and weed, and Betty had to fetch all the water. He didn’t like her having to go alone in the early morning. Eventually Arnold couldn’t manage the walk to school and after a week, he went back to the Global Care office to ask for help.
Dr Tom from England was staying and he and Moses decided that the best solution was for Arnold to go to hospital an hour’s drive away at Kisiize. As the Mzungus had a car and driver with them it made sense to go soon and they arranged to pick him up at 6am one morning. Arnold stayed the night before at his uncle’s, who lived near the main road and the car arrived with Moses and Allen from the office and Dr Tom and Barbara.
Arnold felt sick and tired and his joints hurt. The Mzungus were looking out of the window and talking about the sunrise. Arnold wasn’t sure what that was about – he saw the sunrise every day. The talked about the beauty of the scenery – to Arnold the land was hard work and often let him down. He’d been struggling with losing much off his banana crop to the banana wilt disease. They talked about the children running along the side of the road while the car rushed past – didn’t they realise that’s what he and Betty did every day? Trying not to get dust in their eyes and mouths and sometimes having to jump out of the way of speeding cars, taxis and motorbikes. The road had speed-bumps at first and then it was rough, each bump jarring his painful limbs.
They arrived at the hospital at 7am and luckily were fourth in the queue of patients. At 8am a drum was beaten to call the staff to prayers and the adults decided they would go to the chapel as Arnold was happy to be left on his own. He watched the slowly gathering people and felt helpless and worried about his situation. At 8.30am they began to register patients. Allen told him that she used to work at the hospital and she had lots of friends there, so she made sure the staff knew that Tom was a doctor by introducing him during the chapel service.
At 9am someone called his name and Moses went to pay for his appointment. It was 3,000UgS[i]. Arnold knew that without Global Care there was no way he could have afforded to get to the hospital and even if he’d found a lift he couldn’t have afforded the fee. Once Moses had paid they were moved to another queue and an hour later (at 10.20) someone said to Dr Tom – ‘which is your patient doctor?’ and Arnold was pushed to the front of the queue and taken in to see the doctor. It was a scary experience and he was glad he had Dr Tom and Moses with him but by now he was starting to feel thirsty. Barbara had shared some chappati that the hotel had made for them the night before – but that was at 6.30am.
He was sent for blood tests and had to give a urine sample. Then he had to go back and queue again. This was the worst time, waiting for the results and at the same time watching people be carried in from cars and trucks and then taken to the wards by their relatives carrying them in stretchers. Dr Tom, Barbara and Allen had gone for a tour of the hospital and Dr Tom appeared to say that Moses could go to the hospital staff room for tea and bananas and Dr Tom would wait with Arnold. At 12 o’clock they went back into the doctor. Most of his tests were negative (HIV and brucella and his urine tests) but he had a low blood count and the doctor thought he had an ulcer. They went outside and Dr Tom went to pay for medication and the tests (32,000UgS), which Global Care would pay.
He was glad they’d found something that might help and that the tests he was most worried about were negative but he still felt terrible. Dr Tom and Moses went to queue for the medication and then the first thing they did was to go and buy him a bottle of water. He swallowed the first lot of pills. While he waited with Charles in the bus, Barbara bought everyone egg chapattis (1,000UgS each) and he was very pleased when he saw Dr Tom come back with his food.
When he’d been waiting with Barbara, he’d asked her if she would visit his home, so the adults had a discussion and agreed to take Arnold back to his house in the car. He was still frightened and anxious, but as the journey passed and he began to see familiar places, he started to feel safe again. The car bumped over the rutted track to his house – not designed for cars, and he wasn’t bothered by the bumps causing pain because he knew he was nearly home.
As they climbed out of the car and called to his grandmother he began to relax. If the medicine worked he’d be able to do his jobs around the house. His grandmother was delighted to see the visitors and he could see that she was moved to tears by the help that Moses and the team have given her family and to have more UK visitors to her home. She and Arnold sat on the grass and thanked God for the help they had received from Global Care, while they listened to the others debate whether it would be better to buy a mattress for Arnold or mend the leaking roof of their kitchen.
Then they heard them discussing if they could build a room for Arnold to sleep in.
As they waved goodbye to the team they thanked them and Global Care for making it possible for them to live. The team got into the car praying that the doctor’s diagnosis was right and that they would see an improvement in Arnold’s health.
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