B.Y.O.M. - Bring Your Own Mattress

Imagine needing hospitalization and being required to bring your own mattress and caregiver. Imagine a ratio of one nurse to every sixty patients. Imagine overflowing latrines, rats and the prevailing stench of human waste within an overcrowded ward. Carol Adams does not have to imagine it. She has lived it. She has been both a patient and a caregiver in three different Fort Portal hospitals. Carol recalls spending three days and three nights in one hospital caring for a 14-year-old orphan dying of Rabies. Peter was relieved to see this familiar and well loved muzungu (foreigner) affectionately known by her African pet name, Adeyri. “Oh, Adeyri! Thank you for coming! Now I know everything is going to be alright! You are my second favorite person!” “Who is number one?” Carol asked. “Jesus, of course!”. With frequent convulsions and no pain medication available, this young man bravely faced a horrific death with the help of His God and Adeyri. Before dying he begged her to look after his sisters and then said: “the avocado is falling on me!” Since he was delirious, Carol did not wonder too much about this bizarre statement. She wrapped his dead body in blankets and put him in the back of her Suzuki. A coffin was built and she prepared him for burial. As the memorial service was concluding, and he was being lowered into the ground, an avocado from an overhanging tree branch dropped onto the lid of the coffin. Carol says it sent chills down her spine. We sometimes question how a God of love could allow such suffering. This has been one of the greatest theological dilemmas for many generations. I don’t pretend to have the answer but it is interesting to me that, with all of the suffering experienced in Uganda, those who know the Lord are full of praise and thanksgiving. Perhaps they understand better than we in the western world, that God has already shown His great love by sending us His only Son, Jesus, who also died a horrific death, paying the price for our sin on the cross so that we could live forever. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 3:23). “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away”. (Revelation 21:4)