Our last day of our trip, we spent the day outside of Jinja, Uganda, working with Sole Hope. I've blogged about Sole Hope before and was a huge fan of their mission before I left for Uganda. After working side by side with them, I'm an even bigger fan. I am so thankful it worked out that we got to spend the day with them at the jigger removal clinic. The first step of the clinic is to wash the children's feet. Jonah and I sat side by side, working to scrub these children's feet. These children do not own shoes. The dirt in this area of Uganda is very red. As soon as their feet touch the water, the water turns red with the dirt. I have very little pictures of this day because we were working very hard and had gloves on the whole time. I will always remember it in my head and heart, though. Seeing my 11 year old wash other children's feet was a moment I will always remember.
A jigger is a sand flea- it burrows into skin and lays eggs. It can cause lots of pain, making it difficult for children to walk. A big way to prevent jiggers is to wear close toed shoes. Of course, these children didn't even have a cheap pair of flip flops, let alone a pair of close toed shoes. The first boy who came to my foot washing station had so many jiggers- I didn't even really know what I was looking for at that time, but I could certainly tell he had them. His feet had gangrene as well, further hurting him. I washed his feet as well as I could and then carried him to get him to a jigger removal person (the children were carried so their feet wouldn't get dirty again on the floor). There wasn't anyone available for a few minutes, so I just held him and rocked him (he was probably 6-7 years old). I found out later he had 37 jiggers- some in his hands as well.
When we were done with the foot washing, we started cleaning up. I saw there was still a boy being worked on whose name was Adrian. He was about 9 years old and he was sobbing and in so much pain. He had people helping to hold him so the nurse could work on his feet. I sat to his right and held his hands and tried to get him to drink some water. He was completely worn out from crying and pain. He was worked on for 3 HOURS- 3 hours of someone digging into his feet to remove the jiggers and the egg sacs. 3 hours of pain. We learned that both of his parents had died and it was unclear who his caregiver was- perhaps just a sister. He had 59 jiggers removed from his feet. Both of his feet were bandaged up so much, it looked like he had short socks on. He desperately needed shoes, but all we had left to give him was flip flops and that wasn't going to do for him. We had brought lots of shoes and clothing with us, but it had all gone to the school or the orphanage earlier in the week. But one of our team members remembered that there was a pair of shoes in the van that he had forgotten about. He ran out to get them. You know how God works in some AMAZING ways, right?? Well, those shoes were the exact size that he needed. Adrian was taken back to his house so the Sole Hope team could talk to his caregiver and spray his house with an insecticide to prevent more jiggers in his house. The team went back a week later and reported that Adrian's feet were healing well, he was still wearing his shoes and he was smiling. This was a day I will NEVER forget!
Adrian's shoes- the perfect fit.
The church in Wakisi, Uganda, where we set up the clinic
There are ways you can help Sole Hope with their mission to help rid children of jiggers by medical relief, education, and jobs. You can donate online to them or host a shoe cutting party. I've hosted 2 of them and gone to 2 more- they are fun and easy! You cut the upper portion of the shoe using denim and quilter's cotton. You can use milk jugs for the heel portion. Once they're sent to Uganda, they will be made into shoes by Ugandans- using a tire for the sole. Anybody can do it- just go to the website or ask me (because I LOVE to talk about Sole Hope!).
www.solehope.org
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