Uganda Medical Mission News by Dr. Luke Lim

I praise and thank God who gave us new life through our Lord Jesus Christ and enabled us to serve the flock of sheep in our respective mission fields. I want to share what God has done recently in Uganda through a Kwangju III medical mission team. They visited Uganda with the compassionate heart and love of Jesus. The Kwangju III medical mission team was composed of 20 members, two surgeons, two dentists, one pediatrician, one clinical laboratory professor, one family doctor, two general practitioners, two pharmacists, three medical students, one nursing school student, three shepherds, one high school student, and one primary school pupil.

They practiced in Lyantonde district which has been devastated by HIV infections. Lyantonde is known as a source of HIV infections because it is located on the way to Rwanda, Brundi, and Congo. Many truck drivers are stop there and prostitution is prevalent. There are many HIV orphans who lost their parents because of AIDS. We treated 1,930 patients in Lyantonde hospital and 80 patients in the village. Among 1,930 patients 20 people had an operation performed on them and bout 200 patients received dental treatments. There are no dental clinic facilities in the hospital. The UBF medical team brought two dental treatment sets and many patients received proper dental treatments. Our two surgeons performed operations on burn scars, hernias, tumors, abscess, etc. A boy had burn scar on his one leg and he was not able to stretch his knee joint properly. After the operation he was able to stretch his leg and walk well. It was so dramatic – it was like a miracle to him. His life problem was solved by our medical team.

After our medical service the political leaders and district medical officer invited us to a small party in appreciation of our medical work in their district. Many people were grateful for our UBF medical mission team’s sacrificial work and treatment. They were so interested in UBF and they asked what UBF meant. They requested us to visit them again next year. While many people were treated in the hospital, some of the medical team members visited remote villages because the village people could not come to the hospital due to a lack of transportation. We could see how miserable their village life was. We visited a few orphans’ houses. Their parents had died of AIDS and many young children were left alone. A 13 year old girl took care of six younger brothers and sisters. The last born was 6 months old, because her mom died just last year. Their house was worse than my dog house. We contributed some money to her by buying handicrafts. They were desperately in need. We are looking for a way to help them through the local NGO, PARDI.

Through UBF medical mission work we could learn the compassionate heart of Jesus and the great need for medical mission work in mission field, especially in the third world. All medical mission team members were filled with world mission vision and Jesus’ compassionate heart for the sick, both physically and spiritually. It is my prayer that God may use our medical skills, knowledge, and talents so that we may treat the poor and the sick with Jesus’ love and heart. May God continue to use us for his world salvation work through campus discipleship ministry.