Expectations

Photo: Sarah Heathcote and Jacquie Law prepare for the trip.

Note: We are now in Kaberamaido with Internet access for the first time. I will continue to update throughout the day.

"I guess the worst of my thoughts are those scenarios in which a young girl years younger than me would die because of AIDS or pregnancy after being raped," Sarah Heathcote confides to me.

Sarah is one of the eight EMTs in our group. As we lie in our room at the J Courts hotel in Entebbe, Uganda, mosquito nets dangling above us, we chat about our expectations. Sarah is not really sure what to expect to see and do in Kaberamaido. I grab my computer to record some of her thoughts.

"Most of the scenarios that have been going through my head have dealt with young girls either being pregnant, giving birth, or having to deal with AIDS," she continues. "So there's been scenarios of abortions that haven't gone right, and infections. Those are some of the situations that would be hardest for me to deal with, so I've been trying to prepare for the possibility that they might occur.

"Another fear of mine is that I would not have enough experience as an EMT to know what to do fast enough," she adds. "There's a concern that I would have to ask a lot of questions or might be getting in the way more than I'm helping sometimes. It makes me feel a lot better that we're not going to be without a physician's supervision."

These fears seem rational. We've been told that people in Kaberamaido know that medically-trained Americans are coming, and their expectations may be high. The EMTs are trained to do a limited variety of medical work. Dr. William Fridinger, who has volunteered to lead the team of EMTs, is a retired Air National Guard flight surgeon and emergency room physician from Oregon. He will be dealing with tropical diseases that he's never seen, although he has studied copiously in preparation.

"As an EMT, what are you medically-equipped to do?" I ask Sarah.

"Basically the idea is that we can take care of the little things—vital signs, dressing wounds—to relieve the doctors so they can take care of more advanced things," she begins. "But at the same time, it's always been my opinion that a doctor's job should not stop at the medical side of things. You shouldn't look at a person in terms of his pieces. You have to consider the whole person.

"So I would hope to be a comfort for the people we're treating and act as a sounding board for whatever they want to say. It's important to make patients feel comfortable, and show them that their feelings are significant."

Sarah thinks her skills can possibly save lives. "Even something as simple as cleaning a wound and dressing it properly would prevent someone from getting an infection that could cost them a limb or their life. Even these basic skills that I have can help immensely. I think the educational work that we're going to be doing is also a big deal."

The EMTs will split into groups to work with doctors at the local hospital; teach CPR, first aid, and hygiene to kids and adults at the orphanage; and possibly work with doctors at a medical clinic. Our group will also play with the children, go out into the village, and mark the land for the buildings of the orphanage. The ultimate goal, once the orphanage is built, is to build personal relationships with the people of Kaberamaido and to get them to take ownership of the orphanage to make it more sustainable in the future.

Like many of us, Sarah is most excited to meet the children.

"I think about playing with those kids and seeing them smiling and laughing like the ones that we saw earlier today," she says, referencing groups of children in Entebbe who broke out in laughter when we simply smiled at them. "If they're curious and they want to learn or play, I'm absolutely up for that. Showing them that they can be loved would be great. I guess that would be my biggest hope, that just showing them affection or brightening their day maybe would be a positive experience for these kids."

It reminds me of a comment made by Andrea Davis-Nichols, who is on the Board of the Asayo's Wish Foundation. She said that for the people we seek to help to know that we've traveled thousands of miles to see them almost makes our journey worthwhile in and of itself because it shows that we care and it gives them hope.

But Sarah and our group aim to give these kids more than hope. "Ideally through the education that we've been giving back at home, we could raise that $12,000 [that is needed to build the medical clinic], and groups would continue to come back," she says. "On this first trip, talking to people who are working here now will help us better determine the resources that would be of the most use to the children.”

Sarah is a senior neuroscience major at Vassar College. She was born in Cardiff, Wales and grew up in southern New Jersey. She's been an EMT for two years.