Fr. Ponce Kaweesa

MISSION APPEAL FOR KSC CLINIC, UGANDA

Last year about this time I stood here and talked about a dream I had. I do not remember the exact words I used, but I told you about digging up Water Wells, building a small health clinic and sponsoring seminarians that would become priests!

You really took that message to heart and you were so generous. I have the results to show: three water wells are up and running in three corners of the village. The clinic buildings are up with a blue roof! You cannot miss it! This year 4 young men were ordained priests and 18 were ordained transitional deacons! Next year the 18 will become priests! Isn’t that something? Your generosity makes me turn the wheel!

This year I want to focus my attention and your donations to completion of the health clinic and lay down the infrastructure and apparatus that we need to start treating the sick people! But I do not want to be like a pastor who was faced with a major project of building a new church for his congregation. When he stood up one morning to address his congregation about the project, he told them that he had both good news and bad news. He said, “Let me begin with the bad news and get it out of the way. The bad news is that it is going to cost 3 million dollars to build a new church. You could see eyes wide open and heads turning! Then he said, “Let me get to the good news.  The good news is that we already have the money. It is in your pockets!”

I am standing before you today with a little bit of the good news and the bad news. The bad news is we need quite a bit of some money to equip the clinic with medicines, beds, intravenous bottles and stands, some form of electricity, running water and a whole nine yards of all the medical apparatus. I do not even want to attempt pronouncing those names. You know my pronunciations!

The good news is that two of the clinic buildings, the main clinic and the nurses’ quarters, are up and almost complete. That was relatively easy – and it took a lot of brick, sand, cement, iron bars, iron sheets, nails and a lot of hard labor in the tropical sun. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I think you can see the pictures up there! It has been a good collective effort, a community act of love and service for people far away. Thank you so much for taking us to that stage.

We have now reached the critical stage of coming up with the supplies and necessary infrastructure for the clinic. This is where it gets more complicated. Not only am I required to know the names of the drugs, medicines and all the medical equipment that goes into stocking a clinic, I also have to confess that nobody ever taught me anything like that in the seminary. I am lost at the words of what to tell you right now. Besides, some of you are doctors, nurses, medical assistants – and are familiar with the medical equipment. May be if you look at the list provided in the pews you can help me spell the medical equipment and be able to put it in the Clinic that we have built. It is about time we kicked out the sicknesses and diseases that kill the poor people – little children and the elderly when they could still have a chance at life.

There is a maternity section on the main clinic. New babies are going to be born and perhaps given treatment in the clinic; this time however, parents are also going to be told to produce children responsibly. The Clinic will offer regular check up for all school children especially in the lower grades. No one coming to the clinic will be left unattended to.

With your continued help and support even simple surgeries could be performed on the people that have to be operated upon to get better. Some solar panels and a generator in due time will help us in this area. You know how that goes; you do not want to have any form of surgery without some form of electricity.

In terms of personnel, we will begin by hiring tow residential nurses at the
clinic – one of whom a midwife. We will also hire a laboratory assistant – the guy who pricks peoples’ fingers for blood samples. I hate him for that but what are you gonna do! It is his job!

I have also contacted some doctor friends in the city who have tentatively accepted to volunteer some of their free time once or twice a month to come to the clinic and treat the sick. They ask for transportation allowance and some pocket money! I am also throwing out an open invitation to you; if anyone from Blessed Sacrament or anywhere in the United States, would want to come over and volunteer for days or even weeks, is highly welcome.

The really good news is that you have never let me down in my dreams! These acquisitions require lots of money. Actually millions of Ugandan shillings! Thank you for all your generosity. Any amount you give will take us a step ahead.

This is a secret and you are not supposed to tell him. Fr. Mark has personally offered to buy a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and to construct a shrine for the dedication of the Clinic. She will be "Our Lady Queen of Peace." Mother Mary will continue to intercede for the sick that come to the clinic. Thank you so much Fr. Mark.

Jesus in the gospel identifies Himself as the bread of life come down from heaven. May we who partake of this heavenly bread be in the Eucharist be strengthened to walk to the mountain of God where we can have a better view of everything else and take care of our brothers and sisters in need.