Dreams

Four years ago I sat with my friend Tamara and told her my dreams of opening a birth center here. A place where women could come and safely deliver their babies. Where medicine is practiced well and doctors and nurses know what's safe. Where sick newborns would be cared for in something other than a metal basket.

But sometimes dreams feel really big. Like they could never be accomplished because they would require too much money or the help of too many people or there are just so many pieces that would have to fit together in order for that dream to be a reality that it could never be done.

A few days ago I met with Vanessa, a labor and delivery nurse that I met 2 1/2 years ago when I came here for Karis' birth. It turns out Vanessa has the same dream, only she has way more of the pieces in place. She's dreaming of a place much the same... with delivery beds, and an OR, and a nursery, and nurses that know what they're doing. And fetal monitoring and baby warmers and IV pumps. It turns out that a place like this may only be a couple years away from being up and running in Jinja. All that's needed right now is the funding to buy the land and build the building (And I use the word "ALL" loosely, because what that roughly translates to is $250,000).

I'm not quite ready to up and move myself to Jinja, but if this place really happens, it just might be the boost I need to make the move over here for a couple years. But for now it means going home and dreaming and talking to hospitals and doctors and nurses.... helping to raise the money for this place. It means getting to be a part of this amazing dream.

And for all of my amazing OB nurse/doctor/midwife friends... now is the time to start thinking about how you'd like to help bring better care to Uganda. Because we would love your knowledge and your skills and your connections to people with lots of money who want to give it away. :)