Building the foundation at CURE Uganda

For the past ten years, the CURE Children’s Hospital of Uganda has grown and evolved. I’m certain that Dr. Scott Harrison and Dr. Ben Warf shared a vision for where this hospital might be in 2012, but I’m also confident the success of the mission in Uganda has surpassed everyone’s expectations. The statistics for the last decade alone are staggering: 40,000 children seen, nearly 10,000 life-saving surgeries provided, and more than 8,000 people with a closer relationship to God. Add in the advancements made towards the treatment of hydrocephalus and the impact CURE has made as a significant employer in Uganda, and it’s easy to understand why we’re proud of our team here.

This past year we hit our ceiling; we’re out of room. With one neurosurgeon, two operating rooms, and 42 beds, we’re doing all we can do with what we have. It’s with excitement and relief that we welcome back Dr. Peter Ssenyonga, a former medical officer under Dr. Warf, who just finished six years of neurosurgery training in South Africa. For the first time in six years, we have two full-time neurosurgeons on staff. We’re also finally underway with the expansion project at the hospital. With funding from the American Schools and Hospitals Abroad program under USAID, we’re adding a ten-bed intensive care unit (ICU), another operating room, and expanding our outpatients department.

Watching the team of construction workers prepare the footers for the foundations for the new ICU, using nothing but picks and shovels, an American visitor recently commented that they were surprised we were not using big trucks and more sophisticated equipment to build the expansions. Given our location in far eastern Uganda, and the available resources on the market, the contractor is doing what they have to in order to build structurally sound and quality facilities according to specifications. Using able-bodied men, mixing concrete and removing earth by hand, they’ll build us exactly what we need.

It’s the same with us. While CURE Uganda may lack the gloss and shine of a hospital in a more developed country, we’re doing what we can to deliver the highest quality care to some of the most vulnerable children in East Africa. And for a fraction of the costs, we’re ensuring that even the poorest have access. Dr. Mugamba performed 1,200 brain surgeries in 2011, nearly all of them critical cases. Our infection rates are as low as any hospital in the United States, and our patients are well taken care of.

As exciting as this is, with all of our plans and goals, one thing we’ve learned is to intentionally leave room for God to come in and move, in unexpected ways. Certainly, it has taken a lot of work, by a lot of people, to reach these milestones. But without His provisions and interventions, we would not be the center of excellence we’ve grown up to be.

Referring to some of the children that he treats, Dr. Mugamba often talks about leaving room for God to come in and move and perform the miraculous. Some of the babies that come through our gates are in such poor conditions that even the most talented and experienced neurosurgeons shudder. If we were honest with ourselves, we too would not give some of these babies much of a chance. But day after day, child after child, miracles are happening. Children without good prognoses, without much hope, go home only to return several months later, laughing, crawling, playing, and doing all those things small children do. As Dr. Mugamba says, we “just let God do the rest.”

As I moved through the hospital this morning, amid the hustle and bustle of our usual workday, I noticed one of our nurses quietly praying with a mother and her baby. That is us intentionally allowing God to come in. As we start the next decade of CURE in Uganda, we’ll continue to keep eternity in focus, our expectations high, leaving room for God to come in and move as He wishes.