Alisha: 3 months post-op

The kids: 1 month post-op

Pictures from the trip

http://picasaweb.google.com/kzzzzz40/UgandaHeartInstituteOct2007?authkey=qc-mSgmzoy4

A letter from Edward's grandmother

Dear Edwards friend,

Thanks be to God for the wounders God did to my grand son Edward Kasajja through the wounderful operation at MULAGO HOSPITAL UGANDA. PRIASE GOD.

Edward is doing very well and on thruday went back for review and Dr Lwabi said the boy is doing well and he will be fine.

Let me hope u are fine and pass my message to all members who contributed towards our Uganda children and i pray that God bless u.

Let me hope to hear from u soon. The phote i have sent u that was after 10days of heart operation. and i hope it will make u happy.

God bless u.

Thanks

Kamanyire margaret Edwards grandson.

Ahsante Sana

Its been 48 hours since landing in RDU from Africa, but the experiences are as vivid as ever. One thing is for sure: this trip exceeded my expectations in every way! From the moment we walked into the Mulago Hospital intensive care unit until we departed the beautiful city of Nairobi, we were surrounded by colorful, friendly people. Each one of them touched us in different ways but all were eager to make us feel welcomed as honored guests in their countries. The dignity and warmth of the African people were an inspiration to all of us.

To all of them, I say "Ahsante sana" for all you gave us and we learned from you.

This medical mission was made possible through the generosity of many and I'd like to thank the following sponsors of our UNC Team:

The Family of Dr. Amal Murarka
UNC Hospitals
Health Volunteers Overseas
Samaritan's Purse
GE Healthcare

We are very grateful for their support and commitment to our mission. We literally could not have been successful without their help all along the way--both before, during and after the trip. They were our partners as well as our supporters.

Finally, on behalf of the entire UNC Medical Team, I'd like to thank Dr. Keith Kocis for his enormous leadership, encouragement and unfailing good humor throughout the trip. To say that we were met with many challenges is an understatement; but Dr. Kocis always kept the faith and inspired us to solve the problems. He led by example, staying up later and sacrificing his own comforts for the sake of the children and our team. It was a privilege to work with him. Thank you, Dr. K, for being there for all of us!

Afrique, natumaini tutaonana tena--

Helen Snow

The Ugandan children, on their way home

Our safe arrival home

We left Kampala and began our journey home traveling through Nairobi, Kenya. Helen Snow and Debbie Sams spent three days at UNC's Carolina for Kibera Program, an amazing experience (see Helen's Blog below). We traveled from there to Amsterdam through Detroit and finally home to RDU. We were all exhausted but glad to be home once again reunited with our families and our children. I thank my two children, Kyra and Connor for letting me leave them for two weeks to travel far away across an ocean and several continents to help other children with greater needs and far fewer opportunities. At ages 9 and (almost) 8, I am pleasantly surprised that they understand....Of course, I rewarded them with artifacts from Africa and they were thrilled.

Overall, we had 3 people with brief GI illnesses (fever, chills and sweats) and one lost bag on the return home. We hope it will be found. We will continue to take our Malarone to prevent malaria, since we did get bitten a bit in Kampala. We have had so many conversations on the return trip and even today at work at what an amazing experience this has been for us all. We worked so hard, for many months planning this trip, but no planning could account for all that we had to face and overcome. We all adapted quickly and gracefully to make this medical mission a success.

I am so proud and honored to have lead the UNC team over the past 2 weeks. This was an amazing group of people who came together and gave so much of their time, expertise, but most importantly, their hearts, for the success of this mission...I remind myself that this is not a characteristic of a few individuals, but of our wonderful institution. Core values of all we work with who have been encouraging us and following our mission through the blog. Unfortunately, so many individuals had volunteered and yet we could not take them all with us on this mission.

These are values we live with each day in caring for the children of North Carolina. I am so happy to be home again in Chapel Hill.

The updated PICU (est. 2005)

We were saddened by the fact that the PICU that we established two years ago in Amal's name, could not be used for this trip due to it's remote location from the main hospital and operating theatre. We did find time to up the hill to visit our dear friends, Matron Jollie and Dr. Justus,

Since we left, Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital in the UK donated several PICU beds. Two ECG machines were there and two non invasive ventilation (BiPaP) machines were available. Unfortunately, they were not trained on its use.

Matron Jollie's son painted the entire PICU with wonderful murals, it really cheered up the place. All of the equipment we previously brought was functional and in use. We were happy to resupply the unit to some degree. They have managed 67 kids there, but expanded use is limited due to staffing (both nursing and physician). We will not forget our dear friends or our work in the PICU on future trips.

Farewell reception: the American translation

The farewell reception

WOW, what an amazing evening at the Serena Hotel. We all got dressed up (Katherine wearing her Makerere University scarf) and went to the lavish downtown Kampala Hotel. There we met probably 100 individuals including the Ugandan team (all the RNs, perfusionists, physicians, administrators, etc) along with representatives from the Ministry of Health (and probably others).

We were treated to a FABULOUS African Dance troupe. They dressed, danced, and sang a whole series of native African pieces. We all joined in and added a little American "translation" to the dancing. Rain came and we ran inside to the more formal introductions and speeches. We had our group picture taken and then retired home (a little late in the evening). What a fun and exciting conclusion to our trip!