June 17, 2003

Dear Friends and Family,
The last three weeks have been ones of great cheer. It has been our pleasure to host five pre-med students from the University of Colorado. The days have been filled with hard work and high energy. We have held multiple mobile „jungle clinics‰ attended by hundreds of patients daily. The students quickly became adept at diagnosing and treating malaria, dysentery, malnutrition and pneumonia as well as addressing the spiritual needs of the patients with compassion and prayer.
The last several days were spent at a government referral hospital where the students tried their hands at more complicated cases. With reluctance but with some pride they were requested to sign their names as doctor when filling in forms for x-ray and lab at the insistence of the nurses. That these students possessed a variety of talents was demonstrated when it became apparent that a pygmy widow and her children had no house. Within two days of tying poles together and slinging mud the pygmy family was rewarded with the home of their dreams complete with windows, doors and a metal roof, all for $120. The permit process here is not as cumbersome as in the US-just build it! The pygmies were awed not only by their construction skills but how high the white folks could place the mud. What especially impressed the pygmies though was during a sudden downpour when all took refuge inside, Meghan and Annie enlivened the group with a rendition and dance routine to „I will survive‰ and "Shout". The pygmies attempted to copy the gyrations and everyone howled with laughter. In the future a visiting anthropologist will spend a lifetime attempting to decipher the origin and nuances of this dance of the ancient forest dwellers.
It was not all work though as we did get an opportunity for some R&R. We visited nearby Queen Elizabeth Park and were able to get up close and personal with the tree climbing lions. A more exciting encounter occurred on another visit when we spotted a large head of elephants late in the day. I cut the engine as we watched these giant pachyderms lumbering closely nearby uprooting large shrubs while feeding. Suddenly we heard a loud high pitched cry from behind a clump of trees. I released the hand brake and we crept forward to investigate. To our surprise we came face to face with a smaller elephant that had become separated from its nearby mother. The smaller elephant was apparently afraid of our vehicle. Our approach was interpreted as aggressive behavior and both animals charged. What is seemingly an easy procedure of starting an engine and shifting into reverse seemed to take an inordinate amount of time, not assisted by the screeches from inside the car. We did beat a hasty retreat to safety but our hearts did not settle down for quite a while.
The roads and trails through Uganda‚s national parks are poorly marked at best. We are most thankful that a friend has provided us with a GPS to find our way. Returning on a narrow dirt road after dark through herds of large mobile shadows can be rather intimidating. Apparently we had not enough adventure for the day for when we returned to our camp we found that a passing storm had soaked our tents inside and out and at 2 am we were awakened by a large bull elephant paying us a visit. The last three weeks have certainly been filled with hard work, long days, high stress and adventure. As mentioned earlier we have found the GPS invaluable in negotiating through the perils of the park roads. Even more importantly we have learned that with a focus on God as our spiritual compass that joy and good cheer abound no matter what the circumstances.
God bless,
Scott and Carol