Another Tragedy 7-20-10

First I want to say that everyone here is safe. However, I am going to share with you the worst experience of my life. I am warning those with little ones this involves a child’s death so if that is too much for you just skip this post.

Most of group 1 and I went to St. Jude's, an orphanage we have been volunteering at for a while, Sunday afternoon. We got out of the vehicle and went to find someone in charge to give us a tour and tell us about what they are doing. As we were talking someone came up and said something to the woman, Vicki, we were talking to and she asked us to wait a minute because a child had fallen down. She walked away behind a building. A few minutes later everyone was screaming and crying and running around. We had no idea what was going on.

From here this is my understanding of what happened. I think we all have slightly different stories because we all had different angles on the event. I walked around and saw John laying on the ground fishing around in a hole. Samuel, 2 1/2, had fallen in what I think is a latreen hole (it didn't have a shed over it like most). Everyone from St. Jude's was crying and screaming. When John got him up they were asking if anyone knew CPR. Min and Colleen ran to help and Trisha and I sat and prayed. Samuel was unresponsive. After a few minutes, once we realized he was not coming to, I started asking if we could take him to the hospital since we had a vehicle right there. I could not get anyone from the orphanage to give me an answer or even show they were listening to me. So some of us ran to the driver and told him our idea and asked if he would just drive around the building to pick up Samuel. He was of course more than willing and jumped in the car. Once they heard the vehicle they finally realized what we wanted to do and a woman rinsed off Samuel and picked him up and ran with him to the vehicle. John, Min, Colleen, the woman from the orphanage, and Samuel left for the hospital. The rest of us stayed at the orphanage and tried to figure out what had happened. We prayed with some of the girls and asked if there was anything else we could do. The woman in charge just said we could come back another time. So we left.

On the way back home I got a call from John that Samuel had not made it. I was so sad and didn’t understand why something like that happened. Why did we need to be there for that if us being there made no difference. I have to trust that the Lord’s plans are higher than mine and my understanding is nothing compared to His wisdom. One of the first things I thought was that Samuel had never been loved as much as he is right now because he is with the Lord.

Some extra information.
When they arrived at the hospital they could not find anyone to help them. They were running around trying to find help and when they finally did it was still chaotic. I do not think Samuel was alive when we got him out of the hole. He was not moving and he did not respond at all to any CPR. John said he didn’t even know it was him when he felt him in the muck. I took Colleen and Min to the clinic to get them some treatment because they were worried about the sewage they had touched and even had in their mouth. They got some antibiotics and we went and got them some really strong antibacterial mouthwash. I sort of just went into mom-mode with them. I felt like it was my job to take care of them so I made sure they were as comfortable as possible, got them whatever they requested, which wasn’t much. They were both pretty shocked for the most part. They stayed the night in gulu and then left for Anaka the next afternoon after we all had lunch together. I put together a list of scripture references for them to use as comfort and have been and will continue to pray for them and check up on them.

So needless to say it has been a heavy time here in Gulu for me. I was not well yesterday and spent most of the day in a haze. I took a long nap and went to bed early. I feel better today, I am still taking it easy, and am so looking forward to this weekend in Jinja. I am going to be laying by the pool while group 1 rafts (: