Jiggers?

Dear Family and Friends,

We headed out to Hope Children’s Home today with a very full taxi. Our driver, Richard, who now has been out to the home three times, picked us up in the early afternoon. We crammed 6 of us into Richard’s Toyota Corolla. Katy, the young woman who is staying with us after the Show Mercy team departed and our dear friend Douglas, who Jerry has mentioned in our blog, joined us. Douglas had heard so much about the children and wanted to see the home first hand.

As I sat on the front steps of Hope, my arms and lap full of half a dozen children, 8 year old Teddy grabbed my hand and asked me to follow her. She led me to the far side of the home where a small boy was sitting. He had obviously been crying. I asked what was wrong, then I saw his toes. They were swollen and infected. He had a large safety pin in his hand and it appeared that he had been poking his toes. I picked him up and carried him back to the entrance to the house. As I tried to evaluate what to do with his painful toes. Should I wash them with soap and water, put antibacterial cream on them? Richard and Douglas came to take a look. Richard announced, “He’s got jiggers.” I had never heard of jiggers. They are insects that embed themselves in one’s toes, causing much pain and infection. He said they must come out. As I held little Kato on my lap, Douglas tenderly held his toes and Richard extracted the jiggers, using the same safety pin that Kato had been trying to use. Kato never even flinched, but stoically endured, while I choked back the tears. For the rest of the day, Kato quietly snuggled up to me.

I was so moved by the love and tenderness of our two Ugandan friends. We were able to have them translate for us. Jerry had particularly connected with a shy 11 year old girl named Fatima. She attends school at Hope, but does not live there. Often Jerry noticed that she doesn’t have anything to eat when the other children go off to eat their lunches. So through Douglas’ interpreting help, he asked Fatima if she was hungry and when she had last eaten. She replied that she is always hungry and that she had not eaten since yesterday. Jerry told her to “go with Aunt Cathi and she will give you something to eat.” I led her off to one of the bedrooms, thinking that I could slip her a couple of cookies to relieve the ache in her stomach. After handing her the cookies, she quickly left the room and shared them with all the children who happened to be close. We are learning that this is the Ugandan way.

With love, Cathi