Two Dental Students
Doctors Jane & Karl Anderson and their children have been going on Project Compassion trips every summer for the past nine years. They live in San Francisco but became acquainted with PC at the Christian Medical & Dental Association Convention in San Diego. Soon they were recruiting others to join them on the trips. This year was no exception; Jane spoke at the UCSF Medical Missions Panel. At this meeting two first year dental students heard about PC and decided to join the team to Uganda. In past years PC has been fortunate to have a dentist on the team to Africa, but this year there was not a volunteer. Since we had not been able to get a dentist from the states, we continued to pray that we would be able to hire one in country. Despite our lack of faith, God answered our prayers by sending us the gift of a dentist for the students to work with. Through this incredible experience they were able to gain a real appreciation for their chosen profession as they relieved the terrible pain produced by decayed teeth and other conditions. 
Ssennyi & Bombo
The first two days of clinic were in Ssennyi, the fishing village where Project Compassion worked two years ago. It is right on the shores of Lake Victoria. The fisherman daily bring in hundreds of pounds of Nile perch, which are shipped around the world by a Korean company. The village has otherwise been very isolated with no medical care available. The people have been deeply involved in witchcraft and even cannibalism in the recent past. Two years ago, the people were reluctant to come to the clinic, but this year, there were many people waiting in line when we arrived. A little girl was seen for a severe rash and we noticed that she was wearing a beaded “necklace” around her wrist that is given to the people by the local healers. We talked with the mom about the power of God versus the power of the beads to heal her little girl and encouraged mom to remove the beads. She said, “Can I take it off right now?” We said, “of course”, and so the mom immediately took the “necklace” off the baby.
Our team quickly “jelled” and began treating patients as if we had always worked together. Medical conditions included a toddler with severe kwashiorkor (protein malnutrition), a 3 week old with pneumonia who was transported (via motorcycle to be hospitalized in a town about one hour away) many patients with ulcers (due to chewing on coffee beans), many patients who believed they had syphilis because every rash, itch, bump, or symptom was diagnosed by the local healer as syphilis, and, of course, the usual malaria, pneumonia, scabies, tinea, worms, tuberculosis and HIV. We were blessed this year to have rapid HIV test kits, which were so helpful when we suspected the diagnosis, but the patient had not previously been tested.
The next two days were spent at Bombo another small village where we had served two years ago. We were a little surprised by the number of patients on the first day, until we learned that the community leader may have invited his special supporters and friends to the first day, while the remainder of the community was invited to the second day of clinic. You can imagine the crowds that awaited us on that second day when we saw over 400 needy patients! That was, of course, the day that patients needed IV hydration, antibiotic injections for chronically draining otitis, and wound care - keeping the nurses in the treatment station very busy. How about continuity of care? Dr. Jane Anderson saw a 2 year old boy for pneumonia and realized she had seen this little boy when he was just a 3 day old. His grandmother had brought him to our clinic two years ago because he had a very large congenital nevus on his back and this year, here he is again!
The highlight of the final day for a few team members was the delivery of a healthy term baby girl in the room next to our pharmacy. One of our team members is a labor and delivery room nurse who will have stories to tell her colleagues of the unbelievable conditions under which this miracle of birth took place. 
Your Gifts Can Help David is a 7 year old boy who was burned in an accident with boiling water about 5 years ago. He has a hyper-active keliod condition that causes irregular fibrous tissue to form at the site of his injury. His Dad brought him to Project Compassion’s temporary medical clinic in Bombo, Uganda. There was not much we could do for him at the time except give him cream for the itching. But, we did get him help at a local hospital because of donors like you. As is PC tradition money was left in country to help over 10 patients get medical treatment and follow up in local hospitals.Quick Links:
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Project Compassion is so blessed to have the support from everyone who donates, participates, volunteers or prays for this organization. Because of you and your faithfulness to this organization, lives are touched worldwide.
PC relies totally on donations and volunteers with no paid staff
