CMA Physician’s Dedication to the People of Uganda

By Cindy Jones-Nosacek, M.D.

Padibe, Uganda is a town in northern Uganda near South Sudan. Since 2018, my deacon husband and I have traveled there once or twice a year to be among the people.

Fifteen years ago, Uganda saw the ending of a civil war that lasted 30 years. The area is still recovering

Last year, we celebrated the 15^th anniversary between Three Holy Women Parish in Milwaukee and the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Padibe. Not only was it attended by two of our previous committee chairs, my deacon husband, and myself, but also two archbishops, four priests, and four thousand people. At the end of the celebration, my husband and I promised to return to celebrate Holy Week and Easter with them.

We were present during the month of April, known as famine month. Since the people are mostly subsistence farmers, food supplies start to go low as they prepare their fields called “gardens”, and plant crops including potatoes, okra, greens, tomatoes, and cabbage. Sesame seeds and sunflowers are raised as cash crops.

My work is mainly in the SS. Peter and Paul Medical Clinic. Under the leadership of Sr. Caroline, the administrator, I work with the staff to learn from them how they work with the resources they have and don’t have. We innovate as a necessity. For example, we used water bottles as spacers for asthma inhalers (albuterol only). I also teach and show them internet resources available to stay up-to-date.

One thing that I bring that is popular are baby t-shirts. Onesies cannot be worn since most families cannot afford diapers and plastic pants. The t-shirts are so popular that mothers return claiming that they never got one, even though Sr. Caroline is careful to record it.

Another popular item is rosary beads. Due to the generosity of people in the US, I was able to take over 500 rosaries, which will be given to individuals when they are baptized. The Church in Padibe is vibrant and growing. People of all ages go to be baptized.

Celebrating Easter Week in Padibe

Palm Sunday was special because it was also a celebration for the youth of the Archdiocese of Gulu. With 2,000 young people, we processed with Archbishop Wokorac through town waving palm branches.

After Mass on Holy Thursday, there was exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, which the faithful approach barefooted. Good Friday had the Way of the Cross with a huge cross carried through town and then back to church where it was raised in the cemetery. During the Good Friday service, again we approached the cross in our bare feet.

It rained Holy Saturday, yet somehow, the catechists got a roaring fire going to light the Easter candle that my deacon husband carried into the church where he chanted the Exsultet. Then as a sign of how the Church is growing in Uganda, he baptized 50 (yes, 50!) children.

Padibe Affected by USAID Funding Cuts

This year, their biggest problem was the closing of USAID. Throughout the country, thousands of healthcare workers have lost their jobs. Sr. Caroline had to lay off the two HIV coordinators, who are responsible for making sure that HIV patients make their appointments. Previously, the patients were given a six-month supply of medicine. Now, to eke out the supply, patients only get three. Two other employees, a midwife who does ultrasounds and the clinic officer and physician assistant, who were paid by USAID, were kept on but with pay cuts of 30-50%.

In a country where the average income is $60-150 per month and USAID money was 3x greater than what the Ugandan government spent on health, this will have serious consequences. Malaria is a leading cause of death, especially in children under the age of five. I have never been to Padibe without hearing about a child who died out of a population of 4,000. Now that there is a vaccine that will lower the death rate, its supply is at risk. Besides death from HIV/AIDS and malaria, TB is a major cause of death. Recent attempts to do contact tracing are now also at risk.

Have there been abuses? Yes. Is there corruption and fraud? Yes. There has been attempts by the US to force Uganda to follow its agenda. HIV/AIDS assistance was temporarily cut under the Biden administration after the Ugandan government passed “anti-gay” laws. But the sudden and total cancellation of all aid to poor impoverished countries is putting lives at risk. The people make due and hope for a return of the aid that saves lives.

Giving Back

My husband and I receive as much as we give. Parents brought chickens in gratitude for our church paying their children’s school fees. The people were happy to help me with my attempts to speak the local language, Acholi. It was mango season, where ripe fruit literally fell from the trees. At night, we would gather around a fire, called a wango, to dance, listen to music, and shell peanuts for planting. Mornings we awoke to the sound of the church bells and the roosters. 

Padibe are is a place where parents will send their children out to buy (warm) soda for us, the honored guests or serve us (our third) lunch. Their gratitude expressed through their kindness and hospitality despite having little is moving.

If you would like to give hope to the people of Padibe and support the Three Holy Women Parish mission, visit www.threeholywomenparish.org/give  or mail check to: Three Holy Women Parish, 1716 N Humboldt Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53202.Please put “Padibe” in the memo line.  Donations will be used to support projects and pay the tuition and fees of students from primary school to university.