Video Presentation to Saint Matthew Lutheran Church

Poem

You used to sing me Kumbaya at night so I could sleep, sitting on the edge of the bed where I lay, always on the left side, hugging the corner of the mattress. I don’t know why I liked the left side, but I did.

You were a real singer, or at least I thought you were, or had been at some time; your voice warm and gentle, with perfect rises and perfect falls.

Kumbaya, my Lord, Kumbaya.

It was a song we sort of laughed about in later years: Oh, remember that? So long ago. What does it even mean?

I still sleep on the left side of the bed, though I hadn’t heard it in a while. I hated you for a long time. You were so good to me.

A month ago you and I found ourselves sitting on a dirt slope at an orphanage in Uganda, not really knowing how or why. The orphans were playing on our laps, so many of them—2, 3, 4 of them piling on our stomachs as we lay, hugging them, letting it all happen. They played with our hair; a boy, the one you joked about adopting, fixed your shirt so your cleavage wouldn’t show. I was filming. You laughed and I think the laugh turned into a cry. We looked out into the hills and sang; I was sitting on the left side. We made harmony.

Come by here, my Lord, Come by here.

Total Stats

Below are the final stats from our Uganda medical mission:


Total patient consults: 1,312
HIV tests: 22 of 714 positive
HIV Female: 17 of 422 positive 
HIV Male: 5 of 292 positive
Malaria tests: 42 of 233 positive
Syphillis tests: 12 of 133 positive 
Typhoid tests: 40 of 99 positive 
Urinary analyses: 5 of 25 positive 
Pregnancy tests: 6 of 21 positive


Also, all other Uganda photos are on my online Picasa album: https://profiles.google.com/RNHammel/photos/5693146722782682385?hl=en


Happy New Year!