Catherine

By Kathryn Campbell

It’s been another beautiful day in Uganda. I can’t say enough about the joy that this team has been to work with, the incredible ways we are treated by the locals, and the resilience of these people.  Today, at Blessed Hope, we were able to give another substantial donation of medical supplies to the staff (because we have the BEST friends, family and donors around.) After completing DREAMS plans with the younger students yesterday, we were able to identify that many of them were interested in being doctors and nurses. We were so excited to share the basic medical knowledge that we planned for with these future members of the Ugandan medical field.

Before we began the medical session this afternoon, we had spent an hour or two in the classrooms observing the teachers. I ended up in a room with P-7s (around 13 years old) and Jennie. They were learning math and discussing their dreams with Jennie. I was immediately drawn to the corner where a young girl named Catherine was sitting. She is a gentle spirited and very smart young woman who has a head full of big dreams.

I truly feel that the best way for me to address the heart of a day in the field with FODU is to talk about Catherine. She has impressed me so much, and is a child that I will honestly never forget.

Catherine immediately informed me that her dream was to be a “doctor of hearts.” Following suit of the DREAMS plans, I was interested to hear Catherine’s reasoning and skills that she thought led her to the dream of cardiology.  Her answer was multi-faceted, but began simply. Catherine told me that she was aware of “many children in Uganda who have heart problems and have no one to care for them. They sometimes die. I would want to be able to care for them with no charge.”

When we met for the medical session, Catherine was on the second row, and was the only student (or faculty member) that brought along a notepad. With every word that we spoke, Catherine took notes. She asked questions, took notes, focused, and hung on every word we said. Afterwards, Catherine found me to ask follow up questions to add to her two pages of notes. I finally had the opportunity to learn about this very special young woman.

Catherine is 12 years old. She is in Primary 7 (the last grade before Secondary School). She has a fraternal twin named Moses, and 4 younger siblings. Her younger sister lives at Blessed Hope with her, and she has 3 that live in Entebbe with her Mother. Catherine’s father passed away when Catherine was “a bit younger”, and her Mother stays and works in Entebbe in order to pay for Catherine’s schooling at Blessed Hope.

Catherine may be one of the most articulate young women I have ever met. She told me what she dreams of, why she dreams those things, how she plans to achieve them, and what she does on a daily basis at Blessed Hope.

Her dreams are the reason we are doing any of this. Her dreams are big and her means are small. She has very little support and is trying to make a difference with her life. Catherine’s dream is not for money or fame or any material things. Catherine’s dream is to treat children, free of charge, who struggle and are sick. Catherine wants to save lives. I can’t make sense of the way the world works when a child, like Catherine, has to wonder how she will pay for Secondary school and University so that she can pour everything she has worked for into her country and its people.

I am proud to know Catherine. I am thankful that God puts people, children even, into my path to shake me up and make me question things. Mostly, though, I am challenged. I’m challenged because it’s so easy for some while the majority of the world is full of Catherines. How easily I could have been that Catherine, and yet I’m this Kathryn who will sleep well tonight knowing that I am loved and cared for, supported and encouraged.

I believe in Catherine’s dreams. I believe that she is intelligent, kind, generous and able. I pray that my heart will continue to be broken by the things that break the hearts of these children. As Catherine and I spoke today, a single tear fell down her cheek just to speak of her dream secondary school that had a “good laboratory so that she could learn to be a Doctor.”

My prayer to sum all of this up is that we as a team can walk continually aware of the dreams of these children. That we are intentional to let them know that we are behind them in any way we can be, that their dreams are important, and that we see the future of this beautiful country in their faces- and it looks brighter with our support. I pray that we, as a team, will point them toward a big God that cares deeply for them just by our actions, even if we never spoke.

FODU is stirring up hope in these children. It is a beautiful and heart-breaking thing to watch hope spring up in a place that it has never been, and I pray that it continues.  I see its potential to continue in my kind and beautiful new friend, Catherine, who has big dreams and a big God.