Yesterday evening, we attended the Bundibugyo Hospital and District farewell party for Dr. Amon. Just typing those words brings a fresh wave of grief . . but since the whole event happened a few meters away from, and 15 years after, Dr. Jonah's burial, I have to say that the grief this time is mixed with a heftier dose of gratitude for sure, and hope. In 2007 we, Dr. Jonah's wife and daughters, and a half dozen intrepid health workers prayed and wept as we interred his body under strict Ebola protocols. We were heartbroken, desperate, and nearly alone. In 2022, there were tents, music, cake, an MC, dancing, gifts and speeches. To a casual observer, the events could not have been more disparate. But they were closely connected.
First, because of the character of the men. Dr. Amon, like Dr. Jonah, began as a clinical officer in the days when any medical education was nearly unobtainably rare, being younger sons in large hard-working families. Both worked with us at Nyahuka Health Center IV, and caught our attention as dependable, talented, caring workers at the PA level, with humour and courage. Dr. Jonah was the first young man we sponsored to Makerere University for a degree as a medical doctor, but the joy of having him back as a colleague was short-lived when a new strain of Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever broke out(Ebola bundibugyo) The only other Ugandan doc in the district also became infected but recovered, and as you know Scott and I did not become sick, even though we had all four been seeing the same patients together. Ebola Bundibugyo left us down to 3 docs from 4, and in the wake of that tragedy we developed a program to sponsor more health workers, doctors and others, for the district. As that was beginning, a British doc named Dr. Dominic pulled up to the health centre one day on a short trip to Uganda, and wanted to spend funds raised after his med-student girlfriend had died in a car accident to help this country . . . we immediately thought of Amon as the best possibly legacy.
So fifteen years later, the news is, HE WAS the fitting legacy choice. Dr. Amon finished medical school and internship and even did an MPH. He returned to Bundibugyo to serve. He navigated the politics of the system with grace. We were in Kenya most of his tenure, but always encouraged by his vision and hard work, the way he stepped into more and more responsibility. When we returned three years ago, a huge part of the attraction was to work with our friend. To stand with him in new patterns of integrity, enabling the opening of the new NICU, connecting with solar projects for oxygen, supporting his new pattern of morning report staff meetings, continuing medical education, data collection, audits of deaths, focus on maternal and child health, nutrition, integration of spiritual growth and encouragement. Bundibugyo Hospital might raise eyebrows from those accustomed to private institutions, but over the last handful of years we have climbed in government district hospital rankings. Together we faced the unknown of COVID, even as many partners left and funds became unsure. For years he's been the "acting" medical superintendent, the highest ranking doctor in our district, but somehow our local government never managed to actually change is title and salary to reflect that responsibility. He was not the sort of person who let that stop him from doing his best.
About two weeks ago, he called us into his office and reluctantly broke the bad news: he had taken a full, actual, medical superintendent job across the country, in Busia on the Kenya border.
This decision was not totally out of the blue, even though my accident made us miss so much this year. We had been aware of political pressure to push him out of the way, to make space for a third clinical-officer-turned-medical-doctor post-Ebola, this one sponsored by the government. Understandably the government-sponsored doc is more of a political insider, and in spite of trying to get everyone to look at the big picture that our District of several hundred thousand needs all the medical help it can get, we as outsiders as well have to accept the decisions made. There was some shaking up of administration, Dr. Amon saw the writing on the wall, and felt the humble course of action was to take a "promotion" elsewhere.
Official functions tend to be rather scripted, long, and tedious. We had braced for that yesterday. But in spite of our grief, it was a joyous occasion. Scott was put in the official program as "FRIEND", which was a delightful contrast to the long list of position-of-power titles of various speakers. He talked about leadership as SERVICE not POWER (Mt 20:28), which Dr. Amon certainly embodied, like Jesus. Even the boda-boda drivers who swarm the hospital drive for fares organised themselves to come in and give him a gift, as did market ladies, nurses, department heads, guards, cleaners. The community trusted him, because he was available and honest, never self-promoting. His wife Esther, who as a nurse is still posted here in Bundibugyo, danced beside him as various groups cheered and carried in their wrapped boxes and bars of soap and wash basins and even a local specialty, the Bwamba chair. She's left here alone to manage the five children, and I held her 4-month-old for an hour or more. Splitting this family feels tragic to me, but they press on with good faith. One of the last short speeches came from a nurse who was acting as MC, and reminded us of Joseph and his brothers in Genesis . . . Joseph says later in life that he was sent ahead to Egypt to prepare and preserve life. Aidah said in faith that we will see Dr. Amon preserving life in his new position. That actually struck me as a Spirit-inspired analogy. What Joseph's brothers meant for personal preservation, to remove him from their lives . . . ended up being for good for the entire community.
The boda drivers presenting their chicken
A young man from the lab with a guitar sang beautifully from the blessing in Numbers 6:24-26. We are struggling to have faith as we mourn this departure, yet we do ask God to bless Dr. Amon and his family, and to bless Bundibugyo Hospital and all of us.
1 comment:
Tears of grief and also of gratitude! May the LORD Bless you Dr Amon, just as your staff sang to you! May the Lord bless you and keep you and make his face shine on you- all the days of your life! Thank you for pouring out your life for the Peoples of Bundibugyo! Lord bless you!
😢❤️
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