Teacher Grace Needs Surgery - please help!

April 23, 08

Let me introduce you to a woman who I think deserves a teacher of the year award. Teacher Grace is AAH's P-1 teacher. In a nutshell, her teaching philosophy consists of loving, knowing, and guiding students personally. P-1 is probably the hardest class to manage - imagine 50 high energy five to seven year olds together in a classroom for the first time, many of which speak little or no English. Our p-1 class this year is remarkably rambunctious, but Teacher Grace leads them like water in a funnel. The sounds I hear at school are hard to describe, but they are beautiful and often involve chiming voices in unison obeying teacher Grace's commands. Her love for the students and their love and respect for her is readily apparent and worthy of great praise. She knows them each very well and even senses when something is not right. Just the other day, she reported to us that one of our student's mother passed away the night before and he came to school that day - likely to see and be with Teacher Grace. She is amazing.

Unfortunately, Teacher Grace recently started telling us of dizziness, loss of focus in her eyes, and headaches. She saw a few doctors in the area to find out what the problem is, but no one had much advice or even a guess diagnosis. She finally sought out an expensive CT Scan. The results showed shifting in the bones around her right eye that is causing pressure and loss of sight. The recommended treatment is surgery by the country's only surgical opthalmologist in Kampala.

I don't know Teacher Grace's salary; however, I do know that she already spent about 400,000 shillings for the doctors and the scan. I also know that the surgery is 600,000 shillings, she needs the money upfront, and I know she simply can't afford these expenses.

Fortunately for her, we worked it out so she will have the cash on loan (neither Ruth nor I, both volunteers, can afford to just give her the money). She is heading to Kampala to seek the care during term break.

When I crunched the numbers, I was appalled by the extremely menial amount her health care costs in US dollars. If I wasn't volunteering, I would just give it to her.

600,000 shillings is only $400.
400,000 /= is only $250.

Can you help Teacher Grace? I would like to find the money to pay for her surgery and medical expenses. Please let me know if you are interested in giving.

All I can say is the world is unfair and health care is expensive. Being in Uganda has shown me the vast disparity between the developing world and the western world, but also the similarities, including relatively expensive health care. There is SO much that can be done for poverty stricken areas. Often efforts are focused on macrocosmic health promotion projects and economic policy changes that have a trickle down effect. However, helping on the micro level (giving to an individual in need) can be most rewarding and still have far reaching effects. Teacher Grace's healthy eyes will allow her to continue to love and teach these students who have bright futures in store.