Clinic Crisis Update

Thank you for your prayers for us our regarding our conflict with the community. Another meeting took place yesterday. This one included the Local Chairman (LCIII) of our sub-county. We had hoped that his presence and leadership would bring a more peaceful and orderly environment in which to address the concerns of the community. As it turned out, the meeting was anything but peaceful and orderly. Never in my life have I been verbally assaulted and maligned like my fellow Mission members and I were yesterday over the course of that 5 hour meeting. In one passionate speech we were even called ‘killers’ and ‘Satan’. It would be difficult to recall all of the specific issues raised. Much criticism flowed out of a general frustration over our Mission’s failure to help the community to the extent and in every way that they believe that we ought to be ‘helping’. Just to give one example, there was protest of the charges, which patients incur at the Clinic. We were accused of being in Karamoja to run a business. It did not suffice to point out that the revenues we receive only help us to recover about 19% of the cost of running the Clinic.

Most regrettable was the way that the criticism focused largely on Mrs. Kris Eldeen. As the Clinic administrator, she has faithfully done her job carrying out the policies and decisions of her overseeing committee. At times those decisions have not pleased the community. This has resulted in extremely unfair attack against her personally. Despite our efforts to dispel grossly false accusations and to defend her conduct, the community has demanded that she be ‘chased’ from Karamoja. We stated our clear position that we stand together and, therefore, if they ‘chase’ her they must ‘chase’ all of us. We were saddened when the LCIII, perhaps pressured by the unruly crowd, asked us to remove Mrs. Eldeen from being administrator and to give her different work for the Mission, away from the Clinic. He saw this as a fair compromise (she could stay in Karamoja). We saw it as such an unacceptable demand that it left us wondering yesterday whether we could even continue working in this place.

Well, today we went to see the LCIII privately to explain our position. I suggested that our contrary perspectives might have become an insurmountable obstacle which might force us to leave Karamoja. Thankfully, despite the blatant contradiction of his message just a day earlier, he assured us that Mrs. Eldeen was free to continue her work as administrator and that the community had no authority to demand that we remove her. He even promised to state this in an official letter from his office and enforce it, even with police involvement if necessary.

Quite a bizarre turn of events and an emotional roller coaster of a few days! We decided to close the Clinic for another week while things cool down and we await that letter from the LCIII. We feel much better than we did a day ago but we still need to think about what all of this will mean for us. Please pray for us all and particularly for the Eldeens who understandably are taking some days away from Karamoja.