Uganda mission trip life-changing for young adults from the Paterson Diocese

JINJA, Uganda  Alexis Hernandez, a special education teacher, learned a critical classroom tip last month, after being asked to help a special education teacher for disabled and mostly non-verbal children with cerebral palsy halfway around the world in Uganda.

“Look into their eyes. See how their bodies move. They might lightly smile if they like the game that they are playing,” said Her­nan­­dez, 24. From Aug. 5 to 19, she and seven other young adults from the Diocese missioned in Uganda, volunteering with a local nonprofit there, Imprint Hope. “With these children with disabilities, I learned to be more open to engaging them — and to my students this fall — and showing them their full potential,” she said.

Many of the young adults were inspired to be of more service in their work and get more involved in ministering to the poor in their own lives, as they volunteered alongside the staff of Imprint Hope in the city of Jinja. They also learned many life lessons on how to do that. In small ways, they helped the center in its mission to advocate for the dignity, worth — and potential — of the children with disabilities to combat social stigma there. The center was founded in 2016 by Clare Byrne, an occupational therapist and a former young adult of the Diocese, said Stacy Nolan, young adult ministry coordinator of the Evangelization Center at St. Paul Inside the Walls in Madison and Imprint Hope’s intern coordinator, who organized the mission trip.

Imprint Hope works with specialized hospitals to access needed surgery and medical care. It also offers a seven-week course, which provides children with daily physical and occupational therapy to help them make progress toward their developmental milestones. The program offers the mothers classes about nutrition so they can care for their child; about business and finance so they can support the needs of their child with a disability as well as find empowerment to provide for their family long-term; and about sewing, one example of the trades they learn. Mothers who complete then training program are offered a micro-finance loan to start a business that they are expected to pay back in a year, according to Imprint Hope.

“It’s gratifying to be part of Imprint Hope, which embraces these children with disabilities and their families. In their villages, the families, especially the mommas, are extremely vulnerable to the lies they are told that their child doesn’t have a purpose in this world and shouldn’t be alive. Imprint Hope sends a message to families that they are valued and supported,” said Nolan, who also led mission trips to Uganda for Imprint Hope in 2018 and 2019.

In the mornings, the young adults put in “sweat equity” on Imprint Hope’s farm in rural Kangulumira, about 30 minutes away from the nonprofit’s center in Jinja. There, they harvested, prepared, and planted crops for the staff and families, such as maize, sweet potato, pumpkin, and squash. Team members shucked maize, which will be ground into posho flour, a staple of the Ugandan diet. They also cleared the land and replanted 150 trees for a passion fruit orchard, Nolan said.

One of those young adults working in the fields in the hot summer mornings was Mike Rallo, 27, who is studying to become a neurosurgeon, and his fiancé, Mary Wielgos, 23, who is studying to become a physical therapist.

“We are both from the suburbs, so farming was a new experience. I loved it,” said Rallo, an Imprint Hope first-timer, along with Wielgos. “It was laborious but it was a great way for me to use my physical strength to work to support this great organization and God’s people. I also learned to be more of a team player. In Uganda, nobody says ‘It’s not my job.’ Everybody pitches in where needed,” he said.

Meanwhile, Hernandez was surprised just how much she enjoyed the manual work of farming.

“I got into a groove. Then I looked back and saw how much I planted. I got to see the fruits of my labor, even though I won’t see it grow,” said Hernandez, after the trip, her first with Imprint Hope. “Farming is also a way to bond and make friends on the team. In Ugandan culture, labor is communal and relational. Families bond over work. It taught me to be more present in the workplace — and do it with love,” she said.

The team spent their afternoons at Imprint Hope’s center, where the team supported the special education teacher and therapists. Hernandez was asked to be a teacher’s aide and, one afternoon, gave a talk to the mothers about how their children “are all individual learners and learn at their own pace.”

Also at the center, Wielgos assisted the physical therapist, who was directing the treatment. She also entertained the children with books, toys, and dancing, while Byrne was treating other children. Most of the children in the summer intake have cerebral palsy and cannot walk. They also make rigid and uncontrolled movements with their bodies, she said.

“It’s amazing to see how hard the kids work and how bright they are,” Wielgos said. Byrne, she said, “not only helps the children “move their muscles with rehabilitation, but also nourishes their spirit and those of their families. They come from villages that say the children are not worthy of love. They are learning to love them. They feel happier and then take that back to their villages,” she said.

Wielgos added, “In the future, I will better consider the home life and other factors of my patients so I can nourish their spirits and they can be happier.”

According to Imprint Hope website, https://imprinthope.com, one local mother from the program declared that the organization’s “presence in Uganda taught me that my child’s life has a purpose.”

Meanwhile, outside Imprint Hope’s center, the rest of the team conducted landscaping projects, such as clearing brush and planting a small demonstration garden. With it, the nutritionist on staff will educate families on how to grow plants that provide protein, energy, and the vitamins needed to support them and their children, Nolan said.

The young adults of the Diocese also took time out to worship at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Jinja and spent their weekend hiking at Sipi Falls and white-water kayaking, Nolan said.

Reflecting on the powerful mission trip, Rallo told The Beacon, “We [he and Wielgos] now have a heart for Uganda. We want to go back and serve there.”

Wielgos added, “This mission trip changed our perspective on life. We took more lessons back with us than we taught them [the children with disabilities].” To donate to Imprint Hope, visit its website at imprinthope.com.