Imagine this... You've been at home all day feeling ill. Your hope was that with lots of rest you'd start to get better, yet instead you begin feeling worse. It's getting to the point where a visit to the hospital may be in order. A few hours pass by and the illness has really set in at this point so you decide to go to the hospital to receive the medical attention that with each passing moment is now becoming more and more necessary. You grab your car keys, your necessary personal belongings and head out the door knowing that you'll be attended to and looked after until you are healthy once again.
For many of us this is simply how life is. When we are sick, we seek medical attention knowing that our needs will be met when we require it. I hope I've got you thinking now.....through all this i am sure there's one item that wouldn't have even been CLOSE to crossing your mind when the situation of visiting the hospital was going on, that item is bed sheets.
Bed sheets. A simple item that we find in our homes, we use daily and generally have many sets of. Now you may be asking, what do bed sheets have to do with being sick and going to the hospital, well let me try and communicate to you just what bed sheets mean to many people here living without these what we call "simple commodities." For a person who is sick here in Uganda and is unable to afford their own bedsheets, it is a matter of life or death. I am not being dramatic, i am not exaggerating the situation, i am telling you how it is. It is important to understand that here, just because there is a hospital available for medical care, doesn't necessarily mean it is well equipped to handle all the patients in need. Therefore an item like bed sheets may not be provided by the hospitals to all patients who are staying there leaving it up to the patients to provide their own.
What often happens is that a member of a house hold has become sick and is in great need of medical attention, it is imperative that this individual go to the hospital where doctors and nurses can care for them, yet they won't. The family is unable to afford bed sheets to take with them to the hospital for use during their stay which brings great embarrassment and shame. This very real truth deters people from going to the hospital in the first place to receive the help that is needed. People would rather stay within their homes dealing with the sickness and risking a worsened condition, than endure the embarrassment of lying there with nothing to cover them.
It is a painful truth how bed sheets can hold such weight on a persons life in one part of the world, yet not even be given a second thought in other parts of the world. So my challenge to you is this, next time you take a trip to the hospital and receive the care and attention you need, be increasingly thankful. The next time you climb into bed covered by the warmth of your sheets and blankets, remember that it's not a right you are entitled to have in owning bed sheets and the like, it's a blessing. In learning and understanding the lives of others around the world we always have a choice to at least be genuinely thankful for what we have and hopefully learn to give a little more of ourselves and our "simple commodities" to those in need.
For inquiries or ways to become involved with Umoja's International Programs please email: jamie4others@gmail.com
