Special People - Nurse Ruth

Meet Nurse Ruth. She is the next special person that I want to introduce you to.

Ruth is an answer to so many peoples prayers here at GSF and at home who have also been praying for her to come. Those of us here were all starting to wonder what would happen when I left as there was to be no nurse on site. We did not have anyone to replace my nursing role. We wondered how would the medical side of things keep running and how would the current Missionaries manage the nursing duties on top of their already huge work loads and then......as an answer to prayer, along she came :)

If I am totally honest I returned back to GSF after being at home a little despondent and unsure how I was going to hand over this mammoth task of nursing and who I would even hand it over to as all previous attempts to recruit a Ugandan nurse had failed. When I had been at home I had spoken to a few people about my feelings; I was feeling disappointed that I had spent a good part of the year organising, revamping and implementing (what I thought was) a fool proof medical notes system. Also, after having juggled the nursing role on my own for the best part of the year whilst ensuring that all the children were up to date with immunisations, medical appointments, medication etc, I was concerned that this may not be keep going. I had implemented spreadsheets and charts to ensure all medical jobs were completed each week/month/year and that nothing could get missed. I was worried that these small things, which actually make the system work well, would just fall by the wayside if I wasn't able to physically hand it over to another nurse. This does not mean in any way that those living here would fail to ensure the kids were in good health but I knew that with the day to day running and the management of everyday illnesses and hospital appointments some of these other small things might have to be dropped as each person already had a too big work load in their own roles. I kept fighting with God wondering why on earth I had spent so long this year working on those things which I believed were good if I was just going to leave them behind not knowing if another nurse would even see them or understand my system if I wasn't there to explain and hand it over.


So, I returned to Uganda with this heavy heart to find that whilst I had been away a nurse had applied for the job! One of the directors here and the administrator had already done a provisional interview but had asked her to return so I could complete the interview with my questions and so I could meet her. When I met Ruth on the Wednesday, instantly I knew that everything was going to be ok. We all loved her and knew that she could handle the role. We told her Wednesday afternoon that she had got the job and asked her to start here with us asap. She said she might be able to come by Saturday which was amazing. Then on Wednesday night she telephoned the director and asked if she could come the next day! She arrived with us on Thursday and started work Friday morning - I had only been back at GSF 3 days when God confirmed to me that this one burden that had been weighing on my heart was going to be ok. I feel so passionate about the medical role here that I couldn't bear to see that it wouldn't be fully managed to it's full potential and that our precious children might not have a nurse here on site.


Ruth has been here almost 3 weeks and has settled into the role amazingly. She is confident, experienced and is great with the children. We are blessed to have her working here at GSF and I know she will do a wonderful job continuing to implement all of my systems that I have been so precious about!


I received an email a couple of weeks ago from a friend at Church who had been singing the hymn;                                  

'Great is your faithfulness' 

...Morning by morning new mercies I see.

All I have needed your hand has provided,

Great is your faithfulness, Lord unto me.

This friend reminded me how true these words are and how she knew how God will be faithful to me right until the end of my time here in Uganda and beyond. What a great promise we have in that and how much I can rejoice these days in our new Nurse and see how God, in his timing provided just what I needed