The poor do not have medical insurance




On Sunday Sylvia our MOPS coordinator got a call that a baby had accidentally knocked over hot milk, and they were burnt badly.  She urged the mother to go directly to the hospital and she met them there.  I got the text message.  And the fear was great.  The hospital cost 150 USD.  This is 4 months income for this family.  They already barely survive.  The hopelessness in moments like this is extreme.  I immediately said I would send them money.  And to my amazement, the Western Union is even open on Sundays.  So the mother did not need to wait long for the funds (a miracle) to be sent.  And I have received donations this week to cover this need.  This is, unfortunately, the 3rd time we have had to pay for medical costs this year.  2 burn cases and a life-saving C-section. 
A few lessons about the poor…
It is easy to get burnt.  They live in very tiny spaces and cook on wood fires.  When my children were young we had a thing called an oven guard.  It was mounted in front of the stove top to prevent pans from accidentally spilling.  The poor do not have luxuries like this.  They cook on open fires in their tiny homes.  They deal with the smoke and the risk of fire and injury. 
They do not have medical insurance.  And when something like this happens hospitals will refuse care.  Women die on the floor of Ugandan hospitals needing C sections but not having money to pay for them.  Olive went to a clinic with serious burns.  They gave her a shot of salt water and sent her home.  She could have lost her leg or even her life because she had no money.  When you hear about parents selling their children …it is often to pay for medical bills.  You read about the kids in India working as bond slaves, or girls in Cambodia sold into prostitution.  How does that happen?  It happens for things like a burn that needs 100 dollars to be treated.  The mother of the baby who got burnt on Sunday has many mouths to feed.  There is no medical insurance.  There was no way to cover the costs.  They were desperate.  The very poor do not have insurance.
Why do we care about giving these women skills?  With skills, they can buy insurance.  They can improve their standard of living.  They can send their own children to school.  There is little hope when you are selling corn or porridge on the street 10 hours a day.  There is no hope when you make 1 dollar a day.  So our challenge is to cover the urgent costs of things like burns and C-sections but invest heavily in skills that will eventually break this cycle of extreme poverty.  We still need 600 USD to cover the total costs of renovation on the new skill center.  And we need money for 3 more sewing machines.  They cost 300 USD each.   You can give me cash or send money to go fund me or by pay pal.  I promise you 100% of your donations will go to the Teen MOPS group in Kampala.  
https://www.gofundme.com/uganda-mosquito-repellent-soap

https://www.paypal.me/ameliaheymann

Comments