Muyama (second from left), seen here with four of her seven children one month after she had been treated, is smiling because her life was saved in part by the quick thinking and action of Chestnut Hill resident Barbara Wybar.

by Barbara Wybar

(Ed. note: Barbara Wybar, a longtime Chestnut Hill resident, spends part of every year in Bududa, an impoverished village in Uganda, East Africa. She started a school in the village in 2004, which did not have one before that, and numerous graduates of the school have secured full-time jobs.)

The best thing that I did while I was in Bududa in June was save a life. I do not think I have ever done that before, and I went out on a limb to do it, but I just closed my eyes and said to myself, “I think we are saving a life.”

The story goes like this: I arrived in Bududa late in the afternoon, and my neighbor, Muyama, aged mid-40s and the mother of seven children, was seated on the ground near where we parked the car. She looked weak, ill and pale, and she said she was not well. She was with her sister.

I really could not attend to her at that time, as we had to get to the guest house, which is my house in Bududa. The guest house has no road to it, so we usually get a bunch of local kids to help us carry all of our goods and chattel up the hill to the house. This takes some organizing as it has happened in the past that not all of our goods get to the guest house.

The next day our guest house director, Justine, told me that Muyama was very sick. Justine said she had had a hysterectomy at the Bududa Hospital a month before, and she was suffering from infection from the operation.

She had been back to the hospital, but the meds that had been prescribed were not working. Over the years, I have been many times to the Bududa Hospital, and I have been a patient there more than once. I know that it would not be good to have a major operation at that hospital, as it is ill-equipped in every way.

Muyama has a husband, and he does work, but he was not there, and he has no money to pay for more care for his wife. I believe this to be true as he struggles to educate these seven children, who are fine young people. I have been able to help educate one daughter, Asha, to be a nurse by connecting Asha with a Canadian NGO that pays school fees for poor girls in Uganda.

So I planned to take Muyama into the local town, Mbale, one hour away, and take her to a good British doctor, Jan White, whom I know. I had to hire a private taxi to do this, and when we did see Dr. Jan, she said it was an emergency situation and that I had to get Muyama to a good surgeon immediately. But where to go?

I had heard of Dr Mugondi, but I had also heard he was very expensive. We took the taxi and went to Mugondi and waited a good part of the day. He saw her and had every test possible done before telling Muyama and myself that Muyama needed another operation.

It was getting late, almost dark and raining, and the dirt roads are terrible between Mbale and Bududa in the rainy season. Muyama quietly said she did not want to do that. Could the doctor find some other way?

I was secretly horrified since I had heard during the day that her life was on the line. Dr. Mugondi had told me while we were waiting for test results that if she needed an operation it would cost $4,000,000, which would be a little more than $1,000 in U.S. dollars, just for the operation.

I encouraged Muyama to have the operation, and so did Karen Vaccaro, a fellow American who was with me. Dr. Mugondi said we could force her, and if she wanted medication instead, he would prescribe it for her.

He told me there was a 50/50 chance that the meds would work. That is what she wanted, so that is what she got, IV antibiotics, which she could have administered at home in Bududa. She had an IV port put in her arm, and the meds were assembled in the doctor’s office. So I paid, and we set off back to Bududa in the rain and mud.

Some of the orphans we have educated over the years since 2004 have succeeded and become nurses. One of them, who lives quite close by, Nakuti Madina, was able to come by and help with the administration of the IV antibiotics every day for a week at 5 p.m. This was a gift. She knew Muyama, who felt comfortable with her.

Now comes the best part of the story: Day by day Muyama seemed to feel a bit better. When the drugs were finished, she was a lot better but not perfect. Then she was sore with aches and pains, but gradually they went away, and she got her energy back.

The winning smile was there again, and she was so pleased to be feeling healthy again. Her children were happy, and her husband was especially thrilled, and they all said thank you to me six ways to Sunday. I said to myself, “How many times do you get a chance to literally save a life?”

Ms. Wybar will be hosting a fundraising party at her home on Nov. 8. More information at bwybar@ yahoo.com