His name is Vincent Oti. That name may mean nothing to you, but to those living in northern Uganda, it may arouse a feeling of fear. Vincent Oti is the military mind and second in charge of the Lord’s Resistance Army that has devastated northern Uganda the past decade. I couldn’t get past that name and I asked many people if that really was this tiny little boy’s name. They laughed as they agreed it was his name. I just kept asking myself who would ever name their son Vincent Oti…and then it hit me…he mother was probably an abducted girl, forced to marry Oti and he was his child. WHOA!
We were holding our medical clinic under the big tree in the center of the camp when it started to downpour. Everyone ran for covering into the thatch church. As I grabbed the medicine and began to run myself, I noticed a small, naked boy sitting under the tree all alone and crying. I ran over to grab him and take him inside the church. I held him for a few minutes, looking for his mother or caretaker but no one claimed him. His frail, feverish little body clung to me tightly as he whimpered. My heart broke. He was so sick and obviously malnourished. I felt an instant connection to him as he reminded me of a similar malnourished little boy we previously struggled with for months in Sudan. Also most kids here fear the white people, but he didn’t seem to fear me at all. He just wanted someone to care. After an hour of discussion, I found out his mother had died and no one could take care of him. We needed to transport him to a feeding center a few hours away but we had to find a caretaker to accompany him. Another hour passed as we tried to find anyone to go with this little sickly boy. Finally a young woman agreed to go. She was suffering from tuberculosis and obviously was sick herself, but we were desperate. We transported them to the feeding center and have checked on them many times since. Little Vincent is still quite sick and small, but is making some improvement. He is also positive for TB and has a rough road ahead. Here is a picture of him a few days ago. He is supposedly 3 years old. Please pray for little Vincent. May God give him a bright future.
Thanks,
Shaunessy