- Story of a team of palliative care nurses from a small hospital and volunteer doctors from the U.S. who care for villagers with little access to medical treatment, where pain and suffering are often endured rather than relieved, and where people with life-threatening illnesses turn to traditional healers-herbalists, bone setters and witch doctors- hoping for a cure. The intimacy of medical care is a window into the lives of the villagers and the challenges of integrating Western medical practices with traditional beliefs.—Lucy Bruell
- A Journey into the Heart of Medicine
Oli Otya? Life and Loss in Rural Uganda tells the story of a team of nurses from a small hospital who travel to the villages to care for people facing life-threatening illness. Naggalama, Uganda is less than 25 miles from Kampala, the capital, but in many ways, it is a million miles away. Families depend on the harvest; children fill cans of water at the pump; and food simmers on open fires. Villagers frequently turn to traditional healers, herbalists, and bone setters, hoping to ease their suffering. Nurse Prossy Nafula and her team bring medical supplies and liquid morphine to patients in the community. They are accompanied by American physician volunteers: Randi Diamond, a palliative care specialist at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, her husband, Howard Eison, an internist in private practice, and Jemella Raymore, who trained with Randi. The intimacy of medical care is a window into the lives of the people we meet, the challenges of integrating Western medicine into local practices, and pain relief as a basic human right.
The team crowds into a hospital van to visit patients. Julius, a paralyzed man, is weaker since the team last saw him, but he believes that he will heal and leave his bed to feel the sun on his face. Robina, a woman with cervical cancer, has 11 children and worries what will happen when she is no longer there to care for them. A young man with Huntington's Disease, David, is cared for by his mother who believes his jerking motions and screams are caused by demons. And we meet Postiano, a man who decides not to sell his bicycle to pay for cancer treatment because his children would no longer have a way to get to school.
Moments of sadness are juxtaposed with hopeful ones. Asiya, a young girl who was bedridden, takes her first steps with a walker. Fatuma thanks the team with a gift of a chicken, and children play circle games outside the staff quarters. Despite the fragility of the patients' lives, there are moments to savor.
Evening reflection sessions with the U.S. team capture some of the difficulties in trying to adapt their ways to the culture of rural Uganda. "You are thinking too linearly," a Ugandan clinical officer tells them. "You have to think in stories, understand stories." Through the lens of their experience, Oli Otya? explores how faith, culture, and belief frame how people understand illness and how they care for each other when options are few. It is the story of a cross-cultural partnership in care, an example of global health on the ground level.
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What is the English language plot outline for Oli Otya? Life and Loss in Rural Uganda (2020)?
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