Goldsboro News-Argus 10/03/2010
CMYK
Phyllisophically
Where were
you when ...
JFK, Beatles,
MLK died?
This year marks the 50th
anniversary of the JFK legacy,
the year John F. Kennedy
came into prominence, and
only three short years later
was killed while in office as
president.
Since then, one of the
benchmark questions bandied
about has been, “Where were
you when Kennedy was shot?”
I remember exactly where I
was. It was the same place we
lived when the Beatles came
into prominence — Scotland.
My dad was stationed there
with the Air Force and on the
aforementioned date, my par-
ents had gone out for the
evening, leaving me and my
brother
with a
babysitter.
They came
home
early after
hearing
the news
about the
president.
I can
also recall
where I was PHYLLIS
when MOORE
Martin
Luther King opinion
Jr. and Bobby Kennedy were
killed, just as many today
have the same reference point
about 9/11.
And, at the risk of dragging
you back to “the good old
days,” I also remember when
the microwave came out.
I was working at the
Weekly Gazette in LaGrange,
standing in Myers Furniture
Store one day, where several
were shaking their heads
over “what in the world” this
contraption would do and how
potentially dangerous it
might be.
The article I saw this week,
though, was making the point
that when the question is now
asked about where they were
when Kennedy was shot,
three out of five people will
say, “I wasn’t born yet.”
According to Evangelist
Jentzen Franklin, there are
two factions of people — the
Guttenburg generation and
the Google generation.
Baby Boomers are part of
the former, learning most of
our information from the
printed page — like newspa-
pers and the old-faithful
World Book and Encyclopedia
Brittanica, for example —
while those born later have
acquired much of their knowl-
edge from the Internet and
technology.
The passage of time has
also led to some outdated
sayings.
Like “rolling up your win-
dow” in the car. There is no
“rolling” any more. A button
activates the window and it
goes up all by itself.
How about telling a he or
she sounds like a broken
record? Most of them don’t
know what a record is.
Another thing to go by the
wayside is calling up a radio
station and requesting a song.
I actually still have my
WGBR “Dancing Party” card
from when Johnnie Hood was
the night disc jockey.
It was a big deal to call up
and ask a radio announcer to
play a song, and then actually
hearing it moments later.
Once, I actually called
armed with three songs to
choose from.
They happened to all be
lovesick, woe-is-me songs,
with titles like “Love Hurts,”
“It’s a Heartache” and “I Will
Survive.”
Sensing a pattern, the disc
jockey said, “Wow, you must
be really having a rough day.”
I wanted to say, “Not really,
I just like those songs,” but
decided against it, thinking
that might actually sway him
toward playing at least one of
the songs to make me happy.
These days, it’s Satellite
and XM radio or find-your-
own-song on You Tube and
iTunes.
I miss the contact, the per-
sonal touch, even if it was to
be the 100th caller and you
knew you didn’t have a
chance in the world of
winning.
Phyllis Moore is a News-
Argus reporter, and writes a
weekly column.
Copyright © 2010 Goldsboro News-Argus $$edition
Copy Reduced to 44% from original to fit letter page
Life & Family C
section
The Goldsboro
News-Argus
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Beads for
baby Claire
A mission trip changed her life,
now Katherine Lean and
Mount Olive College students
are making a difference.
A
t first the Ugandans called them “mzungu,” a
word that means “white person.”
Another form of the word, literally translated,
means “aimless traveler.”
To the people of Uganda, that was what Katherine
Lean and her partners on the Cure International med-
ical mission trip were — strangers passing through for
a short time, with no real connection to the villages.
It was a case of culture shock, too, for the young
women who journeyed thousands of miles to Africa,
where they “stuck out like a sore thumb,” Miss Lean
said.
“I was like, here I am, a mzungu, what do I have to
offer them? What can I do to support them in this
moment?” she said. “Then I realized like, it’s going to be
the love of God that stands out. I shouldn’t worry about
being a mzungu who doesn’t know what to say.”
And so Miss Lean, a 21-year-old junior at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, gently cradled a baby girl as she
sat with the sick infant’s mother, Lydia.
The little girl’s name was Claire, and she was one child among
hundreds who passed through the arms of the volunteers work-
ing at the Cure International hospital.
Claire suffered from malnutrition
and a terrible infection. Despite the
Story by
hospital staff’s best efforts to save her,
she died soon after arriving, a victim of
CATHARIN
the many poverty-related illnesses in
the third world country. SHEPARD
Miss Lean’s brief time with the baby
stayed with her long after she returned home to the United
States. She couldn’t forget what she saw and felt in Uganda, and
she didn’t want Claire to be forgotten.
Now, a class of Mount Olive College students is keeping the
memory of one little girl alive, and working to give babies just
like her the chance Claire never got – the chance to grow up.
•
The attitude about the mzungu changed the first time one of
them reached out to cradle a baby — and by the end of the trip,
the word had taken on a different connotation.
The children at the Cure International hospital face serious
neurological problems, and many are born with visible physical
defects. In Ugandan society, having a child with a defect often
means exile for the mother, and abandonment by her husband.
Seeing the “aimless travelers” hold their children, even when
their own families turned them away, had a profound effect on Photo submitted
the mothers.
“They loved it, they loved the mzungu. They love it when we Katherine Lean, 21, a junior at the University of North
hold their babies,” Miss Lean said. “They feel kind of shameful, Carolina at Chapel Hill, holds a baby at the Cure
they feel like, ‘Why did my husband leave me, why did my vil- International Hospital in Uganda. Most of the children
lage turn away from me for having this child?’ But when the she worked with at the hospital won’t live to see their
mzungu come in and holds their babies, it was like ‘Wow, some- next birthday because of malnourishment and
one in the world cares about my baby.’” life-threatening illnesses.
The volunteers shared smiles with the mothers as they cra-
dled infants with hydrocephalus, misshapen ears and brain
tumors that poked through their still-soft skulls.
Claire could have been just one more infant among hundreds
at the hospital, but for Miss Lean, she wasn’t. “They loved it, they loved the mzungu.
“I just felt a kind of spiritual connection, I guess. It really
helped me bond with this mother and this child. To be honest, I They love it when we hold their babies.
really bonded with all the mothers and all the children. I just They feel kind of shameful, they feel like,
felt a special connection with baby Claire,” she said.
It made the news that came the following day even harder for ‘Why did my husband leave me, why did my
her to take, when a pastor announced that one of the children
had passed away.
village turn away from me for having this child?’
“I remember immediately, I lost all color in my face. I probably But when the mzungu come in and holds their
stopped breathing for a few seconds, because I realized that was
the baby I held the day before,” Miss Lean said.
babies, it was like ‘Wow, someone in the world
• cares about my baby.’”
She grieved with Lydia, sitting with the distraught mother
and sharing her prayers and tears.
“They were very brave, probably some of the bravest people I’ll University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill junior
ever meet, and just going into this room, crying with the mom, KATHERINE LEAN on the bonding experience shared
praying with the mom, bonding with her, it was really a power- between volunteers and Ugandan mothers
ful experience,” she said.
As they waited, the Ugandan women would take strips of
scrap paper and roll them into beads. In the poverty-stricken
country, selling the beads is one of the few ways the mothers
have of making money to help support the medical care for their
children.
It wasn’t the first time Miss Lean had encountered the beaded
necklaces. She received a string of the beads months before as a
Christmas present from her brother, along with a card explain-
ing what they were. But when she came face-to-face with the
women who made them, it was like a sign that she was in the
right place.
“It was like, wow, I’m meant to be here. This is proof,” Miss
Lean said.
The volunteers thought the necklaces were “cool,” and when
they found out each necklace that was sold supported one child
for one day at the hospital, they “thought it was even cooler.”
The day Claire died, Lydia and Miss Lean worked together on
beads that would be sold to support other women’s sons and
daughters.
“We sat there and made paper beads and laughed and cried,”
Miss Lean said.
The volunteers later learned that Claire died of an infection
that could have been easily treated if she had been in the
United States.
“Ultimately the reason she died was out of poverty. Poverty
killed this baby, and I couldn’t sleep at night because of that. It’s
not OK, and something needs to be done,” Miss Lean said. “This
was reality, this was their life. It just hurt really bad to see that.”
In the emotional aftermath of the mission, her memories of
Claire and the beads stuck with her. She mentioned it when she
spoke with her father, Mount Olive College art professor Larry
Lean.
“My dad kind of decoded my jumbled phrases and tears —
they probably weren’t making much sense, because I was such a
mess at this point — and decided he wanted to help the memory Photo submitted
of baby Claire to live on,” she said. The Cure International Hospital in Uganda, where Miss
When his daughter mentioned the simple but unique paper Lean volunteered, treats children, free of charge,
beads the mothers created, the professor got an idea, and it suffering from birth defects such as spina bifida and
See BEADS, Page 5C enlarged heads, called hydroencephalopathy.
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