American With No Medical Training Ran Center For Malnourished Ugandan Kids. 105 Died

[TomSea]

Note, CNN and other more concise news reports are at the bottom of this post. Maybe they cut to the chase quicker. This NPR article is a bit lengthy.

American With No Medical Training Ran Center For Malnourished Ugandan Kids. 105 Died
August 9, 20195:44 PM ET
Heard on All Things Considered
Nurith Aizenman
Malaka Gharib 2016 square


Renee Bach, 30, is being sued in Ugandan civil court over the deaths of children who were treated at the critical care center she ran in Uganda. She has left Uganda and is now living in Bedford County, Virginia, where she grew up.
Julia Rendleman/for NPR

Ten years ago, Renee Bach left her home in Virginia to set up a charity to help children in Uganda. One of her first moves was to start a blog chronicling her experiences.

Among the most momentous: On a Sunday morning in October 2011, a couple from a village some distance away showed up at Bach's center carrying a small bundle.

"When I pulled the covering back my eyes widened," Bach wrote in the blog. "For under the blanket lay a small, but very, very swollen, pale baby girl. Her breaths were frighteningly slow. ... The baby's name is Patricia. She is 9 months old."

...


Primah Kwagala, a Ugandan attorney, has filed suit against Bach on behalf of two mothers of children who died after being cared for by Bach's charity.    Majungu Eva/evashots_Photography

Read more at: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/08/09/749005287/american-with-no-medical-training-ran-center-for-malnourished-ugandan-kids-105-d

Okay, read most of the story, the American lady did not have the experience to run this center. Slowly, though, she sort of got caught up in helping these people. She should have had a nurse at her center all the time.

I do see CNN and other news sources covered this. Perhaps their reporting would be a bit more concise. This story must be about 5 typed pages long.

But this article seems written by an acquaintance of Renee Bach, this author also must be a white young woman who went over there.

When White Saviorism Turns Deadly: American missionary played doctor, children died, when will there be justice?
No White Saviors
Sep 29, 2018 ·


Pictured is Renee Bach, an American missionary who moved to Jinja, Uganda at age 18. She is not a Doctor, not a Nurse. With no formal medical training, Ms. Bach started experimenting with medical procedures she’d learn from Youtube.

When I first visited Uganda in 2010, I was 20-years-old and chock-full of the white savior complex. I volunteered for 3 months at an orphanage in Jinja, Uganda and I really believed I was making a difference. I fundraised for my trip, raising thousands of dollars from family and friends to fill a role that was absolutely not necessary, even though I believed it was. The Ugandan women who cared for the children in the home were far better equipped to love and care for these children. They knew the culture, language and were a constant in the lives of the at-risk kids who came into care.

One of the hardest but most important lessons I have learned over the last 8 years has been that good intentions are not good enough. No matter how well meaning I have been or continue to be, the impact of my actions on the community I claim to be helping far outweighs my goodwill.

While in Jinja my white savior complex was only reinforced as I met other young, white American women who had moved to this same town. I watched in awe of young women who moved halfway across the world at age 18 with no experience, no college education. They were starting organizations and adopting children. How amazing? If they could do it, why not me? So I did. With only a bachelors degree and little-to-no experience, I co-founded an NGO in the same town as Renee Bach and her project - “Serving His Children.”

Read more at: https://medium.com/@nowhitesaviors/when-white-saviorism-turns-deadly-american-missionary-played-doctor-children-died-when-will-edb278b938bc

CNN, okay, here, she is being sued for the death of 2 babies.:

American missionary in 'unlawful medical practice' suit after babies died in Uganda
By Shelby Rose, CNN
Updated 1:10 AM ET, Thu July 4, 2019

 (CNN)An American missionary has been accused of posing as a medical expert in Uganda, in a case involving the deaths of two local children.

Renee Bach and her non-profit Serving His Children (SHC) have been named in a civil lawsuit filed in Uganda for operating a "medical facility" without a license.

The plaintiffs include Women's Probono Initiative (WPI) an organization that promotes women's human rights in Uganda and Gimbo Zubeda and Kakai Annet, who allege that actions by Bach and SHC led to the death of Zubeda and Annet's babies.

Read more at: https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/03/africa/renee-bach-lawsuit-uganda-intl/index.html

More, Uganda News:

Woman sued over death of babies, faking qualification
Wednesday January 23 2019

By ANTHONY WESAKA & BETTY NDAGIRE

Kampala-A woman who has been running a local non-governmental organisation and whose alleged activities involved treating malnourished children with some dying in the process, has been sued for her alleged actions on grounds that she was not a qualified medical doctor.

Ms Renee Bach, a foreign national, was sued alongside her organisation, Serving His Children (SHC) before Jinja High Court on Monday.

The petition was filed by two women from Masese in Jinja District; Ms Gimbo Zubeda and Ms Kakai Rose, alongside a Civil Society Organisation; Women’s Probono Initiative.

Read more at: https://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Woman-sued-death-of-babies-faking-qualification-Renee-Bach/688334-4946924-84otomz/index.html

Heckuva story and the second article, "No White Saviors", I guess, that's the alias the writer is using.

[mountaineer]

That's what happens when people who don't have a clue find themselves in charge of things, cf., Obama.

[Sanguine]

I'm ambivalent here.  On the one hand, these were seriously ill children, some of whom doubtless would have died had they been cared for by a doctor.  Looks like there were no medical people available.  And, the mothers were not able to provide for the little ones.  So, in that kind of case, do you think "anything I do may help"? 

"Pneumonia, intestinal parasites, tuberculosis, many were in stage 4 HIV," Kramlich says.

But, then it sounds like she went way beyond basic care.

[TomSea]

I'm ambivalent here.  On the one hand, these were seriously ill children, some of whom doubtless would have died had they been cared for by a doctor.  Looks like there were no medical people available.  And, the mothers were not able to provide for the little ones.  So, in that kind of case, do you think "anything I do may help"? 

But, then it sounds like she went way beyond basic care.

That's a lot of how I see it too. But I think she should have had a nurse there all the time to at least, have a chance to advise. Or somehow network. I'm sure she was inundated with patients.



Because so much of Mexico is indeed, very rural, very isolated. Maybe more in the day.

This book is a classic,  I have its Spanish only version, I must have bought it about 25-30 years ago (sigh)... but it outlines some very basic health care. I hope she had some things to help her.

Good heavens, one of the articles says she learned things by google... youtube.... I mean, I can see that in a limited way... mainly for self-care.

I darn sure wouldn't do what she did.

A kid hurts himself badly in a bike accident out, 30-50 miles from town, it's an emergency, maybe there is something I could do.

[EdJames]

Don’t knock YouTube videos for medical information, Tommy.

I run an outpatient surgical-center out of my garage during tourist season, I learned all of the procedures on YouTube.....

 

[mountaineer]

People mean well. Unfortunately, sometimes that's not enough.

[jpsb]

People mean well. Unfortunately, sometimes that's not enough.

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions" someone once said. She is about to learn that.