-WHO IS BARTON BROOKS?

Dear Friends

Last Weekend was quite the adventure for me and several others: It was friday night and I received a phone call from a Nursing student telling me an American Man had been in a motorcycle acident and was now in surgery.
So, being the dutiful "American Nurse Caregiver of Uganda-ha" I rushed to theatre (Surgical Ward) to check it out. It seems he and a friend had been hit by a vehicle and the Ugandan friend, though injuried, was not as badly hurt as the American.
----Anthony, the Ugandan was in pain with a broken arm, which would be repaired the next day, but since he is , maybe, the sweetest man alive, his only concern was his friend Barton.
---When Barton arrived in his private room , he was confused and in a great deal of pain, as our wonderful surgeon from Holland, Dr. Robert, was only able to stabablize his fractured leg and wrist as we do not have the necessary equipment (pins etc.) for the needed surgery and the X-ray tech was too inhibriated to take decent photo's (smile).
---Hearing my American english was a comfort to Brooks and he latched onto my voice like a lifeline, which is totally understandable when you are soooo far from home and in pain.
Barton just wanted to "go to the States "which though understandable, was impractical.
That is when our dear new American MD Dr. Lou Coda, can galloping to the rescue: On Saturday, he must have made a 100 calls gathering information from the American Embassey, Barton's friends and family and local contacts. What a great job he did! So much so that an airplane awaited us at Kisoro airfield on sunday to whisk Barton to Kampala for surgery and care.
There were, of course, many difficulties but for me the main issue was getting decent pain control for Barton. Uganda still has the mindset that addiction is a primary concern, so injections were few and far between.
I am sorry to say the nursing students saw a side of me they had previously not encountered; resulting in harsh words, while I tried to relive this mans pain. Again Dr. Coda came to the rescue, ordering Demerol and Phenergan q4 hrs, instead of four times a day.
----I knew friday nite and only just read about his journey to Uganda and his work here, last nite (Thur) on the Internet.
--- He is quite an interesting guy and thought his NGO Global Colors has a website I was more successful in reading about him on another site called http://www.guerrillaaid.com/
----Barton is now now recovering from extensive surgery in Kampala and since my friend Robina works there, I am able to keep tabs on his recovery.

So many awesome pics were taken of our weekend adventure, but none with my camera, so I eagerly await copies. But until then just click onto his sites and imagine the journey of riding in an open back small truck with Brooks on a stretcher, six of his friends doing the lifting and me sitting on the side of the truck holding a glass IV bottle up in the air-ha. WHAT A SITE !!!!!!
---------------------------Marie


-----Who is BARTON BROOKS? Barton Brooks founded Global Colors http://www.globalcolors.org/ and continues to run day to day operations. He strongly adheres to the principle that if you think something should be done, well then, figure out a way to just go and do it. My story: I founded Global Colors after years of volunteer work and international travel, starting with a couple of years in London before studying political history and theology in Israel and the Middle East. I developed an insatiable case of wanderlust and explored Europe, North America, South America, Asia, and Africa - and in the process, became acutely aware of the individual needs that plague our world. Traveling to take pictures and collect souveniers started feeling a bit hollow, and it was in Cambodia where I finally was inspired to make a difference. I changed my life to reflect that, and started my little organization to just do random acts of service around the world. I started creating projects, and to make it all happen sold my only asset (a Shelby Cobra replica that I built by hand) to personally fund the first GC projects. I'll still cry about that car if you catch me on the wrong day, but that beautiful hunk of metal became an education for kids in Cambodia, and changed the lives of some beautiful women in Kenya. So in reality, it was a no-brainer...