Spaghetti dinner at San Rafael will help African hospital

By Elizabeth Marie Himchak

Eating spaghetti at San Rafael this Saturday will help save lives of children in Africa.

The fourth annual spaghetti dinner fundraiser benefiting Mbarara Holy Innocents Children’s Hospital will be 6-8 p.m. Saturday, July 27 in the San Rafael Catholic Church’s Parish Hall, 17252 Bernardo Center Drive in Rancho Bernardo.

Free-will offerings will be accepted for the dinner that includes spaghetti with meat or marinara sauce, salad, bread sticks and ice cream, said organizer Lee Haney. There will also be at least 25 items from Mbarara, Uganda, for sale.

Speakers will include the Rev. Bonaventure Turyomumazima, chancellor of the archdiocese of Mbarara. Larry Himmel from KFMB-TV will serve as emcee.

The hospital’s existence is largely due to San Rafael parishioners who in 2005 decided to help the children in Uganda after its archbishop visited San Diego. Fundraising began and by 2009 the hospital opened with a 60-bed wing, administration building and outpatient department. As of 2012 the parish and others have raised almost $4 million.

In the past four years, Turyomumazima said 85,000 children have been treated, many with life-threatening illnesses. These include 14,000 admitted to the hospital and 71,000 treated as outpatients. The three most prevalent and preventable causes of death for children under 5 years are malaria, which accounts for the deaths of 70,000 to 110,000 Ugandan children annually; respiratory infection, which accounts for 21 percent of the youngsters’ deaths, but with early diagnosis and antibiotics is curable; and dysentery, that accounts for 17 percent of the fatalities, though easily treatable with oral rehydration therapy.

Turyomumazima said the spaghetti dinner and other fundraiser proceeds will go toward the hospital’s second phase. The primary goal is to build a surgical center, which will have a two-room operating area with anesthesia machines, surgical equipment, oxygen and an uninterrupted power supply. Around $400,000 is needed and to date about $80,000 has been raised.

He said hospital officials hope to break ground next year, but that depends upon raising the full amount since “it is not our intent (for the nonprofit hospital) to borrow the money.”

Until the surgical center is built, he said children up to 12 years who need surgery are taken to the government hospital or, if parents can afford to pay for transportation, a facility 180 miles away.

While the area has three other hospitals, Turyomumazima said the two private facilities are too expensive for most Ugandans and the government hospital has a small children’s wing, where often four children share a hospital bed. “It claims to be a free service, but there is not enough medicine for the patients, so they have to buy in town so eventually parents pay more,” he said.

This is why a hospital for children, where parents pay as their finances permit, was so desperately needed, he said. Outpatients are charged $5 for a doctor visit and medication. Those admitted are charged $18 for the first night and $3 to $4 for subsequent nights. While the fees seem low by American standards, they can be high in a country where the annual per capita income is $240. A charity fund covers fees for extreme financial hardship cases.

“I have been very edified by the generous people, especially from San Rafael,” Turyomumazima said, who called their leadership with the hospital “amazing.” He added, “I am so grateful for the providential, God-given team of people who have helped us save many lives. I am so grateful for this endeavor by the American people.”

In addition to San Rafael, local Rotary clubs, Knights of Columbus councils plus faculty and nursing students at the University of San Diego and Dominican University support the hospital.