During my first 2 trips to Uganda I had heard of Jiggers. I knew what they were, but it wasn't until my third week here this time around that I got to experience them first hand...
Jiggers are tiny black bugs that burrow under your skin, most of the time in your feet, and lay eggs under your skin. When you remove them (which isn't all that painful if you catch them early) it leaves a hole in your skin until it heals. If you don't catch them, they get more and more painful, they can become infected, and if you wait too long the eggs hatch and basically explode out of your skin. Leaving an even bigger hole than if you remove them.
My third week here I found between 20 and 30 in my feet. It was annoying but not all that bad. I still have no idea how or why I got so many, when most of the other girls got one or two. But I quickly became the expert jigger remover.
In the village, the kids are infested with them. Some of them have horrible scars and holes all over their hands and feet. These kids walk barefoot everywhere, so they are just prone to get these bugs that live in feces infested soil. Zirobwe is a farming village. They all have crops and animals and it's the perfect place for jiggers to thrive.
Well after my own bout with jiggers, I decided it would be wonderful to go to the village, clean the kids' feet, remove and treat their jiggers, and then give them new shoes. Well, after this week, I'm glad my idea never panned out.
As I got to the village on Monday, Shannon had a 2 year old little girl named Nettie in her lap and was trying to remove a jigger from her finger. Nettie wasn't cooperating, so Shannon called me. She held Nettie while I worked on her finger. Half of her thumb was jigger. I worked to remove it, and Nettie took it like a champ. I got it out and she had a gaping hole in her finger. We began to treat it and then the drama began. She was not a fan of mine and I can imagine why... I then checked her feet and found another one in her foot. I tried and tried to get it out. She cried and squirmed and looked at me like I was a monster. It broke my heart. I just wanted her to understand that it was for her good, that it needed to be done. But I had to give up.
I then removed a huge one from her older brother's toe. He did amazing, even though I know he was in so much pain. It breaks my heart to see kids hurting. I hate it.
As I thought about watching this little girl go through all of this and I just wanted her to know it was for her own good. I think God looks at us that way. Sometimes we go through things that seem so painful and we look at Him like He's a monster, but HE knows what's best for us. He knows that sometimes pain is for our own good. He knows that sometimes, the only way you can heal is to deal with some pain.
But let it be known, even though God used jiggers to teach me a lesson: I still hate them, and pray that I don't have to deal with them a ton in my future.
Until all have heard,
lauren michelle gross
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