The Road Towards Healing: a Fort Portal journey.
A poem by Emma Fleming
In morning haze, I walked the road,
Past mist-veiled hills where mangoes grow.
With eco-essentials in my reusable tote,
I travelled unburdened, mind afloat.
No wheels beneath, no carbon trail,
Just steady steps on a dirt-worn tale—
To Kagote’s gate and hospital’s door,
Where care begins and health restores.
The sun would rise on cries and song,
A language foreign, yet I belonged.
In tiny hands and searching eyes,
I met the world, its truth, its cries.
Here, culture bloomed in gestures kind,
In strength and sorrow, intertwined.
I committed myself, day upon day,
Embracing Ugandan Earth-friendly ways.
The ward was full – with love and ache,
Where nurses learn, and lifelines break.
I stood amidst both life and loss,
A witness to what care must cost.
To soothe, to feed, to clean, to hold-
To warm a child when nights turned cold
Holistic hands in humble grace,
Uplift the Earth in every space.
I saw traditions deep and wide,
Heard lullabies put pain aside.
Learned silence speaks when words fall short,
And presence is the kindest sort.
Culture shock in sudden waves,
Yet I emerged, not lost – but changed.
The world grew vast, and so did I,
Beneath Uganda’s endless sky.
Health means more than hearts that beat;
It starts where Earth and equity meet.
Through SDGs, our vision grows-
From clean air to the crops we sow.
Goal Six in action-water clean.
Goal Thirteen where the cost is seen.
And through it all, the goals align
With stethoscope and earth in mind.
I walked not just to serve and learn,
But walked to feel the planet turn
With one less plume of engine’s breath-
In lands where poor air hastens death.
Uganda’s skies, though vast and bright,
Still bear pollution’s creeping blight.
We tread this world in fleeting stay –
So walk it gently, come what may.
Now back at home, the lessons stays
Of barefoot kids upon red-clay,
Of sharing tea and stories told
Of medicine, both new and old.
And in my care, I hold the blend
Of global heart and Earth as friend,
For every life I touch from here,
Carries Fort Portal, close and clear.
References
Climate & Clean Air Coalition (n.d.). Uganda | Climate & Clean Air Coalition. [online] www.ccacoalition.org. Available at: https://www.ccacoalition.org/partners/uganda.
United Nations (2015). The 17 Sustainable Development Goals. [online] United Nations. Available at: https://sdgs.un.org/goals.
