This work is NOT easy!!!

Our last work day was spent with the sponsored children in Fort Portal. Some children are orphaned and have sponsors that cover most of their basic needs. Others are bright, top-scoring secondary students that have scholarships. All of them are extremely poor with tremendous drive and potential. They greet us with prayers and poems of gratitude. They are as young as 6 and as old as 20 and are dressed in their best to meet us. They ask us to stand and say a few words to them. My mom tears up as she tells them about one of her favorite song she sings in the choir that declares, “there are no orphans of God”. Many of the people start to cry. One of the kids comes to me after the meeting and tells me he has 3 others siblings at home with little to eat and no way to complete school. Two young sisters tell us that their brother is getting married and leaving the home. Their parents are already dead. The house is falling down. They are scared. They have no where to go and ask if we can take them with us.

This is the hardest part of my job. It is one thing to sit in the comfort of our offices and analyze the statistics and devise the best strategies. It is another experience entirely to have a desperate child look you in the eyes and tell you they need your help. I can’t start handing out money to everyone that needs it because there would be nothing left. We have to utilize our limited funds in a manner that will be effective and efficient. But how do you explain this to someone who is suffering. I so often have guilt when I tell them, “I am sorry. We are trying to help you, but we must be patient” while I return to the security of my hotel and they return to sadness and an unknown future.

It is inevitable. The day always comes when we are hit with the magnitude of the desperate needs of the children here. I know I cannot cry because once I start, I may not be able to stop. It is so much easier to ignore poverty and the gross inequalities in the world because if we acknowledge it, then we are responsible to do something about it. Sometimes I become frustrated with the lack of response from people who have the means and capability to respond to the hurting people of the world. However, I truly believe that anyone with half a heart and soul would be completely mortified if they saw first-hand the desperate needs of children living in the slums, brothels, and child-headed households of the world. I have to think, perhaps for my own sanity, that we have become numb and desensitized to all of the misery and destruction in the world through melodramatic infomercials pleading for help and the availability of 24 hours news highlighting the world’s wars and catastrophes. It becomes overwhelming to think about and seems a hopeless endeavor to try to ease the endless suffering and actually make an impact.

However, we have to keep our focus on the changes and progress that lie before us. The orphans that have safe, permanent homes, students that have textbooks and trained teachers, the grandmother who can now afford food, clothes, and school fees for her orphaned grandchildren. In fact, if we take the time to look we can see good things happening all around us. It may take time and it may take faith that the help will come, but we have seen so many signs of hope and progress that we can’t let them get lost in the sea of despair. Change is happening. At times, it may not be quick enough to suit us, but it is there.

September 16-17th

On Wednesday, we left Kampala and traveled 4 hours west to Fort Portal. Uganda is a beautiful country full of green, rolling hills, and mountains. We stopped briefly to visit Faith, the founder and director of Bringing Hope to the Family. She has done an amazing job of organizing a children’s home (“we don’t call them orphans; they are children”), a vocational training center for 120 students, and a medical clinic currently serving 330 HIV-positive patients, 70% of which are children.

We picked up Mary Abigaba, our Fort Portal Director, and went to meet with the grandmother of one of our sponsored children. In Africa, it is customary to give a gift to someone helping you, no matter how poor you are or how small the gift. In Fort Portal, it is commons for the guardians of orphans who are part of our sponsorship program to give us gifts of food. This grandmother gave us a tray of eggs, a bowl of guava, and a bag of avocados. We have difficulty with this tradition considering the plight of the people giving, but Mary assures us we cannot refuse as it would be very rude. The same situation actually applies to all of our visits throughout Africa. A visitor is highly regarded and all of our partners serve us tea or soft drinks and something to eat.

After a long day, we checked in to the Rujuna Hilltop Guesthouse, a lovely bed and breakfast perched on a hill facing the Rwenzori mountain range and overlooking the village below. We can sit on the balcony and here the noises from the village, goats, cows, birds, chatter, and children laughing. It is a pleasure to stay here and feel like family with meals served in the dining room and long talks with the owner, Edith. The first time we stayed here we had the pleasure of spending time with her husband, Silvano. He entertained us with stories of his childhood, as well as his kidnapping and eventual exile by the army of the brutal dictator, Idi Amin. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2006 and Edith seems happy to have our company.

Thursday was spent making our way through the bumpy, dusty roads of the Fort Portal villages to visit the latest recipients of the Fort Portal microgrant Every year we grant cows to 40 women who are guardians of AIDS orphans. The majority are grandmothers who in their old age, are now responsible for the care of their grandchildren after the death of their own children. Too often they are caring for grandchildren from more than one of their own children. Yet, despite their difficult circumstances, it is unbelievable how much of a difference a cow can make. The daily milk for the children can greatly improve their health and with the $30-40 a month in milk sales, they can pay for basic necessities and send their grandchildren to school. They also breed the cows and can sell calves for additional income.

I have also been very impressed with their initiative. The women form their own micro-credit groups and save small amount of money to give each other loans to start additional businesses. Once the money is paid back, they decide to make a loan to another member. This proves to me that the initiative and motivation is always there, they just need the seed money to get started.

September 15th

Good Hope

Christian Upliftment

The day started with visiting Christian Upliftment School. The schools serves children who are refugees from the civil war that has been raging in northern Uganda for the last 20 years. The North is an isolated area, where children hide at night to avoid being kidnapped and forced to become child soldiers. It was great to see the school in its new location on land that was purchased by an AYA donor. Other donors have begun to put up permanent structures and even a small merry-go-round (which was quite a monumental event where the whole community gathered to see the unbelievable fact that there was actually a piece of playground equipment in their area).

Hellen Owani runs the school and showed us around. They still have temporary classrooms made of tin sheets and dirt floors. None the less, Hellen no longer has the burden of coming up with money for rent and the children are excited to have a place to learn. One of the main functions on this trip is to organize for an upcoming grant from USAID to provide water wells and health and hygiene education to 29 communities in Uganda. Therefore, Hellen led us to the community water source where we will be providing the proper equipment to protect the spring. Although the water is clouded with mud (and who knows what else) and recently was responsible for a cholera outbreak, it is constantly full with community members filling dirty jerry cans full of water. They have no other option for water. When they have the money for charcoal or firewood they can boil the water to decontaminate it, but much of the time it is used untreated, leaving the people at risk for illness and waterborne disease.

Next, we headed across town to visit Good Hope, a primary school for over 400 children. David Rwamanero is the director. I always enjoy meeting with David because he is extremely appreciative and enthusiastic about everything. He always refers to me as “The President”(of AYA) which I find quite comical, but he means as a great source of respect. With a lack of donations in the past couple of years, our support to them has been limited. However, like all of our partners, they don’t just sit and wait for money from mzungus; they do what they can on their own. With help from parents, they were able to construct toilets and a new section of classrooms.

After a brief tour, we had an assembly with the students. As usual, David made a formal presentation out of everything. Even photos we brought that were taken at his school last year, had to be officially presented. As we were in the assembly, David reminded the children of the desks, textbooks, and money for the feeding we had given and asked them to thank us again. As they expressed great appreciation, I couldn’t help, but look around and notice the remaining dilapidated classrooms and the children with tattered uniforms and mismatched shoes. I know we have helped them the most we can, but like all of our partners, I wish we had so much more to give to them.

Off to Fort Portal

We had a great day yesterday visiting Good Hope and Christian Upliftment. I will write more later, but for now we are headed to rural, western Uganda where it is highly unlikely we will have internet services.

Bethesda International

Bethesda International

We arrived in Uganda's capital city of Kampala on Sunday afternoon. We had a small amount of concern after hearing about riots taking place on Thursday and Friday; many cars and businesses were burned and clashes with the police left at least 20 people dead. Uganda has a monarchy, but is ruled by a parliament and constitution and there was some conflict concerning recent "interference" from the king (at least this is the best I can understand). However, we have felt perfectly safe and aside from noticing a strong police presence in some areas, everything seems calm and back to normal.

Since Mom was having a little case of the African stomach bug this morning (she is totally fine now), Tina stayed back with her and I headed out to Bethesda International with our Kampala director,Vincents,and our driver, Maximus. We drove about 1 hour north of Kampala to Jinja. It was bittersweet to be at Bethesda again since its founder and director, Ruth Mirembe, died last year. None the less, they have continued with her vision and good work. Ruth founded Bethesda after she took in many of her nieces and nephews as her own siblings died of AIDS. She saw the increasing need for homes for other children as AIDS continues to orphan many of Uganda's children. Today, Bethesda provides foster homes to 200 children.

After meeting with Bethesda staff, we headed to a rural area known as Rapha, where Bethesda has 44 foster children and founded a community school for 257 children. I love riding through the African villages. They seem so peaceful and self-sufficient in their own very basic way. As westerners, our first impression is to think of people living in mud huts as people to be pitied, but upon further inspection it becomes apparent that although they live a very different life than us, they can have a decent and satisfying life in many ways that we do not. Our goals at AYA are not to bring people to an American standard of living, but for children to have the basics that make a good life possible; food, clean water, education, good health, freedom from violence and abuse, and the feeling of being loved and valued. It truly does not take a two-car garage and 42" plasma TV to bring people happiness. Anyone who has spent time in Africa will tell you that the joy and kindness of the people are remarkable. To them, if your children are fed, educated, and healthy, then life is basically good; everything else is a bonus, not a necessity.

After making our way through the village dirt roads, we were able to see Rapha School and the surrounding foster homes. I was happy to see the progress that has been made to the school. Columbine High School has been instrumental in raising money to build the Rapha School. I explained to the Bethesda staff the tragedy that Columbine is known for and how great it is that they have been able to make such a difference for another school on the other side of the world. Bethesda also has a wonderful farm in the Rapha community with livestock and crops that help to sustain their projects.

Before we headed back to Kampala, we had a nice lunch of fish (complete with the head, scales, and bones) and rice. As we made our way back, Vincents and Maximus decided to purchase some fish. Jinja is the source of the Nile River and fresh fish is readily available. To my surprise, they decided that the best way to transport the fish was to tie it to the side-view mirror. Therefore, we traveled with two large fish flapping in the wind. At home, people often have a flag with the University of Tennessee or their favorite football team, but I think two dead fish with blood and guts running down the side of the car really makes a statement. In fact, Africans make it apparent that ample trunk space is not a requirement for transporting large items. Driving down the road, you can see women with jugs of water, fruit, and even bundles of firewood on their heads. Motorcycles and bicycles serve the same purpose as pick-up trucks do in America. I even saw a man struggling up a hill on a bicycle with a huge dead hog on the back.

Okay, time to eat and update Mom and Tina on the day.

Apologies

Just to let you know, I am writing some of these blogs while traveling down a dirt road and writing qucikly before the battery runs out. Not to mention I am exhausted and half brain dead by the end of the day. So, the spelling, grammar, and format may be a little off. Hopefully, you can still get the point.

Anyway, we made it to Uganda and it is finally time to chill out a bit :)