One Year Away

Joseph

It’s been a while since our last post.  We’ve been kept busy here at the El-Shadai Foster home in Eastern Uganda.  We arrived in the capital Kampala on May 10th and made our way to the Foster home which is about 2 hours drive to the east.  We were picked up at our hostel by a couple of the older boys from the home and a driver.  They told us all about the home and how it works by the time we pulled up to the gates.

We had planned on volunteering at an orphanage in Uganda but when those original plans fell through we were left scrambling for an alternative at the last minute.  We spent many hours at Internet cafes in Mumbai before we found the website for Kids Worldwide.  They helped us cut through the bureaucracy and got us in to volunteer at the home with a minimum of fuss or hassle.

There are 33 kids at the El-Shadai home ranging in age from 4 to 21 years old.  Their sole guardian is Stephen Wante, a 30 year old former street kid and foster child himself.  The main house is about the size of an average pre-war suburban bungalow in Canada.  This is where the girls have their bunk rooms and Stephen has a room for himself.  There are also 2 rooms for volunteers who stay over.  The boys sleep in a small dormitory built behind the main house. 

All of the kids who are of school age go to school, either at a day school or at a boarding school.  This in itself is a success in a country where parents must pay significant fees for primary and secondary school.  We arrived here during a month long school holiday so have already met all of the children.  The kids have been incredible!  They are so kind, appreciative, affectionate…I’ m going to run out of adjectives.   Perhaps the most incredible thing is how they turned out this way when they have lived through tragedies that most of us could scarcely imagine.  Most of the children here have lost their parents to AIDS, then spent years on the street suffering humiliating, degrading abuse that I can’t even write here.

There are also young children whose parent’s are still living but are simply unable to support them either due to extreme poverty or substance abuse.  Uncle Stephen as they call him has taken them in, is caring for them and ensuring that they get the education that they need.  Occasionally, children who have parent’s or family members living in the area do get the chance to visit them.  Stephen believes that it is important for the children to know their roots and to have a relationship with members of their families even if in the past some of those family members inflicted abuse on them.  Stephen’s mission goes beyond just helping the children.  He wants to help the entire family and community and has started various foundations to do exactly that.

From the moment we arrived, we have felt like a part of a large family.  The children call us Auntie and Uncle and spontaneously come to hug us or just sit with us.  They have been receiving volunteers here for about 1 year  and are used to having "mzungu’s" (literally Europeans – used as a general term for white people).  The kids are I think most of the volunteers have been female because the boys seem quite fascinated with my arm and leg hair… 🙂

We have been using our business training to help out here and have started work on a number of projects that we’ll write about in our next post.