Issue #7

09.10.2008

Issue #7

AFRICAN ADVENTURES

News Flash

"Karamojong children sold for sh2,500, says MP"

- The New Vision 18.09.08

That's less than $2 Australia!

Will I buy an avocado today, or a child?

It’s amazing how much humanity has devalued people. And it’s not just the values of Uganda, or Africa. It’s an international crisis. Jinja, the district where I live, is a Ugandan hotspot for child trafficking to the West. (I’ll give more details as to how and why if you like, but for now I’ll leave it at that.)

The significance of this article to what I’m doing is that some of our (Care 4 Kids’) children are migrants from this tribe. Kikarimoja, where they settle in Jinja, is the poorest and most marginalized community in the district.

On Saturday 27^th – Sunday 28^th September we brought 22 more children into Care4Kids. We now have 64 children living at the base. It’s hard to believe there were only 23 (3 whom have grown up and left) when I came in February.

There was a team from ISA here for 3 weeks at the end of September. Although this made life insanely busy – to be honest, I didn’t always cope very well – it’s so good having visitors come. Their hearts were completely for the children; and in a very poor and broken nation it’s good for them (Ugandans) to know they are not forgotten.

Before we take in children, they have to be identified (although we do manage to pick up an extra or two each time). Sadly, two of the children we were going to have come died before we went for them. Children died. I can’t believe it only takes one line to write something like that. It was a full-on time for ISA and visitors alike.

The morning we picked up the children from Kikarimoja, the mother of Maria and Jeremiah starved to death. The father had already died, also from starvation. When the family was found, they had no home, and the mum was lying there naked. Maria begged for ISA to take her brother and herself straight away.

I have never seen such a sick child as Jeremiah Buyinza (we gave him this name, to represent strength and authority). His jiggers were worse than Mukisa’s (see AA3), he’s covered in scabies, his ears were so infected he was deaf, and he was so malnutritioned that the Australian doctor (lives here) wasn’t sure if he would make it. Neither Jeremiah (6) nor Maria (9) knew how to bathe themselves, and when I went to clean out his ears bugs crawled out. Disgusting! And I thought the smell was bad.

It was kind of amusing to watch the new children in their new home when I played mum for a couple of nights. Swapping beds, turning lights on and off, opening and closing doors, learning how to use the toilet… sleep was not on the agenda. Our poor staff, with all the sickness and extra children, and catching up from the team being here, everyone is exhausted.

Then, amidst the changes during the team’s visit, I got the loveliest surprise. John and Jenny, long-term missionaries now in South Africa – they directed me to their Australian church when I was in Uganda in 2004 – came to visit. Not only was it great to see them, they introduced me to an honourable local couple just up the road, and to some people at Youth With A Mission. With Bec having left only a month ago, this is great timing to establish a stronger friendship and support base. God is good.  

  

As usual, a lot happens in a month. I’ve been to Kenya with Bec, on her way out of Africa, where we stayed with missionaries from Pioneers. They are such godly, lovely people, and were so good to us. It was also good to get some practical advice about being here long-term, like how to learn the language and having a support base. Then I came back to Uganda and the team arrived. With everyone now gone, we continue to develop the changes of staff, rooming, roles and standards; and maintain them. And while I wait and push for things to smooth out, I continue to enjoy the hugs, smiles and development of our children.. I get to be part of it J.