Eyes Wide Opened (Mon. June 30)

This has been quite a day! We stopped in at the nearby internet café then met up with Owen to begin our visits. Owen had engine problems with his car and so for now, and for our local shorter trips we are using public transportation. I think they are both getting quite a kick out of helping fill out my African resume by exposing me to this. Public transportation here involves packing into a van (early 80’s model with worn out shocks). The idea of one person per seatbelt has not reached here yet. Where 10 people should be able to fit snugly, 15 squeeze in. It reminded me of those contests we had back in high school where you would see how many people you could cram into a Gremlin! (yes I do remember the fish tank car!)

Once in these people waste no time! They drive on the wrong side of the road which is an adjustment in itself, but then you would not believe how quickly they move into and out of traffic which is moving quickly. Then after we arrived in downtown Kampala and I exchanged some money, Douglas says to me, “we will sit on a bicycle”. O.K. that should be interesting… I wonder if he means we should sit on one or two and decide to buy them for easy local travelling. What he meant was we would jump on the backs of motorcycles and the drivers would weave quickly through all this traffic and get us to the next stop faster. This is not for the faint of heart and you better keep your knees in!

We then took another van ride and headed out of Kampala going ultimately to Mukono. Once there we jumped in a car and it was arranged that this car would take us to the rural areas of Mukono district to visit “Astride Faith Children School Project”. This is back in the hills and the drive along the dirt roads gives a person the clearest view of what poverty really is. There was no end to the small homes, shacks, huts, all intermixed with little retail outlets that the people own to eke out a living. This is exactly what we mean when we refer to the worlds poor. This is what you can see when you watch World Vision on TV. Children are everywhere dressed, partially dressed or not dressed at all. Mother’s are nursing and it seems that most people are sitting around in their yards on makeshift yard chairs, benches, or just hanging out at all the retail outlets. Apparently there is no work for most of them. Douglas and Owen guessed that perhaps 30 percent of the

people have jobs of some sort. Most people have no jobs as we understand them. They explained that as a Banana country and as a small agricultural nation most people grow what little they can simply to feed themselves and if possible raise some chickens, roast bananas, or whatever other food staple they have access to and then sell what they can on the roadsides. Indeed, whenever the van stopped for a pick up, people would rush to its side and push their goods through the windows to sell to the passengers. For most people, it is a hand to mouth existence. There are few if any essential services that we are accustomed to back home. No ambulance, no health care system with benefits, limited sewage systems in the rural areas and lack of clean water. Lack of water is a big issue in the rural areas. People walk for miles to carry water back home and it may not always be safe to drink and must be boiled. Nobody has phones in their homes from what I can tell, but nearly everybody has a cell phone. In the rural villages you don’t have to go far to find retail outlets where you can top up your minutes.

We got to the school / orphanage project and it turns out they were waiting for us and the children were all prepared for the visitor from Canada. They had rehearsed several songs and greetings for me, and approximately 80 out of the 164 registered were there under the tree with their teachers waiting to perform for me. They were awesome. They learn in English but when I was asked to speak to them Owen translated into Luganda for me. They clapped at various things I said but I don’t think they remembered what I said, as much as they remembered what I looked like! Here was the “Muzungu” (white person) from Canada and he sure looks different.

We looked at the part of the school where the classrooms are, the office, the clinic, and then of course the dorm rooms where 10 children sleep. What Astride does is takes “special cases” of children that are completely without care. Some came with very poor health and were malnourished and Astride feeds them and takes them in and hosts them in dorm rooms. What is really interesting is that they do not take all the orphans into dormitory care. Many of the children whose parents are not around, in prison, or had died are placed into local families in the nearby community and then spend the daytime at Astride school. This has resulted in tremendous support of the project by the locals. Two of the meals these children eat are at the school and the evening meal is with these families who have been screened and approved to welcome the child into the home where parents are involved. It is a very good system.

Astride is only 3 years old, and Owen and the staff are committed to the project. They chose the area after researching the demographics and finding that the crime rate was higher in Mukono district and it is also a very poor area. Due to connections to the prison system, they work together with the prison authorities to ascertain if there are any children without care in the community that belong to someone who is incarcerated in Luzira. After all the process is complete and if the prisoner asks for and consents to the care the child is identified and brought to Astride for schooling, health care, food, and support.

Many other children in the vicinity of the school attend as well since the nearest government provided school is too far away and as a result the children were not going. Clearly Astride is making a difference in the lives of these children who without it would have no hope whatsoever. I was impressed with the integration the school project has with the local community and that the families in the local community are involved in so many ways including taking most of the children in so that they have a home environment.

One has to visit Astride as with any of the schools and orphanages in order to get a sense of how crucial the role is that they play. Decent health care and having an education are the two biggest things that reduce poverty. The lack of these things is a guarantee that people will remain in poverty. Astride is an example of meaningful and worthwhile opportunities to contribute to and invest in to make a difference in the lives of people.

Funny story to end this blog update with. We were packed into a van going back towards Kampala. I wanted to see the campus of Uganda Christian University which has vaulted itself onto the world stage by offering a world class post secondary education. When we had stopped once to let someone out the sellers came up to the sides of the van again to try and sell Matoke (roasted banana) or roasted chicken on a stick or water. Three young guys were standing outside the van right where I was sitting as I had the window open and my arm resting outside the van. They were looking at my arm and talking to each other in Luganda. A little while later Douglas told me what they were saying. He was already laughing before he told me. Apparently they were wondering why they could see such a lightly colored arm and what it meant. The one guy was explaining to the other guys that for the muzungu the blood flows right at the surface of the skin near the top and that is why you can see blood in the veins, but, he went on to explain that for the African the blood flows further frm the surface and that is why you cannot see it. We laughed for at least 5 km.