January 17, 2013 Uganda part one



Greetings

Well I am back from Uganda after a few days.  This will be Uganda visit part one blog.  Today I want to just go over the details of the Orphans a little and tomorrow I want to get into something a little bit more difficult to discuss.

On Monday we crossed the border into Uganda met up with Bishop Moses and made our way to the Executive Hotel in Bugiri.  This border crossing was a complete surprise versus my other crossings.  I was the only one in line to leave Kenya and I was the only one in line to go into Uganda.  What seemed strange was that there were a large number of people on each side of the border and in no mans land in between.  For those of you who do not know what no mans land is let me explain.  This is the area between the two countries about the size of a football field where there is no jurisdiction whatsoever.  Crossing the border is actually going through a total of four gates.  Coming from Kenya into Uganda you pass the first armed gate into a staging area to fill out departure papers and have your visa exit stamped with customs.  The second armed gate is the gate to no mans land where you walk about a hundred yards to gate number three.  I assume that you enter this area at your own risk since none of the armed guards on either side are allowed to enter the area.  The third gate is the armed gate where you enter Ugandan customs fill out the form give them fifty bucks for a visa and they tell you to have a great visit.  Once past the customs area you then go through the last armed gate upon entering Uganda.  The return trip is the opposite except if you have a valid Kenyan visa the cost is nothing.

On Tuesday we were off to see some of the Orphans.  Our first stop was just outside of Bugiri to meet with 3 pastors whom have a total of 8 Orphans among them.  One pastor has four, another one, and the last three.  I am not that great with names since I meet so many people when I do these excursions.  The pastor/wife that has four Orphans also has three of their own.  The four were not in attendance since they were visiting their grandmothers while school is out of session here in Uganda.  My understanding is that the children are from two different families where as both sets of parents are dead.  The pastor/wife that has one Orphan also has five of their own.  Both parents of this child are dead and it appears that there are no other relatives to assist with her. 

The last pastor/wife whom is also the General Secretary of Freedom International Uganda Masava Samuel have taken in three Orphans to add to the three of their own.  These three Orphans are from the war torn north that had wandered into the area with a few others.  Their little village in northern Uganda was raided and their parents/relatives killed.  The violence in northern Uganda has subsided in the last few years as the rebels have been pushed into the Congo.  It is my understanding that in the bush many children do not get birth certificates or other documents until they are older if they get any at all.  So I guess once the relatives of these children are killed off no one else knows they exist making them virtually invisible and easy recruits for the rebels or others to take advantage of them. 

I was told of the neighbor woman living near Masava whom has aids and is close to death.  Her husband has already died of aids and once she is dead then there will be four more children left without parents.  I asked him what would happen to the children once the mother is gone.  He told me that they are already helping where they can since the mother has no income and no way of earning any income.  So they assist with food and some other essentials when they are able.  I am not sure what will happen to the four children upon the death of the mother but my assumption they will be absorbed into the community somehow. 

Pastor/wife that has four Orphans (not pictured)

Pastor/wife with one Orphan and five of their own

Pastor Masava/wife with three Orphans and three of their own



We made our way to the next stop just south of Busia and we were greeted by a large number of children.  Of course I was clueless to what was going on and I quickly found out that the 5 pastors of the area had brought their Orphans to this one church to greet us.  Aaron and I were here just a couple of months ago and there were only supposed to be 76 Orphans scattered among the 19 churches here in Eastern Uganda.  Earlier in the day I had met 3 pastors with 8 Orphans easy enough.  The numbers seem to be what we believed them to be.  Well now I have met 5 pastors with 72 Orphans with 4 more just added on today.  If I do my math correctly I have now met 8 of the 19 pastors with a total of 84 Orphans.  If I add the 12 that Bishop Moses has the new number is 96 Orphans.  There are still 11 churches with how many Orphans?  Did I ever tell any of you that communications here in Uganda is a little more difficult then Kenya?

Busia area Orphans singing in the church

Bishop Hezron and the Busia area Orphans

(not sure why I missed Bishop Moses in the picture)

Overall the meetings went very well.  During my speech to the children I asked how many of the children were looking at a mzungu for the first time.   After my question was translated I was surprised to see that at least half if not more were seeing their first mzungu.  At the end of the meeting with the children I invited them all to shake my hand.  I think I have mentioned this before and it needs repeating for those that plan to come and pay a visit.  Once you offer to shake some hands be prepared to shake a lot of hands multiple times. 

After the group meeting we met with the 5 pastors to discuss church based Orphan care and a little about the micro-finance project to be started later.  Obviously there seems to be a little problem with the number of children and hopefully Bishop Moses and his staff will be able to come up with a resolution.

I will discuss Wednesday’s agenda and some more discussion on my time in Uganda in tomorrow’s blog.

Take care and God bless

Dave