Tororo

February 16, 2007 - Friday

Tororo I'm leaving Uganda on Wednesday, the three months have gone by neither quick nor slow but just about the right speed. In this last week we traveled to Tororo which is somewhere in Uganda, the East I believe. I really need to get my hands on a map of Uganda so I can find out where I am. Tororo is the area in which OCA started; Anthony the director was born in the district in a small village. We visited his old home which is looked after by his younger brother and other relatives. Since we were visitors the family slaughtered a couple of chickens and potatoes for us to munch on. There were only 4 of us but they decided that white people can eat their own body weight plus another chicken. Tororo rock… The main purpose for the trip was to check out a few other orphanages, by a few I mean many. In Tororo there are not really any NGO's operating and some white people visiting is a big thing. I was quite embarrassed by the attention we got, I was expecting to come and have a look at the daily running of the places but instead it seemed not. In short we rushed around 7 or so orphanages with a total of maybe 4000-5000 kids, most orphaned by Aids and many infected themselves. It would take to long to talk about each one, but one I would like to point out had 1500 children 350 who are HIV positive. There is no funding from NGO's in this area and it goes without saying that there is none from the Government. Because of this there is no treatment for the sick children, the pastor in charge of this orphanage said to me 'we care for them as we can until we bury them'. They buried a child in the few days before we came… This is not fair, the situation makes me angry and there is little I can do. One of the Orphanages… We also met a grandmother of about 70 who looks after 35 kids on her own. Some are her grandchildren and others are simply children who turned up, she gave us a billion lemons. What OCA is looking to do is set up a new center in the village which Anthony came from. In his village there are 150 children without parents; setting up a small orphanage is the plan. It should be getting started sometime this year as long as the funding comes in. Scouting the area and needs was the main focus for this trip but I think I saw a lot more than I expected. Did I say my last bus ride was hell? The trip home from Tororo made me wish I was dead or at home in bed. We were in a small bus that had two speeds one being not moving and the other billion miles an hour. The road are worse than you can imagine, the money for roads gets 'lost' in the government and the roads that do get built are poor quality and fall apart after a year or two and a bit of rain. In short the constant bumps finally made bits of the engine fall out and we ended up pushing the bus across the Nile River and then waited for a replacement bus to come and get us. Stuff to do has been a little lacking so we volunteered at a local school for disadvantaged kids, this has involved teaching the teachers how to cut out letters from cardboard and learning the names of the children who I'm sure are meant to be in class. This has been fun and a great help to the school. So apparently I live in a place called Wyndam and the council wants to give some money to OCA. This is great news, I'm really not sure how that all came about but thanks to Dad for getting that worked out. Also thanks to a couple in Melbourne for donating an amount of money, this came in at perfect timing and will be a great blessing. The computer project is still going slow, the process of grant application is a long one, but the outlook is good and I believe the funds are soon to come. I'm glad that my part of the project in bringing the computers is over; I still am amazed how God made that project work. This trip has been an eye opener, some parts still feel like I've seen a TV special on some random African country having difficulty existing. There is so much that needs to happen here, a large part of it is to be put on the Ugandans themselves but there needs to be people willing to donate time and money to help them help themselves. No matter the skills you have, if it be building, teaching, nursing, changing nappies, training people or even no specific skills like me, you are needed here. Think about coming for a week to a few months, I have enough contacts here that I could show you exactly where you would be needed most. Also if you would like to donate money there is always a need that it will go right to, in a land where a bottle of Coke costs 20 cents your money goes along way. I'll be in the UK this time next week enjoying all the McDonalds I have missed over the few months. I'm staying in a friend of a sister's friend's house until I can get my replacement credit card. I look forward to getting my mind back in order and trying to work out what I think about the whole trip. Thank you all for your prayers and support over the last few months, I could have probable got a little home sick if I hadn't been receiving emails from people. I doubt I will blog any more since by all accounts the UK has little on Australia (I must say I have become much more patriotic since coming here, we have a great country). Please email me when ever you feel the need, I will blog anything that is related to OCA and Uganda etc… God Bless, James Favorite photo…