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August 03, 2006
I love Uganda
Rebecca and Pemina, sisters and orphans, playing football.
3 August 2006 I went through a range of emotions today, as usual. Joy, helplessness, sorrow, excitement, gratitude, anger, satisfaction, emptiness, fulfillment, and Happiness.
I’ll just tell you the happy stories...
Robert (TASO counselor), Enos (TASO driver), Betty (TASO Day Center staff), and I went to Kumi district to visit 4 of the child-headed families participating in the smallholder poultry project. But, before we went to their homes, we stopped to order the hens. We’re purchasing them from TEDDO (Teso Diocesan Development Organization). TEDDO organizes and trains communities in all kinds of sustainable, income generating agricultural projects. James, our contact at TEDDO, agreed to facilitate our training workshop as well. We may buy the exotic cocks from TEDDO depending on the price he gives us…we found another farmer today offering vaccinated cocks for 12,000 Ush. and TEDDO wanted 15,000 Ush. – we’ll negotiate:)
On the way to TEDDO, we stopped to buy sweet potatoes.
Other Smallholder Poultry Project Updates: “Keeping Poultry” manuals are printed and bound! The caterer, date, location, and facilitator of the training workshop are set! And all the families we visited today glowed with gratitude and excitement. I think we'll get the bicycles and birds delivered before I leave!
The Crested Crane (B. r. gibbericeps) - Uganda's national bird; this one is somebody's pet.
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Peter takes care of his four brothers. He’s 15, and he left school in 2004 after his parents died. Some NGO built a beautiful house for Peter and his family and they gave him groundnut (peanut) seeds to harvest. Peter is excited about the project, and has experience rearing chickens. None of these children are HIV+, and so Peter didn't know how to get to TASO Mbale for the training, so the TASO community nurse for Peter's region volunteered to escort Peter to the training next Saturday. I'm amazed at the profound impact TASO has had at the community level.
Peter and Robert.
Enos suddenly stopped the car on the dusty, red-dirt road when he spotted a man riding a bike. Enos and Robert smiled widely and got out of the truck to greet and hug the man. His name is Charles, and one year ago, he was on his deathbed, severely anemic and unable to walk. On a home visit, Robert and Enos saw the way Charles' brothers were neglecting him. They went to the nearest hospital to organize an immediate blood transfusion for Charles. With lots of work and patience, Robert and Enos managed to get Charles to the hospital for the procedure (in Uganda, and other developing countries, medical procedures like this don't just "happen"; the hospital in Mbale doesn't even have oxygen). At that time, Charles was 27 years old and weighed 37 kg. After the blood transfusion, Charles started taking ARVs. Today, a year later, he weighs 62kg, is married, and works hard harvesting maize and selling charcoal. Enos and Robert saved his life. Seeing Charles happy, healthy, and full of life inspires hope in Robert and Enos - and me.
Robert, Charles, and Enos.
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The family of late Moses Imolot, Helen Orin, and Eunice Malinga.
Grandma takes care of her eleven grandchildren. Her son died on 28 June 2006, after the deaths of his two wives and youngest child. Auntie, also a TASO client, helps Grandma with the children. Auntie, along with Agnes, the eldest daughter, will work together on the smallholder poultry project. Grandma showed me the graves for her son, his wives, and her grandchild. I just held Grandma's hand, and we both bowed our heads. There really wasn't anything to say. The silence felt right.
Grandma.
As I opened the TASO truck door to climb in, I noticed one of the boys tying sisal rope around a huge wad of black plastic bags. He was making a soccer ball. I tossed him one of the soccer balls Colin sent. Agnes, Rebecca, Ben, Pemina, Peter, Geresom, Isaac, Majeni, Naomi, Esther, and Deborah ran for the ball after Ben kicked it with his knee. Neighbor children joined in. Grandma smiled.
Colin -
Agnes, Rebecca, Ben, Pemina, Peter, Geresom, Isaac, Majeni, Naomi, Esther, and Deborah told me to tell you, "THANK YOU!"
Posted by kmf23 at August 3, 2006 09:13 AM
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