The Ying and Yang of Orphans

Update Uganda: rooster is still alive but he doesn't have that pep in his walk since i hit him with a shoe the other morning. He had the nuts to start crowing right outside our window a couple of days ago.

I do not have the ability to come to Africa and not be overwhelmed by contrasts and contradictions.

People die here everyday from Malaria, AIDS, starvation and other preventable diseases yet everybody seems to own a cell phone. For a mere 20 bucks you get connected. The dark ages of diseases comes face to face with the technical revolution everyday here.

The other day Katie and I went on a roller coaster ride when we visited the polar opposites of childrens homes in less than a 24 hr period.

Hopping on a taxi, we went about an hour out of town to the Ugandan goverment run home for children. The general area around Kampala is beautiful green rolling hills. As you leave town the bush just continues to get thicker until you are sure no man could penetrate it. On a hill in the middle of an open area sits this childrens home.

The first word that comes to mind to describe this place would be "shithole". (that may be two words) The facility resembles a a run down WWII army barracks. At first glance I was sure that the buildings I was looking at were abandoned. Most of the windows were broken out, paint was faded and rust stained.

I had been told that this facility was used by the government to house children that had been rounded up during sweeps of the streets by the police. People described to me how when street children spot the blue government vehicles rumbling down the street, they scatter out of fear being picked up and tossed into this place.

I expected a prison; what I found were struggling workers forced to make the best with what they are given.

The middle aged fellow who runs the place named Paul explained to us that yes children are taken off the streets; but in hopes of saving them from a life of crime, drug use, and exploitation. The children are given a bed inside, hot meals and an education. Other kids are sent there by the court system because the are habitual criminals.

I watched as groups of older boys stirred huge pots of rice while others got the mass of boys into a line to wait for food. You can tell that this was a system that was played out multiple times a day. Many of the kids were shirtless even though the day was rainy and cold. I am learning that what may appear to me as chaos is really order sometimes. All the kids got fed, even the little ones were not neglected.

As we hopped on "bodas" back to the main road all I could think that this was no place for human beings let alone children. Are these kids really better off here than on the streets. I hope so.

We rode back into town, met up with our friends and got a ride down to the dock area of Entebbe. There we met Ronnie and his brother who were taking us out to a children's home on Busi Island.

Busi Island is located about an hour off shore in Lake Victoria. There about a hundred kids live in a village setting and is 100 percent Ugandan run. What I mean by that is the leadership is all Ugandan based and that is rare I'm finding out.

We were met by singing and happy faces on the shore. Kids waded out to grab the boat rigging and to help us unload our supplies. I promptly impressed them by vomiting as soon as we landed.

Where as the kids at the detention center appeared disconnected from life, these kids were full of life and so connected to us. None of us could carry anything because each hand was being held by the most adorable, loving kids I have ever met.

They sang for us, they danced, they worshipped....I mean they WORSHIPPED! Most of all they just let us come to their little isolated home and get to be loved by them.

I felt sorry for the children at the detention center. Not because of the conditions they are forced to live in....but because they seem deprived of the greatest gift to be given; the opportunity and ability to love someone.

peace,john