All Things Work Together

So the last time I wrote, I was feeling discouraged and fearing my adventure more than embracing it here in Uganda. This weekend I decided to dip my toes into other options and test the waters of Jinja.

     One of my cousin's friends runs a program called Jinja Connection. A large problem here in Jinja is the fact that there are many kids who are living on the street. A great number of the children end up there because of unstable conditions at home, inability to pay school fees, falling in with a bad crowd, or a desire for money and freedom. There are many extenuating circumstances that contribute to the issue, but even more problems arise once the children are out of school and on the street. A fair number of the children begin drinking and sniffing paraffin. They become addicted and this effects them further. Most of the children have also learned to collect scrap and sell it for small change. Allison, the director of Jinja Connection, says that she once watched one of the children sell back plastic bottles. She watched as he put them all onto the scale to be weighed, and once they were all weighed, the boy pulled a rubber boot out of the pile without the buyer noticing and slipped it back onto his foot. The boot added extra weight to the pile so that the boy would get payed more. That being said, these boys have been on the streets long enough to learn the tricks. They know how to get by... but no child at the age of 8 should be "getting by".

     To attend the program at Jinja Connection, the children must arrive in the morning. They are provided with the means to take a shower, wash their clothes, and are given a cup or porridge. Later in the day they will have class, lunch is provided to them, and then they do activities in the afternoon. If they do not come on time in the morning, they are locked out and are unable to attend any of the days activities or receive food. This keeps the children accountable for their actions and encourages them to stay sober and attend class.

     On Monday I had the opprotunity of going to Jinja Connection to experience the program. When I arrived, the boys were washing their clothes. One of the teachers, Myko, gave me a tour of the facility and told me more about the program. Allison, the director, took me to Masese where many of the children in the program come from. Masese, which is considered the slums of Jinja, is where many of the resettled children from the program go to school. We went to pay their school fees. Allison told me that many of their children are top of their class despite their circumstance. 

     When we got back to Jinja Connection, I worked with a boy named Ivan to help him learn the alphabet in English. He is about twelve or thirteen and has been living as a street child since he was six or seven. Allison explained to me that Ivan's mother was a prostitute and there would be many men circulating through their home when he was young. She believes that he endured a large amount of abuse at home which drove him to leave and live on the street. Ivan was one of the first children that they had in the program who had a sniffing problem. He will go on binges where he goes from regularly   attending the program to coming to the facility high at lunch and crying at the gate because he can't come in. When I was working with him, it was really eye opening. There were so many things that I had to explain to him that I initially assumed were second nature. For example, I wrote the numbers from 1 to 30 on a piece of paper. When I wrote the number nine, ten dropped down to the next line where the sequence continued. When I asked him what number came after 9, he couldn't give me an answer because he didn't understand that in order to continue the sequence, he had to look at the begining of the next line. Children in America are taught, through reading stories with their family, that the next line continues what the previous line is stating. He was never read to as a child and has never attended school. There was never any means for him to learn that.

     Yesterday, Tuesday, I went back to Jinja Connection and worked with Ivan again. I was attempting to teach him the english words for numbers but he could not pay attention. It was like he was in a fog and couldn't see or hear anything that I was doing or saying. He had most likely been awake all night. It didn't help that I was speaking English instead of Luganda (his native language).

     There are so many sweet children here that are in poor circumstance. It can be overwhelming to think about, but if you look at the fact that they are striving daily to be successful and to make a life for themselves it is actually amazing. I am not surprised that they are the smartest kids in their classes. These children are more resourceful and motivated than any children I have ever encountered. Of course they make poor decisions- they are children! However, the reasons for their decisions are issues that many adults in America haven't even had to deal with.

     Pray for these children that hold so much potential and brightness. Pray that they would continue to strive for a better and more stable life.

     If you want to learn more, here is the website for Jinja Connection:  http://ugandastreetkids.org/jinja-connection/

     Today, I was going to go to Home of Hope. It is a home for special needs children that was started by a Ugandan woman. She gave birth to a son who developed menengitis and suffered severe brain damage from the sickness. After meeting many others who had their own children with disabilities, she decided to start a home to help support these children. The plans were set for me to go with some other people, but last night we heard news that the woman's son has passed away. The burial service was today, so we decided to postpone that trip. 

     Today my cousin, Erica, is leaving for two weeks to visit her friends and family in Canada. This means that I have lost my housemate and my tourguide. I feel a lot more comfortable in my environment now and my neighbors all work with Erica at Akola, so that makes me feel more at peace. We went on a grocery run this morning so the fridge is full of food and I won't need to take another trip to the shops for a couple of days.

     I will keep you all updated on other happenings to come. Thanks for all of your prayers and support. Knowing that there are people back home caring for me and my passions makes being at peace here so much easier.

As the rising sun smears itself upon the water's surface,

And the shops crouch on the road like colored clothing on a line to dry,

I think, "O how could I have been so wrong about the world-

All along."

  If you have any questions or comments and are having trouble leaving them on this site, please email me at alisoncpatrick@gmail.com

Thank You Thank You!

- Alison