glenn's blog: Blog Revival...

Dear Friends,

A few weeks back the blog sputtered and died along the roadside as it were. But it wasn’t for lack of things to write about. Quite the opposite. The good news is the blog is being attended to, as if by the Accurate Motor Garage, and is showing some vital signs at least one last time for some concluding messages.

children fetching water before sundown

Things really sped up over the last two weeks so that I’ve become less expressive and more focused on bringing the things I’ve been involved in to a conclusion. It was also the case that as my time narrowed the requests for assistance increased. I have done my best to steer money in the right directions and leave a little reserve for the one’s we’ve been working with. At times, in this last week I’ve been reminded of things that I didn’t remember promising but it’s hard to argue in the face of poverty.

stopping for mangoes during the trek

I was once again visiting ATIN Afrika in Lira where I went along with Morris as he did his ‘street visits’ talking to street kids and giving them the option of coming to live at the house. We went to pay for school fees for several of the kids who were resettled through ATIN. This visit helped me appreciate the frustrations that Morris lives with as he tries to resettle kids and keep them in school in their villages. After driving who knows how far outside of civilization we ended up not being able to pay the fees because the headmaster wasn't there that day but meanwhile the child couldn't go to school until the fees were paid. At one point we had to walk to a boy's home to find him as he wasn't at the school when we arrived and the road to his house was impassable. I learned then and there that when a villager from northern uganda says that a distance is 'not far' to walk it has next to no bearing on any definition of 'far' that I know.


Dennis removed 4 'Jiggers' from a street boy's toe with a safety pin

While in Lira we also ended up interceding for two 16 year old girls from Moroto who were stranded in Lira after coming with a singing group three months ago. They didn’t get back home because their vehicle broke down and while the rest of the group had money to pay for transportation they ended up stuck in Lira and staying with a single man twice their age whose intentions were less than clear. We went to the police station to report their situation so that they could safely stay at ATIN for the night before putting them on a bus the next morning back to Moroto. While Morris and the other ATIN staff thought nothing of the police visit I was as nervous as the two girls thinking that at anytime we’d all be locked up for some fabricated charge and spend the rest of our days in a Ugandan jail digging ditches in the blazing heat. Morris and the girls would probably be fine...me on the other hand...I'm sure I wouldn't make it past lunch before inquiring about an infirmary.

After Lira, I spent time developing our loan agreement with Abdu and the program that we've called, 'Farmers for Children School Nutrition Program'. The funds for this loan came through the Source Bead Women of Kitchener Waterloo. Their only criterion for the use of the money was that it have something to do with improving nutrition for children in Uganda. With the loan Abdu is expanding the dairy capacity of his farm with fencing off another couple of acres and developing his system that pumps water for the cows.

In exchange Abdu will repay the loan by delivering eggs to a school that we've chosen near his farm. The school will receive 10 flats of eggs per week to enhance the nutrition of the children. In addition, Abdu will be saving a portion of his farms profits which will become the loan for a second farmer who will take over once Abdu has repaid his loan. Abdu and his wife Betty became good friends and advisers to me over the last month or so. He is easily the most conscientious and determined ugandan business owner that I've met.

area Abdu will fence to expand his farm

Children are already starting to enjoy eggs with their posho at school and Abdu's fencing is going up even as I am writing. He and his family are thrilled with the benefit that will come through the use of this loan and for how it helps them improve the lives of Uganda's school children. This sizable chunk of money has been made possible through sale of beads by a handful of concerned women in the K-W area.

New House...

Here's a shot of the new house for the 'Old Man' that we spoke of earlier in the blog.

Old House...

This man lives with a great deal of bone pain after a life of working in the sugarcane fields. He is from Rwandan and has no family. The local chairman and his family take care of him. It will be much easier for them to help him now that his new home is closer to the chairman's home and they can keep a better watch on him.

Also, in the last weeks we finished off the latrine project at the 'Railways'. We're very happy with the way they turned out and for the enthusiasm of the people to use the toilets as opposed to the nearest shrub. The first lady who used the freshly painted and renovated latrine near her block remarked, 'it's like a hospital!' which translates, 'it's clean!'. She was so inspired she offered me her little boy to hold and then to 'take with me back to Canada'.

my 'Railways' friends

There are 10 blocks of row houses and each block has its own toilet with their block number on the door. Each door has a padlock. The key is left with the 'health representative' for their block and, as it is in their own interests, the block members police their own toilet for any unsanitary practices. Keep in mind that some in the community are still not convinced that they should be using a latrine. Some still believe that it causes infertility amongst women. Many from the east called 'Karamajong' were never raised with latrines and don't trust the health advisories. Others think that it is a place to put garbage. Some use the stall to bathe themselves. All in all the latrines look good, people are starting to contribute their maintenance fees, and on more than one occasion I received very gratifying grins from the locals after they'd relieved themselves.

new 5 stance latrine serving 5 blocks of 20 households

renovated 6 stance latrine

untimely death of the foreman's cow

On one of the last days of construction one of our builders' cows (he lives in the railways) got sick and died and had to be skinned and butchered immediately. It put a halt to my painting program for that day and we chalked it up to another 'unforeseeable' delay.

surgical unit at Jinja Main before Brian's surgery

One of the things I did on my last day was go to the Jinja Main Hospital to attend to 4 year old Brian whose hip surgery was set for 9:00 that morning. I went to pay part of the bill and found that they were waiting on extra blood in case of emergencies. Despite all of the cruelty Brian has endured he is a beautifully affectionate and gentle little guy. These kids become the embodiment of trust and have had a melting effect on me. Of course they are scared of what's to come with their surgeries, especially coming from the villages, but somehow find it in themselves warm up to a strange muzungu. I've learned that Brian came through the surgery well and has woken up. He will be in a pelvic cast for a month at home. He will then come back to Jinja and stay at our friend Damali's children's home while he undergoes at least a month of physiotherapy. If all goes well he will be able to walk and play like a normal little boy and ultimately grow up with a better chance at living.