Chapter XVII
Uganda Chronicles Chapter XXVII by April Dobbs
28 July 2008
Finally ! It’s time for us to go see the orphanage for real. We’ve been getting pictures from Katie, our first “missionary” to the orphanage who went to help build for one month. It’s amazing how fast that building is going up now that it’s started.
We arrived at Entebbe last night about 20:00. Fred was there to greet us and had arranged for a taxi to take us to Namarembi Guest House (the Diocesan guest house). It was so wonderful to see Fred there. Only three days since he left California and already I miss him terribly.
At the taxi began the trial of packing three large and two small suitcases into the “boot” (trunk). When it became obvious they weren’t going to fit, I suggested we put one of the larger ones on the back seat where one of us could sit on either side of it. Three men, two black and one white, one from half way around the entire globe from the other two, looked at me with identical glances of dismissal that told me, “there, there, don’t worry your pretty little head about it.” So, for about the next fifteen minutes they tried every possible way to stuff the suitcases into the trunk, even tearing a piece of the rubber seal around the edge of the trunk. Then, one of them (can’t say which) brilliantly suggested that we put one suitcase on the back seat. That accomplished, we were off to Namarembi—about a thirty-minute drive. After thirty hours of travel, when we left the airport I felt numb. But as we drove along I began to smell the smoke from charcoal fires, the incense of local flowers, and to hear people talking and laughing as they walked along the sides of the road visiting and stopping into small roadside businesses. Through one door I saw a group of women, one sitting in a chair and the other two braiding her hair. The light inside the room was that peculiar orange glow that comes from one low wattage light bulb and some candles. Vehicles veered around each other honking horns. Out the window, I could see the amazing Ugandan night sky, bejeweled with millions of stars visible even over a major city like Kampala. The travel weariness was replaced by a sense of home-ness, happiness to be here again, happy to be with Fred, happy to hear my husband transforming into the master negotiator/problem solver. His survival skills, street skills, whatever I can call them are even more valuable here than in the U.S. Once again, in this place so totally different than my place of origin and residence, I feel that total dependence on God and the love of fellow Christians settle over me. I am in control of nothing. Praise the Lord!
29 July 2008
Last night I couldn’t figure out what time it was to set the clock. My cell phone has a world clock on it, but amazingly, Kampala isn’t one of the cities mentioned, and, of course, there was no clock in the room. So I chose Cairo mistakenly thinking it was due north of here and in the same time zone. Wrong! It is an hour later here, so if Fred hadn’t knocked on our door at 08:15 we would have missed breakfast which is served from 07:00 to 09:00. He then left us to go further negotiate the day we can take delivery of the car he has purchased. They are telling him the paperwork will not be completed until Friday (four days from now). Last night, at Rick’s suggestion, he called the car dealer and offered him some extra money to have it ready by tomorrow (Tuesday) and is going there in person this morning to further expedite. Rick and I must remain invisible or the price of everything will increase as we are perceived to be wealthy because we are from the U.S. I suppose we are by most standards in the world, but we are certainly not wealthy by U.S. standards. The money we have donated to Shepherd’s Love to purchase this vehicle was our only savings—a really paltry amount when you think of our ages and what we would need to live on when we retire, but savings nonetheless. But the faces of the children are ever before us, and the voice of God Who has been in charge of this from the beginning is always in our ears. We are being obedient, and it has brought peace and happiness for the most part—mixed with periods of sheer terror and uncertainty.
But our God is a God of wonder, adventure and creativity and we are part of that. Life will never be the same again for us, we can never again just go to work, come home, watch a movie and do it all again the next day.
We can enjoy periods of time like that, periods of “normalcy,” when we are home in California. It’s very sweet, like a hoarded piece of candy left from Christmas and eaten in March when I was a child. But soon enough it’s time to get back to work planning, teaching, fund raising—and loving it because that too is sweet and good.
30 July 2008
Monday, when the car guy said the car (van actually) would be ready by Tuesday, we moved Fred into our room to save the expense of having two rooms. The room has two twin beds. Well, last time Rick and I shared a twin bed there was substantially less of both of us. Needless to say, it wasn't a very restful night for us (Fred had a great sleep though.) We finally figured out that if we each slept with our heads at opposite ends of the bed we had more room. I had just fallen nicely asleep in the wee hours when I was rudely awakened by the minaret loudspeakers (a mile away) announcing the first call to prayer for the day. This five times per day blast on the nervous system is hard to get used to.
After breakfast, we walked down to the Sanyu Baby House which isn’t far from here. What an experience! This home for abandoned babies was established in 1929. They can care for up to fifty babies at any given time and had forty-six here today. They take babies from birth to three years old. If a home hasn’t been found for them by the time they are three they are transferred to an orphanage for children over three. The administrator, Barbara, told us the history of SBH. She said the children are brought there by police and social workers mostly. The babies are found abandoned at taxi parks, dumps, even stuffed down pit latrines. They are brought to Sanyu sometimes infested with maggots, mal-nourished and sometimes brain-damaged. She showed us one baby who had been brought in still with his umbilical sack attached, probably about one hour old. She showed us a little boy they think is about one year old. He was brought in recently weighing only about six pounds. His little legs are still skinny and he has to have them gently exercised every day because they were stiff when he arrived. Each baby is examined by a staff nurse upon arrival. Some are taken to the hospital for a few days before they can return. Each baby is given a name and his or her own crib. They are clothed, fed and loved by a number of volunteers and some paid staff. Even the most physically pitiful baby there was responsive to us, most smiled. It was obvious they were well cared for. They are kept in the first stage room until they are able to sit up on their own. Then they are moved to the next area. At this point they go to “class” during the day in a room much like a nursery school room in the U.S. A teacher is always with them and they are encouraged to learn to play, crawl and walk. The toys are rotated daily so the children become used to a variety of toys and also so no one starts to claim ownership of a particular item. This process is true for all age levels. All the babies greeted us in some manner, the ones who could crawl came to us for attention or to share a toy. When a child becomes proficient at walking, they are moved to the next stage where they are taught to use the toilet, clothe themselves, clean up after themselves. They each have an assigned seat at a school table and begin to learn it when they arrive. They are read to, they paint and learn colors etc. There are three teachers in the room. There is a schedule: Breakfast, potty time (the kids are all placed on little potty chairs lined up in a bathroom), devotions, class, lunch, potty time, nap, physical play time, potty time, dinner, night prep and bed time. The SBH also operates a guest house that helps to raise some of the funds for operations. If you stay at the guest house, you are allowed to help care for the babies. We will most likely stay there next trip! They have a laundry room, a clothing repair room and a kitchen. There is also a craft store that sells crafts locally made by volunteers to help support the Baby House. Mainly they rely on donations though, like any other place like it. I was really impressed with this place. It also helped to give us some ideas for Twinomujuni Orphanage. We asked Barbara about adoption procedures for international adoptions. It is a really rigid system in Uganda, but one that insures the children a home where they are really wanted. A potential adoptive couple needs to meet the child, express the desire to adopt, and then visit the child regularly over a three year period (or live in here in Uganda as a foster parent for three years) before the adoption can go through. We left with our hearts and minds very full.
28 July 2008
Finally ! It’s time for us to go see the orphanage for real. We’ve been getting pictures from Katie, our first “missionary” to the orphanage who went to help build for one month. It’s amazing how fast that building is going up now that it’s started.
We arrived at Entebbe last night about 20:00. Fred was there to greet us and had arranged for a taxi to take us to Namarembi Guest House (the Diocesan guest house). It was so wonderful to see Fred there. Only three days since he left California and already I miss him terribly.
At the taxi began the trial of packing three large and two small suitcases into the “boot” (trunk). When it became obvious they weren’t going to fit, I suggested we put one of the larger ones on the back seat where one of us could sit on either side of it. Three men, two black and one white, one from half way around the entire globe from the other two, looked at me with identical glances of dismissal that told me, “there, there, don’t worry your pretty little head about it.” So, for about the next fifteen minutes they tried every possible way to stuff the suitcases into the trunk, even tearing a piece of the rubber seal around the edge of the trunk. Then, one of them (can’t say which) brilliantly suggested that we put one suitcase on the back seat. That accomplished, we were off to Namarembi—about a thirty-minute drive. After thirty hours of travel, when we left the airport I felt numb. But as we drove along I began to smell the smoke from charcoal fires, the incense of local flowers, and to hear people talking and laughing as they walked along the sides of the road visiting and stopping into small roadside businesses. Through one door I saw a group of women, one sitting in a chair and the other two braiding her hair. The light inside the room was that peculiar orange glow that comes from one low wattage light bulb and some candles. Vehicles veered around each other honking horns. Out the window, I could see the amazing Ugandan night sky, bejeweled with millions of stars visible even over a major city like Kampala. The travel weariness was replaced by a sense of home-ness, happiness to be here again, happy to be with Fred, happy to hear my husband transforming into the master negotiator/problem solver. His survival skills, street skills, whatever I can call them are even more valuable here than in the U.S. Once again, in this place so totally different than my place of origin and residence, I feel that total dependence on God and the love of fellow Christians settle over me. I am in control of nothing. Praise the Lord!
29 July 2008
Last night I couldn’t figure out what time it was to set the clock. My cell phone has a world clock on it, but amazingly, Kampala isn’t one of the cities mentioned, and, of course, there was no clock in the room. So I chose Cairo mistakenly thinking it was due north of here and in the same time zone. Wrong! It is an hour later here, so if Fred hadn’t knocked on our door at 08:15 we would have missed breakfast which is served from 07:00 to 09:00. He then left us to go further negotiate the day we can take delivery of the car he has purchased. They are telling him the paperwork will not be completed until Friday (four days from now). Last night, at Rick’s suggestion, he called the car dealer and offered him some extra money to have it ready by tomorrow (Tuesday) and is going there in person this morning to further expedite. Rick and I must remain invisible or the price of everything will increase as we are perceived to be wealthy because we are from the U.S. I suppose we are by most standards in the world, but we are certainly not wealthy by U.S. standards. The money we have donated to Shepherd’s Love to purchase this vehicle was our only savings—a really paltry amount when you think of our ages and what we would need to live on when we retire, but savings nonetheless. But the faces of the children are ever before us, and the voice of God Who has been in charge of this from the beginning is always in our ears. We are being obedient, and it has brought peace and happiness for the most part—mixed with periods of sheer terror and uncertainty.
But our God is a God of wonder, adventure and creativity and we are part of that. Life will never be the same again for us, we can never again just go to work, come home, watch a movie and do it all again the next day.
We can enjoy periods of time like that, periods of “normalcy,” when we are home in California. It’s very sweet, like a hoarded piece of candy left from Christmas and eaten in March when I was a child. But soon enough it’s time to get back to work planning, teaching, fund raising—and loving it because that too is sweet and good.
30 July 2008
Monday, when the car guy said the car (van actually) would be ready by Tuesday, we moved Fred into our room to save the expense of having two rooms. The room has two twin beds. Well, last time Rick and I shared a twin bed there was substantially less of both of us. Needless to say, it wasn't a very restful night for us (Fred had a great sleep though.) We finally figured out that if we each slept with our heads at opposite ends of the bed we had more room. I had just fallen nicely asleep in the wee hours when I was rudely awakened by the minaret loudspeakers (a mile away) announcing the first call to prayer for the day. This five times per day blast on the nervous system is hard to get used to.
After breakfast, we walked down to the Sanyu Baby House which isn’t far from here. What an experience! This home for abandoned babies was established in 1929. They can care for up to fifty babies at any given time and had forty-six here today. They take babies from birth to three years old. If a home hasn’t been found for them by the time they are three they are transferred to an orphanage for children over three. The administrator, Barbara, told us the history of SBH. She said the children are brought there by police and social workers mostly. The babies are found abandoned at taxi parks, dumps, even stuffed down pit latrines. They are brought to Sanyu sometimes infested with maggots, mal-nourished and sometimes brain-damaged. She showed us one baby who had been brought in still with his umbilical sack attached, probably about one hour old. She showed us a little boy they think is about one year old. He was brought in recently weighing only about six pounds. His little legs are still skinny and he has to have them gently exercised every day because they were stiff when he arrived. Each baby is examined by a staff nurse upon arrival. Some are taken to the hospital for a few days before they can return. Each baby is given a name and his or her own crib. They are clothed, fed and loved by a number of volunteers and some paid staff. Even the most physically pitiful baby there was responsive to us, most smiled. It was obvious they were well cared for. They are kept in the first stage room until they are able to sit up on their own. Then they are moved to the next area. At this point they go to “class” during the day in a room much like a nursery school room in the U.S. A teacher is always with them and they are encouraged to learn to play, crawl and walk. The toys are rotated daily so the children become used to a variety of toys and also so no one starts to claim ownership of a particular item. This process is true for all age levels. All the babies greeted us in some manner, the ones who could crawl came to us for attention or to share a toy. When a child becomes proficient at walking, they are moved to the next stage where they are taught to use the toilet, clothe themselves, clean up after themselves. They each have an assigned seat at a school table and begin to learn it when they arrive. They are read to, they paint and learn colors etc. There are three teachers in the room. There is a schedule: Breakfast, potty time (the kids are all placed on little potty chairs lined up in a bathroom), devotions, class, lunch, potty time, nap, physical play time, potty time, dinner, night prep and bed time. The SBH also operates a guest house that helps to raise some of the funds for operations. If you stay at the guest house, you are allowed to help care for the babies. We will most likely stay there next trip! They have a laundry room, a clothing repair room and a kitchen. There is also a craft store that sells crafts locally made by volunteers to help support the Baby House. Mainly they rely on donations though, like any other place like it. I was really impressed with this place. It also helped to give us some ideas for Twinomujuni Orphanage. We asked Barbara about adoption procedures for international adoptions. It is a really rigid system in Uganda, but one that insures the children a home where they are really wanted. A potential adoptive couple needs to meet the child, express the desire to adopt, and then visit the child regularly over a three year period (or live in here in Uganda as a foster parent for three years) before the adoption can go through. We left with our hearts and minds very full.
Labels: Uganda Chronicles
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