A Heavy Heart

I would like to give you a little background on Uganda's orphans and more specifically the orphans of Karamoja. Before we go any further I want to say that I am not an expert in this issue I am just telling you what I know and what I have seen.
According to UNICEF in 2005 there were 2.3 million recorded orphans making it the country with the most orphans. At least 25% of all households in Uganda look after at least one child orphaned by either HIV/AIDS or war. Hearing about such things are rather tragic. But once you see them it hits you hard. No I haven't witnesses these 2.3 million orphans however I did get an opportunity to visit a baby home in Kampala,that had 46 orphans. Reading their stories(all abandoned in a trash heap, pit latrine, or somewhere within Kampala) and hearing them crying because there isn't enough arms to hold them was one of the hardest things I have witnessed. Don't get me wrong, the orphanage seemed like a well run organization that was clean and efficient, but the needs far out weigh the demands. Most of these orphans will grow up and only know an orphanage. No one that they really attach to. No one that they call mom and dad. Tragic.

I don't have any great statistics for the region of Karamoja but I will tell you what I know. In this Northeastern region there are about 300,000 people, and currently no orphanage in the whole region. What happens to orphans then? This is were it gets upsetting. Some people sell them and they end up in Kampala on the streets selling items or themselves. Others are taken in by a family member but most likely are treated horribly simply because that family usually doesn't have the resources to provide for that child, or they are seen as less important than their own children so they are beaten, and mistreated. And if they have HIV or another disease it is worse. Many have fled to Kampala to search for a better life and some sort of work only to find themselves used as slaves by family members. We witness these children on the streets at night in Kampala and learned that if they don't bring any money home they are beaten.
The government in the past has tried to "clean up" what they would call a mess. You must know there is a huge stigma and bias against the people of Karamoja. They have tried to develop a "rehabilitation" place for these children where their conditions were not any better but they were moved away from Kampala. Our team members have witnessed this camp and over the last year the Karmijong kids have been taken somewhere in Karamoja. There are 2 kids from Karamoja that still remain at this camp. They have been there for 4 years now and say they would foster them to a family like the other kids but no one wants a child from Karamoja. The sad and ridiculous part of this is that most people have never been to Karamoja and only believe the rumors they have heard most of which are lies. The people of Karamoja are real people with real problems, and it is extremely irritating when a Christian nation like Uganda can turn their backs on them because they are different and make assumptions about them based on lies. (Sound familiar?)
Another solution they have tried is to load up all these street kids and take them back to Karamoja. Sounds somewhat good in theory but they don't take them back to their village or their family. We have heard they literally just drop them off. That is not a solution. Of course they will just go right back to Kampala where at least they can eat food from the street which is sad to say is a better life for them than at home.
I really encourage you to read more details about this from an article written. You can go to the website (http://karamojadf.wordpress.com/features/) or just read it here. If you go to the website you will have to scroll down to the second article.

ON THE TRAIL OF THE KARIMOJONG STREET CHILDREN

By Simon Peter Longoli

Television footages last week showed numerous Karimojong hounded on to KCC trucks on their way to the national rehabilitation center, Kampirigisa in Mpigi district.

Karimojong at the national rehabilitation center, Kampiringisa. In a yellow shirt with baby is Molly Nakut the 17 year old mother.

This came at a time when many were thinking that the number of Karimojong street Children was higher than ever in the streets.

Maureen Mwagale, a woman who organized a Christmas meal day with the kids told me the number has never been higher.

A Uganda Broadcasting Corporation presenter, a Karimojong, also told me fellow presenters had been telling him recently issues concerning the higher number of Karimojong on the streets. According to them, the kids had resorted to being forceful.

“I have also witnessed this. One day I heard them utter insults in Ngakarimojong at those who did not give them money,” he says.

On Christmas day, St. Balikuddembe Catholic church at Kisenyi held a special baptism ceremony for the Karimojong street kids. Fifty two were baptized and organizers said a substantial number had missed.

At 52 in a single baptism, the number of Karimojong children should be higher, considering all of them may not be Catholics.

The journey to the city

But just how do they make their way to Kampala ? What is the history of the Karimojong Street Child problem? Who brings them to the city?

I asked a number of Karimojong and found out how they make their way to Kampala . Rumour has it that the Karimojong are brought to the streets by Karimojong politicians who want to use them for political benefit but there is nothing yet to prove this.

Available evidence has it that the Karimojong are forced to the streets by poverty.

The very first famine that pushed the Karimojong to the streets of neighboring towns was in 1980. Faced with famine, they walked long distances and reached towns such as Sironko, Mbale, Tororo, Soroti, Iganga and Busia. Karimojong populations are presently high in these towns and they have permanent residence, most surviving out of begging or ransacking garbage bins, for bites. Karamoja MPs also attribute this to the insecurity in the region.

Facing extreme scarcity of food and other social and economic problems, their parents give them up and entrust them in the care of older persons who have been to the city. These older ones could be visiting the village or coming to check on others in Kampala or to get a share of the street collections.

Because transport companies do not usually have a transport charge for children, they come at no cost, having neither extra baggage nor extra money save a coin or more to be spent on food on the journey.

It has been said that some Karimojong even go to other families and literally ‘borrow’ children to come with to Kampala .

This should be easy because it is a significant budget cut for a parent in the face of hardships and lack.

City life and the struggle to survive

The difficulty of city life takes over as these children and adults set foot in Kampala . Katwe and Kisenyi are the two most likely destinations for these children, but only for accommodation. At day time, they are on Kampala road, Jinja road, Entebbe road, Kampala ’s alleys and markets, begging.

Aware of the difficulty of city life, those who ‘borrowed’ these children or those who came with them, some times their mothers, conscript them as beggars. Every thing in the city needs money, every day. This is the golden rule of city life.

One needs to jump over open drains and heaps of rotting garbage to reach to the places of abode.

A typical accommodation structure is a six-square foot wooden shack with a bare floor (Not cemented), often with a low iron roof.

The kids tell me that about 30 of them sleep in each of these shacks without explaining how they fit in.

Children pay Ushs400 each to sleep in them per night, while adults pay ushs700 each.

The requirement for food is another daily requirement for money. This is not a definite expenditure because the children can go without food. The requirement for accommodation is superior.

Mr. Emmanuel Tebanyang a student who has researched on street children says the children are not the direct beneficiaries of the money they get. There are adults watching them and will take all the money away from them.

“What happens when they have not got the money on a particular day is that they spend the night outside. If the money they managed to get on a particular day was, say ushs700, the adult will take this money, pay for her accommodation and the kid will still sleep out of the shack,” he says.

It is common to find the kids say something like “today again I will sleep outside”. To counteract this, clever ones will separate the money they get and cater for themselves in a different hovel as night falls.

In the city, children are exposed to such child labour and a host of other ills. Grown ups indulge in things like drugs and prostitution. Even girls have confessed to taking drugs for example inhaling petrol and or alcoholism.


Human trafficking?

A 23 year old Karimojong student who spoke to me on conditions of anonymity seriously suspects there are cases of sale of Karimojong children on the streets.

“One day I was going down Entebbe road and I found a young boy translating from non Karimojong ladies to a Karimojong mother of a child who must have been about two months old,” he told me.

“‘They are saying that you give them the kid and they will give you a lot of money,’ ran the translation,” he says.

The student says he was not emotionally strong enough to witness what would have transpired.

With people desperate to have children and with the rampant cases of child sacrifice especially in the city, these statements are too serious to ignore.

These and other forms of exploitation could be going unabated.

Francis Loware, the ‘LCI’ of Karimojongs in Kisenyi is a man who is about 30. He even speaks in what I would call good Luganda and can not recall when he came to the streets. He confides in me that there are many people exploiting the Karimojong.

“There are many fake organizations that have come here purporting to help us and then use the connection to enrich themselves, running away at the end,” he says.

Shall we go home?

Many street children loathe the idea of having to go back home. One of the middle aged women I talked to simply said “I can not go back home. The conditions at home are unbearable. I better stay here with my children and eat whatever we can find.”

On many occasions in the past, the Karimojong have been returned but a great number of them have come back to the streets.

Molly Nakut is a 17 year old girl, now nursing her one month old baby. During the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), she was taken back to Moroto with others in what was a massive clean up of the city for the November 2007 meeting.

She has perpetually been on the streets, some times balancing between Kampala and Iganga where her brother, a former street boy, succeeded in establishing himself.

“I can not remember when I came to the streets. I only went home in 2007 and stayed there for two years, returning in December 2008,” she says as she suckles her one month old kid.

Nakut says she was born in May 1992 and if this is true then this girl who did not succeed to finish her primary school in 2006 was defiled. It was in Kampala that she was impregnated.

She alleges a well placed member of society is responsible for her pregnancy. Attempts to get him to help have since been futile.

A return to Karamoja remains the best for the Karimojong on the streets. This however is a return they are not anticipating.

At the national rehabilitation center, I joked to hordes of Karimojong that they would be taken to Karamoja in seven days.

“Let them come and take us,” one told me.

“The problem is they will take us home and not give supplies regularly.”

She explained to me the government gave them inadequate food when they were resettled in 2007 and this made a return to the streets inevitable.

At Kampiringisa

Faced with the high number of street children, Kampala City Council authorities and the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development often work out the solution. This includes taking them to Karamoja and taking them to the national rehabilitation center.

Kampiringisa national rehabilitation center is located about 15 kilometers from Mpigi town, off Mpigi-Masaka road. It is run by the Ministry of gender.

Kampiringisa put simply is run down and the last building renovated was in 2003.

On my day at Kampiringisa, the officers in charge do not speak to me, referring me to the authorities in Kampala .

On entry however, I meet the children and because they have seen me earlier the chorus of ill treatment starts:

“Yesterday we did not eat,” said some while others said the food was bad.

“Food is not well cooked and the beans are not served ready,” others said.

“My child is sick with malaria but the dispensary has given me just these pain killers,” a woman carrying a baby said, showing me sachets of paracetamol (panadol).

Because it was a day after the massive transfer to the camp, a one month old was at camp without its mother. The mother arrived later and reunited with her child.

One woman had left her child in a shack at Kisenyi and was in town when she was bounded on to the KCC trucks. She cried and asked for permission to get to Kampala to no avail.

“Kampiringisa is a transitory camp,” said a camp official who did not want to be named.

“The children are brought here for preparations before they are taken back to Karamoja,” he added.

What is not clear is if the children and other adults receive any kind of rehabilitation at the camp, to make it worth its name.

The future looks dark

What chances do the 52 children baptized on Christmas day and others of their age and condition have in the future?

Hon. Terence Achia (Bokora) admits a solution will be hard to find but says they are working hard as MPs from Karamoja to find one.

Karamoja has 14 area MPs, two of whom are Ministers of State and a line ministry of Karamoja Affairs under the Office of the Prime Minister.

“We are trying to source some funding for the children and also look for non governmental organizations to help them,” he said when contacted.

With ill health, child labour, diseases such as HIV/AIDS, poor accommodation, lack of education and a lack of food, the future is indeed not secure.

Finding a lasting solution to the Karimojong street child problem is a jigsaw puzzle.

“I was talking with the mayor today about the street children but he says he has no solution,” Maureen Mwagale told me some time last Tuesday.

A lasting solution indeed remains a Herculean task, many who have talked to the children will agree.

The future of these children and indeed the whole Karimojong lies in that solution. Until then, the future is not secure.

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I can't say I have come up with a great solution but I can tell you if there is no where for orphans to go, no where for them to sleep and no where for them to eat, of course they will do whatever it takes to survive. This is a major reason we are here is to help this situation but it is not going to be something in our own power but in the power of God. As we continue to move forward in the completion of the orphanage we sometimes have more questions than answers and we ask that you would pray along side us. That we would have wisdom and discernment on dealing with these issues. Pray that there would be more labors and that we could develop a long lasting solution and not just hand outs.

Thanks for taking the time to listen. I know this one was rather long, but it is something you must know to understand better what is going on in the region we serve.
Love and Hugs,
Michaela

The trip, the baby, and more!

Since being here there is one very important lesson I have learned: Things hardly ever go the way you want them to. This is pretty much a life lesson in general but seems to be magnified here. The great thing about all of this is that you have to depend on God more. There is no other option other than freaking out which doesn't really work, and is not what God wants from us.

This trip to Kampala was a rough one, more for our team mates the Williams, as their car broke down (engine problems) after having 2 flat tires. But the health of our whole team has been under attack. (Thank you Martha for the puke bucket it came in handy!) The neat thing is that we have seen God through it all. The flat tire happened 20 minutes into our trip allowing us to go back to get it repaired before being too far in the boonies. For that we were thankful.

Malachi was getting better with the IV drip of typhoid medicine right before leaving (literally got the treatment at 6 in the morning and left at 7) and then he got really bad that night. We happen to be staying with some of our good friends and missionary (they are a true God send and a huge blessing) half way to Kampala, and they have a clinic. Did a blood test and found out that Malachi also has Malaria and we were able to get him on medication right away.

24 hours later with all of your prayers..... he is doing amazing! He is back to his old self today. Talking a lot and running around. Something we like to see. He has to take his medicine for a while longer but we are optimistic about it!

So all in all, here we are, all in one piece (kind of) working on getting supplies, our visas, and trying to get some Rest and Relaxation.


And some exciting news......had an ultra sound today and everything is looking good, and the baby is a......GIRL!!!

We are so excited, and it was great to see the baby, and to know all is well with her. Can't wait til she is here!

So thank you all for your prayers for our team and for our health. We feel so supported in prayers and today we could really feel it. Thank you all so much!

Love to you all!
Michaela

I Want You to Meet Rainbow Mike

With Mike's permission I am going to explain a little bit more of the ministry we are involved in and supporting. Rainbow Mike is Acholi (a people group in Uganda) and came to Karamoja to flee from the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army). After coming here his heart grew for the kids that were living on the street. (There is a lot more detail but I am going to try to keep it simple).
Fast forward to the present. Rainbow Mike's heart has grown to not only help the orphaned street kids but also help widows, elderly and the disabled. Because of his obedience there are now 40 kids that are getting an education. Hungry helpless mouths are being fed, and medical care is being given. Jesus' love is illuminating through him and the ministry he started.

Currently the Children's home is not up to district standards, but with the help of a couple generous donations the Children's home is set to be complete in about 2 weeks. What does this mean? It means that 10-20 kids off the street can have a bed to sleep in. It means they will no longer have to eat rotten food they can gather from the market. It means they will have safety from the horrors that happen to them at night. It also means that the 40 sponsored children within the ministry that are at boarding school will have somewhere to go during their school break.

We are very excited about the completion of the home, and we ask that you would pray that it would happen soon so that these kids can get off the street. We ask that you would pray that we could continue to get more funds in order to add a girls dorm. (In the mean time the girls will be staying on our property in our additional housing.) Pray that we could get enough funds to build huts for some of the widowed, displaced, disabled, and elderly woman that are being supported through the ministry. Right now a place is being rented for them in town through the ministry, but it would be more ideal for them to be within the compound.

It has been a true blessing being here and working along side Rainbow Mike. He has an amazing heart. We have had to pleasure to have him and his family (and some of the sponsored kids) staying with us until the construction of the Children's home is complete. This has been a great time for us to learn about community living and we have gotten to know some of the kids in the ministry more. Not to mention we can practice the language with them.

Our goal has and is going to be in supporting Rainbow Mike in whatever we can. Our family has found ourselves helping more on the Children's home/orphan side (shocking I know)and we feel God leading us to spend more of our time focusing on this part of the ministry. Right now that means getting administrative things done, construction of the Children's home, helping with the sponsorship program, and building relationships with the sponsored and street kids.


Here is the work in progress:


Thanks for listening. Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving. We are going to have a little bit of everything. Liberian food (fried Okra), Ugandan food (G-nut paste with greens), and American food (mashed potatoes....I know that is all we could get, but we will enjoy them!)

Pictures and More

I don't have anything really worth saying so here are some pictures. After visiting the village we stopped by "Sliding rock" for a little fun.

What is Life in Uganda Like so Far?

What is life in Uganda like so far?
At night when I am lying in bed it seems like I have a lot I feel I could share on my blog, but then when I actually go to write it seems like I have nothing to say. With that I would like to let you in on a little bit what our lives are like here so far.

We have been in Kotido for 3 weeks now. It is starting to feel more and more at home. It is such a blessing to be settling into our house and developing somewhat of a routine.

This last week we have been staying at home more trying to adjust to the life here in Kotido. There are a lot more daily chores, and things you have to get used to. I will say I have finally stopped walking into a room and reached for the light switch. (There are no lights here. I am also getting used to all the little critters. Even the mice and rats....and at times the cock roaches, although if one happened to crawl on me I would freak!) But as my friend Deanna commented on my last blog critters are nothing compared to being in Christ!

After getting up in the morning, we do some of our regular chores such as collecting water, sweeping the inside of the house and outside, filtering water, sorting rice, breakfast etc. We then start school. Having school has been somewhat nice because it is something that is familiar to me since I home-schooled in the states. It is never uninterrupted because of guests and such, but then again was it ever uninterrupted in the states either? Wait....is there such thing as uninterrupted homeschool?

After we finish school the kids play soccer (Football) or marbles. Each child has made some great friends and they are experiencing a lot of character building. They are busy playing and making things out of trash and sticks, string, etc. Lots of fun!

Cody’s day is much different than ours in some ways. He is busy with chores in the morning and then makes his daily run to the market to collect produce and other supplies for the day. Right now we are in the dry season so we are eating a lot of cabbage, tomatoes, rice, and beans. We don’t have a lot of variety in our diet but we are not going hungry. Cody has also been very busy playing “Bob the Builder” and making great things such as a drying rack for my dishes, a stand for our small electronics solar panel, and he even made me a silverware rack! He has been an amazing leader, father, and husband during this time of transition and I am more than grateful for him.

Popcorned (I don’t think that is a word but I am going to use it) in the middle of all of this normal life we fit in times to minister and we attempt to share the love of Jesus with those around us.

We have been really praying that the Holy Spirit will lead us into the different areas that we are suppose to. There is so much need here and we could probably do 20 different things (within in our initial goal of caring for orphans and church planting) but we want to be sensitive to His calling and what is best for the people and culture here and what He desires from us.

I know I say this over and over again but it is because it is so humbling all of you who are behind us supporting us in different ways. It is such a team effort, and we see that in ways we never could have seen that before!

Love to You ALL!
Michaela

Oh and we start language today so pray that our minds and tongues would be prepared and great!

I wish I could post more pics on the blog but it is hard to do, so I have been posting them on Facebook as that is easier. If you don't have a facebook account I am sorry and can try to do my best to load pictures when I can.

A Busy Week

A lot has happend this week and we have been very busy. The big news....we are in our house! We are not completly settled, but at least we are in.

Last Wednesday we had a meeting with a government official of Kotido about Shalom (Orphanage). It was very informative and this gentlemen was very kind and helpful. We were able to find out what the orphanage needs to be able to be up and running according to the government standards. Lots of work that needs to be done, but it is coming along, and great improvements have been made already.

I also got a chance to tag a long to the village for a visit. It was really amazing to meet some of the village woman and the challenges they have. It was very humbling to see their joy inspite of their circumstances. We even got to see some warriors, and they did a dance for us before we left. Rainbow Mike and some of the team members were able to go back to provide them with some food, and medical care.





Toward the end of week we went to School visitation day for the sponored children with Shalom. There are 11 sponsored kids that go to Secondary School (high school). When you go to High School here you stay on campus 24/7. They don't have family to visit them on visitation day so it was fun to be able to go on behalf of their sponsors back in the states. Their sponors also gave a little extra money so that we could purchase them a new outfit, and take them out to lunch at a restaurant. They really enjoyed having a change in their diet from the normal beans and posho (not sure that is spelled right) to chicken (our kids did too :).



Last but not least today I went to the cattle market with some of the other girls on the team. It was a cultural experience that is for sure, but fun to get out and see more ways of the Karamojong.

I can't express how much your prayers have all meant to us. There defiantly have some challenges we are facing, but we feel God's grace, and your prayers through it all. We are so grateful for your comments and emails of encouragement.

Michaela

Some Interesting and Not so Interesting Things About Kotido

We have been here over a week now and although I am not well versed in the culture yet I have made a lot of observations.

1. Roosters here are not on Ugandan time. They crow in the middle of the night and early in the morning. 3:00 a.m. early.

2. Mice like having parties on your roof at 5:00 a.m.

3. Hand washing your clothes is really hard on your clothes, but good exercise for your arms.

4. If you are 5 and under your favorite thing to do is yell "Muzunga" (White person) and giggle, then follow you.

5. Cold showers are not so bad....ok maybe they are.

6. You may not have a flushing toilet or running water but you can have internet :). (Thank goodness for that, so I can keep in touch with friends and family)

7. Mosquitos nets at night keep out all sorts of critters other than mosquitos. Maybe they don't keep out mosquitos at all. I wake up with all kinds of bites....unless maybe we have bed bugs. Who knows....however the mosquitos here are very clever and smart.

Ok, ok, in all seriousness......we are doing pretty good. We have seemed to pass around a cold and our bodies are all adjusting to the food here, and the different bacteria and such.

We are not in our house yet which is a bummer, but we are optimistic it will be soon. Hopefully it really will be soon and not "Africa" time.

Our team is amazing and we are so thankful to have them. We have learned a lot about how God is speaking to them, and we feel Him saying a lot of the same things to us. We were able to visit the orphanage and see what work is going on there, which was nice to see in the flesh. We are excited to make a trip to the village soon to meet some people that our team mates have been helping.

I think that sums it up...in a nut shell at least. A small one. Sorry I don't have pictures. Maybe next week. Hope all of you are doing well and remember we would love to hear from you and see how you are doing. Drop us an email when you can.

Oh and Cody actually blogged (it has been since June). You can check it out at our website www.FollowingJesusToUganda.com. Then click on "FulkTales." He is going to try and blog more often, and he is a much better writer than me, so enjoy!

Love From Uganda,
Michaela