Saturday, 18 July 2009

Hi everyone and welcome to the eleventh blog! I can't believe time has flown by so fast. I'm gong to keep it brief this week as it is already well into the afternoon, having spent literally the whole morning trying to do this on the computer in our room with everything possible going wrong. I'm in an internet cafe in town now with a dilapidated old keyboard that needs pressing with each finger like a hammer so before I get blisters and make a speedy retreat to the pool here's a bit about out last week's adventures...

After the usual swim and and a nice meal at a backpackers' resort where we met some other volunteers and swapped stories, we decided to wind down the weekend with a "Nile Special" beside the Nile...soon after we sat down (or sprawled across two chairs in my case after my 1/4 pint - it's surprisingly strong!), an American and Singaporean volunteer we'd met the previous weekend turned up for a boat trip and we joined in with half a dozen others. Caitlin and I managed to stagger in after our shared beer (but soon recovered) only to be joined by an overly friendly Ugandan who became friendlier with every bag of 40% alcohol (which smelled of jelly babies) he consumed. As the host "father" (although only 21) of our two friends there was no escape from him and we ended up hopping around for most of the trip trying to escape his over-friendliness and thinking up less and less polite replies to his insistent offers marry us. The fact he couldn't remember which of us was which and that we both, including him it turned out, had boyfriends (a girlfriend in his case) had no relevance to him!


Aside from this there were moments that we were able to enjoy the beautiful views from the boat and lots of birds, even a huge lizard the size of a crocodile sunbathing on a riverbed. We stopped at an island that was clearly a busy nesting site judging by the amount of bird poo that made the trees and rocks look white. As we came back the sun was setting and, one drunk man aside, a perfect way to spend a Sunday evening.


We started the week heavy-hearted after hearing the sad news from Mike that Luka had disappeared while he and his wife Robinah and baby Caren were at church. Luka had been left with the housemaid, Blessing, who when Mike returned thought Luka was still sleeping on the sofa next door. Mike had gone into town that night to search for him but hadn't seen him.


We didn't see him the next day and no news from Mike... we went ahead with our meeting with Mike to discuss all sorts of things which took the whole morning, and then spent the afternoon at Joy school, each having a meeting with Mary, who it turned out had travelled all the way back from Rwanda (where she also runs a school) just to speak with us! She was returning to Rwanda the following day so we were extremely grateful for her time. It was helpful to clear up various things with the beads project and hear more of her plans for its development. She was pleased to hear about current plans for the UK market and see the brochure. It's wonderful to share her enthusiasm for what we will be able to do for the project once things come off the ground. I'm just sad that I won't be here to see the effects of my work but glad that our next interns will be able to keep us updated and carry things on. I'm sure Caitlin will let you know the outcome of her meeting next week.

As I walked back along the main street at the end of the day I heard shouts of "hello!" "hello!" and there was Luka! He was all grubby and a little thinner than when we last saw him, but obviously happy to see me. I rung Mike and he said we would have to have a proper discussion with him, finding out why he ran away and if he was really willing to come back, before we could take him in again. It was so difficult leaving him there, I wanted to take him if not to SALVE to our guest house and give him a shower and food and somewhere safe to stay but obviously this was out of the question. Instead I got the friendly staff of a nearby internet cafe to translate for me and to ask Luka if he could come to CRO the following day to meet Mike, Stephen (who understands his language better), Caitlin and myself and discuss the possibility of taking him back.


The following day we turned up to CRO to find no one there, not even David or Richard (the boy we met last week) who we had also arranged to see. Soon Stephen turned up and as Mike was stuck in traffic we decided to walk up and down the main street to see if we could find Luka. In the meantime Caitlin waited at CRO and the other two boys turned up. Mike eventually arrived and we had no success finding Luka, so returned to CRO.

A lovely and helpful staff member, "Uncle" Bosco, spoke with us about all three boys we hoped to help. CRO has so much information on almost every child on the street, it's so immensely helpful to have their support with our project now.


We showed David a photo of his long-estranged brother, Patrick, who he still remembered and was overjoyed to see! He asked us to take him to see Patrick right then and we hope we will be able to do this soon.


We also discussed with Bosco the ways in which I will be able to work with them and gain research and experience in their community education initiatives. It was all so useful but a little frustrating we have had to wait until over half our time here to get to this point. I feel as though we will be only just getting things started with community education by the time I leave, but will be great to have the involvement with CRO until then.

As we were deep in discussion Bosco suddenly noticed Luka in the yard outside and hurried out to bring him in. Luka looked worried, as though he expected us to beat him or tell him off for running away. Straightaway we made it clear to him that we weren't angry but just wanted to know what happened.

Stephen took him somewhere quiet and Luka made a heart-felt confession. He had wanted to wash his sandals on Sunday afternoon, while Blessing had been doing her washing. Luka had asked to use the water and before Blessing had finished, he dumped his dirty sandals in. The two had an argument and he ran away, taking his spare clothes with him to donate to friends.

I wonder how he returned to the streets as it is quite a distance from Bugembe and I doubt he had done the journey by foot before.

He was very sad about what happened and was ready to come back and apologise to Blessing. We were relieved that this was the reason, as we couldn't think before what it could have been except that he might be missing his friends. We hope very much that David or Richard will be joining him soon and this should not be a problem. His argument with Blessing is a very understandable reason and it may have been a misunderstanding on his part because of the language barrier. It must be difficult speaking so little of the local language but I'm sure he will improve quickly with so much attention.

Here's some pictures of him now he's settled in... the change is amazing and incredibly rewarding to see!



For Caitlin, the rest of the week as spent looking into banks for SALVE and also re-writing the constitution ready for CBO registration. Also teaching English at Joy School and teaching "The Animals Went in Two by Two" and another song to her drama group for the much anticipated "Noah's Ark" production!

For me it was my first day's work with CRO on Thursday. I have been paired with Noah, who, although late because he was getting malaria medication and taking his sick father to hospital for which he apologised profusely, was useful in finding files, directing me to sources of info and other staff members who would (embarrassingly) stop what they were doing and give me as much time as I dared take. We spoke with Rose, who carries out their community education workshops, and have arranged to attend her tailoring workshop in Massese slum community next Tuesday. It's going to be great to see what they are doing and also the work of the more specialist organisations they partner with before putting together our own community education plans. It will also be good to compliment what they are doing and therefore extend what we are able to accomplish.

Discovered two huge filing cabinets stuffed with CRO children's profiles so for the next few weeks Noah and I will be going through these to build up some data on where the children living on the streets are coming from and what led them there. This will provide the info needed to then make plans as to what to provide in specific communities. Also hope to do lots of interviewing at CRO with Stephen to discover more personal things like whether the children would be prepared to go home if given the opportunity.


Also found a wee bit of time to work on samples of the beads project to put photos in the UK sales brochure. Here's this week's white seeds earring and bracelet design. Also went to the workshop which needs heavy supervision so the teachers remember to keep to the UK market designs and maintain the quality the children are easily capable of but it seems only if told every week!


Right, this is much longer than I anticipated and I'm off for a much needed swim. Bye for now and next week you'll be hearing about our trip to Mbale which didn't happen this week because of Mike's unexpectedly busy schedule.

Love Esther xxx

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