Anyone who knows anything about what makes
me tick, especially when it comes to working with the poor and marginalized,
will know that one of the key
communities in my heart is the Acholi Quarters.
Inhabited by the Acholi people after they
had fled from the horrors of the Lords
Resistance Army reign of terror, they have lived in an informal
settlement on the edge of Kampala ever since, eking out a living from the two
stone quarries that dominate that part of the city.
I have been visiting the community since
2010, taking teams in there initially for just one chaotic session per trip, to
run an afternoon of games for the
children, most of whom don’t ever go to school due to poverty.
In 2014, Natalie spent 3 months of her gap
year supporting the Acholi and running ‘lessons’ for children and adults alike
– teaching the children very basic concepts like how to hold a pencil, how to
share and take turns, as well as letters, numbers, shapes etc, and helping some
ladies to rekindle some of the learning they had started as children but had
lost out on the chaos of the war.
Also in 2014, the troubles in Kenya caused
us to relocate a team to Uganda, and from that came the first week long CRED
visit to Acholi, running an educational activity week for some of the children,
and reinforcing what Natalie had started as well as introducing it to larger
numbers.
We have run subsequent team trips there but
each time I’ve come away wishing that we could somehow find a way to set up something
that can keep going so that the children don’t get tantalizing snatches of
education but then have it taken away again.
On each visit we would work with the same
cooperative of ladies, headed up by Harriet, and it has been lovely to see them
develop and blossom as individuals and as a group.
It is out of that blossoming, and
increasing self-belief and empowerment, that the Acholi-led projects have
developed.
On one visit, some of the adults came to me
and asked when I would bring a team to work with them – I was challenged by
their request, and after conversation with Harriet we identified a local Acholi
lady who is training to be a teacher and who agreed to run adult literacy
classes. These started Jan 2015 for some ladies and have been going well ever
since.
Last month, the next development in the
classes took place when some men joined the ladies. Inspired by seeing how the
women were benefiting from the classes, some of the men asked if they could
also access the lessons. Initially the plan was to have men meeting one day,
ladies another, but after a meeting of everyone together, it was decided that
the best thing would be to have two joint classes rather than one each. Quite
radical really, and definitely paving the way for more joint working and
breaking down of gender barriers
I’ll
blog a couple of stories from the adult literacy beneficiaries another day, but
for now let me tell you about the children’s Education Catch Up sessions that
the community have started running.
I am so thrilled about these – it really is
a dream come true, and what is even better is that it came from the community,
and not from ‘mzungu’ do-gooders coming in from outside dictating what needs to
be done.
Having been inspired by seeing how much the
children enjoyed the CRED visits, and the learning that went with them, the
parents got together with Harriet and co, and requested a ‘school’ be started.
A teacher was found, a room was rented,
desks were bought, and the parents committed to finding exercise books and
pencils for their children.
In all it costs about £70/ month to cover
the teacher salary and rent for the children’s education programme. The ladies
in the cooperative put in some money to the programme as they are able and no
assumptions are made about where the rest of the money comes from – but God is
a great provider and He touches peoples hearts as is needed.
It was absolutely wonderful to see the
programme in action yesterday, and to see how far the community has come –
truly humbling to be part of the journey.
But just to keep me grounded and to remind
me of the harshness of life, I then went to visit a friend who gave birth to
her 3rd child on Saturday. He’s just a tiny little mite, as you’d
expect of a week-old baby, and mum and dad are chuffed to bits. But at one
point the dad felt compelled to swallow his pride and tell me how worried they
are, because mum is HIV+ve and unable to feed baby, but dad is out of work and
they are struggling to buy the milk.
In an ideal world they would just go to the
shops, buy a tub of formula, and make the milk up as needed using clean tap
water or boiled water; but for this couple, and so many like them, life is far
from ideal, and for them their only option, with no spare cash, is to buy baby
milk on an ‘as and when’ basis from the little shed of a shop nearby.
A cup of milk costs 700 shillings (14.5p)
and so when baby is hungry that is the amount they have to find and then go buy
a cup of milk from the nearby shop. Three concerns with that system are that the
milk is not the right formula for the baby, that it has not been made to the
right strength ie is watered down, and that it has been made with contaminated
water.
Obviously I bought them some tubs of milk
powder – who wouldn’t in that situation – and have encouraged them to save up
all their individual 700 shillings, so that when the tubs run out they have
saved enough to buy some more powder.
But that little incident reminded me once
again of the fragility of life, the harsh reality of life for so many, and the
responsibility each of us has to be good stewards of what we have been
entrusted with – to not squander it, or waste it, or live selfishly with it,
but to do what we can, selflessly and with open hearts, to improve the lives of
all, and especially those who are the most vulnerable.
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