Reunited after 10 years.

 

I first started coming to Acholi Quarters in Uganda back in 2012, when I led teams of young people from UK schools to come and deliver educational activity weeks for the children living in the informal settlement.

One of the first children I really remember from those days was a young lad called Innocent. He must have been about 5 years old. He was so enthusiastic, always one of the first to arrive, and had this most wonderful big grin. He was great, and in time I was able to help him with going to mainstream school by funding his school fees.

I also met his mother and his older brothers – they were a family who ‘muddled by’. There was no father on the scene, and the mother had a troubled past which overflowed into how she coped with life in the present.

Then on one visit to Acholi Quarters, I was told that the mum had decided to go back to ‘the village’ with the boys and live there rather than in the city. Going back to the village basically means going back to the place that the parents think of as their ancestral home – it might be where they grew up before coming to the city, or where their parents grew up. For women it is usually where the husband’s family are from, as the location of ‘home’ moves from the village of her birth to the village of her husband’s birth when she takes the marriage vows.

Anyway, Innocent and his brothers were taken by his mum to the village, and contact with this lovely cheeky chappy was lost.

Until this visit!

The first place that I went to on arriving in Uganda this time, as with most visits, was the Nkuru Vocational college campus. This is the place that John Njendahayo has built, and that I’ve been involved in from the get go, along with incredible support and finance from some wonderful UK donors. I love going to the college – it’s so quiet, with beautiful views across tea plantations and rolling hills. Great for walking, for running, for sitting and watching the birds fussing in the trees and bushes.

So, I arrived there on Thursday and had a lovely afternoon catching up with John. And then, to my great delight, I was introduced to Innocent – now a strapping and very tall 18 yr old, who is a student at the college, thanks to being the recipient of an Acholi bursary.

It turns out that Innocent returned to Acholi late last year, having finished with school, and after the death of his mum. He didn’t want to stay in the village, as he thought that there might be better opportunities in Kampala. He saved the money to get back to Acholi, was taken in by one of Harriet’s group of mothers, and then was encouraged to put his name forwards for a bursary, which he was given.

And now he is at the college, learning to do construction, and loving it. It was so lovely to meet him again, and as he gets used to me being around, he is slowly opening up a bit more and filling me in on some of the extra aspects of the past 8 years. I feel so honoured to be back in his life again, and to be entrusted with parts of his life that he normally holds close to his chest. It just goes to show that you never know quite how a story will end!

Innocent in 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Innocent in 2025