Ground Breaking

This week as already gone by really quickly! I can't believe that it's Friday tomorrow or that it's Easter weekend already! My time in Uganda is winding down, but as expected the last three weeks are shaping up to be lots of work, but lots of fun, too! On Wednesday, we went to Kayunga to visit Pastor Kawooya and House of Peace to take a look at the start of latrine digging and to give my mom a real picture of what needs to be done in order to get the house back in shape.

I don't think I mentioned it before but on Saturday I had a meeting with Pastor K and two members of government offices responsible for overseeing children's homes in Uganda. I was really glad that we met with the official members of the office instead of just getting the information second hand from Pastor K. It's not that I don't trust what he has to say, but sometimes it gets a bit confusing when you are talking about renovations for things you have never heard of or seen before. I have also realized over the years that although sometimes it is really easy to just go in and help out or give some money to assist in doing things that people need, it isn't always the best way to go about things. A lot of times there are members of offices in charge of important regulations that are willing to help out if they know you are all working towards the same goal of giving the kids a safe place to live and grow. We got some good clarifications on requirements. For example, Paul and I initially thought that building a fence was a waste of resources because they live in a village and have 10 acres of land. It turns out that every home that has orphans in it needs to have an enclosed space around the home, but there isn't a specific requirement of how the fence should be built. It still isn't completely clear if the fence will keep anybody in or out, but we want to follow the regulations. In addition to the fence, there is a long list including fixing the foundation of the floor, putting in new windows, digging a garbage pit, possibly adding a flat ceiling, getting electricity, building a shelf in the kitchen,  putting beds in every room, painting the walls, and fixing the outside cement work. What started out as a request to help build a toilet to get the kids back in their home has turned into a bit of an extreme home makeover.

Sometimes I have my doubts about any project in Uganda - or any project in general. I have talked about this project in previous posts and I still have pretty much the same thoughts. However, my mom did give me some new perspective that I am a little ashamed to say I was pushing aside. In my mind I kept thinking that now that the kids are in Jinja, even though they are split up in many different homes, they may not have it so bad. I mean, the schools are a bit better, the walk to town and school is shorter, they are in smaller groups, and they seem to be doing just fine. When Pastor K talks about it, though, he reminded us of how he left the village after the majority of his family and many in the village died from HIV/AIDS in the early 90's. He didn't want to be a part of the village anymore. Later, God called him back and put it on his heart to help these children and he has been taking them in since around 2004. Since he started, this has become their home. The place they have been growing up and the place they love. It might be in a rural location, and it might seem like the village isn't the best place to be, but I think that is mostly because that isn't where I grew up and that isn't what is familiar to me. Thinking about it this way made us realize that being home is a big deal and it is important for us to help out in any way that we can. So to anybody who donated to Medicine for Sick Children or directly to my mom for this project, thanks a lot! This project is meaning a lot to Pastor Kawooya and the kids and the goal is to have them back at home before the next school semester starts in June.

During our actual visit, we watched as a tractor tilled some of the fields while a couple of guys were doing the same work by hand. A month ago I was discouraged when we visited because it looked like any attempt at having a legitimate garden or farm had completely failed. I think all it needed was a little bit of the rainy season! This time, there was so much green that I almost didn't recognize the place. It seems that planting and growing isn't going to be that difficult, after all! Also, in honor of the re-building and fixing of the house, Pastor K wanted to symbolically plant an orange tree. Here's to hoping it grows up big and strong!!

Orange tree in the middle of the maize - it grew that tall in just 4 weeks or so!

The orange tree

The man came to start digging the pit for the latrine style toilet. It needs to be something like 60 feet deep and he said it will take about 5 days. He managed to dig himself in about 6 feet by the time we left. His tools were a pick-axe, a shovel, and a hoe. I am a little unsure of how 60 feet is going to happen, but I have seen some pretty deep holes dug by hand here before, so I am sure it will eventually get done!

New Site for the Latrine. Here's to hoping for no rocks!

The old toilet - totally full and falling apart

We are planning on doing a lot more work over the next three weeks but our next visit won't be until about a week and a half from now. We are hoping that they will have been able to fix the walls inside and do enough that we can do some painting inside. Clearly, we don't have a lot of skills with building things, gardening, or doing other projects in this country, but I think painting is pretty universal. Hopefully our painting abilities will be useful more than they will hinder progress!

It's not all about work, though. On the drive home, we took a pretty nice stop at a waterfall along the way to Jinja. Just a 5 minute drive from the main road and about 5,000 shillings ($2.50) got us on a beautiful little hike to stretch our legs for about a half hour. It was much cheaper than our $65 hike in Mt. Elgon to see a little trickle after 5 hours of hiking! Sometimes you just don't have a clue what you are paying for but you have to take a chance on seeing something great! I think we won with this pit stop!

$2.50

$65