Up and Down Emotions

May 21, 2009

Another day full of ups and downs….. I have to make this short because we are leaving this morning in about a half hour to go to a village called Mubende to see an orphanage that a man named Deo started. Melanie, one of the other volunteers offered to go with me. We were willing to go in a Mtatu for the whole 3 ½ hour trek, but Deo has a friend who is picking us up to take us there.

Yesterday morning we went to the Bead for Life village (we being Rachel and me). Bodas were our mode of transportation, we did once earlier this week for a short ride to a restaurant. We had piled two of us on the bodas with the driver, so it was a pretty uncomfortable ride. This time Rach and I each took our own. The price was great! Only 4,000 shillings for a ride that would have cost 25,000 in a special taxi. Maggie is from the U.S. and she coordinates all of the activities that happen at the Bead for Life. Today was a bead sale day, so the women come with bags full of their beads to trade for supplies and get paid for their work. They did a traditional dance and pulled Rach and I into the middle of the circle. Pretty sure that we are the two least likely to be found dancing, so it was really out of our comfort zone. It was still really fun and the women were very nice. The program that they run there is amazing. The women are taught to make high quality jewelry pieces over a 24 month period and sell them to Bead for Life who then sell them in the United States. The program also teaches the women how to be business women and eventually start their own business. 20,000 shillings every month from their bead sales are put into each woman’s business savings so that when they complete the program they have money to start their business. It was a great way to spend our morning.

The afternoon was a little rougher. Angella called us very upset because the Need for All Kids were taken to Watoto. It’s not that we didn’t want them to go, it’s the way that it happened that made us so mad. Jovenes told Angella on Monday that she was going to try for another week to get the rent taken care of, so everyone assumed that there would be some time before the kids moved. In morning, Jovenes called the mothers and told them to pack up the kids to go to Watoto. They didn’t believe her but still got the kids ready. A while later Ruth called and told them to pack the fridge (the one that WE bought for the KIDS last year) and deliver it on a boda to her house. Allen is feisty and said absolutely not, the fridge belongs to Angella and she will decide what to do with it. Later, a Watoto van showed up to collect the kids. They didn’t realize what was going on until about halfway to the new home. They all started crying and didn’t stop. We met up with the moms later in the day which was awful. We were at the Little Angels Orphanage giving the kids deworming medicine and providing a medicine cabinet. Allen and Noelena came by and the minute I started talking to them, the three of us started crying. Allen said the kids were crying when she left them. The thought of the children crying as the only mother they ever knew had to walk away from them and leave them with a stranger was just too much to handle. I felt bad for the people at Little Angels because we were distracted from our work to go outside and be sad. Angella explained to Max, the person in charge, what went on and he was sympathetic because he has been through similar things before. We tried to get our minds off of it as we gave the kids their medicine and I went outside and played with them in the yard. On the way out, we saw Max’s Mercedes outside the fence. He really must be a successful business man in Kampala so he has the money to support the kids in school and pay for the house and mothers. On the way home, we decided to go to Mamba Point instead of going home to a big group of people that was going to be there. We were just too upset. On the way, Ross called Ruth because Angella finally gave him her number. He explained who he was and asked how the kids were. She said they were fine and they needed $400 for rent for them. He asked if the kids were at the house right now and she told him they were, knowing they were already at Watoto. She wanted to meet him to get the money and he said thanks, I found out what I needed to know. He hung up and then sent her a text saying that he knew that the kids are gone and that she stole money from people who have tried to help the kids out of the goodness of their heart. She called shortly after yelling at him and saying that he is a liar. It made me sick to think that this is the woman who has withheld money for food and rent. She never goes to see them, but every time she knows there are Mzungus in town she calls Angella to ask for more money. We were just too mad to even think about it, so instead we re-told stories of the things the kids did at the zoo and other times that we saw them. We decided that now Kenny will have a real chance at being a policeman, Trevor could be a doctor, and all of the kids are going to have a better shot at making it life. Although it’s a sad day, we know it is in the best interest, we just wish it didn’t happen the way that it did and the kids were able to stay in the home that they call their family