Day 1 - Sandals on the ground in Uganda again

Long flight  & layover but no mishaps and our luggage all arrives in Entebbe with us – bonus!  We all actually sleep fairly well but I waken early and walk over to BKU to get some quick “hellos” and hugs from Richard, Justine (the girl whom Sue & I sponsor) and Rose, the BKU nurse.  I do get a couple of quick greetings from Obama & Don as they rise, but think I should get back to Banana Village before everyone awakens and was keen to get going.

Arnold with Jovan

We enjoy a nice breakfast of toast, eggs & pineapple, but a heavy steady rain starts before we finish.  We take the opportunity to chat with Pauline Greenlick and our new acquaintances Dr. Durga Malepeeta and her husband, Vasu, and brother-in-law, Sreeramalu, who are all retired or semi-retired physicians from the USA.  I also meet Leonard Lies, who directed & edited the documentary movie on BKU, “Under the Umbrella Tree”.  The doctors have already met with a couple of local MD’s to whom Rose refers complex cases, and they hope to further network with the local hospital.  Durga seems quite excited about the Electronic Medical Records (EMR) project, but I note on our tour of the expanded medical clinic that the only power appears to be solar power, so maintaining use of a laptop may be a challenge which I need to explore further.

Leonard is an an artistic and humanitarian soul whose son did missionary work in Malawi.  He is working with Pauline on a documentary exploring gender violence and specifically acid attacks on women in Uganda.  Today he & Pauline meet at length with  Hanifa, who has had two surgeries since I met her last visit, and Rita, another acid attack victim who counselled Hanifa early in her recovery.  These brave ladies have helped form a political group whose goal is to push legislators to impose harsh penalties on those who perpetrate, conspire to perpetrate, and even suppliers of strong acids used in these attacks.  I salute the bravery and fortitude of women like Hanifa & Rita.

Leonard with new friends

The rains abate after 1.5 hours, and Sue, Alicia, Jeffrey & I wander up to the BKU compound where Susan falls in love with Jovan at first sight and declares him to be a devil in disguise.  The new matron does not speak good English, but the little ones’ dorm seems to be neater and better organized than in the past.  A new swing set sits outside the back window, and the kids all appear happy and, apart from the recent wave of colds, quite well.

Sue meets Jovan

Rose with Don

Susan holds Sonyu Harriet

Sandra goes wild

Sandra, QT & Don

Rebecca

We have a very nice lunch hosted by Victoria at BKU – the four of us plus the  3 US docs.  We are happy to reacquaint ourselves with Angel (Victoria’s daughter who is 6 mos pregnant with twins) and her son Hakim, who is feeling under the weather with a respiratory virus.

Angel with Hakim

Victoria takes us to the big kids’ dorm area, where a very large new dormitory is under construction, the funds being provided by a charity Soccer group from the USA.  The $5500 USD in fundraised money we give her today will provide halp completing this dorm as well as finishing the extension to the Medical clinic which is also underway.

Angel bravely climbs the scaffold to the roof

Victoria surveys progress safely from ground level

boys' dorm on the left, cookhouse to the right

the new dorm is an impressively large building

Sue, Alicia, Jeffrey & I ride the BKU van to Entebbe with Victoria & Angel in the afternoon.  We visit the new “Victoria” shopping mall which is strikingly modern and upscale, but not fully leased yet.  Restaurants include KFC and “Quebec diner”.  Damned globalization – lol!  Pick up Uganda shillings cash, bottled water, snacks, a hair dryer that will actually work with 220V  and some Coca Cola & cleaning products.  It’s weird to see a grocery store bill of  220,000, but that works out to $100 USD.

strange sights for Uganda

very modern supermarket with cooking demonstration

We tuck away our purchases at Banana Village and unpack some suitcases.  We are allowed 2 checked bags each for overseas flights, so each of us carried one bag of donated supplies for BKU.  Spend some time sorting the goodies, then decide to bring some sour candy chews to the big kids dorm.  Hoping to see Justine, because Susan has not yet met her sponsored child.

afternoon rush hour

wheelbarrow races

Jane of the jungle

The walk over is highlighted by a couple of boys pushing their sister along the path on a wheelbarrow-type contraction without the bucket.  The girl props herself on the stick handles and the boys push her along at breakneck speed, puppy galloping behind.  A recipe for disaster, no question, but LOL they have fun!

We spend an absolutely amazing half hour at the big kids’ dorm area as the sun drops low in the sky over the inlet bay from Lake Victoria.  I think Susan is absolutely overwhelmed with joy as the kids swarm her and Alicia looking for a handshake, hug or just a few words.  Jackie, a young BKU worker became pregnant and her beautiful baby daughter Praise is handed to Alicia then Susan.  Truly a lovely child.  Jeffrey keeps busy playing “Simon says” then soccer.  He unwisely givees over his camera to some scoundrels and I will be interested to see the results of their artistic endeavours.

Sarah leads Jeffrey in "Simon says"

Olivia, Gloria & Doreen

My cap gets another workout by the BKU kids

Sue & Alicia clearly upset by the swarming

I meet Sarah, whose face is scarred from chicken pox but nevertheless has the most remarkable ability to connect with an adult that I think I have ever observed in a young child.  She locks me into eye contact with the most piercing gaze and commands that I mimic her in a game of “head and shoulders, knees & toes” in Lugandan, so that I may better learn their language.  The other kids joined in and soon it is a group teaching session with me as the lone student.  I score fair in enthusiasm and poor in aptitude, I’m afraid.  Then the entire group sing a few songs in English accompanied by dance moves, which Pauline later tells me were taught to them by one of the former US interns.

This is way too much fun

Jeffrey teaching camera technique to the Bright Kids

Hand over the candy and nothing bad needs to happen

Selfie with Olivia

Meanwhile, Susan’s situation of swarming becomes more acute once she pulls out the bag of candies and asks the kids to queue up.  All I can hear for about 10 minutes was “are you sure you didn’t already get some candy?”. 

Alicia reunites with Olivia while Janat looks on

Jeffrey with new friends

Susan with Praise

Janat having a blast

Sarah

Doreen

Neighbourhood kids

All in all, a beautiful, intense and emotional encounter with some impoverished third world orphans who overwhelm us with their joy, enthusiasm, and general love of life.  Susan was hooked last year when she met Victoria in Ontario.  I’m afraid now that I will never get her to leave.  Well, maybe not really afraid, because I could always decide to join her here.