Awoke to no hydro. Cold shower. No rain today.
I leave early with the other 3 docs, Pauline & Lou to visit a school run by a Bright Kids graduate. Medi was one of the original children who fled physical abuse at home to run to the street in Kampala, where he was rescued by Victoria. He is paying back her love by rescuing street kids himself, and has leased land and opened a primary school just this side of Kampala, up a very rough dirt road.
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| We disembark the van to hike down the very rough road |
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| Medi greets Dr. Durga, Vasu & Pauline |
It’s incredible to me that Medi currently has about 375
children enrolled in his school. Of
those, he currently supports and houses about 80 girls and 75 boys. Like Victoria, he does an amazing job of
juggling finances. He sometimes has to
accept delayed tuition payments from the community parents and likewise his
teachers sometimes are not paid for a week or two at a time. He does work as a musician, so performs shows
to raise some income.
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| the youngest pupils |
The classrooms are small and rather crowded, but not unlike
others I have seen in Uganda. What
surprises me is that the children appears so wonderfully happy, well-behaved
and overall quite healthy. Most of them
are truly beautiful.
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| kids start pouring out of their classroom to pose |
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| one of the more senior classes |
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| rather stern appearing teacher |
The dorms for the boarding children are very cramped and
generally 2 or 3 children will share a single mattress. The teachers greet us formally and
respectfully, despite the fact I incite insubordination in their classes by
photographing the kids then showing them their image.
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| kids line up for the drinking barrel |
A general assembly of the kids is held outdoors and Medi
gives a speech to greet us. The kids
sing the Ugandan national anthem then the boarding students whom this kind man
supports break out, including one girl who just arrived yesterday after her
single mother died. Medi calls out a few
individual kids to bring us laminated documents certifying our esteemed visit
of support this date. We are truly
honoured.
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| general assembly |
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| the kids who Medi supports |
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| Dr. Lou Picard is given his document |
Following that, the community kids go home for lunch and the
boarders line up with cups to receive their share of the thin soup doled out by
the cooks. We discuss the possibility of
sending Rosemary, the BKU nurse perhaps one day every one or 2 months to help
support health care for these kids, and perhaps arranging a vaccination
day. Will need to discuss these ideas
with Victoria.
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| cooks await serving lunch |
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| one of the staff with her daughter |
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| kids just love the camera |
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| boarders line up for soup |
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| Dr. Vasu has a serious discussion with a teacher |
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| Dr. Durga discusses her observations with Pauline |
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| Medi is truly a saint |
In the evening we chat with Doug, Rich and Mike –
three guys from the Austin, Texas area who are involved with an organization
called “It Starts with Soccer”. They spearhead
fundraising projects in the USA among soccer leagues and use the money for
projects in Africa. Their biggest
project to date is the new big kid’s dorm under construction. We look forward to attending a little
tournament tomorrow to which the BKU kids have been invited.
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