By Barbara Wybar
I have been here for ten, really action-packed days, but there is still time to relish living in this beautiful spot, with the perfumes of its tropical flowers, its cheerful friendly people and the delicious avocados and exotic fruits. Last night, my visitors and I even went outdoors to gaze in wonder at the inky black night sky and the brilliant stars.
I think the best way to describe my life here is to review one particular day.
Today, three of us foreigners climbed the hillside to visit three families in our Children of Bududa (COB) sponsorship program. Some of our orphans and needy children live in these families. I have many such visits under my belt and I enjoy the intimacy of getting off the main dirt road and following the narrow footpaths snaking their way up to the different family homes.
First, we met Granny, whom I have known since 2005. She is over 80 years old, but she does not know exactly how old she is. We have rebuilt her house, the cookhouse and the latrine. She is still very poor and lacking food, and we brought some supplies. Her grandson has been an orphan in our program for many years. He was at school when we visited. Granny gave us a wonderful welcome and was very grateful for the food staples.
Next, we climbed higher to visit 13-year-old Andrew Wanyera and his crippled mother and 105-year-old granny. Mother was seated outside shelling beans. After greeting us with a smile, she got up on her crutches and went to check on Granny. Granny was just waking and seemed as if life was passing her by. I could not tell if she could see much or hear much but she was alive and being cared for by her grand-daughter.
Lastly, we cut around the hillside to the home of Caroline Seera, who is in our program too. This family has eleven children. Yikes! The oldest child is living at home with his partner and they have a six-month-old baby. If you want to see what poverty looks like, then visit Caroline Seera. All the family members are skinny from lack of food and the younger boys are very small for their age. We were told they were not allowed to go to school as they cannot pay the fees. In actual fact, it seems they were out of school in order to be around when the visitors came.
The next day, indignant that public schools here are turning away kids because they can’t pay, I spoke forcibly to the head teacher at Bushiribu Primary School with COB director, Grace Namyeka. We walked through small holdings of coffee and bananas and sugar cane.
The head teacher at Bushiribu knew all these children and he called them into the office. They were all present. He explained the problem: children do have to pay fees at local schools but the school knows these kids cannot pay and so they are accepted, as indeed they should be. The issue of food is a problem though. These kids come to school without having eaten breakfast and they get no lunch at school because their lunches have not been paid for. No child can learn on an empty stomach. So I paid lunch money for the rest of this term for the five students. I hope it makes a difference. But what will happen in future terms?
The headteacher, Robert, then asked if I could pay for the mandatory end-of-term tests. In Uganda, students have to pay for these printed tests, which are bought by the school. So I also paid the test money so that the students could have a chance of being promoted to the next grade.
Back at the Bududa Learning Center office, I found an old friend waiting, a former Children of Bududa teacher called Jane Wesuta. She also had a tale of woe. Her son had been hit over the head with a brick by a thief who stole his phone, and he was now brain damaged and suffering from severe headaches. He needed to have an operation in Kampala and she needed eight million shillings ( approx. $2,100.). She said she had three million. Could I help her? I said I would try but could not commit to paying the whole difference. She replied anything would help.
Next, came our longest serving tailoring teacher, Anna Apio, who wanted a second loan. As the first had been repaid, I agreed.
Diana Kibone is one of our orphans, who is now at nursing school and doing well. She has a terrible case of acne. I sent a photo of her face to my dermatologist friend in Philly, Toby Shaw, and she replied in return, diagnosed the problem and recommended medication. Now it’s a question of finding this drug here in Uganda, and then getting it to Diana’s school: a work in progress.
Back on the hillside, a young Ugandan man, Rogers, had humbly asked to talk to me. Of course! He wanted to study brick-laying at our school, but would need a scholarship. I suggested he meet with our Chief Operating Officer, Robert Kotaki. I must say, I am touched that young men and women yearn to attend our school like this. It’s a good sign.
Then there are the usual issues around the Children of Bududa Program. We want all kids in the program to attend our vocational school after high school, but many of them want to continue with academic courses elsewhere instead. What to do? The conversation goes on year after year. It is not much different from what goes on in the developed world. Kids do not want to go to vocational school; further education offers higher status.
A persistent problem at our school is absenteeism. I am trying to figure out how we can solve this problem. Mostly, I hear that many of our students are poor and so must work during the week to make a little money so they can live and eat. Market days are Monday and Thursday and on those days we have the highest absenteeism rate. How can we solve this? One way is to oblige students on scholarships to attend daily or risk having their scholarships terminated.
At the end of the day, Isaac Kutosi, a graduate of our Children of Bududa program, who has almost been a poster boy for us, arrives at my office with his beaming smile. I have not seen him for a while and he is now finishing his Senior 4 exams. He told me he would like to go on to nursing or take further courses in civil engineering in the local town, Mbale. Isaac had been in our program from an early age. He lived totally alone at the top of a mountain with unfriendly brothers nearby. We loaned him seed money to start a chapati-making business and he was successful and repaid the loan before getting another loan. Such an initiative is what we try to encourage and, if we can, reward.
So this is a typical Bududa day for me. At the end of a day, I sit on the guesthouse porch and admire the lush green valley below over a welcome cup of tea. I love it here. I love the people and being able to help them is so rewarding.
Barbara Wybar is the Executive Director and founding team member, Bududa Learning Center and a member of the Rotary Club of Chestnut Hill. Bududa is one of the educational institutions in central and eastern Africa that Chestnut Hill Rotary supports as part of its international initiatives.
