On Wednesday morning, believing I had conquered the knarly Malaria that had kept me near bed bound for the previous few days, I ventured from Gulu, Uganda by way of public bus transport, headed to the big city of Kampala. Here I spent one and a half days with a 21 year old student, Ivan, whom I am sponsoring in order that he may complete his basic education studies; enabling him to sit for board exams to enter into University. Ivan has only one more term to complete before he is eligible to take his exams for entrance to University. Exams are held the middle of December, and if all goes well, Ivan will be eligible to enter into University beginning in January.
I met Ivan my second day in Kampala while at the local outdoor Friday African Craft Market held in the YMCA Kampala parking lot. Ivan was simply walking through the parking lot as I lifted my head up from gazing at a beautiful piece of pottery. We made eye contact and I smiled. He smiled back just as he was passing me by. Ivan asked my name as I did his. After a few minutes of conversing, I asked Ivan if he knew of a near-by place I could buy a sim card for my cell phone. He politely instructed me where I was to walk and how much I was to pay (to not be taken advantage of simply because I was a foreigner). As I was looking a little confused as to where I was to go for this sim card, Ivan offered to walk me to the store. I accepted the offer and soon we were on our way in search of the sim card.
I gave Ivan the money to purchase the card for me, (to be charged the correct price). Yeah! I had my new Ugandan cell phone number! I ended up spending the next many hours with Ivan receiving a tour of the city of Kampala as well as the opportunity to visit the village he is from, including meeting his mother. (Because of his father’s issues with alcoholism, Ivan seldom sees his father, nor does he have a good relationship with him. His parents are no longer married).
The first place we visited when we arrived by boda boda (motorcycle taxi) to his village was his house. Because he had been living with his father – and his father was away on an alcohol binge, the door to his small house was pad-locked shut. Not owning a set of keys for himself, Ivan was unable to get inside of his house. Next Ivan took me to his next-door neighbor’s house so that he could introduce to me a very special friend of his – Mohammad. Mohammad is an orphan that was abandoned by both of his parents on the same day. He was left alone inside of a very run down hut for nearly three days before he was found. Since Mohammad was found abandoned nearly one year ago, his parents have never returned for their boy, nor have they been located. Ivan has been nearly the sole provider/caretaker for this little boy. It was Ivan’s neighbor who found little Mohammad after hearing a faint but repetitive whimpering coming from the old hut while she was heading to the field to harvest vegetables.
Because Ivan’s father frequently locked Ivan out of the house when he was out drinking, Ivan would go to his neighbor’s house for a place of refuge. When Ivan arrived at his neighbor’s house that day, he was quite surprised to see a small infant of approximately only eight months old lying on the nearby sofa. When Ivan inquired about this little fella and learned of his story, Ivan was compelled by compassion to immediately pick up to cradle the weak little boy close to him. From that day until now, Ivan has accepted the responsibility of this little baby Mohammad though the daily provisions of food and care. Ivan has worked odd jobs in order to provide the little bit that he could for this little guy – spending all of his money on the needs of Mohammad, before even himself. Some days, Ivan went without eating, in order that Mohammad could have food. The little boy lived at the neighbor’s house on the condition that Ivan was the provider and caretaker of the boy.
When I met Ivan that day, and after meeting his little boy Mohammad, I inquired with Ivan as to whether or not he attended school. He explained to me that due to his father’s alcoholism and his mother’s illness with diabetes, there was no money available to provide Ivan with food, let alone for him to attend school. (In Uganda, as in many countries within Africa, there is no such thing as ‘free public school’. There is a required school fee to pay, in addition to the fees of the required uniforms and scholastic materials, as well as the fees for optional room and boarding.) When Ivan and I had finished spending time with little Mohammad Ivan and I went to a nearby little ‘hole in the wall’ hut where we ate lunch. This was my first traditional Ugandan meal. Fish stew, (fried fish in a tomato oil broth) matoke, (similar to a boiled plantain – then mashed into a texture of mashed potatoes) and posho (ground corn flour mixed with boiling hot water into a large clump. Imagine lumpy cream of wheat – take one of the lumps out the cream of wheat and enlarge it to the size of 15-pound rockfish – this is the average size of a batch of posho. The posho is then dispersed in chunks the size of a small football, and is used like a spoon. First, you break a chunk of posho off with your fingers, roll it around into a ball and then make an indent in the center with your thumb. You then maneuver your fingers in such a way as to break off a piece of fish while dipping your posho into the tomato broth and filling the indented posho with the fish meat, and all together now – the posho, fish and broth are brought to your mouth with your fingers… it really is a work of art!

Over the course of lunch, I asked Ivan about schooling and what he would like to study if he ever had the chance to go back. A little sparkle formed in his eyes and immediately Ivan began to share with me his dream to start up an orphanage. He revealed to me his dream of beginning a home for street children and those orphans affected by AIDS/HIV either through loosing parents or through personally being infected by the disease. This is one hopeful young man, who believes that all things are possible, even when the future looks bleak. Ivan had not been in school for nearly two years due to lack of financial resources. However, he has never lost hope that one day he could finish his general education. His dream for the last year and a half has been to be able to complete university to obtain a degree that would allow him the knowledge needed to begin a home for the homeless and orphaned children. Ivan’s conviction is that the home he dreams of is to be focused on a wholistic view of life, addressing the physical, emotional, mental, financial and spiritual needs of the children within the home. After spending a couple of more hours with Ivan, I suggested we meet up once more the following day before I headed to Gulu just a few days after that. Throughout that evening, I prayed about the decision I felt compelled to make regarding sponsoring Ivan for his school fees. It did not don on me until the next day after talking with Ivan about my desire to assist him in finishing up his general studies, that in order for Ivan to do so, he would have to give up the care of little Mohammad. If he did this, who would care for the boy, and where would Ivan stay while attending school? The school was much too far away from where he was currently living (at the neighbors home), next to his father’s house. There were many questions to be answered, but I wanted to pay the school fees and get Ivan into school immediately as time was running far and quickly from us. School had already begun for that term and I was leaving the next day for Kampala.
The long and short of it is as follows: I was able to assist Ivan in paying for his school fees that term, including his scholastic materials, uniform fees and room and boarding costs. However, the immediate problem was what to do with Mohammad. Overnight we managed to find a solution, although we knew it would not be a lasting one, it would suffice for the meantime.

A very good friend of Ivan’s, Nsubuga Sunday, died on January 14th, 2006 of meningitis, leaving his wife, Damari Nabatanzi alone with her three and half year old son and four month old daughter. In the Ugandan culture, when your husband passes on, the wife has no rights to anything, and the husband family automatically assumes ownership of all property and material possessions leaving the wife without anything to support herself or her children with. Although her son five year old son, Mark Senyange currently lives in the village with Damari’s grandmother, her now one year and eight month old daughter, Patience Namutebi lives with Damari at a friend’s house. They both live at Damari’s friend’s house in exchange for caring for her friends 5 children, cooking, cleaning and hauling water.

Ivan had the idea to ask Damari if she would be able to assist him by caring for Mohammad as well. After inquiring with the woman whom she lived with, Damari informed Ivan that she would begin caring for Mohammad just as soon as he was to begin school. Knowing that she would receive nothing more than the joy of loving this little orphan who had nowhere else otherwise to go by caring for him, no monetary compensation, or even a change of clothes for the boy, she agreed. She agreed and Ivan was in school the next day!
I have finally arrived back to Kampala after being away for two months in Gulu. The bus ride lasted close to eight hours. I waited for a half hour for Ivan to pick me up at the old bus park where my bus had dropped me off. Upon arriving in Kampala, the power had gone off. When I arrived at the little guest house that I planned to stay overnight at, they were unable to accept me in as a guest for the night due to the generator not working and having no power. At this point, it was close to 9 PM, as we had to take a private hire nearly 45 minutes away to get near to where Ivan’s school is where I would stay close by, in order to visit his school the next day. –At this point, I decided I would just stay at Ivan’s little hostel with him and his three other roommates. I lugged my baggage on my back down the steep hill to the main road, across the street and up another big hill until we reached his little hostel that he stays near his school.
Although I was eager to have some of my own down time that night, I know Ivan was beyond thrilled that I was able to visit with him and his many classmates that evening. Despite that, the power was out all around us, we walked over to his school where he introduced me to nearly thirty friends who were hanging out on the lawn in front of the school. Most of them were already there as they were studying their homework – due to the power being off and not having a generator at the school; they chose to remain on the lawn, waiting for the arrival of this mysterious mzungu (white person) whom was able to assist Ivan in getting back to school. Ivan had told the entire school that I would be there to meet every one of them. While I did meet a few thirty some of them that evening, I returned the next day in the daylight to meet them as well as the others so that I could meet them face to face, rather than only by voice recognition (it was very dark!)
After leaving the school, Ivan and I and his other three roommates, walked to the little super market where I bought dinner for all of us. Dinner consisted of biscuits (sweet cracker), strawberry yogurt, small cake-like muffins, green apples and mango juice. For these boys this was a huge treat. Most of these kids receive only what the school feeds them, which is generally traditional Ugandan food, posho and beans, and sometimes boo (pronounced ‘bough’) which is a fried green vegetable similar to spinach. We arrived back to their home where we sat to a ‘candle-light’ dinner (one small thin candle to light up the room). After finishing dinner and sharing various stories comprised of traditional Ugandan childhood rituals and American comparisons (some of which there were none!) the power came on! We had power just long enough for me to grab the computer to show these boys what snow looks like! For all four of these young boys (ages 16-21) it was their first time ever to see the snow! I continued to show them photos of my family and the power went out once again. It was then that we agreed to get to bed.

I must say, this was not a comfortable night of sleep. Their boarding facilities are not what one would think of in terms of an American boarding school. Rather this was one long cement trailer like structure. Four walls shaped into a rectangle, tin siding covering triangular shaped wooded timbers comprising of the roof made up the ten rooms that boarded some families not associated with the school as well as other boarding students. Throughout the night, I learned that it is completely acceptable to have the neighbor’s radio, which sounded like nothing more than someone screaming and shouting through very deep but loud static, blare throughout the early morning hours…3:25 AM to be exact…I was still awake then. I slept on the end of a full sized mattress shared with two others while the other boy slept on the cement floor. Granted that I would have preferred the cement floor, which I really do not mind and actually at times really enjoy, (just ask Acen Brittany!) out of courteousy from the boys, I was to sleep on the mattress. I really was too tired to fight this unnecessary battle. I plopped on the mattress covered with a thin sheet and whatever clothing I wore throughout that day, and prayed immediately that the irritating radio would shut off. My prayers were answered 4.5 hours later. I had a lot of time to think that night anyway…
In the morning, the other three boys minus Ivan prepared for school and left by 7:10 AM to begin walking the 15 minutes to school. Breakfast is served at 7:30 and school begins at 8:00 AM. I repacked my bag while Ivan went to find a private hire that would enable me to take my bag back into town to claim a room at the Namirembe Guest house which is where I stayed my first few nights in Uganda – where I met Brittany for the first time! After receiving a very warm welcome back from the guest house staff, I was able to check into my room (ironically I was given the exact same room I had when I was there 2 months prior, it was like coming home!) From there Ivan and I walked into town, as I needed to exchange American cash into Ugandan shillings, and then proceed to the Emirates travel agency where I would pay for and retrieve my ticket from Entebbe, Uganda to Addis Ababa Ethiopia. After completing this mission in town, we managed to catch a taxi to the next boda boda stop where we took boda’s to reach the home of Damari, Patience and Mohammad. Here I got to see Mohammad after a two-month lapse. What a good visit!
When I had left Mohammad two months prior, he had a belly so full of worms that when I did an examination of him, worms were crawling from inside of his body, out of his rectum. His little belly was so round, so tight, so big for a young kiddo of his size! Just prior to leaving for Gulu, I was able to get this little guy de-worming medication. He looked so good upon my first sight of him at his new home, with his new caretaker Damari!
This was my first time to meet Damari. What a precious, special and beautiful young woman! Though she did not speak English, Ivan was an excellent translator. We spent nearly an hour together chatting and getting to know one another. This was when I received the full story of her current situation.
Although two months prior, the friend that Damari lived with accepted little Mohammad into her home to live with and be cared for by Damari, upon my arrival, Damari had just been given three days prior, a week to find another place to live. Her friend was feeling overwhelmed with another child in the house and was ready for them to leave. With four days to go until Damari had to find a home for herself and children, absolutely no money to her name and no one to turn to for assistance; and I still having a little more than enough money in my pocket to get me back home to America, including a ticket literally in my hand - how could I not offer to pay for the first four months of rent for a home for Damari, Patience and little Mohammad? Rent is just 20,000 shillings a month – an equivalent of 12.5 American dollars. After seeing the place Damari would move into with Patience and Mohammad, I felt comfortable to assist Damari by paying the first four months of rent for her and the children. With the rent money, I included enough finances to provide for two child mattresses, an adult mattress, simple sheets, some staple food items, medicine for the scabies that Mohammad currently has, and a small stipend for any unseen emergencies. Because I met with the proprietor of Damari’s new home and took time to verify all of the financial aspects of this situation I felt a contentment to precede in this situation as I did.
Soon enough, our time was up and Ivan and I had to quickly catch another boda boda to his school where I had a meeting with the head master of his school. Here I was able to verify all that Ivan had accomplished in the last couple of months since he enrolled in school. When I provided the financial assistance for Ivan to go to school, I made him promise to do everything within his power to do the very best he could in his schooling. I wanted to see good grades and a happy teacher when I arrived to visit him two months later. He did not let me down. Ivan is the top third of the students of his class of over 200 students.
After meeting with Ivan’s head master (principle) and three of his four instructors, I was encouraged. It was evident that my intuition on this young lad was not incorrect! He is doing wonderful in school, appears to be one of the favored friends at his school and is excelling in his studies! I received the breakdown of the next terms expenses well as a copy of Ivan’s grades and test scores from his head master as well as received a very detailed expression of gratitude for the financial assistance to Ivan. What is interesting is that although it does in reality cost some money for him to attend school, it is NOTHING compared to what we, as Americans would pay for a student to enter into a private school (considering this is all we can compare it to, since our education through grade 12 is free).
I have shared many details regarding Ivan and his opportunity to attend school, as well as of the situation with Mohammad because I am amazed. I am amazed at the beauty of people networking together to accomplish a greater good. Before I left for this trip to Africa, I did not have the financial means possible to make this trip become a reality. However, I did believe that I was called to go. This took a step of faith for me to reach out to you. Many of you who are reading this posting right now, are the only reason any of these beautiful, hard, and sad - but beautiful realities for some have been able to take place. I did not have the financial means to get here to Africa, let alone provide some of the Africans I have met with the much-needed medicines, or assistance in getting a home until the person is capable to get back on their own feet again. I definitely did not have the money to be able to build the doors for the door-less huts in the IDP camp of Lukodi, (which I will soon write up a very positive update about.) However, because of your willingness to support me financially, I have been able to share the love of Jesus in a very real and personal way to many people who otherwise may not have received the blessing of the extended hand of Jesus working in their life. This is simply one of many examples of everyday people in Uganda, let alone the whole world-wide, who are desperate for love, for acceptance, for hope. Because you have gifted me, to make this trip to Africa possible, many many others have benefited in tremendously life-giving ways.
After leaving Ivan’s school we took a boda boda to his mother’s house. I knew she was waiting for us, and I naturally expected to be served tea and some food, however I did not expect to have a feast for fifty people provided, with me as the guest of honor! Ivan’s mother had spent the entire day preparing food for this event. This was her way of sharing with me her gratitude for my willingness to assist her son in school, as well as Mohammad and his new caregiver Damari. All of Ivan’s family members from the nearby villages were there awaiting to meet me. I was nearly dumbfounded! In order to share my gratitude of appreciation for all the work that ‘Mama’ had done, I ate so much matoke, boiled plantains, chicken, Irish potatoes, boo, and Sprite that I thought I’d have to sleep before moving along to my next destination! I could not sleep, as much as I wanted to, as I had a friend of mine, Mary – my interpreter from Soroti, on her way from Soroti to Kampala to spend the night with me at Namirembe Guest house. Mary took it upon herself to get on a bus and take the 6 hour bus ride to Kampala, just to see me off from Uganda to Ethiopia.
After finishing lunch at Ivan’s mothers house, I had yet, another big event take place which detoured me over 2 hours from meeting Mary at the bus station. ( I will write this interesting post at another time…) However, in the end, I managed to get back to the Namirembe Guest House where Mary took a boda boda from the bus station to the Guest House to meet me. We had a lovely evening together over the course of dinner. After dinner, due to exhaustion on both of our parts, we climbed into our little bed and slept through to the morning.
After running a few errands, I met up with Ivan and our hired driver to take me the 40 some minute drive from Kampala to Entebbe to catch my flight from Kampala to Addis Ababa. The flight was smooth, I arrived in Addis Ababa with just a little harassing from the Immigration – took me about 40 minutes to get through immigration – just long enough for Catherine to become very concerned of my whereabouts… Fortunately Catherine waited for me long enough that by the time I finally reached the last part of the immigration process she could see me, and we were both relieved of the questions considering what our evening would entail…
To be continued...