I decided to take a venture out of Kampala district and headed for the Lugazi
area to a town called Kitega…pronounced Chitega.
Our first days there took us out to do home visits with parents of the
Katungulu (nearby village) children. What we saw was quite amazing. One boy
explained at night he slept in his bed, but by day the hen took over…the
evidence was found as we saw the eggs lying near his pillow. Another woman
admitted to sharing her kitchen with the goats at night so they weren’t stolen.
Becoming sick the woman had told the doctor of her illness and as usual the
healthcare system is very inconsiderate most the time here and they sent her
away with a diagnosis of animal fever and gave her medications that weren’t
very relevant and came with no suggested method for consumption. This is a
usual situation as doctors are often untrained, uncaring, and unable to see
patients as anything other than a source of money. Others we visited provided
stories of horrible malaria complications where children now suffer permanent
brain damage, hearing loss, or physical damage. This is very common as many
people cannot afford the high medical cost of malaria medicine, and even when
they can, inappropriate care is provided by the doctors who often show low
concern for the case.
In the same village, children and families must visit a well
deep in a valley daily to retrieve water. The well is only 3ft deep and water
is a silvery grey color not appropriate for drinking unless treated but they
must as it is their only water source. We hear of children falling into the
well and drowning as they are unable to swim. Others walk into the valley and
if unaccompanied become the prey of local witch doctors who capture them for
child sacrifices. Although the incidence of children being killed for black
magic ritual has lessoned due to lawful restrictions, we know it still exists
as children go missing yearly. I heard a bbc interview with a former Ugandan
witch doctor who admitted he’d sacrificed over 80 children in his lifetime. I can
only imagine that the law is going to take a long time before it can fully
prevent this horrid incidence. I even have a friend in Kampala who admitted to finding her 4year old
sister head but never locating the body. This brought a reality so far from my
imagination I could barely listen.
The group I worked with called the Kitega community center,
focuses on children with disabilities most often as a result of complicated,
mistreated or untreated malaria cases. Many have hearing loss, brain damage,
physical difficulties, or slow learning capacity in the classroom. The focus of
Kitega has been to provide life skills and artisan training to the children so
they can become independent as they age. The artisan skills included trainings
to make things like mingling sticks where they will take a log and a machete
and chop away to make spoons used in the kitchen. Others sit weaving
beautifully colored mats out of natural materials purchased in the market. I
was even able to take with me a beautiful woven basket made from banana fibers.
These skills will last a lifetime and can help provide the children, who would
most likely be unable to complete full education in school, to gain an income. As
Kitega grew they realized other children in vulnerable positions like the very
poor and orphaned, were in need as well and now Kitega has a center for gather
along with a team of teachers in a nearby school (Katungulu) where they help
support projects and educationally based skills.
While in Kitega I enjoyed providing my artistic hand at
making teaching aids for the Katungulu school who had nearly no books even for
the teachers to use so they were having to write on the unsturdy chalkboards
which are barely visible to the large classes they are entertaining. The school
is in the process of being built and needs much help from funding to complete
it but they are thankful for the space provided. The walls are not yet in so I
found 4 classes sharing a large room where they each turned a different
direction to listen to the teacher at the head of their class. Unfortunately
this is highly distracting and makes learning difficult. Not to mention that
the kids are forced to sit on wobbly unreliable benches that often topple over
with 10kids on it. When asked to write anything down, if they are lucky enough
to have paper they kneel in the dust and write on the small bench. Others are
forced to write into the dirt with sticks. This wouldn’t be such an issue
except that the dust floors provided a great breeding ground for the local pest
called jiggers. This is a human flea that can enter the body and consume entire
limbs if untreated. This is highly dangerous as most children don’t even have
shoes, and they often have to kneel into the dust several times a day. But
without complaint they continue as they are thankful for the chance to learn.
The school choir entertained me with the best song and dance
performance I've seen since I’ve been in Africa.
Their little bodies produce the strongest voices I’ve heard in some time. The
stories they tell about their lives in the village, about their religious
backgrounds, the unfortunate facts of child labor, kidnappings, and sacrifices
bring reality to the forefront as their souls bare all through their inspiring
movement tone. They sang me a welcoming song which really allowed me to exist
as part of their community and I wished I had the opportunity to get them a
professional trainer and have them travel with these skills as a voice for
awareness in the world. I did however get the chance to trade a song with them
as the entire school gathered for a lesson of “monkeys jumping on the bed” you
know that old classic…it made them giggle as they struggled to understand my
accent but by the end of my stay they had mastered it and performed it with
ease. Very kind!
While in Kitega, I stayed with a family with two beautiful
little girls who kept me busy with laughter as their natural charisma called
all the children in the neighborhood each night to play on our rounded hill of
grass. One night we even had at least 30 kids of all ages spinning in circles,
picking each other on their backs/heads/shoulders, using their bodies as a jump
rope, human wheel barreling, and overall playing and giggling uncontrollably
for at least 20minutes with no particular organization. It was a pure
spontaneous act of happiness. I also could not help but laugh as the spirit of
the air transformed us into innocent earth creatures just content to be with
one another. To some they might say these children in raggedy torn and dirty clothes
had nearly nothing, but they have each other and for them that is EVERYTHING!
My final days in Kitega I spent a few hours teaching at
least 30 women how to make hot boxes, I call them fireless stoves which can
re-invent their cooking process. Basically it allows them to cook meals for a
short time on the fire, remove the meal and put it in an insulated container
like a basket, or a hole filled with banana fibers to cook for the remaining
time. The women first of all thought it was crazy that I would know how to do
such a thing, and second of all, they thought it wouldn’t work. Very funny to
see them questioning my technique. But in the end they said “Banange” . which
is like saying oh my god in Lugandan. They loved it loved it and im so happy I
could affect at least 30 families by this new safe and quick technique.
