FINALLY...THE POWER IS BACK ON ...& JOFREY'S STORY

A local lizard! Orphan street child on streets of Kampala

Namuwongo child Rona - one of our Ugandan teachers

The electricity has been off for 1 1/2 days, so no power=no internet=no BLOG entry before this one!

Today and yesterday have been quite fruitful as far as planning goes for the educational program for our Literacy Program. Both Ugandan teachers and myself have been preparing lesson plans, meeting the children and going over our notes on them................ and hoping we'll get our boxes filled with the donated school supplies and teaching material. Believe it or not, they have still been just sitting at the Entebbe airport. Clearing the goods just seems to be taking forever. I have been in contact with the Uganda Revenue Authority who assumes responsibility for releasing shipments. Revenue Authority? ......... delays?......... airport storage fees?.........have I found an explanation?

Adrian, a student from the Education Faculty of Concordia University has joined me in Namuwongo. Adrian, who is working on his Master's thesis, will help develop a Needs Assessment and long term direction for the Literacy Program. It's great to have him here!

In today's BLOG, I have decided to feature JOFREY, one of our students (see picture above). Jofrey is a 'true' orphan. Many of the children in Namuwongo do not have a definitive explanation for the loss of parents. They may have only one parent, or their parents may reside elsewhere but do not care for the children, or they have just been abandoned. In Jofrey's case, it is a known fact that his parents were killed when his village was attacked by the rebels 4 years ago. Jofrey, now 7 years of age, was 3 years old at the time. With the help of Rona, one of our Ugandan teachers, I was able to piece together Jofrey's story from his limited English but more fluent Lugandan (a native dialect).

"my auntie came to get me because my mother and father are dead. She brought me here". His aunt explained that there was no one to care for him in his village. He survived on hand-outs from other villagers for a few weeks. Local villagers got word to Jofrey's aunt, who had already fled to Namuwongo. She returned to the village and brought Jofrey to live with her and her 4 other children. Although 3 of her 4 children attend school, she has not been able to send Jofrey to school because she does not have the 'fees' for him. Priority has been given to her own, natural children. Her youngest is not of school age. I asked Jofrey what he did all day. "I look for firewood. Sometimes I find something to sell, so I give it to my auntie to buy some food for me."

Jofrey had arrived at the In-Need Home for his interview with me accompanied by his aunt. He was cleanly and neatly dressed. He was painfully shy and just appeared to be quite sad. Getting him to say anything, even in Lugandan, was a long process. He perked up a little when he was offered a drink and a locally made donut.

Jofrey will be a challenge. He does not interact with the other children, tending to hold himself back and hide behind a chair or his aunt.

I do look forward to having him as part of our class. I am sure I see a little, bright spark behind some of his fear and shyness!

Tomorrow we will be visiting the homes of all our students and meeting their care-givers. Aside from seeing where each child lives, and with whom, we will be able to establish some communication with the child's family/care-givers. If, for some reason, a child does not show up for several days, we will know where to look for them and determine the reason for their absence.

I have been alerted that there is jelousy developing in the community and possible hostility in the form of taunting and some physicality towards the children who will be attending our program. I will have to work with our Ugandan partners to better understand how to deal with such a situation.

More tomorrow......if we have power!