Meeting our sponsor kids in Uganda - diary entry from 6/10/2006

The following is taken pretty much straight from my travel diary that I struggled to keep up-to-date during our African adventure.
"6/10/2006 White Horse Inn, Kabale, Uganda.
It's so hard to believe that we've only been in Uganda for 4 days. We have done and experienced so much that it feels like much longer.
Meeting our sponsor children has to be the highlight.
We visited Michelle's sponsor child, Margaret on 3/10 in the Luwero district just outside of Kampala. The Plan representative Tony and our driver Eddy picked us up from Sophie's Hotel in Entebbe (where we were staying in the Sudan room! All rooms were named after African countries). We were taken to Luwero via "shortcuts" around the Kampala "jam". Being our first real taste of Africa it was both confronting and amazing. The sight of thousands of people walking, cycling or cramped into one of the hundreds of mini-van taxis through the suburbs of Kampala is a sight to behold. Dirt-track, pot-holed streets serve as the main thoroughfares, lined with market stalls and what at first appear to be makeshift shopfronts, selling anything that you could possibly want. Butcher shops are most impressive, with whole sides of beef/goat/pig hanging out in the open air. Beyond this were the somewhat quieter streets of Luwero where we visited the local Plan office and met the office manager Ellis and also the local representative Flavia, who would travel with us , Tony and Eddy to the community.
We were driven through narrow access tracks to Margaret's family home, a small, (possibly 2 rooms totalling about 6m x 3m) brick house that houses about 8 to 10 people! Meeting the sponsor child is quite overwhelming for all involved. The child is shy, we are nervous, etc...The initial greetings were quite awkward, but after being welcomed into the home by Paskali, Margaret's father and also Harriet, her mother, we were introduced to the entire family (and extended family). The warmth of the welcome and genuine thanks from Paskali was overwhelming. We exchanged gifts...Michelle gave Margaret and her family a skipping rope, a frisbee, some pens and some balloons. In return they gave us a chicken!! Michelle was shocked and didn't know what to do. She was told by Tony that it would be ok to give the chicken back to the family to take care of on our behalf. It seems that everyone is happy with this so that is what we did. After showing (unsuccessfully) Margaret how to throw a frisbee, and then blowing up a few balloons for her and the kids, they showed us how they used the skipping rope. I convinced Michelle to have a go and she did good for a couple of jumps but eventually got a good giggle out of the family. We sadly then said goodbye to Margaret and her family before visiting other projects in the community that have been created/assisted by Plan, including a medical centre and the local Primary school that Margaret normally attends. The reaction of the children to our presence was so incredible. For many of them, this was the first time they had seen a Mzungu (white person), so when I reached out to shake their hands, they practically swarmed in and around and all wanted to shake my hands with such joy and excitement!
I didn't think this could be topped until the next day when I visited my sponsor child, Alex.
We had to get dropped off in Jinja, the source of the Nile River, approx. 80 kms west of Kampala. This was quite a trip and we were extremely grateful to the Plan staff for arranging it. We stayed at a great little guesthouse (2 Friends Guesthouse) in Jinja, where they had a great little wood-fired oven (Pizza was a little average though...not that I expected it to be otherwise). The next morning we were picked up by the Plan rep for Tororo, Jackson, and the driver, Asaba, and driven to Tororo, about 120 km away through sometimes driving rain, on extremely pot-holed roads, (some potholes were across entire lanes!), and quite ridiculous traffic. Ugandan drivers are downright lunatics!
But anyway, we had a hilarious conversation with Jackson and Asaba on the way. We met Christine, who is the team leader for the Tororo Plan office and she introduced us to practically everyone, workers and volunteers in the Plan office. We met Godfrey, the local area rep who travelled with us to the community.
We started off by visiting Alex's school, which is where I met Alex for the first time. I recognised him straight away and introduced myself before all of the formal introductions by the school Principal (probably a bit rude in hind sight). We had the privilege of being allowed to sit in on one of their English classes, although the kids were more interested in us than in their lesson. I was allowed to address the class, and told them how happy I was to be there and how grateful I was that they had accepted me so warmly and with such beautiful smiles. After several photos, I gave the principal a gift of some pens and some tennis balls to be distributed to the children before we bid goodbye to all the kids, again getting practically bowled over by their enthusiasm to shake our hands.
We took Alex and went to meet his family at their house. Alex's family looked to be in a worse state than Margaret's family the day before. I was very happy that the Plan staff suggested we buy some gifts from town to take to the family, a blanket, some sugar and a mattress, on top of the soccer ball (Sydney FC supporter's ball), pump, frisbee and balloons we already had. The additional gifts seemed much more appropriate, although our original ones were quite well received too. I explained to Francis, Alex's dad, how the pump worked, and I showed Alex (successfully) how to throw a frisbee...they all got a few giggles out of my attempted trick throws and catches as well.
Francis then welcomed us into his house and I could see that a chicken was being rounded up. No worries, I thought, I've seen this before and I know exactly what to do...I started explaining that we couldn't take the chicken back to Australia and that I thought that they should look after the chicken for me....Tony leaned across and whispered... "Ummm....no! Take the chicken!" After a quick about face, I think I managed to not cause too much offense by re-accepting the chicken and assuring the family that I will do everything I can to ensure Australian customs let it back into the country!! It was quite a tragically funny situation that I will find hard to get over! Tony eventually gave the chicken to his cousin in town...
Alex's brothers, sisters and cousins were all lining up for the balloons that I handed out earlier. We could only blow up a handful at first, so throughout the visit tiny little hands would reach out to us with deflated balloons for us to blow up for them...it was really special.
We had to drop Alex back at school and say goodbye. His shyness was still there, but there was a look in his eyes when he waved goodbye that hit me right in the heart. From here we continued on to visit some of the other community projects that Plan is involved in. We visited a centre that offered medical assistance, family planning advice, STI prevention and HIV/AIDS care, counselling and treatment. It was here that we met the Tororo Post-test club (PTC). In Uganda, and many other African countries, there is still a big stigma attached to people who have HIV/AIDS. Because of this, many people are afraid to get tested. The PTC consists of men and women who have been tested, no matter whether they tested positive or negative. They meet regularly to discuss living with HIV/AIDS, caring for others with HIV/AIDS and also to support each other. The strength and courage of these people amazes me. When I shook their hands in appreciation for welcoming us I pretty much broke down. Reading stories about the AIDS crisis in Uganda is what made me sign up to sponsor a child with Plan in the first place and so the moment had added significance for me. My only regret is that my tears may have been misinterpreted as sadness about their situation, rather than just an outpouring of genuine admiration for their courage and the realisation that in my small way I had helped them. In general, this feeling was the overriding emotion of the last two days. My contributions allow the numerous people we met make better lives for many others., yet for the last 4 tears, I had never truly, deeply thought about this. I hope to spread this feeling to as many people as possible, that such a small contribution from our point of view, is put towards such noble and worthwhile projects and is appreciated so, so much by the people implementing and receiving the benefits of these projects!"