What is compassion?

The team has just left on safari and so I am taking the chance to get a few words down before Karine and I start our day with meetings and other “must do” things. I am jealous that they are going to see all the amazing animals! Oh well, it will be good to have three days here to get other types of work done. I am also going to spend some time today visiting Muhamad and his family so that will be great.

The charter of compassion states: “The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religions, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.” Sally and Duncan are two people who embody this charter in every way.

Sally runs a home for girls off the street or girls who need a safe place to live because their home life is dangerous. She currently has 30 girls living in her home and the youngest must be no more than 4. Imagine what that little girl has lived through to make it into Sally’s home. She feeds them, clothes them, shelters them and gets people to sponsor their schooling. As the girls get older, she offers them tailoring, catering and beadwork classes so that once they leave her centre, they can make it on their own.

The girls we see at Sally’s are not broken as you would expect. They are full of love and joy. As we arrive, they all come over and give us a big hug to welcome us. They sing and dance and we talk about life together. Sally gives these girls the right to tell their stories so that they can then start to heal. Many of her girls have come from the North where they have been child brides to the LRA soldiers. They were kidnapped and presumed dead. When they reappeared after the war ended or when they were able to escape, the families were happy to see them but they were “used goods” and no longer valuable to the family. These are the girls who run away to Kampala to find a better life and end up on the streets.

Sally counsels them and helps them work through what has happened to them. She tells them: “These people have affected your past but they cannot touch your future.” Then the healing begins.

Sally is now spending her week days in Gulu. Her home in Kampala runs so smoothly that she is only there on the weekend to spend time with her girls and make sure all is okay. She wants to open a centre in Gulu for the girls who are there. She wants them to have a safe place to go in their own community so that they don’t come to Kampala and end up on the street. A church in Gulu has donated some land and an old building that she is refinishing. This centre will be open during the day for girls to visit, to be able to talk and to learn. There will be people there to train them in various skills as well as people to talk to about what is happening or has happened to them. These girls are young but they are so vulnerable. They don’t know what is happening to them, even when they are menstruating, because no-one has spoken to them. Sally wants to support them in any way she can.

One thing she told us is that these girls cannot attend school during their period because they have no supplies and cannot keep clean. There are no latrines for them and so they stay home. This means they miss school each month and fall behind and several just abandon their studies.

Sally told us that one evening, she was thinking about all the problems for the girls on the street and lamenting how terrible it was. “Someone should do something” she thought. She heard a voice that said to her: “What are you doing about it?” and that got her started. Girls seek her out, she is well known all over the country, and she is an inspiration.

Duncan runs the Elohim Centre in Bombo. He feeds 110 children every day, he makes sure they go to school, he cares for the elderly in the community, he runs a dance troupe to offer music therapy to the children who have been abused, and he houses 40 orphans in small shacks. Of his 110 children, 20 are HIV positive: 18 girls and 2 boys. He runs a store in the village to help raise funds for the children. They eat watery porridge every other day as their only meal because they cannot afford more than that. But his children all attend school. That is the most important to him. Last year we brought books for him so that he could continue to tutor the children in the evenings to help them do better in school. Now he has children who are in the top 10 of their grade.

He has an open air kitchen, a pit toilet, a hut with a dirt floor in which he works with the children when it is raining.

When we arrived yesterday, he was not there. The children started to dance for us but suddenly they all started to dance up the path. We turned and there was Duncan. They all sang and danced around him, welcoming him home. He laughed and danced with them back into the circle where they had been performing for us. It was amazing to see.

He is very worried about the girls. His sister, Joanne, is a co-founder of Elohim as well as Moses, a soldier who lives in the barracks just up the hill from Bombo. Joanne works with the girls to talk to them about sexual issues and reproductive health. Many of the girls have been raped by the men in the community. He said that there are even three court cases currently happening but he said: “Even if we win, the girls are still HIV positive now. The damage is done.” But he makes sure these children get their medicine and if they are well fed and continue with their medicine, they can live into their 60s. Nutrition is such an important part of that. He says that the challenge is that on the days when he can only offer the girls watery porridge, they can be bought for a piece of bread or even a candy.

Duncan wants to buy land to build dorms for the girls that can be locked at night to keep them safe. He wants to plant a garden to grow their own food. He hopes to get pigs because they are easy to care for and are a great investment as they reproduce easily and require minimum care. The children could care for them before they go to school.

Karine asked about other NGOs supplying food. He told us that he had tried but that when he went to meet with them, he was told he was too late. The following year he went earlier and was told again that he was too late. He even saw his name on ledgers saying he was getting food when he was actually getting nothing. “We are not recovering from war like the North. We are not recovering from floods like the East. Our children are just as needy but they are not important to the world.” They are certainly important to Duncan and the other adults who volunteer to keep them healthy and safe. And they are important to us who have invested time with them and who have seen their inner beauty. How can anyone think these children are not important?

Compassion: to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there. Sally and Duncan show the world how to be compassionate. How can we serve them in their work? How can we not?

Have a great day.

Erika

Sanyu & Nateete through Linda's & Emily's eyes!

Why Niteo? Because it's what works.

There is always so much happening and at the end of the day, there is so little energy on my part to be able to write everything that I want to share. I am no longer waking up at 2am so there isn’t a chance for me to muse during the night. As it is, this is my second attempt at this post because my computer shut down after the first few paragraphs were typed. T.I.A. the kids say – This Is Africa.

We now have 47 mosquito nets and 14 more to come that were purchased with the money collected from the coin drive at Glenmore during the Vow of Silence. Colin asked to raise funds to buy nets, the Social Justice Club held a Vow of Silence saying “We vow to be silent because some children cannot speak up against malaria” and 50 students participated and raised $1500 for the Red Cross. This would purchase 165 nets that would cover 835 children (5 per net) for 5 years before needing to be retreated. The change drive raised $200 and I asked Colin if I could take that and buy nets in Uganda to take North. He agreed to use these funds this way and today that $200 bought 61 nets. These nets cost $3.27 each and we will deliver them personally. Way to go Colin and the rest of the Social Justice Club. It’s amazing what 9-12 year olds can accomplish.

This afternoon we had an amazing last day with the children and teachers at Childtime Preschool. Karine taught literacy on Tuesday, Rhonda did music on Wednesday and I taught art to the teachers today. When one of us was teaching, all the teachers came to the main room and the rest of us were left to teach the little ones. I am strong enough to say that entertaining 3 and 4 year olds (about 40 of them) for one hour is not my strongest suit! After my lesson today about doing art with preschoolers (and many thanks to the kindergarten teachers at Glenmore for giving me ideas to share), Fiona, the headmistress of the school, told me that they had never seen anything I had done. Even making finger prints with paint was new to them. We had many giggles while making animals out of playdough. It was a great exchange of ideas. Before we left, the children performed for us and even included a letter sound rhyme and dance with what Rhonda had taught yesterday. It was awesome to see that the ideas shared were so quickly implemented and used to suit the needs of the teachers and the children there. The children all gave us a picture that they had coloured and Fiona bought gifts for us all including a drum for Rhonda.

I have had three amazing mornings with the children at Nateete in P4 and P5. We have done Mathematics, Reading, Science and Writing. On Tuesday they wanted me to teach Science and the topic of choice initially was the foot bath. I managed to get the topic changed and we reviewed about the heart and circulatory system. They then asked to learn more about poultry keeping so I told them that I would be the student and they would tell me about poultry keeping. I explained to the teacher that this is a great way to review information for the students before a test because they will correct each other.

I spoke at length with Nicholas (P4) and Hassan (P5) about teaching at Nateete and the challenges that they face. They rely on the pastor to pay their wage and even at that, it cannot be more than $3 a day when the Ministry is flush with money. Hassan has been at Nateete for a few years and has a certificate in social work from a local college and Nicholas is a trained teacher who has a 3 year degree from Makarere University. I asked Nicholas why he stays with the children at Nateete with such a small wage and he told me that he attends the church and felt that the children are part of his family and must work to take care of them. He is hoping to move to the High School once Living Hope has completed building it.

The problem, he said, was that there is much money sent to Africa but very little reaches the people who need it. Most of it remains in the upper offices. I said that this was why Niteo invests time and people into Uganda, not money. We feel that it is important for us to come and spend time with the teachers and the students here because we know that just sending money does not work. He replied that this is the best way. Both he and Hassan were convinced that coming to Uganda and working with the teachers for the benefit of the children is the best way to affect change here. Money does not help, time does. It was a nice confirmation that what we feel is the best use of our resources is also what they feel is the best use of our resources. They didn’t ask for money or for materials, they asked for us to sit together and share our ideas, our knowledge, our strengths and our frustrations as teachers. For example, we all find that students have a very difficult time learning how to do long division. Rhonda told me a little rhyme to help the students learn the steps and I told them. They thought that was great and they were even more impressed when I said that I had also just learned it and would be trying it for the first time this coming year to see how it worked. Teaching Together!

I also had a great conversation with Robert today about the progress in the North. He has been before and I wanted to get his impressions about the progress there and what we might see. He said that the last of the camps have been dismantled but when I said enthusiastically that people were returning to their villages, he said that it was not always so. “They have become lazy. They have been fed, sheltered and clothed for so long by the NGOs that they don’t want to return to where they have to work hard to survive." Robert told us that the soil is bad in the North and the weather is poor so the crops are limited. “You cannot blame them for becoming lazy; it has been a very difficult time for them.”

“So what is the best investment that can be made in the North?” I asked. “How can these people be best served?”

“Education. There must be schools and teachers and places for the children learn. They must see that education is important. This is the only way to rebuild this area. Education is the most important.”

I won’t get on my soap box to end this post. These conversations and events all confirm to me that what Niteo does right. Be here. Invest time. Make connections. Start conversations. The human connection is, to me, the key.

How can I even think that I am not coming next year?

Have a lovely evening. – Erika :)

Nateete

Yesterday morning my heart broke. We were at the Nateete orphan school for the morning and Malcolm, Dylan, Emily and Rhonda put on a concert for the school. They used Rhonda's How Canada Came to Be cd and had all the students paddling canoes, singing about bears and explorers. It was great. It was probably one of the only cultural performances that school has had. After we split up into two's and taught classes for an hour or so. The kids were thrilled to have us there and we read books to them and sang songs with them.

The school is in a slum area called Nateete. I can't even explain the school, but I will try. There are 9 class rooms, but you reach them all from outside There is no cement, no sidewalk, no grass, no anything. Just old shacks and red dirt. The children sit on very old fashioned bench desks and have no textbooks, only a few pencils to share and tatty notebooks that are their prized possession. They get served a plastic mug of runny porridge at 10:00 am and they are very careful not to spill a drop. That might be the only meal of the day.

After class all the children were clamouring around us and we were taking lots of pictures, but as I was walking away one gorgeous boy came up to me and shook my hand and introduced himself as Shafik. He told me how happy he was that I was here, and hugged me. I expressed how happy I was to be there, how gorgeous he was and said I love you. Then we sat down and I had the opportunity to ask him a few questions about his life. His father is very sick (which probably means he has AIDS) and does not speak anymore - meaning the end is near. He said his brother is too sick to go to school, but that his mother is ok. If one parent dies of AIDS, there is a very high percentage of the other parent dying of the same disease.

So here is this gorgeous boy who is 12 years old, but looks like the size my son Malcolm was when he was 8 or 9 years old. His parents and brother have AIDS and he has a five year old sister. He lives in the worst slum I have ever seen, has one meal of runny porridge a day, and he has the biggest smile and the brightest eyes. He does not feel sorry for himself, he is not depressed. And he said to me "You are so beautiful, teacher. I love you."

Insert the sound of my heart breaking...

And that is just one kid out of 200 at that school - all with different life stories. The pastor of the church (also the principal of the school) is probably 38 years old and is married with five children. But his brother and sister have died, so he took their children in. He now has 14 children and his mother was helping him until she passed away two months ago. He said they live in a small house, but they make do. Let me explain that living in a small house here is like living in a bedroom in Canada. I'm not joking. And for some people in the Dilworth area, it might be the size of your bathroom. It's about 6 feet by 8 feet, and that is the WHOLE HOUSE.

The teachers at Nateete make $3.00 a day (yes I said three dollars a day), and the one we talked to walks 40 minutes each way to the school. They do not make the $3.00 if the church does not receive enough donations. The teachers are impeccably dressed, better than most I've seen at home. And they are living in the worst slum and make thirty three cents an hour.

It's mind boggling being here and I have not found a way to process everything we are seeing and the stories we are being told. It's off my grid. I can imagine that when I get home I will be processing this trip for a long time.
Joy Hlady

We come and then we go...

Well, we have already taught our last classes at the Nateete Orphan School. They are so resilient. They have lost their parents, one or both and many have parents that are too sick to get up anymore. HIV or any other illness that they can't afford to treat. Their uniforms are dirty and torn and they are wearing second hand shoes from Glenmore Elementary.
Their smiles are so beautiful I start doing things just to get them to smile. I try to make eye contact with each one, share a moment with each. What they are enduring is not possible to relay. The shacks they live in in their neighbourhoods have ditches nearby and you see people standing in them in the trickling garbage holding a water can to get their day's water. I don't know what their comforts are. School in a shack, hot and crowded, runny porridge out of a communal vat in the dirt for a snack at 10:30. No lunch. School until around 5. Grade 6 and 7 do evening studies as well, then going home to sickness, or to nobody. Life is tenuous for these valuable people. Their tattered books hold lessons that are scribed so beautifully on the history of Uganda, the art of poultry raising, the ancient kings of their land. We come and then we go...And now I don't even know what to say.....
Rhonda Draper

Resource Centre Open House - A UG Press Release

Niteo Africa partners with Ugandans to invest in the reading culture of Uganda through a safe and community based literacy centre full of computers, books, and educational resources.

On Sunday, July 18 from 2-5pm, Niteo will host and Open House at the Eva Ruf Resource Centre in Ntinda up from the Red Cross. The community at large is invited to come and freely discover the centre and the programs and resources it offers to the children, families, and educators of Uganda. During the afternoon visitors will be able to informally gather and learn more about the Centre through experiencing it firsthand.

Niteo Africa is an NGO of Canadians and Ugandans partnering together to educate our children. Founded by Karine Liegmann, an educator and humanitarian, the organization includes projects that support quality education and reciprocity among Canadians and Ugandans with sustainable change. Examples of projects include the Eva Ruf Resource Centre, Leaders of Distinction (fka: Kids Helping Kids) with Afroeducare, and Teaching Together at schools such as Kabojja Primary, Kawanda Senior Secondary, Living Hope Orphan School, and Sanyu Babies' Home. Volunteer teams visit annually from Canada to partner with Ugandans in the implementation or encouragement of these projects.

The vision for the Resource Centre emerged as an answer to the idea that "every child deserves a book." The Centre opened in 2008 and currently it serves approximately 1500 students each month. Students, parents, and teachers visit the Centre to study, participate in classes, read literature designed for children to enrich the Ugandan curriculum and reading culture. Programs the centre hosts include breakdancing classes and competitions, computer training, art classes, career guidance counselling and much more.

Niteo hopes to grow and is currently considering expanding into Northern Uganda with a brand new 20' container of books ready to be shipped. Also, over the past year, Niteo has mobilised Canadian children at Glenmore Elementary in British Columbia, Canada to fundraise for a bookmobile. To enrich the instructional program of schools, the bookmobile or Niteo van will be ready to deliver books and resources throughout Kampala. Schools may borrow the resources for a period of time and return them for other schools to use.

Betty Kabagambe, Centre Director, is quoted as saying, "We want to get the word out about how much the Centre offers, encouraging students to participate in our educational programs and take advantage of our learning environment."

The Eva Ruf Resource Centre will be hosting an Open House on Sunday for you to discover more about its services. For more information please visit www.niteoafrica.org, the "Eva Ruf Resource Centre" Facebook group or contact gilbert@niteoafrica.org.

I am stunned half the time....

I am sitting at the Eva Ruf Center in Kampala, Uganda. I am stunned half the time I am here. Maybe more than half. The Niteo Africa organization has partnered with many needy institutions in and around Kampala - but it is a level of need that is beyond my experience. From what I am learning, at least at the places we have been to such as the Nateete Orphan School called Living Hope and the Sanyu Baby's Orphanage, this has not been a reading culture. Mothers at a neighbouring pre-school have said that their own mothers never read to them, so they do not know how to do it with their children.

Dylan and I read with the primary students today in a classroom in the Nateete slum. It looks like a barn stall, only not a very nice one. The children crowded on to their benches and echoed the words that we said. We asked a question and they answered in unison. They come, they want to learn, there are no books in their classroom, just an old chalk board that is very hard to write on. You can't see the chalk very well. When I wrote on the board, the teacher first sent a student out across the dirt and mud 'center courtyard' - though courtyard is far to grand a term for it. He went to a neighbouring classroom for a piece of chalk. It is a precious commodity here. I have broken three pieces writing on that crude chalk board and am acutely aware of it in a way that I would never be in Kelowna.

Yesterday, I was working with older students at the same school. I was teaching about the continents and had them sketch in their books. Some started right away and some just sat there. I stood back to observe. Why wouldn't they work? They seemed so polite, and it seemed like a good enough lesson to me - replete with chants and rhymes, drawings and instruction....and then it all became clear. Each was waiting for a pencil. A neighbour had to finish first. Then the pencil was passed on and all was completed beautifully in the single book where all their work is done.

Mostly the students sit quietly and wait upon the teacher. Sometimes one will cuff or elbow the other in an effort to clear a little space on a small bench fit for 3 which holds 10. It is warm in the open air shacks and there is not much breeze. There is water and garbage in the ditch that runs through the school area... and other things that add to a rather close odour at times, and yet, something makes my heavy heart sing. What is it? The joyful faces of the children as they take their plastic mugs and get in line for their snack - runny porridge and a slice of dry casava? The ready gaze as I teach, explain, sing and look into each beautiful face trying to have at least one shared moment with each child? They way they celebrate us - the 'muzungus' who have come to a neighbourhood slum that wouldn't attract many visitors? The children chant that word as we drive by. " Muzungus, Muzungus..." I wondered at first if they were taunting, but my experience suggests otherwise. It seems they are as happy and stunned to see us as they would be a unicorn. What are we doing there? Why would we come?

We come because we have been inspired by the children and by the work Niteo Africa is doing here. It is a vision to educate each child, to give them freedom through literacy. I didn't know the power of this mandate until I got here. The children come to the Eva Ruf Center for the books. The shelves are lined with our cast offs, the books we didn't see value in anymore but here the have regained their luster. "We want to read." "There is no other place that is free and has books for us." "We can study here and it is hard to study at home."

Beyond the center, Niteo Africa seeks out the needy institutions to provide support to the teachers and staff who cannot provide resources on their $3.00 a day pay. We provide books, inservice the teachers, tell them to try to read at least one book a day to their students, give them pencils for the children, and paper. We bring medical supplies to the primitive medical hut in the Nateete slum where you can get surgery or have a tooth removed by a general practicioner, to Sanyu Baby's Orphanage, to King's Daughters - a program that rescues girls from the street. In time, they hope to place resource centers in other needy neighbourhoods in Uganda. The value of these centers is high and the need is great. The value of these children is high and their need is far greater than I have ever seen or imagined. It is a privilege to be here, to see past the walls the keep the tourists at bay.

Rhonda