Back From Kabale

Oligambach? (I should ask for the spelling but Whats up Blog readers?) Kabale is beautiful!!!! It looks like Oregon and the climate is similar.

The purpose of the trip to Kabale was to see if Zach (one of the babies in Acacia Tree Uganda's care) would be able to be back with his father. However, when we approached Zach's dad with Zach and Blessed asked in chiga(sp yet again) whether the boy would be taken care of if back with the father, his father essentially said "why did you bring me this boy?" So his father agreed to adoption.

Acacia Tree Uganda really wants the babies to go home and be with their families after reciving care. That is the ultimate goal.

There are limited resources available for the father and he has to take care of Zach's older sibling. The sibling is being sponsored by an organization Compassion, that provides school fees. So at least the sibling is recieving food from school.

So our days in Kabale were long. There was a lot of waiting around for govt. officials to show up or get out of meetings. We needed to get a care order so Robin has legal documentation to care for and get Zach adopted to a family.

When writing our program sping term for Acacia Tree Uganda I can really see where incentives are needed when completing modules. There are very limited resources for these families living in poverty. If there are incentives to finish a module then it is more likely that the parents will stick with the program. However, when parents are HIV+ it adds another dimension to care. The parents are probably not on ARVs and I think that some education resource on where to obtain free ARVs is needed as well as a way of transport. I have noticed that even if people have the information on where to get things, they often lack a means of transport.

On another note I stayed in the village with Blessed's family!!! It felt like I met over 100 people. They were very happy that a Muzungu came to visit their village and would sleep in their house. I used a pit latrine and there wasn't any electricity or running water. I was eaten by mosquitos! All that was fine and felt like camping. I got the feeling that they felt Wsterners are somehow better than they are and that we deserve the best when staying. However, I felt like they should be praised for their extrodinary ability to survive and provide for their family by not being lazy and going to dig Irish for food and money. I felt privleged that they would accept me into thier family so openly.

I just got back today, so I will try and get some pictures up the next couple of days, but no gurantees, we get twins tomorrow!