Next Stop: St Jude’s Orphanage (the patron saint of lost causes). We spent much of Father’s day with those who didn’t have any. The orphanage is isolated from the city and made for a very lengthy/bumpy ride and is unlike any other orphanage in Uganda, this is specifically for those whose parents were killed in the conflict. As soon as we got out of the vans the children ran and instantly all fifteen of us had at least one child holding our hands. Greeted with singing and dancing and afterwards we toured the grounds if we weren’t asked to play soccer or frisbee. While there are coordinators who organize and run the orphanage, there are also 9 mothers who live and raise their children and other orphans. Either these mothers’ husbands were killed in the conflict or they were taken into the bush and raped by the rebels. In Uganda there is a stigma against these “rebel babies” who are stereotyped as aggressive and stubborn inside and outside of the classroom and thus are not accepted at normal schools.
Perhaps the most heartbreaking part of the orphanage was the portion dedicated to students with special needs such as learning and behavioral disorders or even children whose limbs were cut off as a testament to what the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) would do to its victims. Few in our group decided to this area, however the children here seemed just as happy if not more so than the healthy children. It was perhaps the most difficult portion of the trip so far to watch. Up until this point we had all read about what the LRA had done, heard the stories of children, yet here we were face to face with victims. One child was running around with bright eyes and grin to match and only seconds later as he approached me could I see several scars unmistakably made by a knife running along the top of his head. From that moment until I left that area, I could barely speak let alone smile.
Yesterday was my first day at Gulu High when the students where there. While I was waiting for my teacher to show up I witnessed what is an every day occurrence in schools all over Uganda. Three kids were getting yelled at by a teacher and then took a push up position and were caned three times each. I never found out what the punishment was for but it was most likely having their shirts untucked. Then today, 8 girls were caned, and as it turns out if you flinch while being caned, you get an additional two hits. All of the American teachers were prepped on the law that went into place a year ago in Uganda that made caning illegal, but truth is no one really abides by it. It was a weird to watch, and today when a girl was crying during her caning, the teacher next to the teacher caning her was laughing. Clearly Uganda has got a ways to go as far as education goes. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that wouldn't go down well at Holy Names...
I swear I'll blog about something happy sometime soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment