The Innocent

AIDS was first diagnosed in Uganda in 1982, but by then it was already an epidemic. Before this, it was known as “slim disease”. People wasted away believing to have been possessed in some way. The disease spread along the major highways around Lake Victoria and women contracted AIDS at a higher rate then men due to non-consensual sex and their own inability to negotiate condoms. HIV/AIDS and years of internal guerrilla wars have given rise to generations of orphans in Uganda. It was striking to be in a country where you see few people between the ages of say 30-something and 50. I believe there is not a single family in Uganda that has not been personally touched by the horrors of Idi Amin, or Milton Obote and Tito Okello and this epidemic disease.

Who hasn’t seen an infomercial on Africa and looked into the eyes of an innocent child born of parents with HIV? It is another thing to walk side by side with it in Uganda. It is not only this disease that creates orphans, it is economically disempowered women and grandparents who can no longer afford to take care of their families. It is also child abuse in dysfunctional homes that causes children to flee beatings and with no place to go, they end up on the streets. Orphans make up 10% of the population of Uganda, so that’s about 3.5 million kids. While the list of orphans is long, the available space in facilities is in short supply.

I spoke with one woman who came to Nserester looking for help from Rev. Isaac. She is a music teacher who lives close to the border of Tanzania. Her students can no longer afford to pay for their lessons, so she is out of work. She, herself, has taken on eight children but can no longer afford to feed them and is looking for help. She is not an organized orphanage and the children are in need of food. This story is not uncommon.

Rev. Isaac, himself an orphan, had a dream of raising 20 kids. He wanted to start an orphanage but he did not know how to begin. His mentor said: “You don’t have to know how, just do it." And begin he did. On a tiny piece of land he began with 20 orphans, feeding, housing and teaching them academics and carpentry. That was 14 years ago. The orphanage now houses, feeds, educates and trains 813 orphans from infancy to 18. Each year he finds more kids, some he plucks off the street, some are from abused homes, some from strangled economic families and others from parents too sick to care for them.

Two days after my arrival, I was taken to the primary orphanage where the young ones are housed and educated. Hundreds of wee ones were lined up in their little uniforms clapping and singing to celebrate the arrival of their Grand Papa, Rev. Isaac. It was DELIGHT in motion. They broke from their lines and ran and leapt to touch us. I had at least five on each arm, and it was striking to see all these little black hands against my white-white skin, but I could not take a picture, I was inside the frame. This was one of many photos that escaped me.

And let me tell you, those little kids could sing and dance! That drumbeat is in their bones and the rhythm came out their feet. I wish I had a video camera to capture on film with the rapture of the moment. These still shots slow everything down to a glance, an expression, and a moment where perhaps we met.

I am not here to put out an appeal for the orphans, but I will say this, if you anyone reading this desires to support an orphan at the Nserester Complex, I can tell you how you can assist a child there. It would cost you $450/ year. If this has touched you in anyway, I have a direct contact for you.