The Orphans of Uganda Endowments
by Dan Gudahl
My mom died two years ago, almost 20 years after the death of my dad. I was over 40 at the time but I realized I was now by loose definition an orphan. Family would now mean wife, daughter, in-laws, brothers and sisters, but not father, mother, grandfather, grandmother. We all end up in the same situation eventually. Some of us born to more normal lives have memories and hopes for the future. Some of us become orphans at an older age. Life is a cycle of ashes and dust but in between, where there is life, there must also be compassion.
 "To alleviate poverty and hunger", "to end poverty and hunger"; these are noble missions that require large dreams and plans. To use good fortune and time on this earth to help others who cannot help themselves is a noble mission. We live in times of exploitation and consumerism ruling the ways of the world. But perhaps our compassion to help human beings and our environment has become paralyzed by our own consumerism and greed.
In Uganda recently I saw 62 reasons for change. Sixty-two children, all with different histories who ended up in the same place for the same reason - parentless, abandoned, unwanted, unable to help themselves. Sixty-two orphans aged one to 18. These children live in a facility designed for 30 children. It is the only government run institution in the city of Kampala that takes any orphan or abandoned child regardless of condition, disability, behavior or background.
I took some photos, and looked around and had to look right into the eyes of some of the 62. Two boys, about 8 or 9 years old had home made glasses that help them stand out in the crowd, one made from wire, and one from wire, paper and rubber bands. They laughed and behaved like children anywhere, excited to see someone (a white fellow no less) besides the regular folks. Looking at me through homemade glasses as I took their picture with my $500 camera made me feel strange. The paper, rubber band and wire glasses fellow swapped glasses with me. Mine on him look too large, too new, and too expensive. He grins, or maybe smirks at me.
Children are a variety of shapes and sizes here. There are only 19 girls and the rest are boys. The oldest orphan is a boy who has mental problems, won't wear clothes and has no place else to go. Some who are not disabled help to wash and care for those that are. I took a picture of a kid with a cast on his leg up to his waist who smiled and beckoned me over to pay some attention to him.
The orphanage, despite its growing population still tries to do follow up and tries to research children's backgrounds. The place is now a full time orphanage. Before the AIDS epidemic, it was an intake center. If relatives were found, usually a home could be found for the orphans. Now with AIDS victims around every corner, despite reductions in infection rates in Uganda, most every household in Uganda is full with family and extended family.
How do you help an orphan? How can someone from the USA here in Uganda, a representative of a human assistance organization, look into a pair of orphan eyes and not feel a sick, aching guilt born from too much good fortune. Sing songs from Annie here if you wish. The sun may shine tomorrow and it is a hard knock life, but Orphan Annie stories here in Uganda are few and far between these days. Shifting demographics as a result of AIDS leaves orphans without any source of moral, family or economic support. The government does provide support for the reception center, but education is basic at best and food provided lacks proper nutritional balance.
The Deputy Director of Heifer Uganda volunteered her time at the orphanage to help advise the workers at the orphanage on how to set up a zero grazing unit on the small plot at the orphanage. Other relief organizations have already assisted the center with proper beddings and a poultry project that provides eggs for the orphans. Some of the eggs are sold in order to provide feeds for the chickens. Heifer Uganda staff have assisted in the selection and purchase of a couple of cows. One cow is pregnant and one has already calved. The cows had only been in their units less than a week when the orphans were already benefiting from receiving 9 liters of milk daily. Previously there was no milk available for them.
In talking with one of the workers, who is also a social worker, she pointed out that since the arrival of the chickens and subsequent egg production, there are now no cases of malnutrition at the center. Some orphans arrive in rough shape and take some time to be nursed back to health. Adequate protein in the diet is essential for this effort. In the past year, two children at the center have died from AIDS and one from another disability. But despite the crowded conditions, orphan children are thriving here and are given a chance at life.
To me it seems there can be no harder work or more essential work here than to help these children.
Current Orphans Endowments.
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