My days in Mbarara

OURS Center

AIDS Orphans in Uganda

Enjoying my time with children

Children at OURS center

Tea Break

Mbarara, Uganda was my first stop on this trip. I was hosted by a lovely family which helped me not to miss my family at all. My days in Mbarara, opened my eyes to the reality of what I was about to experience for the coming few weeks while in Uganda. Mbarara is mostly made of the Banyakole tribe, which is a Bantu tribe, their language is very close to mine, so communication was not as hard as I thought it will be. While in Mbarara, I worked with two different organizations; Juna Amagara Ministry and The OURS CENTER.

JUNA AMAGARA MINISTRY

Juna Amagara Ministry (JAM) is a ministry that cares for AIDS orphans. This ministry has two operational sites; there is Mbarara and Kishanje which is further west of the country. In Mbarara is where the children’s home is located. This children home cares for about 60 orphans. These orphans are fed on a daily basis and they put through school. When I got there, the children were preparing for the exams before breaking for the Christmas break, which is a two month break. During the christmas break, children go to the village, to their extended families, and celebrate christmas with their relatives.  For those without relatives, they can stay at the children’s home and have their christmas there. My duties here ranged from teaching 1st grade – 4th grade, and leading bible studies. However, my joy came from just interacting with these children, praying with them, teaching them new songs and mostly learning from them what it trully means to give thanks to God. No matter how painful their past is, these children always have smiles on their faces, there is absolutely no pain registered on their faces. Of course as one keeps interacting with them, its inevitable to notice the pain and the hurt that comes with losing their parents.  In Mbarara, I got to be extremely close with the children because I spent my evenings with them, helping them with their homeworks and just visiting with them and getting to hear about how their day at school. Benon, is in 7th grade, and he is getting ready for his big exams, these are the equivalent of ACT/ SAT, though he only gets one chance, if he fails that’s almost the end of his education career. I say almost because unless he gets someone to pay for a private school, there is no way he can get into a public school if he doesn’t pass this exam. But Benon is so sure that he will not fail, he tells me that God has brought him thus far, not to leave him alone but to see him through. At that moment, I learned alot, learned that no matter what people say or do, nothing can absolutely take me out of God’s hand, and nothing can change his plans for my life. There is so much to learn from these children, that one cant help but hang around them, one can definately see and smell Jesus. However, of all the organizations and orphanages that I got a chance to work with while in Uganda, there is a lot of things that Juna Amagara lacks in so many ways, but as a developing organization I trully cant hold that much agains them.

The OURS CENTER

The OURS CENTER cares for children that are physically and mentally disabled. This place really tested my faith and my knowledge of God, his love and his grace. There was absolutely no way for me to explain God’s love and grace to these mothers with deformed children. How can a loving and caring God let this happen? That is one question that I was stuck with most of the days, none the less what happens here on earth does not stop him from being sovereign. OURS is a part of the Anglican Church here in Mbarara and the doctor here is German, she is the sweetest person around and extremely caring. I was more than happy to do anything that they needed me to do, since they were so understaffed in every way imaginable. One of the things that one needs to know and understand is that physical disability absolutely makes one an outcast in the community, so parents with children who are physically disabled tend to neglect them and keep them in the house at all times. There are very few places in Africa like the OURS CENTER. Parents bring their children here for just 5,000/= UShs, equivalent of $4.00. Once the child is administered and medically accessed, the child will be sent to a qualified hospital for the collective surgery, the recovery time is the hardest time for both the child and the mother. The children are brought back to OURS for after surgery care and follow up. There are about 32 beds at OURS, and most of the days these beds are full. OURS center has one nurse, one physical therapist, one office manager, one doctor who is german, and two cooks. The mothers of the children are the ones that help maintain this place. I worked into OURS one day and really realized that they needed help, so since I had most of my mornings open, i started volunteering there. From the OURS center I also volunteered at the Mbarara hospital and this was probably the hardest part for the time being. Not once had I yet to see poverty and injustice stearing at me face to face. Not once had I even imagined that people in a hospital would share a bed or not even have a bed to lay their sickly bodies on. This was absolutely an eye opening place and one of the places that I trully came to see and learn more about God, about Jesus and his love that brought him to this durty and injust world.

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