October 2009
INVISIBLE CHILDREN
There is perceived stability in Uganda. Located near Rwanda and Nigeria, it is strange that there is more peace there than its tumultuous neighbors. That is at least what it seems like to the many tourists that go to see the northern Gorillas or game parks.
Not many tourists would know that in the last twenty years an estimated 100,000 Ugandan children have been abducted by rebels from their homes during the night, and taken to be trained as child soldiers. Not many would know or really understand that there are over two million orphans and counting, most being HIV positive. Uganda is one of the most AIDS ravaged countries in the world and yet to the western world it gets a barely a mention.
With a small group of Aussies, including nurses and builders, Griffith University student Emma Plant made the thirty-three hour trip to Kampala, the capital of Uganda. The aim was to document accurately what was happening with her camera, dodgy video equipment and wide-eyed enthusiasm. Two weeks would be spent in the south, in Kampala and Entebbe, and two weeks in the north at Gulu. Everyone was excited about being able to give something back to the Ugandan people.
Within minutes of being in the country it was clear that it was going to be an overwhelming trip. Military staff with T.I.A painted on their uniforms and rifles in hand were scattered around the airport. Cows roamed 10 meters away from the landing strip and every second car had a gigantic holographic ‘God is Good’ sticker across the windscreen. Different from other developing countries, Uganda was a strange mix of western influence, proud Africans, God-fearing evangelists, and rich, green landscape.
Watoto ministries and Orphanages are 1 hour out of Entebbe and house over 300 children. The a westerner, the houses who seem complete poverty, but to the residents they are considered luxurious. For two weeks Emma and her fellow Aussies built a two-story brick house that would accommodate 6 children and one house mother (the house mothers are always widows with no living blood relatives). There were many stories told. Most sad. Some happy. On one particular day Emma went to Entebbe hospital with orphanage volunteers to rescue abandoned babies and while there, she witnessed three dead babies being thrown in a sink because the parents did not want anything to do with them. But amongst this hardship there was more joy than she had ever experienced before. “You put two cents in the giving basket and your hand comes out dipped in gold, they give you so much love, more than we could try and give them,” says Emma.
Emma also visited Cherish ministries, an organization run by an Australian. Cherish is entirely self-sustainable and green. The charity takes care of terminal HIV children. It is a new-world orphanage that focuses on keeping the children connected to their African heritage and culture so they don’t grow up feeling displaced (there is an extremely high suicide rate amongst adults who have grown up in western-run orphanages).
After being in the south for two weeks, Gulu in the north was the next stop. Located in Gulu are Internally Displaced Camps (IDP’s) for HIV+ Ugandans who are seeking treatments and the ARV drugs. Also, there are rehabilitation clinics and orphanages that have recently been built, for the children that have been rescued from the Lord’s Resistance Child Soldier Army (LRA). Emma said she went on a crazy emotional roller coaster as she heard the children’s stories. “ You hear these stories, but when you are in such proximity to it and it is an 8 year old boy telling you he murdered his own mum, it does something to you,” she says. The LRA has been operating for over 20 years and only recently has the Ugandan government been able to chase the rebels out of the country. But, they have left behind trail destruction and deep wounds, and it has recently been uncovered that the army is still alive and growing. “People don’t even know about it. Australians don’t even know that this is happening, and if they do they just say ‘that sucks’. None of us get to choose where we are born, we are just the lucky ones,” says Emma.
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Photo story by Emma Plant, production by Alana Sykes for the Argus
Good article Alana.
I feel a need to add by mentioning the relative success of education in Uganda – certainly in African terms.
I was lucky enough to live in Uganda’s South West in Kasese and talked with my Ugandan friends about how Museveni’s wife led the campaign strongly to educate the nation on the use of condoms and reduce spread of aids.
There is still a long way to go and the legacy you point out here, from the LRA – whom were ever present in Kasese, though we were lucky and only had one or two nights where attacks were heard, though villages around were frequently raised to the ground near us.
Though close to the well publicised troubled countries of the DRC and Rwanda, my perception when I was there was that the LRA was more active in the north so we were fortunate.
The scourge of AIDS was ever present though and I had a wonderful friend who openly admitted to his wife being an AIDS victim, she was a wonderful woman. I met her through him, and unfortunately, we lost her as a friend in my year living in Kasese. AIDS finally got her.
So, the education, on an African scale – where Uganda was probably the one of the worst – has perhaps helped, but it needs to keep going and improving and articles like this are fantastic to try and spread the word and not sensationalise Africa.
Well done. If you have any more tales of Uganda and it’s wonderful wonderful people I would be happy to hear them and chat about Uganda. It has a special place in my heart and I will return one day to visit my friends in Kasese. If they are still there.
Thanks for making me think of a special place once again. ian
I still check the Argus all the time. I love this story, great job Alana. I miss the Argus newsroom!