Archive for the ‘Mafubira’ Category
Sorry about the lack of a blog post yesterday, that was entirely my fault. I had come to Jinja with Pastor Nelson and Pastor David to find the man who built the original STAO Uganda website (www.stao-uganda.org), and it took a lot longer than expected - eating up the time I’d allocated for blogging. Nelson wants me to make some changes to their site, but so far we’ve had some trouble getting the FTP access information, and the hosting service website isn’t terribly helpful. I’ll probably have to figure that out when I get home.
I also spent part of yesterday (as well as today) visiting homes in a village adjacent to Mafubira called Sakabusolo to fill out some of the STAO surveys (”participatory assessments”). I’m really glad I got time to do that (it’s mostly been the healthcare team). It was the best chance I’ve had to meet villagers and widows (some who currently benefit from STAO and some who do not) and hear their stories.
It’s truly sobering to see how so many of these people live. A widow, 6 children, and a mud hut in the middle of nowhere… no access to medicine, with no income or consistent access to food via farming… None speak English, and at least one that we met only spoke Swahili - creating yet another barrier to her ability to provide for her children in this place. The emotions I feel and intellectual reactions I have are all over the place. Sometimes I think, “there must be a way out of this.” But when you realize the sheer number of people living this way, and you consider the huge imbalance of young people versus old… it starts to feel very hopeless for many of them.
Helplessness is a feeling I’ve had in great abundance the last two days. Ironic, in some way - as our mere presence brings visible, palpable hope to nearly everyone here… even if I myself question what I could possibly do for them.
The notion of a STAO clinic (the driving purpose behind the surveys) is something I’ve really clinged to in response. It is one way in which I think most of the people I met on these visits can really be helped in a significant way. And perhaps with that burden eased, some will be able to lift themselves up, or at least lift up their children - for whom there is always hope.
