A Different Kind of Home

12/15/11

On the 15th I woke up, spent a few hours with the middle class (not the infants, not the toddlers, the ones in between) and then left with Grace, Hannah and Denise to another orphanage for all ages named Oasis in a very rural location around an hour drive from Mengo.

This place really put Sanyu in perspective.  The great thing about Sanyu is that they really push to get all of their babies adopted, and they do this by networking/ word of mouth, and getting corporate and non-corporate sponsors/ donators to support them in their cause and to maintain the safety and upkeep of their facilities.  Because of all this Sanyu has a fairly stable stream of money and donations coming in which ensures that every child there receives three meals a day, is well clothed, has shoes on their feet, mosquito nets over their cribs, and lives in a home that has electric lights and running water.
None of this can be said for the children at Oasis- 66 in all (33 girls/ 33 boys)
Their ages range from toddler to teenager but most of them fall within the preteen range.  
I've struggled a lot in writing this post.  I've written, erased, and started it over three times already.
I struggle because I don't think there's anything I could type that would make a second-hand reader get it.  Get that when I say these are children who live 9 to a room with low ceilings and dirt floors, and no running water- no toilets.  Where their whole house smells like urine and most of the time they have no electricity.  This is actually where they live- its not just a photo, its not someone, somewhere, some of the time.  Its 66 abandoned, parentless children who wake up in that house every single morning and have nowhere or no one else to turn to.
Uganda is a country of 40 million people, and there are approximately 2.5 million orphans/abandoned children.  That means 1 out of every 16 people in Uganda is an orphaned child.  Sanyu's maximum capacity is 50, and while the work they do there is unparalleled in effort and heart, its difficult to look at numbers like 50 out of 2.5 million and not feel defeated. One thing's for sure: the children at Sanyu, despite their terrible arrivals, are incredibly fortunate to be there. 

Oasis is spilt into two separate houses about a block apart from each other- the girls house and the boys.  We visited both, and received the most enthusiastic welcome from the staff and children, who blessed us and sang and danced to celebrate our arrival.  The man who runs Oasis says their biggest challenge is bringing enough money in each month to feed all of the children every day.  

The road leading up to Oasis. Red, red dirt

the front entrance of the girls home

the inside wall of the girls home

The woman on the far left is Harriet- she runs the girls house.  We went to Oasis in the first place because Grace and Denise had an incredible amount of clothing that they packed and brought all the way from the U.S./UK to donate here (they both visited 4 months prior and were returning now with more donations).  The pink shirt and blue dress on the girls to my right are both donations from Grace and Denise. 

The girl in the orange is Rachel.  She's 14 years old and is expecting within the next week or so.  Here's my problem with Rachel's scenario- its not that she's a 14 year old about to have a baby- its that she was forced onto the streets because of how heavily stigmatized and shameful her situation is to the rest of her country that no one was willing to help her.  I don't care why she is pregnant at such a young age, the fact is she was already 8 months pregnant by the time someone who knew about Oasis picked her up off the streets of Kampala and brought her here, knowing she wouldn't be turned away.  She wasn't, and the day before we arrived, Harriet took her to the hospital for a check-up on her and the baby- for the first time since she's been pregnant!  She's due in one week and had yet to see the doctor.  She probably would have just had the baby alone right on the street if it wasn't for Harriet.

They were REALLY happy to see us-

Grace and I being lifted up by Oasis residents

The singing continued for a good half-hour

Denise being lifted

drums to accompany the singing/celebrating

After the the welcome and tour of the girls home, we were invited to see the boys home.  It was a few minutes walk:

on our way to Oasis boys home

This is bucket laundry- if you didn't get that beforhand

between this and picking up 50 babies a day I've gained so much arm strength!

behind the boys home

some of the Oasis boys infront of the (currently empty) cow pen

some of the boys from the boys home

the community church in Oasis's neighborhood

Oasis' cow, and the man responsible for keeping Oasis afloat and the for the 66 children at Oasis boys and girls home

Leaving the boys home

 back to the trafficked streets of Sanyu...

Going to Oasis, even for a few hours, was a huge eye-opener.  I've since thought about the kids a lot- especially Rachel.  I will close this post with some portraits of a few of the girls.  I hope they don't feel ashamed of themselves due to their circumstances, and can fight the societal constraints of being young women.  They look strong to me.

(wearing a newly donated SCU T-shirt!)

Don't Fit In, Stand Out.