Our arrival in Bukedea was met with an exceptionally warm and celebratory welcome – even for Uganda. By the time I got my camera turned off and in my pocket Jess was crowd surfing on top of the kids and the rest of us were mobbed with hugs and hand shakes and joyous Ugandan smiles

The CarePoint is also in an entirely different setting. Situated on a small plot of land just half a kilometer from the MBale highway, the CarePoint has been well developed. The Kitchen, the Multi Purpose Pavilion, and the latrines have been built thanks to a one time donation to Hope Chest. The kids here are also a little better dressed, and speak a little more english than their Ogoloi friends an hour away. 

The primary needs at the CarePoint are obvious….

1. The sponsorships are terribly low. Only 30 kids of over 220 are accounted for, so we are are profiling all the kids and ready to go to work as soon as we get home
2. The CarePoint has to buy its water every day in large barrels. Its costly, and time consuming. We are currently working to raise $5,000 for a well to be dug in the CarePoint next Spring. If you havent yet, please check out Advent Conspiracy Blog Post

The leadership at Bukedea CarePoint is exceptional.

Widows of Teso

There are two Disciplers (a husband wife team called Richard and Pauline) who know the kids and their family stories backwards, two incredibly hard working cooks, a social worker named Bernadette (who is an absolute rock star), and a care-taker (known to all as Mamma) who is the Chairperson of the “Widows of Teso”. Her real name is Christine. 

Richard (discipler) and Bernadette (Social Worker)

“Widows of Teso” is an association of Widows from all around the Teso region who work to support each other. 

Jen and I spent much of the morning working on the profiles of the first 50 kids that we will be working to find sponsors for. Along with the Richard (the discipler) and Bernadette (the social worker), we worked through their family and personal stories one at a time with the kids answering questions and Richard translatin. 

We visited several of the homes of children from the CarePoint by foot. Some were a few kilometers away, which meant an interesting trek down the footpaths that snake throughout the African planes.

These visits are incredibly humbling. The people of Uganda who live in these tiny mud and baked brick huts are exceptionally honored by a visit of this nature, and welcome you with great joy. Their living circumstances are deplorable, and many are on the absolute brink. We met woman caring for several of their grandchildren who were in their 60’s and even 70’s who work from dusk till dawn in other peoples fields to feed their grandchildren earning around 3000 Ugandan shillings per week.

With an exchange rate of about 25,000 to 1, that’s about $1.25.
Per week. Which equates to about $60 a year. Its absolutely impossible to fathom.

I have some incredible stories of some of these people and their circumstances to share, but that will have to wait for next time.

I have posted some photos of the kids and the CarePoint on the Facebook page (see link below). There are many more, and we have great video of most of the currently sponsored kids. We will post more photos when we get back on U.S. soil…and cheaper internet 🙂