One Month!

Well I have been here for one month as of yesterday! WOW! Really? I know they say that "Time Flies" but until "Time has Flown" you don't realise that "Time Flies"! ha ha ha. My first month in Africa has certainly been an eye-opener. I am thoroughly enjoying myself (usually). I love my work, love the country but most of all love the people. Recently I have met a young boy by the name of Charles. I met him at the tea room near my house. He called me into it the other day as I was walking by (they kind of hiss when they want your attention). He hissed and then said "Muzungo come in here". So I went in, and we started chatting. Charles is a 16 year old boy who had completed S4 (about Grade 11 out of 13 Grades) when his parents died. He and his sister now live with his Aunt who runs the tea room. Charles and Gloria, his sister, now work at the tea room to keep their stay (along with 5 other children) with their Aunt. Gloria is 22 and has just finished S5 (Grade 12). Neither of them can afford to go back to school so they are working at the tea room. When I asked how much it would cost for Charles to attend school he told me it would be 500,000 UGS per semester (3 semesters/year) so 1.5 million UGS for the year. It roughly translates to about $800 Canadian. When I asked what Charles would do if he were able to complete high school and attend university he told me he wants to be a Veterinay Doctor. When he told me this he had just found out I was a Veterinary Doctor so I straight up said "Are you saying that just to increase your chances of me helping you?" He told me that his Uncle is a cattle farmer and that he loves spending time there and has always been into science (which I already knew).

So now my brain is really going....I know I can't help every kid on an individual basis. But isn't it better to help one child in a large way than to help none at all? It is hard not to get attached to some of these kids and hard to think of what will help them best (don't worry the idea of bringing him to Canada has already come and gone....although he keeps asking about it and even came to look at my suitcase yesterday to see if he could fit). I am pretty sure that just giving handouts is not the best way to go about helping him. I have been devising plans of how I can help him. At this point one of my plans is to train some of the women in my project basic veterinary skills. Unfortunately they don't speak English. In my budget I have money to hire an interpreter at about 10,000 UGS/day. Over the course of 3 more months that could be about 600,000 UGS or at least enough for one semester. I was also thinking of taking Runyankore (local language)lessons from him once a week. Hopefully I can figure something out.

Until then I will keep visiting the tea room and continue being bombarded with questions about Canada. Please pray for Charles and if you wanna pay for him to come to Canada that would be great! ha ha ha!

Charles and I....as hard as I try I can rarely get Ugandans to smile in pictures.