Settling Down in Lira

Just a quick post today. I officially moved into Esther's home yesterday. I have a nice room with a bed, mosquito net and table with enough room for my suitcases. The bathroom is a room with a tile floor and a drain and I take splash baths now. I spent the morning chasing this very persistent chicken out of the house - she really wanted to sit on the couch with us. We have been visiting some of the schools where the Children of Hope beneficiaries attend. I have been interviewing some of them and letting them know we will be doing an art project. I have brought acid free drawing paper, construction paper, watercolor paint and colored pencils and each student is going to make one images that shows or describes what their life was like before being sponsored and what their life was like after. I hope to exhibit these artworks with my photographs and the saleable good created in the Income Generating Programs of the caregivers when I return to the US. Depending on how they turn out I might also make a book that we can sell to raise money and awareness.

One of the children we met today was abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army when he was young. He said he was forced to steal to survive, overworked, and witnessed death. He said when they first took him they took oil and put the sign of the cross on his hands, feet, chest and head and told him that that made him bulletproof. He escaped and ended up in a camp. He convinced a school to let him attend and did manual labor and digging as payment since he had no money. He had now been sponsored by the COH for almost 3 years and radiates happiness and thanks.

Esther also told me of another situation that one of the current caregivers was in. She is HIV positive and didn't want to live any longer. She was alone and wouldn't take her medication. The COH chose her as a caregiver of an orphaned child and her income generating project is making the paper beads for necklaces. Esther says she is happy now and spends her day in the small humble office making beads. It is amazing how many people have been blessed by this program across the board and I feel so privileged to be part of it.

Another thing I am working on with Esther is designing a tag or label for the products so if some one purchases them abroad they can look at the website and become more involved in the program.

I am really emphasizing reused/recycled materials for the projects. There has been lots of news lately about the government planning to ban certain plastics and plastic bags similar to have Tanzania and other African countries have due to detrimental environmental degradation and inadequate disposal methods. Every one burns their garbage here (including plastic and batteries). Although the news papers are widely bought and read it seem that people just don't believe that the fumes from burning plastic can lead to cancer and fertility problems. The government is trying to address this in a strict way and I am skeptical about how it will turn out. I have been saving my plastic bottles for Zeevic's projects and collecting my bits of plastic to take home to recycle.