Meeting my sponsor child in Uganda
<p><em><strong>Lindsay Walker, 63, and his wife Dalaine, 65, are global humanitarians with a passion to make a difference in impoverished areas in the world.</strong></em></p>
<p class="Body">The idea of travelling to Central Africa (Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya) came to me one day in the shower. As the water poured down from the shower head above, I couldn't stop thinking about how I would cope I lived on a swamp flood plain that is under water for maybe seven months a year and my “home” was made of mud and has a grass roof. This is the reality of one of our sponsor children, Harriet, who lives in Uganda. Dalaine and I have been sponsoring her for over 12 years and all this time she has lived in these conditions day in day out, in one of Uganda’s impoverished, remote areas. I knew I had to experience this for myself.</p>
<p class="Body">So Dalaine and I set out on a six-month trip travelling to 28 countries to visit our seven sponsor children all over the world. I was visiting Harriet by myself, and on my long journey to Uganda I kept trying to envisage the welcome I would receive from Harriet, now a young lady. We had never met, but Dalaine and I would receive updated photographs every year and we’d also notice the changes in her handwriting an increasing range of topics to exchange opinion on. I was excited to meet her, and now the time would finally come…</p>
<p class="Body">When my plane touched down in Uganda, it was apparent in seconds that I had arrived at an airport that had seen better days. Clearly my mind went back to July 1976 when hijackers and terrorists, aided by the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, held 248 Air France hostages in this very same airport. Times have moved on thankfully in this country that has been ravaged by genocides and the deadly AIDS virus, both sadly forgotten by the rest of the world, but still having a profound effect. I was to learn that the average age of the population is a mere 15 years of age. This compares to Australia (38 years of age) and New Zealand (37 years of age). Obviously having such a young population presents huge logistical problems, and despite trying to keep children in school until they are 22, this only defers the problem. It is also made even more difficult when poverty and drought, as well as flooding causing irreparable damage, not just for those living the horrors of today, or the memories of the past, but those born into an uncertain future.</p>
<p>Getting to Harriet’s community involved travelling on two crowded local buses (a story in itself) and sleeping in a strange bed ensconced in mosquito netting, at the nearest accommodation which was an hour and a half away. This meant the local minister had to leave early to pick me up as well as be ready to conduct a church service. I soon found out that the congregation of close to 700 had arrived three hours earlier, at 7.30am, to pray and sing songs of praise and worship in preparation of my arrival.</p>
<p>Finally, I got to meet Harriet. She came to me with the largest smile imaginable and we had a huge hug. She had been told of my pending arrival only a couple of days before, in case for some reason I didn't turn up. It is a rarity for the community to see white-skinned Europeans, and I was the first sponsor from anywhere in the world to visit a child at this particular project.</p>
<p class="Body">The community I found were hugely grateful, reserved and respectful, not wanting a handout but rather a hand up. It’s why Dalaine and I started a charity <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.makemynamecount.org/" target="_blank">Make My Name Count</a></span></strong> to help Harriet, her family and the community. With the funds, we built a tiny brick home for Harriet and her family, which was off the swampy, often-flooded Kakuuto flood plain, a symbolic and a practical gesture that showed that we cared, that people cared about their lives.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong><em>If you have a story to share please get in touch at <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="mailto:melody@oversixty.com.au" target="_blank">melody@oversixty.com.au</a></span>.</em></strong></p>
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