No-one left behind

Today we visited the severely disabled children who were recently discharged from the Ark. There are more details over on darton2soroti.blogspot but here I want to say that I was relieved to find that the families were coping, some better than others, and that they were thankful for the light that the Ark project had brought into their lives. Again and again we hear that the projects with people with disabilities have a profound effect that is not easy to describe. I think it has to do with showing that each person has value, no matter what their condition. We do this by listening to people, treating them with respect, allowing them to determine what their needs are and how they can best be met, and offering assistance sensitively when we can. We cannot solve every problem, but we can stand with people, hear their story and find a way to show that we care. (The problem of how able-bodied society treats people who are different is not unique to low income countries, as the rise in “disability hate crime” in the UK tells us.) It was lovely to peer into a tiny hut and see a little girl with cerebral palsy being fed lovingly by her sister, enter a compound to find a boy in a chair playing with his sister, go to a nice little house and see a mother cradle her teenaged son while reflecting on the difficult decisions she has to make every day and the physical labour of caring for him. We just need to see a few more men getting involved!

We visited a school where the team have enrolled a boy who uses a wheelchair. They saw that his classmates and brother had to lug the chair up steps to get into the class rooms. So now the school is equipped with ramps and even a sort of accessible toilet (not perfect, but a step in the right direction).

Aside from disability, Global Care Uganda staff try every way they can to enable each sponsored child to succeed. For most, that means getting as far as they can within the national school system. They receive support to stay at school until S4, and achieve results similar to our O levels. Because of delays and interruptions to schooling, often before they were sponsored, they may be well into young adulthood by the time they complete school education. I have been in a primary school lesson and have never forgotten the overcrowded room, children two or more to a desk trying to follow a lesson on the blackboard that was over the heads of so many of them. So I have no illusions about the quality of schooling that many children receive in the name of universal primary education.

Sponsored children are selected from the most needy, therefore they tend to come from families that are poor and uneducated, and many have experienced disruption, trauma, illness or malnutrition in early life. All of this has an impact on their academic achievement, and the school system is very focused on passing exams. Therefore there is a group of children who are seen to be failing in school. Or, as one of our workers puts it, they are gifted in different ways.

So the dilemma has been, do we support these children through secondary school, or offer alternative vocational training, which may give them more chance of gainful employment?

Today we met some boys who have chosen training placements in Soroti. Global Care pays businesses to train them, instead of paying school fees. They are all teenagers, and the placements had to be cleared with the local police, to ensure that they did not fall foul of child labour laws. We walked in the hot sun down a street that was under repair. I wished I had anticipated the walk and brought my hat. Bleeping noises from a road grading machine reversing, even more red dust than usual. Along the road a series of sizeable buildings housing businesses like carpentry shops, metalwork shops and car service centres. Young men sweating in overalls, sparks flying from angle grinders, flash of arc welders, guys lying under cars propped up on blocks wrestling with wrenches.

It seems unusual to have a thirteen year old training as a metalworker. Already he can fabricate doors and similar structures, using welding equipment. He is enthusiastic about the experience, and has been assured of continuing employment within the business. For some of the other boys, training for example as car mechanics, the future did not seem quite so clear. We will continue to monitor progress and learn from successes in the other Ugandan project areas to ensure that the training is fit for purpose and the transition to paid work is managed well. We are excited about this programme as it offers a route to self sufficiency for these students.

We spent the afternoon considering plans to help the Atiira Disability Support Group with an income generating project involving a maize grinding mill. It seems good but we didn’t know enough facts about the financial aspects to be able to recommend it yet. Nevertheless we spent a joyful hour or two on a business plan and log frame!

It has been a very positive day, even if we ended it with as many questions as we started with, as usual.