Since I wrote to you in July, Kids of Africa has i) grown from 80 to 85 children, ii) overcome chickenpox which affected nearly all of our children, iii) provided growing health services and a new borehole to our community, iv) assumed responsibility for
education of 200 children at our nearby primary school and v) celebrated a most generous donation of a tractor for our farm. It has been a busy month. It leaves me profoundly grateful. I am grateful for the resources, the skills and the commitment of all our wonderful management team and staff without whom our village would never have such a truly amazing place. Having the strength to overcome weakness feels like a blessing. Thank you.

Growing to 85 children in a month…

We warmly welcomed five new children during the last four weeks. I copy the comments written by Betty Kasujja, our social worker:

Henrietta

Henrietta was picked by a lady by the names of Kyakuwa Isha in the suburbs of Kampala in Katwe, Nawanku zone. She was walking past a rubbish skip at night when she saw a child nearby and she moved closer only to find the baby girl there. She reported the matter to Katwe police station. The following day the matter was referred to probation office Makindye who contacted Kids of Africa.

Douglas

Douglas was abandoned at the veranda of a shop in Kajjansi and recurred by the shopkeeper who found Douglas in the morning when he came to open his shop. He was sick and clearly malnourished. The shopkeeper contacted Police and in turn the matter was forwarded to Makindye Probation office who later contacted Kids of Africa.

Judith

Judith was abandoned in Mulago hospital on 4th floor. She was found by a security guard on duty one night. He reported the matter to Causality Police post case no. SD 20/17/08/09. The child was admitted on Ward 16 where she was looked after by the staff for about 4 days with efforts to trace for relatives but all in vain. The social works department then decided that the child be placed in a home.

Steven

Steven was found by a certain lady in Namasuba. He was weeping and shivering because he realized that he had lost his beloved father and mother. She informed the local council who referred her to Namasuba police post. The Good Samaritan agreed with police that she would look after him as they tried to trace the relatives. After a week with no relatives claiming for the child, the Good Samaritan returned the child to police but referred the case to Makindye Probation Office who contacted Kids of Africa for care and protection.

Peter

Peter was abandoned near the lift of ward 3BE in Mulago Hospital. He was found at night alone by a security guard and the case was reported to Causality police post. He was then admitted on Ward 16 and cared for. Since he was on the ward, no one came to claim for the child so the social works department contacted Kids of Africa. Peter is still traumatized and does not like to look at other people yet. With the love and care of his new mother and siblings, we hope he will smile again soon.

Overcoming disease

Health remains mostly good. Our two founding partners, Dr. med. Danielle Gyurech und Dr. med. Julian Schilling, have much more to thank for than I could write in this newsletter. It could fill several letters and I hope to do that at some point.
They spent almost the entire month of July in the village and also brought their lively sons Pino (6) and Livio (4) along. Of course, our always smiling medical team, Dr. med. Charles Kasozi and nurses Semmy and Damaris deserve a big applause.
One child, Lilian, required a slightly complicated operation, though. Lilian has been with us for four years and has chronically suffered from a complicated earinfection. She is an adorable girl: bright, compassionate, caring, funny and athletic. I cannot but marvel when I compare her today with her feeble arrival four years ago. However, as her chronic ear-problem became more painful, we decided to operate her – even though this is usually the last option that we resort to. The operation was conducted by a good, experienced specialist in Masaka. I am delighted to say that it seems to have worked. From all I can see, she is finally well.

A celebration for a tractor

At Kids of Africa we love to celebrate and will spare no opportunity to do so! On August 1st, we were given a very special opportunity for
celebration: the FIAT GROUP, through one of their subsidiaries (or rather, through one of their kindest managers for Africa & Middle East) donated a brand-new tractor for us. The party that followed was something not to be missed. The tractor was officially inaugurated by the minister for agriculture and fisheries and a good football match finished an afternoon filled with speeches, music and dancing ..:-))

What makes children special?

When the disciples, overearnest as ever, asked Jesus who was the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven, Jesus pulled a child out of the crowd and said the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven were people like this (Matthew 18:1-4). Two thousand years of homiletic sentimentalizing to the contrary notwithstanding, Jesus was not playing Captain Kangaroo. He was saying that the people who get into Heaven are people who, like children, don’t worry about it too much.
They are people who, like children, live with their hands open more than their fists clenched. They are people who, like children, are so relatively unburdened by preconceptions that if somebody says there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, they are perfectly willing to go take a look for themselves. (Frederic Buechner)

Appendix – “Africa’s opportunity” –

excerpt from “The Economist”, shortcut to:
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14302837
!

Yours truly,
Burkhard Varnholt