One accountant, one African adventure

We are now entering dry season which means that when the sun is out it is HOT! Sister Immaculate insists that I am looking ‘red’ every time I see her at the babies’ home but I like to think that it is just her way of saying that I have a healthy glow. The weather is still extremely changeable though and the grey clouds can catch you off guard if you are not careful. And when it rains, it RAINS! Luckily most of the time the rain comes in the evening which means that the nights are generally quite cool. Would you believe that last night I even used my blanket?!

I now feel very at home here at Redeemer and the children are an absolute joy to be around…well, most of the time. For some reason the children here really struggle with the pronunciation of my name which meant that for the first few days I was answering mostly to ‘Sister’ or ‘Mundru’. You can imagine my delight when a little girl called Patience (who quickly became one of my favourites) entered into the dining room one evening and said ‘Good evening Sisters and Amy’. The others quickly caught on and I now like to think that I have been officially accepted into the Redeemer family. I miss everyone at the babies home but have been back at the weekends, usually departing in the evening laden with gifts of fruit, bread, biscuits or other edible treats courtesy of my African foster mother, Sister Maureen. Today I saw her in town and she told me to stop off at the home on the way back because she had a gift for me which turned out to be a huge watermelon – not sure Richard was quite as delighted at the kind gesture as me after she announced ‘Richard, you will carry it’.

On the work front, Richard and I have been extremely busy over the past week. One of the most lucrative sources of income for the home is the Divine Mercy Shop in town where they sell a large variety of goods – clothes, food, toiletries, cooking utensils, exercise books, pens and pencils, greetings cards – whatever you need, there is probably one hiding somewhere! 3 years after its grand opening the shop is doing very well which is great news for Redeemer, not only for cash flow, but also for the long term sustainability and self sufficiency of the home. It is clear from talking to Sr. Pasqua that she is very proud of the income generating projects that they have, particularly the farm and the shop – and so she should be!

In the evening Sr. Pasqua returned to Redeemer and it was one of my favourite moments so far! It was about half past 9 and everyone was winding down for the evening and then suddenly the vehicle came through the gates and the children went CRAZY. They literally pulled open the doors of the vehicle before it had even stopped and more or less carried Sr. Pasqua out! I suddenly found myself with three children attached to my arms and legs jumping up and down and cheering – one of them, Sandy, was so excited and kept saying ‘Amy, my chest is jumping, my chest is jumping’. Patience, on the other side, was quick to correct that she meant her heart. Needless to say, there was no way the children were sleeping after that and I could still here them laughing and singing an hour later as I climbed into bed.

Outside the office the Sisters and the children and have been keeping me thoroughly entertained. Saying that, the children also seem extremely intrigued to find out what on earth this muzungu is working on with the accountant every day in the office so we often have a number of visitors throughout the day. Subsequently, I have now acquired my very own personal assistant – his name is Edwin and he is 8 years old. I move the mouse and he clicks.

Since my last post, I cannot remember one evening that I have not returned to my room after supper with a huge smile on my face / with a dull ache in my stomach from laughing too much. The children (and Sr Pasqua I might add!) are born entertainers and on a number of evenings the Sisters have called them into the refectory after supper to sing and dance for us, on one occasion of which I was presented with yet another heart shaped cake and a gift from the children which turned out to be a florescent green shirt and trouser suit with zebras on it.

I wore the shirt to mass the following Sunday and bearing in mind green really isn’t my colour and that I wore it with a brown skirt so looked a bit like a tree, everyone was very complimentary. All of the children love to sing but there is one child in particular whose voice you can always hear wherever you go. His name is Majoki, he is 12 years old and he has one of those smiles that literally lights up a room. He has started writing his own songs and asks to come and sing them to us most evenings – my favourite so far is a song called ‘Don’t drink alcohol’ (which turned out to be quite difficult to keep a straight face to whilst holding a large glass of vino!).

Along with tasting the local wine, yesterday I also braved one of the local delicacies, particularly common at this time of year – fried grasshoppers! On seeing my reaction to finding out that they eat them Sr Pasqua immediately rang one of her fellow Sisters who was in Kampala at the time to ask her to bring some back for us. Two days later I arrived at supper and found a small packet waiting for me which could almost have been mistaken for a take away box – imagine my dismay to open it and find it packed to the brim with fried grasshoppers. The silver lining to this story is that they had already removed the legs. So I shut my eyes and went for it – and then I had another! Not sure I’ll be going back for a third but to be honest, it wasn’t all that bad!

I am growing fonder of the children as each day passes. Sr Pasqua has dutifully noted the ones that I seem to spend a lot of time in particular with and now refers to them as my very own offspring so Mum and Dad, you will be happy to hear you are now grandparents to four beautiful children – Majoki, Patience, Sandy and Sam. Of course, despite the smiles and laughter that fills the home every day, each child here has a story and over the past few weeks, bit by bit I have been learning about these children’s pasts and how they came to be at Redeemer. It does not even bear thinking about where these children would be without the dedication of the wonderful Sacred Heart Sisters and their on-going hard work and commitment.

The hardest stories to hear are those of the children abducted by the rebels of the LRA back in 2003 when the home was located at the other side of the Nile, in Adjumani district. Some of the children escaped or were rescued from the rebels in the years that followed and returned to the new Redeemer home constructed in the safer region of Moyo. However, sadly some were killed and for others, it is still unknown to this day what happened to them. For those that returned, the majority were severely traumatised by their experiences and it has taken many years for the memories to fade. The other day I took an evening stroll to collect something from the babies’ home with a lovely girl called Victoria who was kept by the rebels for two years before she was returned to the home in 2006. Sr Pasqua showed me a photo of her that they took the day she returned and I honestly would not have recognised her as the same girl. She returned stick thin, malnourished, traumatised and with severe burns all over her back from where the rebels had burnt her with swords straight from the fire. She is a very bright girl and after years of counselling she was much improved, doing very well in her studies and was elected head girl at Moyo Girls Primary School. She has just finished Senior 4 and is currently deciding between going on to study nursing or training to become a counsellor. This is one of the happy endings. Of course most of the children abducted are now grown up and moving on with their lives.

On a slightly more upbeat note, yesterday I more or less became a celebrity here in Moyo after a brief visit to the local radio station, TBS. The manager, Joseph, is one of my good friends and invited Vuni and I to come and visit him at the station. He showed me around and then before I knew it I was stood in front of a microphone recording some promotional clips for them to play in between tracks. Joseph also hosts the classical show in the morning called ‘Coolzone’ so he insisted that I record one especially for him which was along the lines of ‘I like Coolzone on TBS – it’s classic!’. I told the Sisters today so they said they would listen out for my voice. I think I might start practicing my autograph.

Never one to turn down a party, on Tuesday evening donning my brand new African attire, made especially for me courtesy of everyone at the Babies’ Home, I welcomed my invitation as the guest of honour at the Redeemer farewell feast. Sr Pasqua had invited everyone from the babies’ home along with some of the other Sisters and we all ate together with the children which was lovely.

The children then entertained us with drama sketches, singing (including a special farewell song from Majoki composed especially for the occasion), dancing and other general merriment, and Sr Pasqua made a lovely speech which left me with a huge lump in my throat. I then found myself totally overwhelmed by the sight of 10 or so children queuing at the doorway each holding a present, not only for me but also for my Mum, my sisters and all my friends. Is there any limit to the kindness of these people I found myself wondering.

It was then my chance to speak! Knowing that I could never thank them enough for everything they had done, I made an attempt by writing a poem which I very fittingly called ‘Thank you Moyo’. Some might say that it was a bit cheesy, but I meant every word and it seemed to go down well with its audience so I was happy.

I had such a wonderful trip and I feel so lucky to have had this opportunity and to have met so many incredible people. I have countless fond memories of my experiences and if the people I worked with learnt half as much from me as I did from them then I am more than happy with what I achieved. If anybody is interested in doing something similar then please do get in touch!