In my last post a couple of weeks ago I touched on my short experience meeting some street kids. I also introduced a plan to get to know some of the boys on an individual basis and share their stories, with their permission of course.
The week following that first meeting, Derrick and I got together again for a trip to Entebbe Botanical Gardens and to begin formulating a plan of action. Every time we talk our plans seem to grow beyond sharing stories and raising awareness to how we might do more to really make a difference to some of these youth. What started as a chat at a birthday party on July 27th now has us talking about a potential social enterprise to help fund and run a transition home to help kids more from the streets back home. We are certainly only in the brainstorming phase, but it is exciting and invigorating to say the least.
I digress. During that day to Entebbe we decided on a plan to take one boy at a time for a day off the street, get him something new and clean to wear, a good meal or two and some kind of activities so he could just be carefree and a kid for a few hours.
On Sunday, August 18th, Derrick and I put the plan in motion. We met in Old Kampala in the morning and strolled back to the slum area to meet some boys. We were immediately spotted by Gideon and Brian (Captain Brian I soon learned) who we talked with briefly. As they walked off, Derrick decided to ask Brian if he wanted to spend the day with us and tell us his tale.
This may be lacking in story details, but I didn’t want to pepper the Brian all day with questions. It was first and foremost supposed to be a good day for him. And it was. I will share all that we learned though. It is not a happy tale of course, but Brian did enjoy his day.
First of all, despite physical appearances, it turned out that Brian is not a boy. He is 21 years old. I don’t think he looks a day over 14. That makes sense given that more than half of his life has been on the streets of Kampala.
As a small child he lived in the Bundibugyo district in western Uganda. His mother died when he was young and his father remarried. By the time he was 10, life with his stepmother was so difficult that he got enough money to get himself on a bus to Kampala. According to Google Maps it is a 6 hour and 20 minute journey but you know it was longer than that for him by bus. He got off that bus, alone in the city at 10 years old and he has been on the streets ever since.
He has some siblings and his father is still alive. It sounds like he has some awareness of their lives and possible some contact but I didn’t push him on the subject. He wasn’t eager to talk about them so I let it go.
He told us he was in school until grade. He is very well spoken in English for that level of education. The only time all day that his lack of education was obvious was when we discussed his age compared to my daughter. He did not know the number of years between 21 and 26. He guessed fairly closely but did not know how to calculate it. I did my best to remain poker faced, because that made me very sad. It certainly doesn’t bode well for his future opportunities without some kind of adult education which is probably not likely for him.
I think he would tell you he had a great day with us. Here is how it went:
We met up with him before midday. We proceeded into the street market to find him some new, clean clothes. He picked out the tshirt and pants that you can see in the photos for a total cost of 13,000 Uganda shillings ($5 CAD).
We then headed to a restaurant to get him some eats while Derrick headed home to get the vehicle. I was impressed with his confidence when he ordered his lunch. He was hoping for chicken but that was not available. He ended up getting matoke (cooked banana/plantain) and some beef. It looked very good in the sauce and he basically cleaned the plate as you can see. He had a fruity soda to wash it down.
After lunch Brian went off to bath and change into his new clean clothes. For 2,000 shillings, approximately 75 cents CAD he was able to wash up and return like a new person. Not surprising to me, he put his head down on the table to rest while we waited the last few minutes for Derrick. A full belly and nice bath would leave most of us relaxed and sleepy.
Once Derrick arrived we walked back to the car and headed out to Entebbe after a short rendezvous with a few other former street boys and a stop for bananas to feed the monkeys. It’s a 30 to 45 minute drive to Entebbe and Brian slept most of the way. I don’t mind sharing this picture because I showed them all to him as well. He laughed at this one.
As we were driving out of the city Brian mentioned the he LOVES pork, so when we got to Entebbe Derrick asked some locals to recommend a good place for roast pork. We went to the Mayors Pub and placed our order. 4 skewers of pork, some salad and beverages. The time elapsed between the pictures of our plate was 6 minutes. This was some very good pork, roasted on this simple oven.
After this awesome meal we took Brian to the Entebbe Botanical Gardens, his first trip there of course. We took our bananas and fed the monkeys. It didn’t take long but was so much fun!
Brian was keen to swim (note for future trips, bring swim wear and a towel). The look of joy on his face when he came out of Lake Victoria was priceless. It made the entire day for me. His life has been so difficult so giving him this tiny moment of happiness was such a blessing to me.
Believe it or not, by early evening Brian was ready to head back to his home on the streets. Sadly my guess is it was drug related. I don’t judge though. Street life is probably only bearable through some kind of artificial escape.
There is more I want to say about Brian and the day, but this is already a long post so I will stop here. Feel free to provide feedback if you want to learn more or if you have specific questions.
Derrick and I are planning to continue with these days for boys. We are looking at how to change it to keep the costs down. My funds are limited and the trip to Entebbe, food and clothes add up even at these prices. As I said above, we are also starting to dream of ways to help these boys off the street, even one at a time. I will keep you informed if and when we are doing more than brainstorming.
Maybe this is why I have ended up in Kampala at this time and why Derrick and I sparked up a conversation at that birthday party. Life is like that, after all.
A Travelling Accountant 