Experiences: El Shadai

Emma Young Volunteered at El-shadai in the summer of 2006

I took the bus from Kampala to Jinja Town. Having stayed in a rural village in the Rakai District, where in some outlying areas the children had never seen white skin or pale hair before, I was surprised to see so many ‘mzungus’ (a term that identifies you as a foreigner and which will be called to you frequently to get your attention) on the same bus and in town. I have since learned that the Jinja District is the number 1 tourist destination in Uganda, with “The Official Source of the Nile” and the chance to ride the Class 5 rapids on “The Source” or bungee jump over it near Bujagali Falls calling out to many. In town I expected one of the children from El-shadai to meet me at the bus stop, but no one was there to greet me. I called Uncle Stephen Wante (as an unrelated adult you will either be called ‘Auntie’ or ‘Uncle’ by the children), the Director and Founder of El-shadai, on his cell phone (cell is the most popular method of communication as the infrastructure was not developed for landline wires across the nation) and learned, after describing the nearby shops (street names/signs are rare outside of Kampala), I had gotten off on the wrong stop! Not a problem though- Stephen told me to hand the phone to any one of the ‘special hire’ drivers (a ‘taxi’ in most of our home countries) nearby. I was paranoid about handing my camera phone to a stranger who did not speak English, but, as I was to be reminded so very often in Uganda, I had no need to worry. The driver and Stephen spoke for some time and I was off on the 5km ride to Bugembe, just north of Jinja Town and the home of El-shadai. Stephen takes some pride in knowing many people in Bugembe and Jinja, and this time, it truly helped!

One of the children ran out, opened the gate to the rented El-shadai compound, and the car drove up to the garage (used as a library, art crafting room, and gathering place for evening devotionals to God). The children instantly started taking my luggage and guiding me to my room. With about 30 children living at the home, I felt overwhelmed with smiles, hugs, kneeling girls, greetings, introductions…..As the first official Kids Worldwide volunteer, and thereafter Volunteer Coordinator, it was an exciting moment for them, and we gathered in the stuffed-with-furniture living/front/reception room for a feast! Actually, the children, as is typical, ate posho (a type of corn meal mush) and beans, and watched as a feast of vegetables of all kinds, beans, pastas, fruits, rice, cabbage salad, chapatti (flat bread), juice, and cold (!) water, was served to Stephen and me. They had known in advance I was vegetarian and did not serve any meat until they knew I was not offended by such a sight. Such a manifestation of the desire to make volunteers and visitors feel welcome and happy is common, yet always difficult to become accustomed to. The children sang songs, performed dances, and recited memorized monologues, many of which described the ‘evils’ of HIV/AIDS and alcohol, the children having witnessed their families, clans, and communities destroyed by the effects of both. The children thanked me so often for coming and continually expressed a desire to help me or serve me, and I felt almost incapacitated- I seemingly couldn’t do a single action without a child taking it over from me to perform and then thanking me in return!

Within days though, we had reached a routine and, once the children were comfortable with me, the flooding of questions began. One of the funniest, which still continues likely with new volunteers, is the continual questioning about other mzungus you know. “Auntie, do you know Lacy?” “No, I do not know Lacy” “Oh, but she is from the United States!” “I never have had the chance to meet her, sorry!” “Oh, but then Auntie, maybe you know Greta?” “No, I don’t know her either, sorry.” “Oh, but she is from Germany!” “Yes, but I have never met her, sorry” I wish I had brought more evidence of home- maps, pictures, even VHS video tapes for the occasional “we have electric power!” evening, so the children could get a view of life back home and at least understand the country was large enough that it was possible I had never met Greta or Lacy. Such a simple thing would surprise them “You have different types of apples at home? But we have only one!” and they would mull it over before bombarding with more questions, “But, how do you know they aren’t the same type of apple and maybe look different, like mango before it is ripe?”

My initial concerns, as the first volunteer, were with the basics: is the environment and home safe (yes, very!- locked gated compound, locked and barred windows and doors to the building, a lock on your room, and Spike the dog roams the compound), are the volunteers provided with basics such as healthy food, water, clean shelter, etc (yes, although I do very much recommend you bring a camping-type water-filter as buying you packets of filtered water severely cuts into their much-needed budget of funds), is there appropriate work the volunteers can do, etc? And the answer to the latter question (is their appropriate work?) is quite daunting. In short- yes, there is appropriate work.

The long answer to that question lies in the man of Stephen Wante. He himself lived on the streets and was raised for a portion of time in a foster home. If you look around carefully, or perhaps Stephen might take you on a “tour”, you will see gangs of children, some as young as three, raising themselves, bathing in shallow pits of water, fighting dogs for food (or, as one of the foster kids at El-shadai described to me, they fought some of the meter-tall (3 foot tall) birds for food), just trying to survive on the ‘streets’. Stephen was such a person, but after finding hope in a foster home, decided to bring hope to others. When he moved out on his own, he began taking in children, even when he had no money himself and was begging the landlord for a few more days, getting food on credit or charity, he would still search the streets and invite children to live in the home. In our countries, it might seem frightening for a man to be walking the streets and inviting children to live with them, but in Uganda it is life-saving and shocking- because survival often means learning to grab what you can and keep it to live. But Stephen believes if you have nothing, then it is easy to share! And this is what is so remarkable about him- he is a man of hope raised in a place and in conditions where it is much easier to be hopeless. He is a man of amazing vision- knowing instinctively without being given an example that things could be different, could be better, and reaching out to lift up his fellow being along his path. It is a type of genius. Imagine someone saying to you, “I want you to drastically improve your life and the lives of everyone living within your sphere of influence.” It’d be very difficult to know how to start or what to do without knowing how it could be done or having an example, but Uncle Stephen has done such, and without the money we would feel is required.

But this means that the second day you are within the home, you are learning of all the plans, all the visions, all the hopes and dreams, Stephen has for the future- women’s groups, counseling groups, community projects, schools, gardens, foster children, marriage workshops, HIV/AIDS testing and education, you name it and Stephen has a vision for it- and you can easily become overwhelmed because, while a man of great hope and vision who can readily find the support to get something started, an accurate assessment reveals that he does not yet have the skills in organization, in maintaining the on-going work, in categorizing or expressing the specific task “to do today” to see the vision come to fruition. And you also learn within days, that he is so very busy with juggling the starting of each vision. In this environment, a volunteer has to find it within themselves to commit to a portion of the vision, to let go of all the other potential tasks, and instead find their own way to see a particular part of a vision come to fruition.

For myself, I visited and presented some information to some of the women’s groups just getting started when I was there, but my niche was with the children in the home. With so many questions, and with knowing that Stephen was so far not married (as of this writing he is engaged with a wedding scheduled for later in 2007), so a “woman’s influence” was not regular, I started a “Girl’s Night” and “Boy’s Night” to enable discussions of a more private and gender-oriented nature, and am glad to know current volunteers have kept with that tradition. Literally I was asked questions like, “Can a woman give birth to a mosquito?,” and realized that even though you think you might not be educated enough to offer insight, it can be quite easy sometimes. I started some organization efforts, showing how to make a simple bookshelf and purchasing the materials so we could start a library as one example, and crafted a routine in which volunteers could operate.

In truth though, when you arrive, you will find your own niche. The volunteers who left recently after 4 months at the project spent a majority of their time organizing a business Stephen started with the proceeds going to support El-shadai (great vision!), formalizing and teaching the women’s groups, and getting records in the home gathered and organized. The current volunteers are finding their own path, with some working with the children in the home (having a consistent adult presence is so very needed, that you could be there doing your own laundry and conversing with the children, mediating the odd argument, or playing chess with one of the kids, and it’d be a wonderful contribution), and others carrying on the work with the women’s groups. Some of the past volunteers focused on ensuring the children were receiving proper nutrition and medical care. You aren’t hindered into focusing on one area started by a past volunteer, but, of course, it is best to keep the basic work in the home on a consistent schedule.

Unlike my experiences at other orphanages and homes in other parts of Uganda, the El-shadai experience became much more intimate. The volunteer’s rooms are separate from the children’s, but you are living in the same home. You become familiar with the daily routine and intimacies of their life in Uganda. You walk out your bedroom door and a child is there, cleaning perhaps, or eager to talk to you for example. In other places I’ve been the volunteers had a separate compound or home and it served as a retreat for some- a place where you can “get away” and not be involved. At El-shadai though, you are involved, the environment doesn’t allow you to have days on end of indulgences without thought to the work going on or the need around you. Of course, children never enter your room without permission (this actually can be quite funny if you do as I and assume the child has entered and keep talking, only to turn around and see no one there) and so you do have a “private” space (although you might be sharing a room with another volunteer), but you feel a part of their lives and they feel it as well. And, if you are like me, your heart will dearly miss the child outside your bedroom door, the tenth question about knowing Lacey, explaining that humans give birth to humans, painting a library bookshelf, or sitting on the front porch playing one more game of chess with the sweetest, most hope-filled and giving children in the world when you leave.

Emma