Candice and Jon were up until 5:00 this morning consolidating all of our photos and making copies of dvds for Miriam, Kathy and Molly who left for the airport around 6AM with their still-warm dvds in hand.
John Paul came to the guest house for lunch and then took me, Candice, Jon and Rebecca out for an afternoon of shopping. We took the public taxi for the first time since I've been in Africa which was a big adventure in and of itself. We went downtown to the markets where the Locals shop for everything from electronics to fabric. The stores were densely packed and they seemed to be grouped together by whatever they were selling, e.g., all clothing stores together, all leather goods together, etc. It was crowded, crossing the streets was a major accomplishment (now I understand why Eva said that one of the hardest things for her to get used to when she came back to Uganda after being on tour with the choir was learning how to cross the streets), and finding the little treasures we wanted made for an interesting hunt. Candice was nearly hit by a boda-boda and at times, just maintaining contact with each other in the sea of people was a challenge.
Sandals made from tire treads
To leave downtown we went to the taxi park. Imagine an enormous stadium parking lot with a swarm of mini vans parked so closely that you can barely walk between them, and imagine that you have no idea which one among the thousands of vehicles is 'yours'. That's where we got our transportation to Mark & Sarah's house. Thankfully John Paul knew just where to go in that mass of confusion and we were off in a matter of minutes.
We were a little early for our dinner invitation to Mark & Sarah's so, since it was close, we stopped in at the Choir Academy to hang out with the kids. We played for a little while but then they called all of the boys into the house to get their yellow fever vaccinations, and the girls were next, so we left before all the crying began.
We walked from there to Mark and Sarah's house. Sarah served us chicken in barbeque sauce and to the delight of everyone, a green salad and then freshly baked chocolate chip cookies for dessert!
I started asking Mark questions about the business of running the MFL School and the challenges of working in Uganda. What followed was a several hour conversation in which we heard some of the most eye-opening, sad, frightening, frustrating and encouraging stories that I've heard since I arrived in Africa. I wrote 7 pages in my journal about this day, mostly about this conversation. Out of respect for privacy, I don't want to pour out all of the details. With regards to some of the things I learned about the kids, I have to admit that it's one thing to read about the atrocities or to watch a documentary, but it's a completely different experience to hear the stories about kids you just spent a week with. The things these kids have seen, the things they've experienced...Their lives prior to being asked to join the choir are so beyond our Western realm that it's hard to imagine how any of these kids function normally. Some of them don't function normally.
I'll just tell one story of the young boy who lived with his parents in Rwanda. It was during the genocide, so I can only imagine that soldiers with big guns came into their village and randomly started killing people because both of the boy's parents were killed. And he saw other children -- friends -- being slaughtered right in front of him. Rescued from his shattered life and surroundings, this boy toured with the African Children's Choir and now lives in the Music for Life boarding school. Occasionally the evil of the horrors he experienced over-take him and with no provocation he will walk up to the blackboard where another child is writing a lesson and just start strangling the other child. Afterwards, he has no recollection of any of it.
It's difficult for me to even talk about some of the stuff Mark told us. My heart breaks for the kids. And my admiration for the people who work with these kids every day grew exponentially today. I'm in awe that the kids appeared so 'normal' while we were doing our camp with them. Music for Life has given these kids love and counseling and a safe place to work through their grief and their fears. Never could I have imagined how important the small monthly Sponsor donations are to this school and to these children. The work being done in this school is a strong testiment of love. Mark, Kristine, Sally and the others who work with these kids every day are just regular people, not necessarily trained to deal with all of the issues these kids bring to the table. But they have tremendous compassion and patience. They have dedicated their lives to helping these kids grow up with self-respect, to become productive, educated, transforming citizens of their country, and to be 'good people'.
I fell asleep thinking of the children and grieving for them, but also thinking about the hope they have and feeling encouraged by the opportunities provided to them by Music for Life and all of the other great NGO's that are dedicated to people all over the globe. If we all could expand the world that orbits directly above our own little heads to include more of humanity, more of the flora and fauna of earth, we could accomplish so much more!
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