A New Experiment

So here I am, blogging! I have always been puzzled by, and a bit scathing about, the whole blog-twitter thing: who on earth wants to know the trivial details of other people's daily lives?

But now that I am trying to publicise the Kasese Street Kids project, it seems sensible to TELL THE WORLD!

Let me tell how we first met these youngsters, in April 2008. We were visiting Kasese, southwestern Uganda, with friends who are Missionaries there, and on one day we had been visiting schools: primary schools, secondary schools, 6th form colleges, a nursery teacher training college. At each one, a warm welcome, smiles from the children, joyful singing, signing the book, and probably a strong hint that of course we rich Mzungus (i.e. whites) would want to give financial support. And of course every place we visited was desperately in need of such help! But we can't help absolutely every good cause, however worthy.

By the end of the day we were getting pretty weary, and then Reverend Nelson, our Ugandan guide, said, "I just want to stop here for you to meet someone else."

"Oh, no!" we muttered; "Now what is it?"

And we were taken to meet this bunch of about 35 boys, aged perhaps from 3 to 18, with the young man, Enos Kyibibi, who was trying to help them. No cheerful, smiling faces here. These were young people who were familiar with suffering and bitterness.

One of them, a lad of perhaps 15, came forward to read a statement of introduction. He told us they lived on the streets. Many were orphaned, by Malaria or HIV-AIDS. Others were children of sex workers. Some had been dreadfully abused, physically or sexually, and had run away from home. They slept in the trees. They found what food they could from the town rubbish dump. And often they resorted to petty crime in order to survive, and then spent time in prison.

Enos, we learned, had a scheme in mind to help them. He wanted to provide somewhere safe for them to sleep. He wanted to teach the older ones a trade - woodwork, mechanics, and so on. He wanted to encourage the younger ones to go back to school. He wanted to give them basic health education. He wanted to work with the local authority, and with parents and families, to try to stop children being driven to this terrible lifestyle.

We felt ashamed of our grumbles about stopping to meet them. We felt deeply moved by their plight. Even Reverend Nelson had tears in his eyes as he listened to this boy. And when David, our leader, was invited to say a prayer before we left them, he was almost speechless.

When we got home to UK, our hearts and minds were full of all that we had seen, all the people we had met, all the dire needs we had encountered. But it was those street children that we felt most strongly moved to try to help.

As we started to wonder how we could raise funds, we found ourselves watching the London Marathon on TV. Now I used to do long-distance running - over 50 years ago, when I was at school! Now I was 71; and yet there were runners in the Marathon older than I. And I wondered: "Could I? Should I?"

I prayed about it, and felt over the next few days that I was being gently nudged towards a "Yes! I should!" response. So I applied for a place in the 2009 London Marathon, and bought some running shoes, and started training.

I would not know till October whether I had got a place; and another keen runner in our village in Cumbria suggested that I should also apply for a place in the Great North Run, a Half-Marathon from Newcastle to South Shields, which took place in October. It would be a useful target to aim at in my training. By joining the Traidcraft Team I got a place.

After much pain - a strained Achilles tendon, and later a "pain in the backside" caused by a trapped nerve in the Piriformis (a pear-shaped muscle under the Gluteus Maximus!) - I did the run, and it was a marvellous experience, amazingly pain-free on the day. Adrenalin is a marvellous drug! I was enormously gratified that I had achieved my target of 2 1/2 hours - to be precise, 2 hours, 29 minutes and 46 seconds, and this three days before my 72nd birthday!

Even better - through the amazing generosity of dozens of sponsors, I had raised over £3,000 - over and above the £275 for Traidcraft that I had to raise. (I was told that week that I had not got a place in the Marathon.)

There were other fund-raising activities over the next 18 months - an Open Garden weekend, talks to various groups, and a Ceilidh, among other things; and through some people being astonishingly generous we finally achieved £12,000.

In February 2010 we flew out to Uganda again for a two-week visit. We had various engagements planned: forming a link between a Cumbrian Church Primary School and a Ugandan School; preaching at our home church's Link church, All Saints, Kasese; speaking at various Seminars; Mary working at the Women's Learning Centre, teaching banner-making and other needlework, crochet and knitting.

But most of all we wanted to see how the money raised was being used. We had been told that a 2-acre plot of land had been bought and registered, and that the building of a hostel for the Street Children had been started, and the foundations had been laid.

So on our second full day we went out to this building site, and were amazed at what we saw. It was the size of the building which astonished and moved us! The team of about ten builders was hard at work. The bricks were all hand-made; all the digging of foundation trenches had been done by hand. Most of the builders were men, of course, but two women were mixing the cement - by shovel, of course; no cement-mixer!

Ten days later, the day before we flew back to UK, we went out to the site again, and - despite the work having been delayed by heavy rain - most of the exterior walls had now reached waist height.

There was just about enough money in the bank to complete the brickwork and put the corrugated iron roof on, but there is a lot to be done after that. The walls will have to be rendered outside, and plastered inside. A concrete floor will be laid. 21 interior wooden doors, 24 iron window grilles and shutters, and three steel exterior doors will be needed. A septic tank and all the plumbing, and an exterior pit latrine. A large solar panel, and all the electric wiring.

The whole lot will need something like another £17,500. And then there will be furnishing and equipment, not to mention the actual running costs of the hostel once it is in use.

So we are getting down to fund-raising again! A "Desert Island Discs" evening is planned in the village in May. We have been sending out a whole lot of letters to local businesses, inviting contributions. (We had our first response yesterday - "Sorry the firm can't contribute, but here is £20!" Hallelujah!)

Another scheme is to publish a book entitled, "My Favourite Things"; and we are writing to dozens of friends and relations, and also quite a bunch of celebrities, from 10 Downing Street and Royalty downwards - we might as well be ambitious! - inviting them to write briefly about their "Favourite Thing", whether it is a favourite place, or a favourite recipe, or a favourite song... If people respond, it should be an interesting and entertaining book, and maybe it will be published in time for the Christmas market. (One local resident of a Stately Home whom we approached has already emailed back, saying "How do I donate?")

If you would like to donate - any sum, holwever small, is welcome - post a reply, and we will get in touch!

Watch this space!