Awareness

I want to share with you some of the difficult things that are currently going on around Uganda.  I am staying in Jinja, a small town off of Lake Victoria and about 1 hour away from Kampala, Uganda's capital.  On Thursday of last week, peace walks and demonstrations were held throughout many cities (Jinja being one of them).  Sadly though, in this country, not too many things are dealt with peacefully.  The peace walks quickly turned into riots throughout the day.  The riots began because of the economic hardships the people face here on a daily basis.  Lately, prices have sky-rocketed including fuel and most foods such as rice, matooke, sugar, milk, beans, and maize flour.  Soldiers and police brought teargas, water canons, and even tanks to put a stop to the rioting.  In Kampala, many people were injured and I was told that a couple people had even died.  One of the leaders of this riot, Dr. Besigye, was shot in all the chaos.  He was the runner up in the latest presidential elections.  I was later informed that this man firmly believes that war will be the only answer to solve anything.  He also prides himself in following after the ideals of Uganda's tyrant and dictator of the 70' and 80's, Idi Amin, who mass murdered thousands of his own people.  The riots stopped Thursday afternoon/evening, but they will pick back up this Monday.
I will say that no one at Amani saw any of the rioting.  It was all downtown, and most of it does take place in Kampala.  I do feel very safe where I am staying.  I am writing this to you because if I was back at home in the states, I would have no idea this was even going on.  Not very many people are made aware of all the hardships that go on so frequently.

I also want to tell you about Esther.  She is the newest addition to the Amani family as of yesterday.  Her mother dropped her off because her family does not have the money to provide for her.  Her mother is HIV positive and has TB.  She does not have any money to buy her food, so the mother had no choice but to breastfeed her so that she could survive.  But sadly, because of that, Esther now has both diseases that her mother has.  I was able to play with Esther when she got here.  She is such a beautiful baby girl.  I was very overwhelmed with emotion over the whole situation.  Seeing her mother's condition broke my heart.  Sometimes, I even forget that these amazing children at Amani have come from such difficult situations.  The realization of my surroundings has been very hard to handle over the last couple of days.

Esther

I hope that in this post, you will keep the people of Uganda in your thoughts and prayers.  I am having an amazing time here at Amani, but knowing what is happening outside of our compound is very unnerving.

Again, I want to reassure you (mom and dad) that I am very safe!  I am loving my time here in Uganda!  I just want to help bring awareness.  Thanks!
Erin