Jinja Outreach: Layne & Kait plus 58… & Thomas

In the morning of our third day, we completed a medical assessment at the babies home. Layne and Kaitlyn (Kait) helped the kids do arts and crafts and take pictures for sponsors, whole Thomas took vitals of each child. Many orphans has distended bellies as a result of malnutrition. Common conditions included malaria, HIV, and bacterial infection. After consulting with the compound nurse, we found our that many individuals in Uganda throughout the year are diagnosed with other conditions such as diarrhea, hypertension, cancer, tonsillitis, and anemia. Even though we are only in our third day, our vocabulary has drastically improved. The locals speak a dialect of Lugandan called Soga. We now know basic greetings and commands, don’t ask us to spell any words though, and the locals seem humored when we attempt to speak their language.

Kaitlyn has already formed a special bond with one of the resident orphans named, Hope. She hardly smiles, laughs, and doesn’t talk to anyone according to the Arise Africa staff. She lacks emotion, but constantly longs for physical affection. Hope clung to Kaitlyn all morning as we left for lunch, and said goodbye to the children, Hope began crying and reaching out for Kaitlyn. It was an incredibly touching moment that didn’t leave a dry eye, especially for the two.

Layne encountered a different scenario and found herself correcting a physical situation with another orphan. Agnes, sever-years old, is a youngster who chooses to act through violence to gain attention. She spent most of the morning slapping, pinching, and hitting Layne and other children. After countless efforts to stop this behavior, Layne then restrained her with a hug, and Agnes began crying and held on tight to Layne, not letting go. We wish we could say that all the children receive adequate love and attention; however, there are so many of them to care for, and only so many incredible aunties (“care givers”). Many of these children have seen the most traumatic and unimaginable situations in their short life, which causes a few of them, like Agnes to lash out, while others, like Hope remain distant.

Thomas was dealing with a little different situation. The orphans seemed to be infatuated with his calves. Everywhere he goes there seem to be hands on his legs accompanied by laughter. Just looks at our pictures…. You will see what we mean. As Thomas was completing the physicals for each child, he notices how well behaved the children were during their time in the clinic.

We look forward to working with the secondary school in the coming days in Bukaleba and teaching them new sports!

Thanks for reading.