Day #3

5-22-09

Though I am exhausted, I had so much fun in the Budumbuli village. The four girls I spent most of my time with were Sharon, Anna, Annette, and Margaret. I think they had at least one parent alive and caring for them, but when I asked how many siblings they had, each of them said they had at least 4-6. This should not have shocked me because it was consistent with my research for my mini lecture, but I just could not get over how all of these children could be provided for in such circumstances as theirs.
I guess the event that I cannot forget and my mind keeps going back to is a conversation I had with Margaret. After telling me about how her father had passed away, she looked up at me with her big brown eyes and asked, "what kind of problems do you have in America?" I was really taken off guard by her question and for a moment, I said nothing but instead, stared at the ground, pondering. For the life of me, I could not think of a single problem. Now I know we are not to compare ourselves, but at that moment, the little "problems" I complain daily about were nothing, as I looked around at the poverty-stricken village. Though I did not want to give her the impression that America is perfect, all I could manage to say way, "Nothing that would apply to you." Then, as she took my hand, she sweetly stated, "I want to go to America with you." I smiled, but my heart felt sad.
The rest of my time in the village my mind replayed this conversation over and over. How can I have so much and Margaret have so little? An even better question, how can the people in America be so rich and own so much yet be so miserable, while the children of Budumbuli have so little and yet have so much joy? I feel as though these children are better off than American children (in a sense they are not "ruined" by wealth), yet many of them do not have the necessities of food, water, health care, proper clothing, and education. Education especially appeared to be lacking among the children in this village. There were so many kids! Though about 70 of them purposely stayed back from school to play with us (they are a part of Kate's program), the other 100+ were of school age and yet did not attend. This was probably on account of the cost. Though there have been claims by the government that primary school is free in Uganda, children still need to pay for their own school supplies, books, food, and uniforms. Therefore, many of them cannot afford to go. How can this situation be improved?