HUGS - News

Accomplishments

After acclimating to the time change, we traveled to the village where the real work began.

The current Mobilizer, Michael, is a wonderful man with a wealth of knowledge pertaining to the children of the Bulanga area. He will continue with his duties in the coming year. We got to meet Michael’s family during our time in the village.

Priscovia, the health worker, has proven herself to be a very essential part of the HCCP team. Priscovia took me and our visitors to three local women’s groups she had formed and fostered. These groups were set up to share resources, knowledge and talents. We were all impressed with all that had been done in the previous year. Crops had been planted, animas kept and raised, crafts made for sale at local markets, and care provided for many area orphans.

During our time in the village two new employees were added to the HCCP family...

HCCP was in need of a new driver, so Thomas was hired. Thomas’ job is to keep and maintain the HCCP truck and drive whenever needed.
A watchman became necessary to secure the property at night when the visitors were in the village.

The HCCP Board of Directors invited me to attend a meeting held in early September. The entire Board contributed at this meeting. All members seemed to take their jobs as Board members quite seriously. I explained the expectations of HUGS and asked for a budget proposal and “wish list” for the coming year. The Board presented me with both before my departure from Uganda.

One day was spent “clearing” the property. This was a bit of a blessing since it provided exercise, a purpose, and a lot of laughter. Fred’s brothers came to help, three of them - Vincent, Bennett and Stephen. Stephen was the youngest and the hardest working, pound for pound. We cut down dead trees, picked up garbage, trimmed many trees, and cleared the ground. All the cuttings were burned in a great bon fire – until it rained. We gave the remaining trimmings to Fred’s mother for her fires.

I was able to visit many of the sponsored children in their home surroundings. I filmed tours of their lives, while taking pictures for the sponsoring families. Many questions were asked of the children about their lives, happiness, dreams, and needs. This information was taken back to the states to be given to the sponsors.

Our dealings with the children brought to light the need for a daily lunch program. Until now, sponsored children had been given an amount of food for the month at the beginning of each month. This food does not last too long, as the family uses the food for everyone (understandable). Since the food is used for so many, this leaves the child without food toward the middle or end of the month. In one case, the child was without food shortly after the beginning of the month. It was decided that a large amount of rice and beans would be bought and cooked daily for the children’s needs. The children would come to the HCCP compound daily after school to be fed. Fruit and clean water would also be made available for their consumption.

Finally, 52 children were gathered to be interviewed for sponsorship. Questionnaires were filled out, health assessments were made, pictures were taken, and gifts were given to each of the children. The three visitors, working with translators, were a tremendous help in gather information from the children. This was done over a three-day period with a minimum of trouble. Now that the information has been gathered, a booklet has been compiled titled “The Children of HUGS” in which the stories of these children have been outlined.

A meeting with the local officials was attempted a number of times. I found that the practice of making appointments was lost on the Ugandan officials. Times were set and accommodation was made in our schedule to meet with these men, but the official never showed up or was busy elsewhere. Future attempts will be made during upcoming trips.

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