TAKE IT UP!

Love to you! Checking in to say Hi, all is well here, just a-hummin’ along!

Years ago, one of my brothers made me a cassette (ha! remember those…?) of music by the band ‘World Party’ and for some great reason one of their songs, the one that always makes me bounce joyfully on my way, keeps playing over and over in me today!

As I flow in this time of great UPLIFT I am moved to share with you some of the words from their song ‘Take It Up’ along with a few photos of affirming moments I’ve been gifted to see this past while… ENJOY!




‘I got an extra glimpse of the truth today, staring at my breakfast when I thought I heard it say:

Fighting is no good, success an empty life, the treasure hunt is lonely until you realize...

We came to take it up
We came to take it up
We came to take it up

We came to raise it up
We came to take it up
We came to move it up...

I believe
Oh my darling
I believe in you
And I hope when you hear this
You’ll remember what we were sent to do…





We came to take it up
We came to move it up
We came to raise it up
We came to praise it up


I came to take you up
You came to take me up
We came to take us up
Take me up, take me up…'


Thanks WORLD PARTY!

Love Love Love, Cath xoxo

Season’s Change, The Rains Come…

‘If you observe outside right now’ my friend was saying, ‘ya, in fact everything is just humble and I sense that the plants are praying to the Creator for having rained them. Because if you observe outside there is not any plant shaking around, everything is very still, bowing, grateful to Creator…’



And I do observe and see that’s the way everything in nature appears to be feeling these past few days… obviously reactive in some way at the coming of the rains after a very long, very hot dry season. Even the bugs, some colossal in size and number take energetically to the air bumping into each other and all sorts of obstacles in their path including, as it happened a few times today, my face, as we rode quickly out of town on the piki! (…I can only imagine how it was for my friend in the role of ‘head’ navigator and ‘primary windshield’…helmets in many cases here are merely a concept and, ones with face shields, wow, and, that actually work, whoa!)



Using a public phone at the trading center Gideon had called me first thing this morning sounding panicked, saying ‘Cathreen I am down, I cannot even go to school today, I don’t know why and there is nothing in the hut…’ (meaning he was sick and they were out of food). To the Mbale market we immediately went, where I bought one weeks supply of posho (maize meal), beans, cooking oil, sugar, salt, soap, chapattis, tomatoes and onions and then zoomed off to Bukedea, 2 bags, 2 boxes and 2 bodies packed snuggly together on the motorcycle!

After testing at the clinic we found Gideon was 'down' because of malaria, worms and a lack of sugar and protein… all serious, yet so very easy to come by here, all treatable, all being taken care of now. We took little Gracie along to the clinic as well, because the look in her eyes was just a bit too ‘far away’ and it was confirmed she also had malaria. Change of season here, I learn, can be a vulnerable time especially for rural people who live very ‘close to the earth’ and often become sick as a result, their bodies weakening while taking time to adjust to the dramatic change in rhythm. After treatment for them both we returned to the hut and sat a while watching them eat and noticeably, quickly improve. Thankfully!



We all agreed this was our wake up call to put into immediate action a plan to sustain the family with greater income to afford daily a better variety of food. Along with sugar and salt that I have been supplying and shillings earned from digging for neighbors they have been existing on tea with sugar, salted cassava (starch) and g nuts (a little protein and oils), the occasional small dried eel type fish, with very few vegetables, as until recently the rains have come slowly in their parts and fresh greens have not been growing. To see them through the time it will take to grow the recently plowed fields into their future food (maize, beans, millet, g nuts, cassava, greens) as well as their poultry business into a financial return, we decided to support Helen’s idea to go into the dry fish business and provided her with 60,000 shillings as start up capital. Market day is Monday in Bukedea and people travel from many miles away with a variety of goods for trade to a huge open field (right beside Gideon’s Grandfather’s land) that has many make shift stalls of tree trunks and branches covered with roofs of dried grass. Here, this Monday Helen will purchase wholesale a pile about ‘this big’ (approx 2 cubic ft.) of smoked telapia fish for 60,000 and retail them during the week from their compound for a profit, she estimates, of around 40.000, which will more than afford to keep them well in a variety of food (and if all goes well provide a health care emerg fund as well as a little savings) until the other plans above kick into full gear. Sounds simple enough I know… and I was reminded once again how, like what happens to the body in the absence of protein and sugar, many, many things here are. It’s usually just a matter of identifying the needed basic ingredient and then, the challenging part for most, finding the way to obtain it… in this context, the start up capital. I figure this idea of Helen’s is win/win… if for some reason the fish does not sell it’ll be a pretty good supply of much needed protein for the family for a while…



A couple weeks ago as we visited in the hut with Gideon’s family (and later again at Betty’s) I said to them all 'Today I want to ask you to do something for me ok?’ They were very happy and excited at the opportunity. I brought out a bag containing a set of colored felt pens, a pack of wax crayons, pencil crayons and thick paper, 2 pieces for each member. They were thrilled at all the choices and colors! I asked them to each make 2 drawings, one for me, one for themselves. The drawings could be anything they wanted… didn’t even have to be drawings, could be words, in any language, could be any thing they felt like expressing. Ah, they were all delighted and so was I to even imagine what fun they might have being colorfully creative together, let alone in what ways they might actually give voice to themselves on paper!



Yesterday, as we visited in the hut after seeing to Grace and Gideon’s health, I was handed a stack of artwork, photos of which you can see here. (I’ll share Betty’s family art with you another time). Happy, bright, fantastically creative drawings, by each family member, most duplicated exactly with one copy for me and the other for the artist, expressing love, life, family, joy, promise, future…



...and by Gideon, (the only one who did two different drawings giving them both for me to keep) the first, pictured here is ‘his heart’ with a flower in the center and the words ‘I will remember ‘U’ Will ‘U’ remember me?’ and the second, this… a poem, that I share ever so respectfully with you now…



‘GIDEON TO CATHRINE
Roots are primary:
first emergings seeds,
Hidden in darkness, yet,
Yet sustaining the whole
As long as I have been,
Your love has been there,
Surrounding and sustaining me

Roots are receptors
Able to receive to appropriate,
nutrients,
That the plant may thrive.
I drink your love like water
And in its abundance my roots,
Multiply.

And I become increasingly receptive
In you I am not pot bound.
The deeper I go, the more I know
That there are no limits,
Roots are anchors.

Holding firmly no matter what
the circumstance of wind and weather
As long as your love endures,
I shall not be removed.’

I needed to pause a few times as I read Gideon’s words out loud for us all. When I was finished, I think I may have been feeling like the plants my friend had been observing that day after the rains had come… it seemed LOVE utterly compelled me to bow my head and I remember sitting very still and quiet for some time, feeling totally awash in this gentle kind of reverent humility.

Bountiful Blessings Indeed, Cath xo



Happy Spring, Autumn, Full Moon, Sun into Aries AND Easter Wishes to you!!!

Talk about 'times a-changing' heh...!

'PROJECT'S' UPDATE ~ PART 2!

In the recent blog posting titled ‘PROJECT’S UPDATE ~ Part 1’ I wrote…
‘Second…There are either ‘partially +/or totally orphaned children’ who are currently living with either extended family such as a Grandmother in many cases +/or a guardian. Here, along with the children’s well being we have the caregiver and their needs to consider as well. I will share what I have learned about those I have met living in these circumstances and describe what I’m currently working on to support them, in ‘part 2’ of this project update…soon!’



So, here then begins Part 2~…In ‘snapshot’ format, by far the majority of orphan children I have met and learned about here in Uganda are living in situations as described above. As the numbers of HIV/AIDS orphans are many, there appear to be countless situations where several children can be found in the care of one adult, most commonly a Grandmother or a widowed mother who has taken in other children alongside her own. I have begun to understand the tremendous pressure caregiver and child alike are often feeling in this circumstance. Many times, because they are physically unwell themselves, +/or of advanced years, +/or unskilled and inexperienced in an income generating activity, caregivers can be severely challenged to provide for the basic needs of the children and themselves. Frequently we find Grandmother (or caregiver) must leave the home early in the day in search of income/food leaving the children in their own care, which will include getting themselves off to school if they are enrolled, (often there are no funds for uniforms, school supplies, health care etc) remaining on their own until their guardian returns to the home late in the day to prepare the meal of the day. Among other things, this results in many children experiencing daily a lack of nutrition and health care, adult guidance and direction, most often missing school, spending their days without supervision or much chance of acquiring basic life skills, knowledge, positive habits etc. An additional effect often felt by the caregiver is abuse and anger directed towards them from the children who themselves are very unsettled in their lives…



ACIO CHILD CARE CENTER, SIRONKO, UGANDA

As mentioned in many postings, months ago I met a school teacher named Vincent who ‘heard and began answering the call’ 3 years ago to initiate community based action that would address the growing numbers of HIV/AIDS orphans in the district of Sironko, Uganda where he resides. After gathering together like minded adults from the many sub county’s in Sironko and coming up with a collective vision and mission they formed a CBO (community based organization) called ‘AIDS CONCERN INTEGRATED ORGANIZATION’ aka ACIO with Vincent as Director. Over time, Vincent, the board of trustees and program coordinators (all volunteers) of ACIO have made themselves very familiar with the names and needs of the orphan and vulnerable children aka OVC’s in their district while growing the membership of ACIO to include caregivers of these children as well as concerned community members. As a group, ACIO acquired approximately 1 acre of land upon which is envisioned will one day be built a ‘Child Care Center’ (pictured above) that will provide day and full time care including housing, health care and schooling facilities for the approximately 400 OVC’s in Sironko district.



ACIO Vision: ‘An empowered and healthy child who can build the nation and serve God’s people.’

ACIO Mission: ‘To have children who are enlightened with modern skills to sustain their livelihood.’



At present, ACIO are in the process of completing 4 temporary buildings on their land to provide for the children who require immediate full time care.



Bldg#1~Currently there are 30 boys staying in the first temp building ACIO has completed. At one end there is a separate admin office where 14 girls are sleeping.



Bldg#2~Originally this building was to be the kitchen, but it has become necessary to use it as a temp dorm for the girls. As the photo shows this structure has been roofed with the mud walls in the process of being completed. Once finished, the girls currently sleeping in the admin office will be relocated to this building.



Bldg#3~A nursery center to provide care and early childhood education for 4-5 yrs olds from Sironko town is an income generating activity aka IGA that ACIO plans for on the property. It is envisioned that parents in Sironko town and nearby villages requiring day care for their children will pay for the services provided here with the resulting income helping to cover the costs of food and basic needs for the resident children. Holes are dug and beams for the walls have been brought to site...

Bldg#4~A kitchen...yet to be started. All cooking is being done outdoors at present.



ACIO IMMEDIATE NEEDS:
~ Currently the 44 children in full time care are being fed by donation by ACIO membership. Help with these costs is needed.



~ All of the children (aged 8 to 15 yrs) living at the center are enrolled in the village school. Many of them require school supplies and uniforms. ACIO members will sew uniforms for the children with reduced labor costs. Help with the purchase of fabric, back packs and shoes is needed.
~ In the past we have provided sheets, blankets, foams and mosquito nets for the 14 children in care at the former ACIO orphanage. Now, having relocated to the larger temporary building on the ACIO land the number of full time children at the center has grown to 44, and there is a need for more of these items. Help with the purchase of sheets, blankets, foams and nets is needed.
~ Completion of the girl's dorm. Help with the costs of mud (it needs to be trucked in) is needed.
~ Completion of the nursery/day care center. Help with the costs of mud for the walls along with iron sheets for the roof is needed.
~ Completion of the kitchen...Help with all materials including beams for walls and roof, iron sheets for the roof, mud for the walls and cooking equipment is needed.
~ Transportation for Vincent, who currently rides a bicycle, is required to facilitate timely travel for him to the number of small villages and sub county’s (some are in the mountains...) within Sironko District enabling him to more effectively reach and mobilize ACIO membership. Help with the purchase of a motorcycle is needed.



ACIO LONG TERM GOALS:
As explained and pictured above, one day a permanent Child Care Center will be built on the land that ACIO owns, the goal of which is to provide holistic care ( housing, health care, primary schooling, vocational training etc…) for the orphan and vulnerable children in Sironko district.

ACIO has met with the local government officials in Sironko and received approval and support for the Child Care Center along with the municipality’s commitment to date to provide at their expense:

a) a survey of the land ( competed as of Feb’ 08)
b) the installation of water to the land
c) the installation of electrical power to the land



It is planned the child care center will be built in phases with the total costs for the entire project estimated at 830,000,000UGX or $500,000CDN.

Phase 1 – Boy’s and Girl’s Dorms and Latrines- Est: $85,000CDN
Phase 2 – Kitchen and Dining Hall– Est: $80,000CDN
Phase 3 – Administration and Staff Housing– Est: $53,000CDN
Phase 4 – Primary School– Est: $123,000CDN
Phase 5 – Vocational Wing– Est: $77,000CDN
Phase 6 – External Works (roads, landscaping, etc )– Est: $43,000CDN

Plan Preparation and Bill Of Quantities Costs– Approx- $900CDN
5% Contingency and Administration Costs– Approx- $25,000CDN

IGA”S
Recognizing the need exists to come up with ‘income generating activities’ that will contribute to covering the on-going expenses associated with long term operation of the Child Care Center, in addition to the temporary Day Care Center under construction now ACIO currently propose 2 IGA schemes for which funding is required:

1) A Secretary/Office Supply Business in Sironko town…a detailed business plan is available upon request
2) A Micro Finance Scheme supporting small business for local guardians and caregivers of OVC’s…a detailed proposal is available upon request

Why do I support ACIO and this Child Care Center…3 reasons!

1) Inspired by Love, this is a well conceived, comprehensive, community initiative!
2) Inspired by Love, this is a well conceived, comprehensive, community initiative!
3) Inspired by Love, this is a well conceived, comprehensive, community initiative!


Or… In Love, ACIO has managed to effectively organize and educate, empower and mobilize their community members with the insight that they are the primary stakeholders needing to come together to co-create and invest in viable solutions that address OVC issues within their community for the benefit of all!



As life seems to have this great way of preparing us for more, it appears many years of positive experiences in people, project and business management have empowered me to what feels like a perfect part for me to play here now … a mentoring, supportive and background role to ACIO and projects such as this one! Learning what I have about empowering communities, these days I am ‘all over’ supporting OVC solutions that are conceived and birthed within a community. Contrary to many ideas/solutions introduced from ‘abroad’ it makes great sense to me that project’s initiated within a community have unlimited chance to be successful as they are respectfully and effectively based on what a community decides it needs for itself as well as what it will be willing and able to sustain over the long term, thereby empowering the community to take care and ownership of itself, moving forward collectively. ‘Outside’ support on various levels is a very important and necessary component that I think may be best added to the mix once the main ingredient called for has been recognized and developed… which is to do what ACIO has already done in Sironko!



Presently, I encourage and support ACIO to seek expansion from CBO to NGO ( Non Government Organization) status with the Government Of Uganda (at time of writing, ACIO has received the local and municipal government support required before taking their request to the national level for consideration and approval) thereby paving the way for the organization, over time, to: begin education and mobilization in communities within other Ugandan districts; broaden its membership base by offering tax receipts to donors; open doors to potential national attention and support for the project’s it undertakes.



Understanding orphan and vulnerable children concerns are numerous and widespread it seems reasonable to entertain… perhaps this locally initiated progressive model can be successfully duplicated elsewhere in Uganda and (once I have the opportunity to explore them in detail…) conceivably even in other African countries facing similar situations. Beginning right now with 44 children in Sironko, Uganda this ripple could reach, empower and uplift the lives of countless orphan children and their caregivers who today, among other things, appear to be on the lookout for LOVE :)



Knowing Divine Blessings and Endless Possibilities accompany us ALL each and every moment, I'm inspired! I embrace the gift to join our collective effort and action in LOVE!

Thanks so much for sharing! With Love, Catherine ~ Mar 4th, 2008