The harsh realities of Ugandan lives
on Hoggs in Uganda (Uganda), 13/Nov/2009 19:02, 34 days ago
Bobby -Friday 13th NovemberThis week has given us cause to reflect on some of the differences between life in Britain and life in Uganda. On Monday at morning reflections it was announced that the son of the vice president of Uganda had been killed in a car accident. On Tuesday morning it was announced that a member of the Reach Out staff had been involved in a Boda Boda (motorcycle) accident while making her way from one Reach Out site to another and had smashed her arm. Rhona has seen a boda boda driver being knocked off and the executive director also collided with a boda boda and had to take the driver to hospital with a broken arm. It is a very common and often the only means of transport but they drive recklessly and there are many accidents. There is a nursery school in the same compound as Reach Out and many three year  olds arrive by boda, with up to four children on each one. On Wednesday morning it was announced that the son of a member of staff had died in the operating theatre after a car accident. Ironically the person with the broken arm didn't get to theatre as planned because the surgeon was operating on the car accident victim. Road accidents are very common and a major cause of death in Uganda.On Tuesday, as we settled in for the evening, we received a request to take the landlord's 21 month son to hospital as he had fallen and cut his head badly enough to need stitches. This required a half hour journey through Kampala. I've not driven much at night yet but couldn't turn down the request. Day driving in Kampala is an experience that I may get used to but night driving brings another set of challenges. No street lights, the many potholes are more difficult to avoid, in the busy centres pedestrians are difficult to see, dazzling lights or no lights on approaching or parked vehicles. However the thing that scared me most was the antics of very young children (possibly age 2 upwards) on a large busy junction. As we waited to turn right the children approached the drivers begging for money. This was around 9pm and they were wandering up and down the middle of the road. I was cautious enough  when moving off but when you see the children round a large articulated lorry the situation seems intolerable. We don't know how these children live, if they have adults in their lives or if they receive any care.Life is often harsh here.Although there is supposed to be free education, and in some rural areas schooling is free but very inadequate (100 children in a class and teachers who spend much of heir time doing other jobs), in  Kampala the schools are fee paying.We have work colleagues in their 20s who have had to shoulder family responsibilities from their early teens. We know of one man in his twenties whose parents died when he was fifteen leaving his 17 year old sister, and his four younger siblings, the youngest two years, and himself, to fend for themselves. That these colleagues have responsible jobs, pursue their education at weekends and care and support their younger siblings is evidence of their strength of faith and resourcefulness.