Night of Hope: A Benefit for the Mercy Home of Children in Kampala, Uganda
Monday, Dec. 4th. Student Life Center 8:30pm – 10:00pm
In Northern Uganda there exists a war between the rebel group called the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government. The LRA is a rebel group who wants to bring down the local government to establish one based on the 10 commandments of Moses. The truth however, is very different. This group has been abducting children for the last 20 years and forcing them to become soldiers and sex slaves. Children are abducted every day. They are robbed of their freedom and forced to rob it from others. In doing so, they lose their very selves. They abduct children between the ages of 7 to14, because they are young enough to be brainwashed but big enough to handle guns. The LRA uses dehumanizing tactics to destroy the children emotionally and force them to kill - to kill their parents, their relatives, or their neighbors
This situation has created an environment of great political and economic instability that manages second rate school systems, medical care facilities, and the impossibility of social mobility. Coupled with the AIDS pandemic, Uganda is in a stagnant state of development. However, one of the greatest tragedies that LRA and AIDS have caused is the alarming rate of orphans throughout Uganda that predominantly reside homeless in the national capital, Kampala. For this reason there has been a great initiative to open and maintain orphanages in rural villages surrounding Kampala, such as the Mercy Home for Children.
The Mercy Home for children is run by Angela Namatovu. At the age of only 25, she directs an orphanage with more than 135 children. She began this incredible cause four years ago. Soon after she finished college, she noticed a few street boys - Angela herself was homeless for some years after her parents died of HIV – and could not help but taking them in. Very soon, the number of children began to increase, and Angela has been working very hard to make a difference in the lives of these boys to this day.
Angela was a guest speaker at our campus in spring 2005, and as a result inspired three Vanderbilt students to coordinate a service trip for the month of June to the orphanage in Uganda. There we experienced the living conditions of the children and participated in all of their daily activities. Their daily routine consisted of an hour walk to school at 6:00AM, and upon returning to the orphanage at 4:00PM, they would divide according to age group and ability, where some of the children would make bricks, assist with cooking dinner, clean the living quarters, and others would go to harvest casaba (which is what was eaten at night).
The cooperation between these children under the lack of adult supervision is nothing short of amazing. The orphanage is managed to the best of its capacity by Angela, but has great needs: many of the children in the orphanage have not found sponsors and are unable to attend schools; the primary source of preventative medicine in the orphanage is a first aid kit; goats and bulls roam freely through the orphanage’s backyard, where the children often play. Thus the purpose of the fundraiser on Dec. 4th is to bring much needed resources to the orphanage, resources that will bring hope to the future of these children.
The goals of the evening are:
- To raise funds for the Mercy Home of Children orphanage through:
- The Mocha Club (www.mochaclub.org),
- Through private donations,
- Through the sale of authentic Ugandan arts & crafts, and clothing – artisan made and imported
- To raise awareness of the plight that orphaned children go through as a consequence of the AIDS pandemic in Africa.
- To encourage Vanderbilt students to join in this effort as they watch videos from their fellow classmates as they see the work done by them in Uganda and Kenya last summer.
The funds collected will go towards:
· Building a pen for the animals that are already owned by the orphanage
· Build a pig pen to raise pigs for food and profit
· Buy medical supplies and hopefully fund a local nurse for the orphanage
· Pay for much needed repairs around the orphanage such as a new kitchen hut
· Buy more brick making equipment – a source of revenue for the orphanage
· Buy more acres of casaba fields to supplement as food for the children
A more in-depth description can be found at:
http://blog.mochaclub.org/articles/2006/09/07/mercy-home-of-children-update-visit-by-u-s-team
We hope that you will join us as we knit together an incredible evening, that will continue to set the mark in the way Vanderbilt students are making a difference in some of the neediest communities in Africa. If you wish to help but do not know where to start, join us for A Night of Hope and become aware of the conditions these children live in, and help carve a better future for their lives. If you would like to co-sponsor this event by assisting with a financial donation, or a volunteer corps, we would love to share with you. Any financial support you can offer as an organization will go directly to meet the needs of the children at the Mercy Home Orphanage.
Thank you for your time, your attention, and your support.
Sincerely, Juan Rojas (juan.rojas@vanderbilt.edu)Cristian Quizhpi (cequizhpi@yahoo.com)
Barret Ward (mbarrett@africanleadership.org )
