April kind of got away from me there…I’m still in shock TODAY IS MAY 1! The past week and ½ or so has brought quite a lot of activity through our fair village…
Our new volunteer Alison arrived last Wednesday and has really fit into our team nicely. Last Thursday (4/21) we had an Open House at the Youth Center for parents & guardians but conveniently it served as a good welcome for her, too, to what our program is about. The Open House itself went pretty well; we actually had a nice turnout considering we didn’t have any local support in drumming up excitement about the day (unfortunately, that's not a new trend...). I also realized I miss event planning – by no means was this a big event but nonetheless, I really enjoyed the planning and organization that went into the day.
And to really throw Alison into some vibrant, unique Ugandan life, we had a little help from some protesters, rioters and corrupt immigration officials…
On Tuesday Adam was told by immigration his visa would not be granted an extension and he would need to LEAVE Uganda by Thursday otherwise he’d face a fine of $30/day until he did indeed leave. His “leave-by” date then turned to Friday and today, Sunday, he is still here waiting for the final verdict. One of our friends is a lawyer and is on the case; it sounds like a classic Ugandan government situation – the immigration office saw this as an easy way to extort money from a foreigner. Our hopes are that Adam will be able to stay until his originally scheduled departure date of May 31 (SO SOON, can’t handle it!).
Also, as you might have read or heard about, there was some pretty intense rioting all around Uganda last week. Kampala was hit Thursday evening and all day Friday by supporters of President Museveni’s 3-time opponent, Besigye. Besigye was leading a protest in Kampala against the rising fuel and food prices Thursday when he was shot with a rubber bullet and arrested. He was taken to the hospital and is recovering fine (again…rubber bullet…) but his supporters have turned out all over the country in big numbers to display their anger; they’ve been burning & breaking into shops, throwing stones and even tires at police and have actually attempted to burn down the Central Police station in Kampala. Most police, whom are not exactly the most honest, upstanding citizens, have surely escalated the situation with overly aggressive response tactics including tear gas & brutal beatings. We’ve stayed out of town but have heard things have calmed down as of last night. A friend did mention yesterday, however, that there is a quiet murmur of things sparking up again tomorrow...Will update if anything does go down.
But to leave on a much happier note, I’ll catch you up what’s been happening at the Youth Center! We are just about halfway through the 5-week holiday break for the kids and it has been going really, really well! We’ve had a great turn-out everyday and our numbers just keep growing. The best part is, over half of the kids are new! Lots of these kids attend boarding school in Kampala, but their families live in Ndejje so holiday breaks are the only time we will get to see them. It’s been wonderful to get to know the new kids; we’ve even had to add another football training session because we had so many ballers turn out! We’ve also begun introducing team-based competitions, both on and off the soccer field, and it has been fun to see new friendships begin. It’s really been so exciting to see the program grow and to have gotten to spend as much time with the kids as we have because once school starts up May 23 we are back to that confusing, limited-access schedule...and then unbelievably, 2 weeks later I'm USA bound...
Hope April brought some exciting things to you, too!
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