Blog Eight - Personal

29th March 2012

Upon finishing school placement, we have been very grateful to discover that Uganda has a lot to offer in relation to volunteer work. Making use of our valuable time left here, Lynsey and I decided to take a week volunteering at ‘The Bulrushes Baby Home’.

‘The Bulrushes Baby Home’ is run by an organisation known as ‘Watoto’. Watoto is a worldwide administration which honours to “Rescue, Raise and Rebuild” people who are in need. Based in Africa, there are a number of baby homes, watoto villages and schools which help to give those who are less privileged, a chance in life. Their mission statement highlights the work they are involved in around East Africa, “The Watoto model involves physical care, medical intervention including HIV/Aids treatment, education - formal and technical and trauma counselling.” (Watoto, 2010)

‘The Bulrushes’ is one of three baby homes in Uganda which caters for babies that have been abandoned. From these baby homes, Watoto plan to help build healthy children which will then be filtered into specific villages and schools they been created. For the week I was placed with the 3-6 month old babies. Surrounded by fifteen babies that had to be bathed, fed, changed and clothed, it’s not surprising that I felt out my depth. Regardless of this chaos, I instantly fell in love with the babies I was working with!



Getting ready for bathtime!

Ecstatic to be involved with this organisation, we were keen to find out the babies’ stories and what had happened to them. Due to poverty, lack of education and the HIV crisis, we were shocked to hear that many babies would not make it to the age of five without urgent medical attention. Some of the babies we were working with had traumatic experiences, “Some of them have been found in toilets, garbage dumps, under trees, in bushes, buckets of water and on doorsteps. It is common for them to premature, abused and with serious medical conditions.” (Watoto, 2010)

As we held each of them in our arms, I had difficulty analysing why anyone could harm such perfect and precious babies. Yet due to some of the circumstances we are surrounded with in Uganda, it is unfortunately a common practice. Such simple episodes of sickness require instant medical attention and even common complaints can often leave a child weak and malnourished. As I worked with these vulnerable babies, I felt overwhelmed at the love the nannies and staff had for them. It can be said that “…our most precious resource is people and their potential to work for the betterment of society; however poverty in its numerous manifestations, most obviously low and unreliable income, wastes this resource and its potential.” (Spence, 2009) Knowing that these children were safe to grow up in a society which is so poverty stricken and corrupt made me aware of how fortunate they were to have such loving carers.

References

Watoto (2010) “Watoto: Our Purpose” Watoto Africa, Uganda.

Watoto (2010) “Watoto: Baby Watoto” Watoto Africa, Uganda.

Spence, C. (2009) “Achieving, Believing and Caring: Doing whatever it takes to create successful schools.” Pembroke Publishers, Ontario, Canada.