DAY 4:
"Inspired to
be cuddled by children, I woke up very early in the morning ready to move with
the education group after spending the previous day with the resettlement group
with which I shared some intensive emotional moments.
That morning
I was able to have a soda with a Chapati for breakfast as the rest of the team
also enjoyed their breakfast with some tea and bread which I bought for the
team.
Having had
breakfast, we started to prepare all the children whom we were going to place
in schools. The children were provided with scholastic materials, blankets,
shoes, panties and boxes or metallic suit cases that were provided by the
Community Development Centre to mention a few among others.
Returnees being helped and prepared by the team members to
go to school where they were placed.
It was an exciting moment for the children as they
received their school items from the education group and I was very happy too
because of Sweet Sleep being part of this exercise. With so many children to
fit in the only car that we had, it took us a while to load everything but
somehow we finally managed to load everything.
Shortly after loading everything, we set off our journey
to Kapwachi Primary school which is one of the Government schools within the
Karamoja region.
Returnees leaving the Community Development Centre for school.
Kapwachi Primary School is both a Day and Boarding school
that serves like an orphanage home/school in nature but with all children paying
some school fees. The indigenous partner organization is responsible for paying the school fees of
all the returnees that were enrolled and placed in that school under the partner organization's care. By the time of placing all the children in that school, the partner organization had already paid the school fees for all the 12 returnees that were
placed in that school.
On arrival at the school, the old pupils were very
excited to receive new children within their school and immediately the team
started distributing the scholastic materials and other school related
resettlement items to the returnees who had already been enrolled in this very
school to attain formal education.
The already enrolled Returnees receiving their resettlement
school packages for term one.
On the side of the sleeping condition at this school,
some children do have beds though squeezed while others are sleeping down. Most
of the children at this are really vulnerable and when I interacted with some
of those sleeping down, they expressed to me that they are indeed fade up of
sleeping down because ever since their child hood, they have always kept on
sleeping down on the floor. They said that it feels good and great whenever a
child sleeps on a bed of his or her own and sure they emphasized how jealousy
they felt seeing other children sleeping on beds while them are sleeping down.
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| Sleeping conditions at Kapwachi Primary School |
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| Some of the beds in the dorms |
Through a quick count, 124 girls at this school don’t
have beds though they do have some mattresses, bed sheets and blankets in a
fair state. On the side of mosquito nets, those that I managed to see had holes
in them and many of the children lacked mosquito nets. Otherwise, there is need
for Sweet Sleep items at this school."
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