Why do the boys leave home?
The boys leave home for many different reasons. Some of the boys leave home because they are true orphans and there was no one else to care for them. However, most have families but are just not able to continue living with them for whatever reason. Sometimes it is abuse and neglect that makes the boys run and sometimes it is poverty. It is difficult to know the true story why each boy left their family. Frequently, the boys refuse to talk about it or create different stories to avoid the subject. It isn’t until a boy trusts you and is ready to share, will you ever find out the truth.
How did you meet the boys?
Amanda met all of the boys in the Kivulu slum in Kampala. Another organization has programs for street kids there 3 times a week. She was volunteering at their programs and fell in love with the boys. It took time, patience and a lot of prayer, but soon she was able to build a relationship with them. Some of the boys were sort of "grandfathered" into the home, one had a formal invite, and a few just showed up and never left. Regardless of how the boys started living at the home, Amanda knows each one was specifically chosen by God to live there and become part of the home.
What about the boys’ families?
As much as we love the boys, we realize we will never be a replacement for their biological families. We also realize how important it is in the boys’ healing and recovery to confront the problems they faced at home and if possible repair that relationship. Most times, the families really do love the boy but the added stress of caring for another child resulted in unsafe living conditions. To date, seven 15 ALL of the boys have visited their families and have started to rebuild their relationships.
Where are the girls?
While street girls do exist, they are far less common than boys. Girls are more valuable to the family because they are responsible for the work around the house and caring for younger siblings, so they usually are treated better. Also, culturally speaking, girls are more submissive than the boys and will tolerate the abuse at home longer than the boys will.
Do the boys have to accept Jesus to come into the home?
No. While it is our hope that they eventually will, we will never refuse a boy because of his beliefs.
How many street kids are there in Uganda?
There is no way to tell for sure. Every day, it seems like there is at least one new boy on the streets. We have seen figures that puts an estimation around 10,000. In Kampala alone, there has to be at least a couple thousand but probably more.
What is life like on the streets?
In Uganda, being a street kid is one of the worst things anyone could be. No one wants them around and they are treated worse than trash. They are frequently beaten and abused by almost everyone, including the police, simply because they are on the streets. They are regarded as disposable and people prefer to deal with them in extremes; pretend they do not exist or beat them to death. Recently, a boy name Patrick was chased and “fell” on a metal pipe that killed him. Even when they make great strides to improve their lives or come into a home, the minute they make a mistake, people often say, “Well, he is a street kid.”
While on the streets, the boys are abused daily by community members, the police, and boys that are bigger than them. They do not have a safe place to sleep, and often do not have food to eat. In order to survive, they must wake up very early in the morning to begin a daily struggle of searching for scrap metal or plastic to sell. One kg (2.2 lbs) of metal yields just 25¢, and one kg of plastic yields only 10¢. A small meal will cost them at least 50¢, so they will need to find more than 5 lbs of wires, nuts and bolts or 10 lbs of empty plastic bottles in order to eat one meal. After a long day of searching through garbage (barefoot), the boys might have enough left to pay for a night to sleep in a 4’ x 10’ room with 20 to 30 other boys. They sleep sitting up because it is usually too crowded to lay down. If they can’t afford a room, they sleep outside and risk being arrested. If they manage to avoid the police, they are still vulnerable to bad weather, abuse and theft.
While living on the streets, the boys do not have access to clean water and as a result are constantly getting sick with Typhoid Fever. Since they don’t sleep with a mosquito net, they are always getting malaria. Because they don’t always have food to eat, it is almost impossible to effectively take either medication. This results in frequent relapses, each time a little bit worse. When the boys want to bathe, they must do so out in the open in a canal that runs through the slum. There is a pipe that brings water in and the boys will bathe there and wash their clothes, if they have an extra change of clothes. If not they remain dirty which causes their wounds, which started from a small scratch from scrap metal, to turn into large infected wounds that take forever to heal.
One of the worst effects of living on the streets is the boys lose hope. The boys live each day just trying to make it through. They have no hope for a different life or for a future. They start to believe that they are worthless and unlovable. Some boys completely give up trying to be different or have a better life and decide to dull their pain with drugs and alcohol. Others, are so broken and hurting that they act out so much, so they can ensure that no one will ever try and get close to them again.
What do you hope for the future for the boys?
It is really too soon to know if the boys will achieve their dreams of becoming doctors or lawyers. Do we think it is possible? Absolutely! But with anything, it will take a lot of time and hard work on everyone’s part. Will we be disappointed if the boys don’t attend university? Of course not! We want what is best for the boys and for some we realize this is never going to include university or even secondary school. As long as they grow up into young men that will respect their wife and children, and be able to find a job to provide for them, we will consider them a success. Right now, we have 4 boys that did not return to school and started vocational training instead, and we couldn't be happier for them!
