All
these kids want and need is a chance. They are so intelligent and hardworking,
it is staggering! We have met kids who want to be lawyers or pastors and undoubtedly
have the capability to do it...if they had a chance. Even if the Retrak
programme succeeds and they are returned home to their families the reality is
that there probably won't be the finances available to support their education.
They
all have harrowing stories to tell and some with share them with you. Today the
ladies in the group spent some time with the young girls and their stories have
rocked the group. Very young girls being tied up in trees, threats to kill,
beatings, sexual abuse...the list is endless!
To see these kids happy and loved within the safety of the Retrak centre fills me with joy and makes all the hard work of fundraising worthwhile.
Adam
Guest
blog by Phil Jackson:
Adam
has asked me to do a 'guest blog' which for those of you that know me is not my
kind of thing, I would normally just put my name on something someone else had
wrote for us both, but on this occasion I said I would like to so here goes...
The
day started early with the taxi ride, I have never been in a vehicle bigger
than a people carrier with 16 people plus bags! The traffic out here can only
be described as madness! There are no rules, if the traffic is bad motorbikes
use the pavement, there is no give way to the right on a roundabout it is just
a free-for-all!
We
arrive in Baluga to a warm welcome by the children and also the staff by this
point the temperature was exceeding anything I have ever experienced in England
at the height of summer and it's only 9am. Most of the centre still needed the
second coat of paint to finish then we could have an afternoon with the kids
playing football etc. So we decided to crack on early doors and get it done!
Then
came lunch - rice, potatoes, beef (they only have meat once a week) and also a
fish heads an innards soup… of course I tried it!
After
lunch we were asked to give the staff some fire safety training, coving how to
use fire extinguishers and basic fire drills and then it was out with the kids
playing dodgeball, football and dancing! Every kid in Africa has amazing rhythm
and I looked like Peter Crouch on a bad day - but they did like the robot. The African storms then hit us immense heat
and also rain like I have never seen before but it did not stop us the
football, dancing continued!
Then
we were all asked to come into the main part of the building where we had
painted the previous day this room is where the kids sleep at night with a
small piece of foam on the floor which then gets removed by day to make way for
a classroom! When we were all sat down the kids and staff from the centre
joined us, they had prepared us a poem about love, three of the kids presented
it to us and it was very touching. These kids have had no love in their lives
but have found some at the Retrak centres! Then the kids presented us with a
thank you gift they had made! A plaque to GMFRS and GMP!
Then
came the emotional part of the day saying goodbye, with children clinging onto
your arms and legs asking if you will return and if you can take them home with
you, maybe one of the hardest and most emotional experiences of my life and the
next two days will be the same as we say goodbye to more kids we have developed
a relationship with over the last week!
To
sum up my view Africa is an amazing country with amazing people! But with
massive problems no child should have to worry about where they are sleeping at
night and where their next drink will come from.
Phil
Jackson
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