{UPDATED}
Tuesday the 25th was heart breaking. Reducing many of us on the team to tears many times during the visit. M1 is complicated at best. It's a children's remand center. The Ugandan government does its best to deal with child issues in these systems ranging from criminal behavior to abandoned, lost or exploited children.
Our first encounter was with a boy we called George. He is 10 years old, who was in solitary confinement cell. The details we could find out as to why here was there was that he had been incarcerated in solitary confinement for the second time in several weeks, this time for throwing trash. The boy was totally demoralized. But praise God, we asked permission for him to be released from confinement and the administration allowed it and he was able to join us for worship and other activities. Over the next several hours, he slowly went from despair to nearly joyful. The team did an amazing job of ministering to this boy.
Our next encounter was with a group of about 30-40 boys ranging in ages from around 8 to 18 who had been had been confined in a room (about the size of a double car garage) for a month and a half, and had not been allowed to leave for any reason. We were told they were finished being "processed" and were to be returned to their homes soon.
Sounds horrific, I know. But to be honest, I think ... I hope ... the administrators have the good intentions. I understand this is a "prison" system even though many or most of the children aren't criminals as we might deem them in the US. We have to trust Gods sovereignty and pray that the staff with Sixty Feet can continue to fill the need gap, and that Visiting Orphans teams will continue to do what they do best ... shower these kids with affection.
PS - Here was the view from the holding room for the large group of boys. Such an amazing creation, just outside of the reach of these boys.
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| "John George" as we first saw him |
Our first encounter was with a boy we called George. He is 10 years old, who was in solitary confinement cell. The details we could find out as to why here was there was that he had been incarcerated in solitary confinement for the second time in several weeks, this time for throwing trash. The boy was totally demoralized. But praise God, we asked permission for him to be released from confinement and the administration allowed it and he was able to join us for worship and other activities. Over the next several hours, he slowly went from despair to nearly joyful. The team did an amazing job of ministering to this boy.
Sounds horrific, I know. But to be honest, I think ... I hope ... the administrators have the good intentions. I understand this is a "prison" system even though many or most of the children aren't criminals as we might deem them in the US. We have to trust Gods sovereignty and pray that the staff with Sixty Feet can continue to fill the need gap, and that Visiting Orphans teams will continue to do what they do best ... shower these kids with affection.
PS - Here was the view from the holding room for the large group of boys. Such an amazing creation, just outside of the reach of these boys.
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