Africa
JOURNEY TO
…THROUGH A MOTHER’S EYES By Fay Braden
It seems like so long ago that our youngest daughter, Jocelin, and her friend Courtney left on an adventure to Amani Baby Cottage, an orphanage in Jinja, Uganda, Africa. As a mother, the idea filled me with trepidation. Courtney’s parents had contacts at the orphanage and had been there themselves. Their confidence the girls would be in a safe compound reassured me, slightly . Looking back, I’m not really sure when their plan began to take shape, but now I realize that her decision to go was never in my hands. The girls did every bit of preparation on their own. They spoke with a travel agent to make all the flight arrangements and got advice. They obtained all the shots and medications they needed. They ensured their passports were in order and they paid for the trip themselves. They organized everything. Their desire to volunteer at Amani became a reality just a few months after high school graduation.
Courtney & Jocelin Quirk - 26
They arrived at the Entebbe International Airport late into the night. The arrivals side of the airport is on African soil and is barely a landmark represented by two walls, a counter and dirt floors. Yet everyone guarding it, including young boys, carried a machine gun. They made their way through immigration and outside to a roped-off area. A local gentleman was standing with a cardboard sign with Amani hand-written in crayon. They went to him and asked if he was looking for them. He spoke no English, but gestured to the sign and to them. Soon they were off into the dark, in a small car with a man they didn’t know. From the airport they drove through Kampala and then on to Jinja. Exhausted from their day of travelling, the girls
nodded off, waking at one point as an armed guard pressed his head and machine gun into the vehicle. He demanded their passports and after paying a fee, the passports were returned and they carried on. They finally managed to arrive safely at their destination.
The Amani Baby Cottage is run by Danyne Randolph Bharj. It was her and her husband’s residence where the girls lived for the next two months. Amani is located a short walk outside of the town of Jinja. They shared meals with the family and were included in outings and sight-seeing trips. And they were indeed safe, as safe as you can be in a foreign land with a fluid political climate where you are referred to as milky.
Another concern was their health. Would they be protected against HIV and AIDS? Many of the babies come to the orphanage because their mothers had died of AIDS. Many