Written by Regina, Child Advocate

“This year has felt merciless to us here in Uganda. School had been the safest place for our children, but due to this pandemic everything has becoming difficult. 

When our kids were in school, low income parents only had to worry about providing dinner to the children. Now they must provide breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Parents are struggling to put food on the plate. Imagine your kids at home alone while you have to go out to work and look for food. It’s only God who knows what we are going through. Here we are only talking about food but there are many more needs.

We’re seeing horrific problems intensify with stay at home orders; kids are being violated by their elderly brothers and sisters — even to the extent of getting pregnant — it’s incredibly heart breaking and scary. Most children are forced into child labour where they find merciless men who offer them gifts, blinding them, pretending that they are helping them only to take advantage of their innocence. Some boys are resorting to drug addiction, smoking hence leading them to sexual immortality. Many parents have lost their jobs, young girls are being forced into marriage, other young girls have gotten pregnant by rape. On top of that, people are committing suicide because they don't know what is next. May God have mercy on our children.

People are passing through a lot of trauma and the places which would encourage people and build their faith are no more. You see here in Uganda people take churches as their place of refuge. Some even stay there until God paves a way. Now Churches are closed. What are those kind of people up to now? This pandemic makes people more sick.

Job 14:7 gives me hope, “At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.”

As a Child Advocate for Project Orphans, the staff and I really miss our group gatherings; daily devotions and having fun with kids. When all the kids are together, they have a way of opening up. But, we’ve noticed that when we visit them in their homes, some are shy and can’t seem to open up. We have to monitor kids and keep a sharp eye like never before during this period. I take this opportunity to thank Project Orphans for lending a hand with putting food on the table and many other ways. We are so thankful.

I stand to say the most paining part of the pandemic begins with children not being able to go back to school, and the spiral affect that it has on the community. Apart from the frustration and hardship, this period has taught us to be still and let God have his way in us. It has taught us to be teachers to our children and to keep them busy with their books. More so, it has given us time to talk to our children about difficult areas of life.“