I'm sorry, the Mango Tree is booked

Sorry about rubbish photo - camera developed filter fault.. grrr

I'm sitting under yet another mango tree on yet another plastic chair. It's very hot today so I'm glad of the pleasant breeze keeping us cool. My mind wanders as we wait for our meeting to start. Everything happens so slowly here... I'm watching the women. They sit on the hard ground on blankets and cloths they tie round their waists for just this situation. The men are on chairs, as am I, (visitor), and a female member of the executive committee. The women sit quietly, mostly not speaking, just waiting and watching. Some arrived before us and we've been here for 2 hours.

We're in Atiira, another rural village but much nearer town than Abeko. We drove here on reasonably wide bumpy marram roads. The area is flat, miles of scrubland and swamp stretch out to the horizon or the next village. We're visiting another Disability Support Group. When we arrive, we visit a new learning centre for children in the group, it started last month. 14 children and 2 informal teachers cram onto the veranda of a schoolteacher’s house (we’re at a school compound). They don't have a building and the mango tree is booked for our meeting, so the veranda is their only option. Two members of the DSG attended the special needs training at Global Care’s Soroti centre in the summer and it inspired them to start a children’s group. Their only equipment is some learning aids from the training. The children have no paper, no pens, no pencils or crayons. There is no money for the classes. Parents provide ingredients for porridge so the children can eat before they go home. The young assistant teacher is given, ‘something for soap.’ The children have a range of disabilities, but they seem to be having fun as they learn numbers and words.

 Some of their mothers are in the group waiting for the meeting. When we return to the tree, they tell us they love the classes because their children are no longer isolated at home. Here they have a family of friends who love to play together. Elsewhere they're bullied, discriminated against and told, 'Go away,' by their peers.

Now we’re waiting for the meeting... Tom strolls over to chat to a mum and her disabled child. David and Fred are on their phones!  Flies buzz everywhere, we idly flap them (we’re covered in bites – a result of the wet weather).  Children appear outside the semi-circle of chairs to stare at us. Chickens wander into the circle, strut about a bit and leave.  A herd of cows appears in the next field. Girls giggle behind me.  Just as I’m debating whether to join Tom, the meeting starts.

We start with welcomes and introductions. Tom was involved at the start of the group 6 years ago - the Chairman says Tom is a father returned to his family.  The meeting will be like the family telling him what happened while he was away from home.  I am referred to as 'The Wife'.

They are an astounding and inspiring group. As we discuss a report evaluating the impact of the group over the last 6 years, I am once again awed by the group’s achievements. Using tiny monthly members’ contributions (about 40p), a quarterly contribution from Global Care and some government support, they have created a loans scheme and given families livestock.  Families’ lives have been changed and people with no hope can see a future where disabled people have economic stability, work, livestock, and even get married - impossible dreams before. It’s time for Global Care to take the lessons from this project and move to other areas. This group will continue to grow without us, but there are thousands of families living with disability who have no hope.  It's my turn to speak, and as I start, to my horror I'm so emotional my voice shakes and my eyes well up. I am humbled by these people. They have so little and yet together they are changing the lives of disabled children and adults. They are a huge testimony to the power of community groups and cooperative working.

As we go for lunch, we are greeted by an older lady, Agnes.  She reminds Tom that she is the mother of Charles, a boy he met when he was carrying out research in 2012. Everyone was so moved by her child’s appalling situation that the group, with the help of Global Care, built her a house. It’s wonderful to see her today. Tom turns to me and says, ‘Look at her now, helping and supporting a younger woman with her own disabled child.’ This kind of solidarity is the strength of the group.

We have a delicious meal. Now it’s time to go. The children wave goodbye. The group say, ‘Come back, please come home again when you are in Soroti.’ As we leave, we talk about the hope we have for other groups like Abeko.

Some days it’s OK to be just The Wife.


Read more about Agnes and Charles in 2012 at  VIP House Call (not their real names)