From Fear to Fun

Today we visited a Playscheme. We got to play with a group of fabulous children, all with disabilities.

There are 9 staff at Global Care Soroti.  It’s a bigger centre than Rukungiri and has diverse programmes.  In the remote village of Abeko, Global care works in partnership with a Disability Support Group.  Last January we visited the group when it was starting.   One year on, they’re well established, have church, local government and local NGO partners, and several projects, including a Playscheme. The Playscheme started on 7^th February. For the first week, the group met every day while guardians, Playworkers and children got to know each other. The Playworkers said, ‘When the children arrived, we were not their friends. They didn’t speak to us, they even moved away from food we gave. They did not speak.  Now they are relaxed and talk, they eat the food and they talk to us.’  They told us children have learnt to count, use English words and feed themselves. Many of the children are bright, but they’ve never socialised. Having the opportunity to play can be life changing.

Twice a week, for 4 hours, 24 children play, sing, have health checks, and eat breakfast with 3 Playworkers and a cook. I had a great time singing and playing with them. Tom and David took a group of boys outside to play football.  I also wanted to talk to the caregivers – the mothers, aunties and grandmothers who care for these children.  David and I sat on the ground under the shade of a large tree (actually… I let him sit on the only available rock) and chatted to them, David translating my questions and comments into the local Ateso language. 

This is what they said:

‘My child is so happy – we have a seen a change since the Playscheme. He was helpless to the point where we had no hope, he used to just lie down and be sick. Now he plays with other children.’

‘I am so grateful for the support to CWD. She is happy and enjoying life.  Last year we told you we had a problem with money for clothes, now she has new clothes (gifts from Global Care as part of their Uganda 35^th Anniversary celebrations), something to eat, and someone to take care of her.  Thank you for the Playscheme.’

‘My daughter is autistic. Before, she moved from house to house and could not be controlled. Nobody wanted to associate with her, she just roamed around. They called her mad. She was stoned and beaten by children and communities. Now even the Playworkers have seen a change in her behaviour. Every morning she wants to go to the Playscheme. It is her happiness. She’s told that if she moves from the house, she can’t go to Playscheme next time, so she stays at home and waits, even when it is 3 days.’

‘Having our children in a Playscheme means our time to work has increased. We can chop more wood, if we sell at market, we can sell much, we have more time to work in the garden and crops will be better. When we are out, we are confident that our children are safe. I used to tie my child inside the house with a rope because I was afraid to leave him.  No CWD here has ever been to school. The Playscheme meets in a schoolroom. At social gatherings now I can be proud and say my child is at school.’

‘At home no-one associates with my child, only the mother cares for a CWD. If I go to shop, to the well, to the market, when I come home my child will be left in the hot sun. No-one would move my child into the shade. I wish the Playscheme could be every day.

The scheme has plenty of challenges.  Remember those impossible hills in Rukungiri? Here it is miles and miles of ‘footing’ across the plain and through the bush in the hot sun.  There were no walking aids in evidence, just one wheelchair loaned from the Ark. Children who can’t walk are carried on their mother’s back. One grandmother described how hard it is to carry a heavy child, but if you tell them they can’t go to the Playscheme, they are quite upset. Some families have a bicycle, one boy’s brother brings him to and from the school. 

We had to explain to the families that this is a pilot project. Ongoing funding can't be guaranteed – if they want it to work there’ll need to be a plan for self-sustainability.  Days like today are a mixture of joyful delight, measured optimism and anxiety. This is such a brilliant idea – but it needs funding to work. The Playworkers are unpaid volunteers. The school isn’t asking for rent. But… food costs money and at the minute there are very few toys, games or learning materials.  So far there’s been no discussion about walking aids or medical support.  Without outside donors, partners and supporters these children will be back in the sun, tied up, not talking, being fed…… or roaming around the area being stoned and beaten.  

That might seem very harsh, but for the 24 children at the Playscheme, there are 124 more represented by members of the Disability Support Group who are neither at school nor at the Playscheme – and that’s just one village.  Playschemes for CWD in all the rural villages in this area would be a full-time job for any organisation.  Global Care and other partners need wisdom to know how to respond to this seemingly impossibly great need. 

Coming here shocks me out of complacency, but please God when I go home don’t let me forget the faces I’ve seen on this trip, the real people I’ve met. Or forget the thousands of unseen and unknown CWD in this country.