Uganda
The L'Arche community in Uganda is based in Kampala. It supports 19 people with learning disabilities and a further 20 people with disabilities are welcomed in the day provision service.
Most of these young children and adults are orphaned or abandoned because of the stigma attached to learning disabilities.
The community receives no financial support from the government. It derives all of its local income from gifts, rents, fees and sales of goods made in the workshops. The balance comes form charitable donations from overseas. It needs £50,000 per year to survive.
Chris Bemrose, Leader of the Bognor Community has been accompanying L’Arche Uganda. He writes ...
Before coming to Kampala earlier this month, I was anxious about how I would find the community. I knew that the community had been through a difficult time, with some people with disabilities seriously ill, with not just one but two robberies, difficulties in communications , shortage of funds, and Monica’s illness leaving the Community ‘as a flock without a shepherd’.
In fact I discovered that there was much that was good. It was good to see the main house, which had been looking very tired, painted virtually every colour of the rainbow. People with disabilities now have much more privacy. Gaps in the fence, which had helped robbers enter and leave the community, have been replaced with a substantial wall. I was encouraged to see the kitchen being renovated. I was also pleased to meet Isaac and Lawrence as new members of the Community.
Unlike previous visits, where I have spent a considerable amount of time with a wide cross section of people, this time I spent most of my time working with Monica, the Community Leader and the coordinating team to agree a programme of action for the next six months. It was encouraging to see everyone working in a positive spirit of cooperation.
Monica is from Gulu in the Northern part of Uganda. She is Acholi by tribe and Luo speaking. Orphaned as a child Monica grew up in community with the White Fathers. Monica studied community psychology at Kampala University first came to the community as a volunteer.
“I was touched by the people with learning disabilities. When I first met Tom Onyango I greeted him, but he kept quiet and looked away with a smile on his face. I told him “You have to say something before I leave today. When the time came I sat with him again but he just looked at me and smiled. Eventually when I started to walk away he called and said in Luganda ‘wange’, which means mine or you are mine.”
Initially appointed community psychologist, Monica was asked to lead the community at the beginning of the year. She says “I ask for your prayers so God’s spirit can guide my leadership.”
