Not forgotten..
When we first started talking about travelling and the places we wanted to visit – we knew immediately we would like to go to Uganda to visit the Watoto children’s village in Kampala. About 2 years ago the Watoto Children’s choir sang at our church and we heard all about Watoto for the first time. We also saw a photo of a little boy named Edward who was looking for a sponsor and we signed on.
It’s a brilliant concept – Uganda has been ravaged by AIDS and a whole generation of children have been left orphans with no one to look after them and no hope of ever becoming anything – just living to survive. Watoto builds villages and places these children in a home with a “mother” and teaches them how to live in a family again. They have health care, church and school and they are loved.
Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons our trip to Uganda got kicked out of the itinerary pretty quick. I felt really guilty for not going to visit Edward. However, we got a letter a few days later to say that Edward had been selected to sing in one of the Watoto choirs AND his choir just happened to be coming to Australia! Would we like to meet him? You bet! – we had to wait 5 months until he got here – we saw him sing with the choir and we sat and chatted. He is the most gorgeous little boy you’ve ever seen!
I can now tell you from experience – if you sponsor a child overseas – until you meet them face to face, it really doesn’t have meaning. We didn’t want to let him go. It was like watching one of our own kids walk away.
Visit the Watoto website – it really is worth while. In the meantime check out Edward and his friends doing their thing!
2 comments
Amanda, Paul and family.
Have have had a small association with Paul through my work as a bookkeeper and expressed my interest in your coming adventure, Paul was gracious enough to put me onto your awesome web site, I am feeling the excitement building from reading your blog and love the fact that I will be entertained by watching your families adventure develop on the internet.
I am very envious and think it is a absolutely fantastic adventure you have under taken, I wish you all the excitement and look forward immensly to your updates, and also may be hearing from the children along the way as well.
So keep us “stay at home Perth people” and the people of the world informed as we watch your build up and exciting plans leading up to the trip and then of course the adventure that awaits next year.
Amanda the site is looking great – congradulations on that aspect
Karen G (all aussie bins)
Wow, what a fantastic experience. I send money to a village in Pakistan, but it’s not the kind of place you’d visit. On a similar, but different note, we sponsor a baby orang utan in Sepilok, Borneo who we are going to visit. I’m sure it won’t be as special as your meeting with Edward.
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