Digging Wells of Hope for Children of Convicted Prisoners

Global Health Corps fellows at the entrance of Wells Of Hope School in Nakaseke District, Uganda

You are not your parents’ mistakes; nothing has ever brought this famous quote to life for me than when we visited a school for children of convicted prisoners. Wells of Hope is a Christian ministry and organization that runs a school in Kyajinja, Semuto in Nakaseke District, in Uganda. It is a 1.5hour drive from Kampala without traffic. The road to Wells of Hope provides the scenic view, one watches through the bus windows (As I did) the landscape start to curve into soft green hills, and lovely shades of brown and green trees flash by. Blue skies with big fluffy clouds reminiscent of giant soft cotton balls float above you in the distance. If you are lucky, like we were and the driver doesn’t play deafening Nigerian tunes, this can really be a wonderful drive.

Wells of Hope, as its name infers, is a place of hope. It all started when a young man was falsely convicted of a crime he did not commit. Remanded to Luzira prison Mr.Suubi, in what can only be described as a life altering experience, listened to the life stories of fellow prisoners, their living conditions and quality of life — for those who were living with HIV/AIDs. While in prison, the men who are typically the bread winners in our mainly patriarchal society, had left their children struggling for their next meal and many with neither an education nor hope for one. These powerful narratives would soon move he and his wife, Mrs. Suubi to reach out to their families and offer some kind of Hope. As if to say, “All is not lost”. Mrs.Suubi is one of the most beautiful, gracious, humble and smart lady I have ever met. She runs the organization and was present to welcome us at the gate with warm hugs and a big bright smile. “Thank you for coming” she said.

I had last been to Wells of Hope in 2014, there were less buildings then. Now the school, as I observed, had grown to include a playground, a new block of classrooms and dormitories. Not only that, the children had grown up and some had left for vocational school. On this particular visit, we were a group of seventeen alumni from Global Health Corps. Our noble mission? To inspire. We would soon find out that our noble mission would be instead to be inspired by the intriguing curiosity, and intelligence of the children at WOH.

David the choreographer leads the children and some GHC alumni in a dance routine

The day was structured into two activities: a career information session, and a music, dance session, popularly known as MDD (Music, Dance and Drama). Unlike many of school MDD days you may have attended, where parents/adults leave home to be entertained by a group of children who have practiced the whole term for a few minutes in the lime light, this MDD session had both adults and children dance in a group together, through out. Those that were not particularly proud of their brain body coordination were allowed to sit out some of the songs. Some people are not proud of my brain-body coordination but they did not go with me, and so I too, was part of the dancing. It was choreographed by David Kawaida. Think zumba instructor style. I almost learnt how to shuffle. I am now so close to the real thing!

     

Growing up, one had a small bucket from which to pick a dream career: one could plan to be a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, an engineer, a nurse or…or nothing. That was it. With this high tech generation (calling themselves generation X), an overflow of information and unlimited exposure, children are fast learning they can be anything they want, from a domino artist to a disruptive innovator or a development catalyst, and one of my favorites: space ship engineer. One of the students when asked what he wanted to become in future said that he wanted to be an astronomer. He said he wanted to study the stars. Just take a moment right now, to imagine your parents faces back in the 90s if you told them that you wanted to become a person that studies the stars: emuyeenye

      “I want to study the stars” He said.

Many of the students wanted to understand the subjects they needed to excel at to pursue courses at university, how long university would take and where they would work in future. It was very exciting for us of course, to be able to share information that we did not receive in our early days. But even more interesting was the Q&A session, where we got the most random questions and yet relevant questions: “why don’t some girls have menses” One girl asked. “Is pharmacy, medicine, public health and nursing one course?” We were grateful for an opportunity to inspire a Gen X, but more importantly, to hear and share in their dreams and visions.

Every year, Ellen enrolls at least 30 children aged two years to eighteen to give them a proper education, a place to stay and food on their table. The children are enrolled by the consent of their parents who are visited by wells of Hope in prison in Luzira. These children are given a chance at curving out a positive future for themselves, from as early as Primary school, through secondary school and vocational school. After which they can either work for an established business/institution or start their own enterprise.

The school currently has 139 children in primary school with thirty-nine children in secondary school. The cost of sponsoring a child is thirty-five eight US Dollars (UGX130,000) per month. A small percentage of this is used to pay teachers and to provide scholastic materials, pay utilities as well as food for the children. Plans are under way to install a proper drainage system so that the school doesn’t flood every time it rains. Ellen (Mrs. Suubi) is starting a library. 

As a writer and avid reader of books, I am giving out many child friendly books from my collection. You are welcome to join me, build the library collection, sponsor a child, or contribute a small percentage towards the drainage system so that the books you give don’t get wet! For every book, one could consider adding a small gift of UGX2000 or more. Some people don’t like to be limited (smiley face).

As we boarded our bus back to Kampala, we were greeted with the same beautiful scenery, and I thought to myself, as I looked out the window, trees rushing by; how much knowledge can a child get by reading one book a term? And as I did so, a small voice in my ear: “How many child friendly books and novels do you actually have?”

Let’s figure it out. Join me.