Above: Dr. Terri Nordin (center), a family physician from North Brunswick, assisted with rounds at a medical center in Kaberamaido, Uganda, during a visit by Point Community Church of North Brunswick in November. Right: Ugandan children celebrate the opening of a Care Point building in Kaberamaido, Uganda, that members of the church helped to fund and build. NORTH BRUNSWICK — What started as a simple sponsorship project has turned into a life-changing experience for children in Uganda.
Members of Point Community Church, North Brunswick, began sponsoring a group of children in the area of Kaberamaido through an organization called Children’s HopeChest about a year ago. The incentive for the idea was spurred when Kate DeAndrea, a township resident, visited a Kenyan orphanage two years ago.
“Once your eyes are opened to what’s going on, it’s very difficult to say you don’t want to be involved and don’t want to help,” she said.
Through HopeChest, members send $34 each month to provide meals, school fees, medical needs and religious education for children in the village. The church made a long-term commitment, and 115 of the most vulnerable children in the area are being supported.
“Families will care for the needs of their nieces or nephews or grandchildren. It’s not just about letting the children live with them. It’s about meeting their daily needs,” said Kevin DeAndrea, Kate’s husband.
To show that the sponsors care a great deal for the children, a group of nine people went to visit the small rural agricultural district inAugust. The town has been highly affected by the HIV epidemic, as well as the slaughtering of men and livestock by a rebel army. There are oxen and plows, pit latrines and mud huts with thatched roofs.
“When you lose one adult, and one adult tries to farm for six or seven kids, it’s hard,” Kate DeAndrea said. “It is equally as devastating to lose one adult in terms of sustaining finances.”
The group flew through Europe into Kampala, Uganda, and then took an eighthour van ride to reach the village, according to the DeAndreas, who were part of the trip in August.
“They just want to hold your hand and touch your skin … or touch your hair,” Kate DeAndrea said. “They crave affection and they crave attention. They want to play with us.”
They said the children were baffled by the fair skin of the Americans, the fact that they don’t have goats or chickens as pets but instead have dogs and cats, and that they drive cars to commute to work. The people down there also did not know of McDonald’s.
To continue the personal contact with the kids, five more adults returned to the village from Nov. 1 to Nov. 10. A nurse practitioner, anesthesiologist and physicians provided medical services.
Dr. Terri Nordin, of North Brunswick, who is a family physician, said they visited with 130 children and disciplers who care for the orphans and the community at large. Working with the medical professionals already down there, the New Jersey group hung mosquito nets above the hospital beds, built beds that were sitting in boxes, and did medical exams on 110 people.
Their help supplemented the care that the one clinical officer at the health center provides to 100 patients a day. Medication is available but is very limited and runs out quickly. Nordin said the most common ailments were malaria, amoebic dysentery, high blood pressure and asthma.
“It was very heartbreaking to see children and parents suffer. … There are solutions to their health problems and most have a very easy solution in terms of medication but… they’re not able to afford them,” she said .
Last year, the DeAndreas led the effort to purchase a piece of land to build a community center. During Nordin’s visit the center was opened, after nine months of construction.
“They were singing songs, they were shouting, they were dancing,” Nordin said of the children’s’ reaction to the building, also known as the Care Point. “They had such big smiles on their faces.”
Since there is no electricity and only some water in the remote village, the visitors from Point Community Church are now fundraising for a well. Kevin DeAndrea said the nearest water is a half-mile away.
“Young children carrying large pitchers of water with their 3-year-old sister following behind them is pretty much their day,” he said. “They get water, go home and prepare their meals, and do it again the next day.”
Anyone interested in sponsoring a child, mailing a personalized letter or donating for the well can send a tax-deductible check to Point Community Church, Memo: Uganda, 623 Georges Road, Suite C-1, North Brunswick, NJ 08902. Donations of children’s vitamins are also needed.
The next trips to Uganda are planned for May and August.
“The thought that someone in another country, another land, cares for them enough to send them a letter changes their lives,” Kate DeAndrea said. “They feel important again and they feel cared for, and that they have a life and they have a future.”
For more information, call 732-470- 0059, visit pointcommunitychurch.org, or visit Facebook under carepoint68/5.