November 20, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Hiller brings hope, education to African kids
by BARBARA WYBAR

Women must pick bananas and carry them long distances on foot back to their village. (The photos accompanying this article were taken by the students at the vocational school or the Children of Peace orphan support program who participated in the training led by Scott Douglas. He is a volunteer from New Jersey who somehow heard about Barbara Wybar’s work and went to Bududa armed with cameras to donate to the program along with other materials and to teach the kids.)

Barbara Wybar is a Chestnut Hill resident who has spent most of the last year living and working as a volunteer in the village of Bududa, Uganda. She sends back periodic reports to the Local.

After spending two months visiting friends and relatives in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., I returned to Bududa to continue the work you all so generously support. I have to tell you about my exciting first day back in Bududa.

Accompanying me were two volunteers, Kaitlyn Riordan, an energetic 26 year old graduate of The Study in Montreal, joining us to teach English for three months, and Scott Douglas, a dynamic businessman from New Jersey, who would be spending 10 days teaching our students how to take pictures and communicate with photography. We would all be staying in the new guesthouse, completed in my absence, although furnished only with bed frames and mattresses.

I had been nervous about returning, wondering how the projects were faring in my absence, and whether these volunteers who had come so far, and given up so much, would find our efforts worthwhile.

Saturday began early and was sunny and glorious as we headed down the hill to meet the Children of Peace and their teachers.. The welcome was heartwarming.

Kaitlyn seemed inspired by the music and drama program. She watched the music instructor teach the children how to play the instruments, sing and dance, and then she led them in some acting activities.

Scott worked right away with the secondary school class. He brought with him all the equipment needed to teach local children how to take pictures, and upload them onto a computer. Can you imagine opening the hearts of these kids by giving them a shiny new camera, showing them a few basics and then telling them to just take pictures? They did the rest. By the end of the day we had the students’ pictures projected on the wall.

As if this was not enough of a highlight for the first day back in Bududa, I had another thrilling moment in store. While I was in North America, I took 40 baskets made by our own Children of Peace and many paper bead necklaces mostly made by local indigent women. I sold as many as I could for as high a price as I dared charge.

I collected the money here and there over the seven weeks, and kept it in a beat-up old envelope, eventually accumulating $2,000. Two of the orphans had made particular efforts to make baskets and bring them back to me. Over a couple of months Kimono Harriet and Nakuti Madina stood out as the two most interested and capable. I knew their home conditions were frightful. They were from the poorest of the poor homes with barely enough to eat. Harriet has no parents and Madina has a very sad Mum and two or three younger brothers.

My wish had been to have these two girls into boarding school, where they have a chance at an education. I checked with Hellen, the CoP Program Director and the faculty who agreed it was a fine idea. I was wondering if the girls would be homesick, but the teachers laughed and assured me they would not. I was reminded of the conditions from which they came.

We called Madina and Harriet to our meeting. I told them we raised money to send them to boarding school. What followed is etched in my memory and is enough to carry me through any doubting moments. Harriet’s face lit up with the biggest smile reflecting the depth of her happiness.

She said not a word, but sat quietly smiling. Nakuti Madina reacted a little differently, she jutted out her lower jaw, blew upward at the same time the smile grew from ear to ear on her lovely black face. Then she took both her hands and pulled them down over her face, as if to say, “Is this really happening to me?”

Ten months after restarting this program, I feel proud of what we do for these children. We continually try to improve their lives and prospects. We have recently hired a medical assistant who comes every Saturday morning to tend to the sick children, and provides medicine when needed.

We play volleyball and soccer, have an exciting music program, share two meals each day, and teach essential life skills. With special thanks to Hannah Mercuris, a volunteer from Philadelphia this summer, Germantown Friends School and Chestnut Hill Academy, we have wonderful educational teaching materials and a new way to teach math.

The winning feature of our guesthouse is our sweet, fabulous cook, Mary, who lives with us and takes too good care of us. She is 26 years old, HIV positive, and has become best friends with Kate, our first guest.

While the challenges we face every day are great, I feel blessed to live in this lovely place with the sun pouring in every morning. It is beautifully clean, the view is exhilarating, the birds are exotic, and it is very peaceful here in our hillside perch. I extend my heartfelt thanks to you all for your support.

You can contact Barbara Wybar by phone at 011,256-773-923-376 or by e-mail at bwybar@yahoo.com.