Aisling from Mayo visits Uganda

World Vision sponsor Aisling Ryan is just back from an adventurous trip to Africa where she travelled around Uganda and Tanzania but one of her biggest highlights was meeting the little boy she sponsors called Gabriel.

By Aisling Ryan in conversation with Tressan McCambridge

“I like travelling and going to places off the beaten track so I decided to go to Africa, it’s not quite your normal sun holiday” says World Vision sponsor Aisling Ryan, who lives and works in Castlebar.

Aisling packed her bags and set of with her friend Josephine on her five week trip to Africa. “The first thing I noticed about Uganda was how green it is. I’d just come from Tanzania, which was incredibly dry, but Uganda was different. The people were incredibly friendly.”

“We travelled by bus all over the country seeing the lakes and even the gorillas in the west. It was amazing. But there was something else I’d being wanting to do since before I left Mayo. I sponsor a boy called Gabriel through World Vision Ireland and I wanted to meet him.”

Meeting Gabriel

Luckily World Vision encourages people to visit their sponsored child so they can see firsthand the benefits they are bringing to the community.

“We headed east to the Busia region to meet the World Vision staff who would take me to Gabriel’s village. We were told of how HIV/AIDS, food shortages, preventable diseases and high rates of child abuse are the big challenges they are working with the community to overcome.”

On our way to meet Gabriel and his family, I was told I’d be the first white person to ever visit the village. It was quite an experience. We felt like royalty.

A big crowd came out to meet us. The family were all wearing their Sunday best. They’d made a huge effort to meet us. Gabriel was very quiet at first. I think he was stunned to see us but he’d no problem sitting beside me. I’d brought him a football as a present and he wouldn’t let go of it. It was lovely to meet him and the family.

Health clinics

After lunch, we visited the Busime Health Centre and met the nurses there. It was terrific to see how despite the very basic facilities they just get on with job.

They were loads of women attending the antenatal clinic supported by World Vision and we heard how the number of people going for HIV/AIDS testing has hugely increased.

Knowing your status is really important as it means you can start treatment straight away if necessary and also reduces the risk of further infection.

Education

We talked with the staff and community volunteers about how a lot of people who give to charity just expect to be shown a school or building that’s been built with the money donated. But what’s the point of having a school if they are no pupils in it?

World Vision does a lot of awareness raising in the community of the importance of education, They talk to parents and village elders about why the children should go to school.

Many parents feel the children should be kept at home to help fetch water or work in the fields. They think, I never went to school and I’m fine. You could see how it takes more than just building a school to get the kids into class, you have to get the message out about the value of education as well.

A lot of work goes on as well teaching women basic hygiene skills, such as separating your cooking from your sleeping area and the importance of hand washing. You can’t take that kind of stuff for granted. We even have it here. In hospitals you see signs, ‘please wash your hands’. It helps stop the spread of disease.

Why I became a sponsor

What’s great about sponsorship is that you get to have a relationship with your sponsored child receiving regular photos and updates about him or her. But at the same time, you’re helping his or her whole community because the money is spent on water, food, education and health projects that everyone can benefit from.

It was three years ago that I decided to sponsor Gabriel, just after my niece was born. I wanted her to be aware of how other children live. I show her the photos of Gabriel and when she’s a bit older, I hope she will write to him. It’s a great way to open her eyes to the world.

Farewell

When the time to say goodbye came, it was quite emotional. The women gave me two hand woven mats which they had made for me as a farewell gift. I brought them home with me, they’re really beautiful.

As we were leaving, I watched Gabriel still playing with the football I’d given him. He was smiling and seemed more relaxed now that the attention was off him. His Dad thanked me for sponsoring him and said he really appreciated all the support from Irish sponsors and World Vision.

I later found out that nearly 5000 Irish people sponsor a child in Uganda through World Vision Ireland.

Gabriel wrote to me after I got back to thank me for the visit. He told me how he’s so popular now and all the children in the village are calling over to play with him. I had to laugh, I’ve a suspicion it’s the football they’re really calling over to play with.”

Making a difference

I’d recommend to everyone to sponsor a child if they can. You can even get together and sponsor as a group, I know some of the scouts and brownies do that. You could even get a few friends together or do it as a family.

Having seen the difference it’s making to Gabriel’s community, it’s definitely worthwhile. The needs out there are enormous but if you can just sponsor one child you really can make a difference.”