 |  | Listen to Emmy Anguyo talk about his journey from living in an Ugandan orphanage to studying in the United States. |
Emmy Anguyo never had the chance to say goodbye to his mother. She died four years ago of AIDS in Uganda. "I wanted very much to at least take a glance at her last breath, when she was dying,” Emmys says. “But I was here in the United States on tour with the Children of Uganda." Her death left Emmy an orphan, as his father had died in 1992. Sixteen-year-old Gyavira Kasule has no memory of either of his parents. Both died of AIDS when he was just an infant. Emmy and Gyavira are from Uganda, a country where AIDS is the leading cause of death, killing more than 300 people a day. They are just two of an estimated 1.7 million AIDS-related orphans in Uganda, which has the largest number of AIDS orphans of any country in the world. Emmy, 20 years old now, has a simple response when asked about the impact of AIDS in his homeland: "It left me parentless," he says. Despite their personal tragedies, Emmy and Gyavira count themselves as among the lucky ones in Uganda. Both are optimistic about their future and grateful for the fact they were able to live in one of Uganda's Daughters of Charity Orphanages. A Place to Call Home Gyavira lived in an orphanage from about the age of three. "It was great because I had the chance to get an education, to have shelter and medicine and food and to be around other children - to play with them," Gyavira says. "In the orphanage, it was great to know I had a path to my future. Every day I woke up and had something to eat, had someone to show me love and to be friends with." It's a sentiment shared by Emmy. "Living in the orphanage was a privilege, as very many people in Uganda don't have anyone to take care of them. When you are in an orphanage, you have someone to take care of you, you have clothing, shelter. You feel comforted and have friends who are similar to me," says Emmy. The person who provided them the most comfort during their years in the orphanage was a nun named Sister Rose Muyinza, who founded the Daughters of Charity orphanages in 1972, with the aim of caring for children who lost their parents to war, AIDS and other diseases. It was through his father that Emmy landed in the Daughters of Charity orphanage. "My dad used to work for the primary school at the orphanage in the capital, Kampala. He was sick and asked for leave to go home to the northern part of Uganda as he couldn't manage to work anymore, because he was too weak," Emmy says. "Sister Rose asked my father to leave me with her. I think she liked me." Emmy was then five years old. "At first, when I was young I didn't think about him dying. I just thought he was sick. I thought he would come back at anytime. But after a few years, they came and told us that my father had died. I cried very much. Sister Rose comforted me and told me think of your mom." But for Emmy, Sister Rose became his mother. Gyavira grew up calling his grandmother "mom.” His grandmother took him and his siblings in after their parents died. Gyavira thinks he was about eight months old at the time. They lived in a village in the AIDS-ravaged Rakai district, southwest of the capital, Kampala. "It was a poor rural area," Gyavira says. "My grandmother didn't have a job. She had a little garden. She would get up in the morning and go to her garden and grow some food for us to eat. She didn't have anything to do except go to her garden and grow food." Gyavira's grandmother could not afford to pay for his education. It was the deciding factor that led her to approach the orphanage and ask for Gyavira to be taken in. She had earlier asked for his siblings to also be cared for in the same orphanage. Uganda Children's
Charity Foundation | Since 1995, Sister Rose's work in Uganda has been supported by a United States based nonprofit organization, the Uganda Children's Charity Foundation (UCCF).
The foundation assists in the operation of two orphanages and also supports children living with HIV-positive widowed mothers. In all, it cares for about 700 children. The UCCF also sponsors the education of Ugandan children abroad with a US scholarship program. As part of its fundraising activities, it produces an award winning dance troupe, called Children of Uganda, to not only raise funds, but also increase awareness of AIDS. |
"It was hard for her, but she had to do it," he says. "Because she saw there was no alternative, she couldn't afford the school fees. The orphanage then paid for my school fees." Preparing for the Future Gyavira has been living in the United States for the past four years. At the age of 12, he was chosen by the Uganda Children's Charity Foundation to take part in their study scholarship program - a move that's allowed him to study at the Bishop Lynch High School in Dallas, Texas. He started school in Dallas in the sixth grade and will stay until he's completed college. A strong performance in math has prompted him to consider a career in engineering. Gyavira says school in the United States has presented him with a great opportunity. "The schools here have computers and textbooks and the education is much higher here. Schools here are so much better because they have all they need. They have textbooks. They have books. The teachers are able to talk to the students. In Uganda, you maybe have one book and a pencil and little chance to talk to the teacher after class." Nonetheless, even in Uganda, Gyavira says he was lucky to be among those receiving an education. "AIDS has caused a lot of children to be homeless in Uganda, "he says. "You see them living on the streets. They walk around with nothing to do. Many women are left alone without husbands and with no jobs. They can't pay school fees for their children." Emmy too has high hopes from his academic pursuits. Thanks to Emmy's sponsor, he's now studying at the El Centro Community College in Dallas and wants to study business law, majoring in accounting. "I very much want to deal with accounting and with managing the funds of companies. I also want to bring justice in terms of business in business law. I believe I have the ability to talk and feel confident that I will be able to represent people."Emmy says he's blessed - particularly because of the generosity of UCCF. "UCCF does a great job in caring for children back in Uganda. They not only give clothing, food and shelter, but also friendship and love - which is not common for most of the orphans in my country," he says. For both, there is no question about their future. When they finish studying in the US they want to return to Uganda to give something back to their homeland.
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