My Last Update with photos

I have hundreds of people on my update list. They are my family, friends, supporters or mere strangers that I have met in passing. The following is the last update that I sent only this time I have included some photos.

You can see more of my photos at reneealina.com

Sad Eyes in Africa

I remember as a child seeing images of starvation from Ethiopia. I clearly remember seeing the skeleton of a child draped in paper thin dry and dirty skin, with a protruding belly, to sick to chase away the flies landing on their faces. Although these images impacted my life, they are not “that” common the capitol of Uganda. I am not in a refugee camp that has run out of food and I don’t see people dying on the streets, at least at first glance. What I have come to realize is the reality of hunger looks much different than the extremes I remember watching on TV as a child.

Forgotten people all over the world have that same dark and distant look in their eyes, often filled with emptiness and pain.

I see it in the eyes of children whose parents make them beg along the main road. My heart breaks whenever I see them looking like fragile mannequins dressed in rags. Their heads nodding from sleep deprivation while their tiny hands are outstretched looking fragile the mother sitting a few feet away. Handing them change is like putting a band aid on a bullet wound.

I see the emptiness in the eyes of the man whose limbs are broken and he is forced to scoot along the road.

I saw it in the eyes of a little girl who I passed along the way to work, these eyes made me stop and think about innocence and first impressions. Not hers, but mine. She was adorable her head smooth, her only clothes and pink and blue princess skirt her belly sticking over the elastic waist and she skipped across the road in front of me. Quickly my mind processed the situation. She was playing and having a blast but her eyes had that desperation in them and I realized that her belly wasn’t from food it was from the lack of food. Her head might have been shaved to keep the lice away but most likely bare from malnutrition. During my time here I have learned that first impressions can be wrong and my innocence from “stupid poverty” is forever lost

At first glance so many of the children I see on the streets here look like they could be “normal” kids. They are full of smiles and always ready to laugh and play. When I remember where I am I realize that they are anything but. They are the statistics that you read about. They are the reasons that we come to places like this attempting to slightly alter the course of their lives, hopefully toward self sufficiency. They are the next generation and we have a choice to unite together and make some changes or to pass by the unseen without a glance. When I get frustrated with my work here I try to remember that I am working on a database that will help this organization impact the lives of these children. I try to remind myself that we are all working towards one goal and that the people I am working along side used to be these children.