Kulikayo Organization for the Support of Children in Uganda

On March 24, 2023, the Kulikayo Charity Spring Classic went down in history as Lindsay's first pickleball tournament.  Over 80 competitors from City of Kawartha Lakes, Peterborough, Port Perry, and surrounding area gathered for a day of exercise, thrilling matches and fun.  Many thanks to the athletes and volunteers who came together to make the day a success.

Congratulations to our doubles medallists:   Anne Manley - coed Silver & women's Gold;  Bonnie Thrasher - coed Bronze & women's Bronze;  Brett Dean - coed Bronze  Cassie Seager - coed Silver;  Cathy McKeown - women's Bronze;  Dana & Dan Gildon-Cormier - coed Silver;  Debbie March - coed Gold & women's Silver;  Glen Whiting - coed Gold;  Gulam Hussainbhoy - coed Gold;  Jackie Dusenbury - coed Silver;  Jennifer & Stan Tisshaw - coed Bronze;  Jim Bischoff - coed Bronze;  Judy Byrne - coed Bronze;  Karl Hoefel - men's Bronze;  Ken Haggert - men's Silver;  Kim Phillips - coed Gold;  Lee-Ann Watson - women's Silver;  Mallory Cardinal - women's Gold;  Marc Turcotte - coed Silver;  Mark Brook - coed Gold;  Marty Leeking - coed Gold & men's Gold;  Paul Crowder - coed Silver & men's Silver;  Peter Saler - coed Bronze;  PJ Moore - coed Gold;  Rob Smith - men's Gold;  Scott McKeown - coed Gold;  Tamara Bick - coed Bronze

Wet and Wild

Our trip to Uganda this January was full of adventures and quality time.  We decided this visit that we weren’t going to do any home visits with the Kulikayo families and instead have them all come to us at a central location where we could all spend time together and avoid the ever-incessant Ugandan traffic jams.

We acquired a lovely spot in Jinja, the source of the River Nile, and 31 of us spent the weekend there together.  While it required a lot of logistical planning to get everyone there (and on time as is generally an issue in Africa) it was a fantastic visit.

The kids ate, and swam, and ate, and ate, and danced, and ate, and ate ……

They were more than excited about the accommodations and the running water, the pool, and the ice cream.  We were apologetic to the owners of the property that the pool had half as much water in it when they were done and that the water was a lovely murky brown, but they were more than accommodating and said they were happy to see them having so much fun.

Visiting with them was interesting because so many of them are so grown up now and we had very different conversations with them than we did on our last pre-covid visit.

In the evening, we had a huge bonfire and that is when everyone let their hair down and ditched the “my white sponsors are here” façade.  Aside from the smiles and mesmerising dance moves (Ugandans are born with rhythm) what we took away from the whole experience most of all was the sentiment from them that they feel like a family.  The Kulikayo Family.  For these kids, some of whom have no family at all, this really means a lot and honestly, it felt like a family reunion with cousins teasing each other, Aunties gabbing and watching from the sidelines, and everyone breaking bread together and laughing.

So, this is IT folks, the pièce de résistance.  We are of course thrilled that our Kulikayo Kids are getting a safe home, proper nutrition, and a quality education, but more than that we have been lucky enough to be a part of helping to create a circle of support for these kids that is invaluable.

There were also adventures including broken down boats, Monitor Lizards, chipped elbows on water slides, and unfit vehicles traveling far too fast through clouds of dust, but the real takeaway was the feeling of going on a trip to see distant relatives.

The only problem now, as usual when we leave Uganda, is when can we go back?

Carly and Scott Padget

A great evening around the campfire

Carly, Moses & Scott

The pool got quite a workout

Moses, Cutie & Sarah

Rose doing some harvesting

Shakira, Saleh, Charlotte, Shatra, Sasha with some neighbourhood kids

Marjorie, Shakira, Hasifa & Sandra

Hassan, Jonathan, Jackie, Hasifa & Ibrahim

Scott with Jovan, Sasha, Saleh, Charlotte, Cutie, Daniel, Abe & Carly

Alan & Susan Konyer spent two weeks in Uganda in January.  It was a very busy but joyful and productive experience.  Follow their adventures on the blog site.  http://www.uganda-eh.blogspot.ca

Foster Hewitt was a Canadian icon, a radio and television personality immortalized by his famous play-by-play hockey appearances.  He received the Order of Canada and left a generous charitable foundation legacy.  Our Kulikayo Organization is honoured to have received annual generous awards since the summer of 2019 which will serve as sponsorship for five of our Ugandan schoolchildren.

The third annual end of summer musicfest was blessed with wonderful weather and a terrific slate of performers.  Thank you so much to all who participated and contributed.

Kawartha Lakes This Week reporter Catherine Whitnall met with Kulikayo board members recently to learn about our organization.  Her supportive article was printed in the October 25th edition.  Read it here.

June 11/20: The global pandemic is expected to be particularly severe in the African continent, due to challenges of poverty, limited health care infrastructure, poor communication, and overcrowding.
The Ugandan government took decisive steps in early May to close all schools and shortly thereafter banned all but essential travel within the country. This has posed huge food security and other logistical problems for the population. The country has been ramping up testing, and to date reports only about 700 confirmed cases with no deaths from COVID-19. They are starting to relax restrictions, but have extended the school closures to July.
Two of the Kulikayo moms have been living on a plantation outside Jinja since autumn of 2019. They are relatively isolated there and are starting to harvest crops, providing improved food security. We were able to relocate all of the younger Kulikayo kids to this plantation along with a few older kids who are helping out with child care. To date, there have been the usual challenges with malaria outbreaks, but no confirmed COVID cases in our group. Of concern, one of those two moms is currently in hospital undergoing testing for a new significant health issue. We continue to get daily updates from our employee on the ground, Jackie, who has proven herself extremely resourceful during these stressful weeks.
Our organization is experiencing significant fundraising challenges since the ban on large gatherings continues to curtail most of our planned events. Many thanks to all of our kind supporters who have participated in our "loonie auctions" this past month.