New Nyaka AIDS Orphan School

According to the new report by the UNAIDS, 14 million children have lost one or both parents due to AIDS. Approximately 80% of these children, 11 million, live in sub-Saharan Africa—1.7 million of these children live in Uganda. Recent studies in Uganda confirm that orphans who have lost both parents are left destitute. They drop out of school and are drafted into child labor. One man's compassion, the efforts of volunteers in Uganda, and international support in the form of time, money, and prayer, resulted in the opening of Nyaka AIDS Orphan School.

Twesigye Jackson Kaguri, native to Uganda and currently a Bloomington (Indiana) Church elder, is the director of the school. Located in Nyaka, a small rural village in the Kanungu District of Uganda, the school officially opened on January 2 of this year. Speeches by several government officials and school organizers, songs from the Zeituni Adventist Church choir, shouts of happiness, and tears of joy characterized the occasion.

Original plans had been to accommodate 30 students. By opening day, there were 67 registrations and more were still coming. There are currently 50 students enrolled, and if more resources were available, none would be turned away. Nyaka is the only school in Uganda providing free education to AIDS orphans.

Brijati, 12, is currently the oldest student at Nyaka. Her dad died of HIV/AIDS in 1997, and her mom died two days later. She and her young brother, Bosco, were put on a truck the next day with what was left of their possessions after nearly everything was sold to buy medicine for their parents. Brijati had a great grandmother who was still alive in her 90s. When Brijati arrived in her new village, she was charged with the duty of taking care of her great grandmother and young brother in a mud, grass-thatched shack. Brijati's job was to wake up early, fetch firewood and water from miles away, do house work, till land, prepare lunch, get food from the garden, wash clothes, wash dishes, build a fire, and all the while make sure her grandmother's needs were met, as she has been unable to walk for the past four years.

Brijati had just begun attending school when her parents died. When her grandmother learned there was an AIDS orphan school opening in the area, she told Brijati to come ask if she could be admitted. Girls are more at risk because they are expected to take care of their siblings when their parents are gone. Brijati said, “You have saved me, because my uncle had started telling me that I should get married soon. He was looking for a man to marry me. Now that I am in school, that will not happen.”

Through the efforts of Twesigye Jackson Kaguri, his colleagues and volunteers, and the financial support of many, Brijati and 49 other AIDS orphans have begun a new life. Prayers have been answered and much has been accomplished, but so much more needs to be done. For more information about Nyaka AIDS Orphan School, contact Twesigye at twejaka@hotmail.com, or visit the school website at http://php.indiana.edu/~tkaguri/nyaka.html.

Mission: AIDS Orphans in Uganda

Bloomington Elder's Compassion Leads to New Nyaka AIDS Orphan School

(from the July 2003 issue)