Today, as I was coming from church, along Entebbe road, I walked up to Kampala road. Along the lights before you cross to bank of Baroda, there is a Bata shop. I found a very young boy, the ones who beg on the streets of Kampala. He looked hungry and sick. Like he had been in a nasty fight. His face was broken, lips all swollen, he looked defeated by life but he was sitting on the verandah with arms outstretched, begging.
I walked on, to charm towers, there I met two little girls or or may be boys. They could not have been more than four years. They were sitting on that pavement of charm towers. They looked hungry, tired and beaten.
I felt pain from deep within. I started to wonder: if they are working, (begging on the streets) isn’t it child labour? Is it acceptable in Uganda today? Who is responsible for these children?
Ideally this is an African set up, where we have extended family and we cannot fail to trace one’s relatives however distant! These children have got relatives; can’t they be placed in the care of relatives? Has Uganda become so indifferent to their kith and kin?
Then I remembered that a few weeks ago, we celebrated the “African child’s day”. What do the organizers of that particular event celebrate when Ugandan children are on their own streets begging? What do their celebrations focus on, if not on the plight of such children?
Rwanda had a similar problem, not long after the 1994 genocide.
Today, you cannot find anybody on the streets of Kigali begging!
I have no idea how they did it, but may be our daddy, Museveni should consult with his neighbor and son, kagame on this issue.
It is really sad and embarrassing to see our own kinsmen suffering while we look on! We are destroying sooo many generations of Ugandans.
May God Help us and help these kids.
