El Shadai Foster Home

I knew the moment I met Stephen that he was someone special. There are certain people that just have a light around them... “good energy” I guess you could call it.

Stephen Wante is 30 years of age and runs the El-Shadai Foster Home in Bugembe, right outside of Jinja town. The home offers shelter, compassion, counseling and support to app. 30 children, with ages ranging from 3 years to 20 years. The children’s background and home districts vary widely, but all tell the story of poverty, neglect, abuse, conflict and abandonment. The home is a family-style environment and the children treat each other as brothers and sisters, and “Uncle” Stephen as a trusted and respected father figure. There are no “care-takers” and all the chores are shared. The home gets by with the basic essentials but El-Shadai requests financial support to help pay for the constant costs of food, medicine and education.

My first day at the home each child greets me with a sweet and sincere “you are welcome here, Auntie”. That’s right. First Sister Sherry and now Auntie Sherry, my family keeps getting bigger. My heart breaks when I learn of the backgrounds of these children. They have had nothing, and even now have so little. But they are not bitter nor resentful, but giving, genuine and open-minded. Sarah has showed me how to African tribal dance (the hip movement blows salsa away). Sam and I have painted batiks, Agnes makes us tea and helps me with the language... and who’s teaching whom? I watch 3 year old Gloria as she flips my hands over and over and tries to “wipe” off the white of my skin, then she giggles as she places her hands within mine to see how “cool” that there is a difference in color. She holds both our hands up as if to say, do you notice the difference? “Yes it is cool, and wouldn’t it be nice if the rest of the world thought so”.

Although I would be spending several days with El-Shadai, I knew I wanted to do something more for them, which is why I am initiating a group project of “memory portraits”.

A “memory portrait” (not to be confused with last blog’s memory BOOK) was an idea started by Ben Schumaker of Wisconsin. Ben’s mission statement:

I founded the Memory Project in October,

Making Batiks

2004, following the advice of a
man in Guatemala. Having grown up in an orphanage, this young man did
not have any pictures from his earliest years or any parents to share
memories of his youth. Consequently, he felt that much of his childhood
had been forgotten, and he shared this feeling with a group of university
students working at the orphanage. As one of the students, I was very
moved by his story, and I founded the Memory Project as a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit organization after returning home.

The idea is to create original portraits for children living in orphanages around the world. Given that children who have been abandoned, neglected, abused, or
orphaned usually have few personal keepsakes, the purpose of the portraits
is to provide them with a special memory of their youth and to help honor
their heritage and identity.(www.thememoryproject.org)

I contacted Ben who has given me permission to steal this fabulous idea for the children of El Shadai.

So my mission: Get to know the kids, write their stories and take their photos. I am now looking for 34 artists (hopefully) willing to create a portrait for each of the children. Once the portraits are complete, an exhibition/fundraiser will take place. The children are also giving me their crafts to sell which include some gorgeous baskets made by the girls and batiks made by the boys. All funds raised, along with the original portraits, will be sent directly to the children of El-Shadai.

Stephen and the children are beyond ecstatic about the idea (although i pray that it isn’t me creating the 34 portraits). “Wow! You mean not just a photo, but a real piece of art?” They couldn’t believe that someone who doesn’t know them would do such a thing, that someone who doesn’t even know them, well... cares. I believe strongly that these portraits would help give them a sense of identity, and above all, hope...which I guarantee will be worth more than any amount of money.




Now with all that said, any artist, or anyone who knows an artist, who would be willing to do a portrait... please contact me! (FYI - you can be living anywhere on the planet to participate!)




Special Thanks from Stephen and the children:

Courtney Bowman, Barbie Brilliantes, Deirdre Devlin, Lou Schonder, Karen Tizer, and mom: Your monetary donations will be given to El-Shadai, thank you!

Books, medicine and/or children's clothes were also kindly donated and received gratefully: Thank you to The Bragitikos Family, The Jara Family, Karen Tizer, Laurie Menyo, Marlene, Tanya & Dominic

Lisa Reynolds thank you for your camera, the portraits wouldn't be happening without it. (and I"ll leave the video of the African tribal dance on there for your entertainment!)

All those who donated girls/women clothing see the CYORF blog, and give yourself a round of applause!




FYI an idea of education costs:

900,000 USH or $520 USD pays for:
Annual School Tuition (Tuition, accomodation and 3 meals a day)

60,000 USH or $34.62 USD pays for:
Uniform (3 shirts + 2 pants)

20,000 USH or app. $40 USD pays for:
Pocket Money (Bus fares etc.)

40,000 USH or app. $20 USD pays for:
Books (Books for year, pen, paper, etc.)

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