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Feature Stories
Across the Generations: Bantwana Offers Support for Children and Caregiver Grandmothers
Kaborole, Uganda — Life was much easier for 80-year-old Zewuriya Rukesha when she was growing up in Kaborole district, Uganda. "I had good health, I had my family. Life was not easy… but it is not nearly as difficult as it is today."
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| Despite their hardship, Zewuriya and her grandson, Charles find courage and strength in their family and are encouraged by support from Bantwana partner Ngombe Health Project. |
Zewuriya knows about hardship and survival: She has outlived all five of her children and her husband, who died in 1994. Today, at age 80, Zewuriya is the sole caregiver for six grandchildren, and one great-grandchild who is severely developmentally disabled. All eight family members share a cramped two-bedroom mud house with neither electricity nor running water.
Zewuriya is not sure how all of her children died, but she suspects that some of them died of AIDS. "They were living away from here: some were in Kampala, others in other parts of the country. Someone would just show up and tell me that my son or my daughter had died. They would come with the body; it was always a shock for me. And here are their children; I've had to look out for them."
One of her grandchildren, Charles, credits his grandmother with raising him. In 1994, both of Charles' parents died, along with Zewuriya's husband and three other people in the household. "I was only five-years-old," says Charles. "I didn't know what to do. Luckily, my grandmother took care of me."
"When I was young, I would pray to God everyday to help me. My friends in school would encourage me, and the teachers would tell me to keep trying, but it has been really hard," says Charles. Zewuriya has a small piece of land and grows food to feed the family. The pain associated with age prevents her from tending to her fields and now she must rely on her family to do the work she can no longer do. "This past year," Charles continues, " had to miss a lot of school to tend to my grandmother's fields, and because my grades were very poor, I cannot go back to school next year. I am not sure what I will do."
Zewuriya has received support for school-related expenses for two of her grandchildren from Bantwana partner, Ngombe Health Project, a community-based organization in Kabarole district. With Bantwana support, Ngombe will be able to expand their livelihoods training program and increase psychosocial support and child protection for children and caregivers in families like Zewuriya's.
"There are many, many families like Zewiriya's here in Kaborole District," says Raymond, the Ngombe Health project Program Officer. "Situations are very difficult here, but the communities trust us and they know we are doing as much as we can. With Bantwana's help, we will be able to do more and we are grateful for that."