Ironwork was developed there 2,000 years ago, but years of civil unrest and violence in many areas have led to the country being what it is today. An average wage is about $400 per year.
Psychology professor Tish Hutchinson, a member of Rainbow City’s Christ Central Church, recently returned from a 16,000-mile round-trip to that stricken country which has a heavily infected HIV population.
“The death toll of men and women from that disease has led to 5,000 children being left in the care of a few orphanages,” she said. “Thousands of other children, of all ages, are simply left to the streets.
“I joined a group of 55 missioners from several denominations and seven states to deliver food to rural orphanages,” she said. “The poverty I saw was absolutely indescribable; children with filthy clothes, infected ringworm and open sores, playing in the dirt. No grass, just dirt — it reminded me of growing up in Perry County.”
Hutchinson has traveled to more than 30 countries but never to any in Africa. “I have always wanted to go to Africa and work with orphans; this past year I applied for a trip and was accepted,” she said.
“The Ugandan Thunder Show Choir performed in this area last year, and I hosted several children while they were here,” she said. “I saw the opportunity to go to where they came from and felt God calling me to do so. It was a wonderful experience for me and all who made the trip.”
The story begins with Ted Moody, a retired Georgia minister who had his heart broken on a trip to Uganda. A pastor there asked Moody to please help him feed the orphan children he was trying to care for, because they had no food.
Hutchinson said what began in 2007 with Vacation Bible School donations for one orphanage has grown in the last six years to include 14 different orphanages.
“Pennies for Posho (finely ground corn meal mixed with beans, a staple food in Uganda) now feeds 5,000 children three meals a day, 365 days a year,” she said. “The food is delivered three times a year by teams such as the one I was on. The funds come from sponsorships of the children, which is $9 a month per child. Other funds are gained through love offerings collected at concerts by the Ugandan Thunder Show Choir.”
One of the schools visited by Hutchinson’s group was impressive in that it was well run. ”But the needs are great,” she said. “The girl’s dorm was about the size of two of our upstairs bedrooms and housed 59 girls — no beds, just mats. But they were so proud of their home. The boys’ dorm was about half that size and housed 39 boys who slept in shared bunk beds.”
The nearest water source for the school is more than a mile away meaning a long walk — the only means of transportation — to obtain a bucket of what is not necessarily clean water. That walk has to be done several times a day to carry water for several hundred children.
A drive is under way to raise $10,000 to dig a well and pipe it into the school. Hutchinson has pledged to raise $1,000 for that project from this area.
“Our group has pledged the entire amount, and the work to build the well is already underway,” she said.
Hutchinson’s lifelong dream of working with orphans in Africa has been fulfilled. “I’m thrilled to be a sponsor of ‘Pennies for Posho’ and the Ugandan Thunder Show Choir, which is made up of very talented children ranging in age from six to 12 years old,” she said. The choir is scheduled to return to the Gadsden area in 2014.
More information regarding “Pennies for Posho” is available at www.penniesforposho.org. Hutchinson is available for speaking engagements by calling Christ Central Church, 256-442-6625.