Kironde Jovan

Two weeks ago I had the privilege of meeting Kironde Jovan, the child that my parents sponsor through Compassion International. We always knew that he was from Uganda, but we found out while I was home at Christmas that he actually lived in the Kampala area. So we set up a time with Compassion so that I could meet him and his family. It was an incredibly rewarding experience to be able to meet him and see how my parents support really helps him and his family.

[Side note: The ki- in southern Uganda is actually pronounced with a ch- sound so his first name is pronounced chee-rone-day. He goes by his second name, Jovan, though.]

He is the third born child in his family. He has two older brothers Kenneth and Charles. Jovan was born in 2001 and just turned ten earlier this year. His father died in 2003 so it is now just his mother and two brothers in the family. Jovan says he doesn't remember anything of his father; he was too young when he died. Jovan is now in primary 5 (5th grade), and I got to see all of his report cards over the years. I even got to see all of his doctors notes and all of the drafts of the letters he has written to my parents over the years. He is a very smart and healthy boy. His favorite subjects in school are English and science. He was to be a pilot when he grows up. He was a very quiet boy. I am sure he was rather intimated having me there but he didn't have much to say and spoke very quietly.

His mother grows and roasts maize for a living. Unfortunately, she is just coming away from a dry season that was very tough on the family. Additionally, with oil prices going up, the prices of everything seem to be skyrocketing. As a result, they have had very little food lately. One of the gifts I brought for the family was several kilos of rice, beans, flour, and sugar. They were very grateful for the gifts. It was one of those things that really makes you put things in perspective about whats really important in life. I also gave Jovan a soccer ball and cross necklace that my parents sent over with me, both of which he was very excited about.

Here are a few photos from the day:

Meeting Jovan for the first time outside his Compassion project.

Getting to see all his papers and report cards.

Giving him his soccer ball and necklace. He didn't say much, but you could tell he was really excited.

Meeting the whole family and giving them some food.

Even though they didn't have much, they still gave me a soda and bogoyas (sweet bananas). It is common in the culture to serve a meal to any guests that you have.

A picture of the whole family. Their house had two small rooms. We are in the sitting room. In the photo, you can see about half of the room. Then they had one bedroom, approximately the same size as the sitting room. I could basically see all of their possessions as soon as I walked in.

Standing outside with the family, getting a full shot of the house.