We have since met with dozens of MP’s (eg. Min. Stockwell Day and Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Kevin Sorenson) so the word is getting out. Now is the time for people to barrage their MP’s and the PMO. Every Day. This is how we let them know we really care about the plight of real children, women and men whose lives have been disrupted and\or destroyed. The UN has called for troops and support from member countries and Canada has not yet pledged resources for this new force. We must.

Please join me at Prime Minister Harper’s office in Calgary (Glenmore Landing) all day on Friday after 9am where I’ll be on my 5th day on a hunger strike (clear fluids) to draw attention to the important role Canada is not playing yet.

Thanks for writing, calling, meeting or demonstrating to stop this first genocide of the 21st century.

Not on our Watch!

David

 
Message from David: “I arrived in Uganda with my daughter Tandela and her orphan child Mark to finalize his adoption, hopefully before Christmas!  It was a two day journey with minor glitches only and we were quickly immersed in a sea of people and vehicles in Kampala, the capital city of several million. Here at the Equator it is hot and humid (sorry for you there in freezing temperatures). 

This is a place of real contradictions, with wealthy estates from the British colonial times next to abject poverty with street children everywhere and some 4 million orphans from one estimate. Still, there is a strong sense of community here, with families and extended community supporting each other in basic survival and comfort.We traveled quickly over land to Jinja, which is also on Lake Victoria.  It is a city with a much smaller population and beautiful flowering trees and great vistas of rolling hills bending down to the Lake outlet, the source of the Nile River.

People are gracious and hospitable, mostly speaking some English (fortunately, since neither my daughter nor I speak Lugandan!) Large families reveal a serious lack of family planning, education is marginal and not available to those without cash.  Jobs are scarce and pay poorly ($1-2 per day) epitomizing the African struggle.  Still, there is much hope here ince the Museveni government brought some stability.  Unfortunately, the evidence of corruption is predictable and visible everywhere.  Safety and security is present in this smaller community but Kampala has an alarming growth in crime.  We’re on to Mbale next week after getting the adoption papers from the Jinja Health Department.  Wish us luck!

Stay Safe on the roads and take care of each other – like they do here.

David”