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Uganda, said Winston Churchill in the early 1900s, is “a fairytale”. “You climb up a railway instead of a beanstalk, and at the end is a wonderful new world,” he described.

The locals are quite proud of this tag today.

Pick up a guidebook or tour brochure while you’re in the east African country and you may find the obligatory mention there.

After just a few days in modern-day Uganda and a trip to meet Bwindi’s famous silverback gorillas, I think I can glimpse fairytale elements in the Pearl of Africa. The usually sunny climate and the always-cheery locals in particular often seem too good to be true, especially since I’m visiting from dreary London.

But in fairytales everybody has trials to face and difficulties to overcome. Sadly Uganda is burdened with a huge homelessness problem, visible to both ‘mzungus’ and locals.

Growing up in an unhappy home where he didn’t get along with his stepmother Kabati Ayub, who now runs Uganda’s popular Destreet Art project, often longed for a fairytale ending. “Some nights I would leave and spend the night on the streets in pursuit of an alternative source of happiness, only to arrive home the next day to the mistreatment of my family,” recalls the 22-year-old. “Some nights I would go to church and mosques for prayers, trying to explain to God that my situation wasn’t good, but I failed.”

The stories that the other street kids in Uganda’s’ ghetto neighbourhoods shared with Kabati, while he was searching for a better life provided a comfort to him. He eventually realized one thing: that whether you have a roof over your head or are walking the streets, the grass isn’t necessarily greener on the other side. Everyone has their own share of problems.

“Those who lived on the streets were happy and yet they had nothing, while no matter what I did at home I could not find the same fulfillment,” he points out.

When he started high school Kabati introduced himself to his classmates as “street”, because of his time spent with the ghetto kids. He now spends his days running Destreet Art, a non-profitable and non-political project, to “empower the voices of the youth to become a colorful civil society invested in improving Uganda’s future”. It embraces art, music, storytelling, drama, photography, poetry and dancing.

Besides collaborating with local hip-hop artistes at the Ugandan National Theatre,  he holds mobile youth art workshops, mostly in Kampala and Jinja. Destreet Art works mainly with young people aged between seven and 16 years of age. The profits from Kabati’s screen printed t-shirts go towards new projects for Kampala’s children, because “creative expression is a vehicle of social community development”, insists Kabati.

Of course Destreet Art, despite its vivid creations which stand out to the mzungus when they see them, is only as good as its volunteers. So far there have been helpers from Canada, the UK, the US and New Zealand. They have all discovered the project after arriving in the Ugandan capital. The volunteers spend time with the children, helping set up art workshops, among other tasks.

Kabati is currently looking for more international helpers, particularly people to assist with administrative work and the website. Local volunteers are always welcome, too.

Overseas volunteers must cover their own food and transport, plus flights and visas. Ugandan volunteers must provide their own food and transport.

But in return for their time Kabati can provide accommodationfree of charge at his home in Bukoto.

According to the Lonely Planet, Uganda has “more volunteer opportunities than many African countries thanks to a number of good grassroots organizations”, including babies’ homes, schools and youth projects like Destreet Art.

Destreet says volunteering is a rewarding experience, not just for the children involved but also for the international guests, and for him.

“You will find school and college-age students mixing with graduates and career-breakers. You will see retired volunteers mixing with gap-year students and undergraduates,” he says. “This diversity means there are always interesting perspectives to be found, and new people you can identify with.

“Everybody has a story. Often it will be the person you least expected!”

For more information log onto; http://destreetart.webs.com 

Tel: + 256 779 339 911

Email:  kdestreet@yahoo.com

About the Author:

Amy Fallon is an Australian freelance journalist based in London. She has a special interest in Africa & has been there seven times.

Please see www.amyfallon.com

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