Wo I d

Exploring Uganda

Student's work with orphans, village projects leads to meaningful family reunion.

Stephanie Steinberg

Special to the Jewish News

S

ome families travel Up North for a
summer vacation. The Kornfelds
of West Bloomfield planned a
summer trip to Uganda.
Daughter Julie Kornfeld, a junior at
Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.,
attended a 10-week study abroad program
in Uganda from March to June. At the end
of the program, Julie's parents, Rob and
Pam, and brother Danny, 17, joined her for
a two-week expedition through Uganda.
At Makerere University in Kampala, Julie
studied Ugandan public health, politics,
music, dance and drama, and Luganda
— the most popular language spoken in
Uganda. Although she is earning degrees
in social policy and political science, with a
minor in global health, she said studying in
Uganda gave her a firsthand learning expe-
rience no college class could offer.
While in Uganda, Julie was partnered
with a non-governmental organization
called KAYDA, which provides shelter, food
and clothes, and covers school fees for 45
orphans and children living on the streets.
"Some kids are just runaways:' Julie said,
"but most of them are orphaned because of
AIDS, violence or lack of money"
Besides working with the children, Julie
engaged in tikkun olam by participating in
several community service projects. One
weekend she helped build a pit latrine — a
hole in the ground surrounded by an enclo-
sure that is used for going to the bathroom
— for a 300-member community that
earned revenue by fishing.
"Their old pit latrine had been flooding
for two years and it was not usable,' Julie
said. Community members instead had been
eliminating waste into the waters they fished.
During another weekend, Julie put
on a performance with her theater class
for more than 1,000 Ugandans, teaching
through song and dance the benefits of vis-
iting a hospital when ill instead of a witch
doctor — a spiritualist who calls on spirits
and gods for medical healing.
Even though healthcare is free in Uganda,
Julie said Ugandans continue to seek medi-
cal assistance from witch doctors.
"They choose not to go to hospitals
either because they're scared, there's myths
about [hospitals] or some [facilities] are far
away:' she said.
She added that witch doctors have no
medical training and cost more than doctor

52

September 17 2009

Julie Kornfeld with some of the children she worked with in Uganda.

visits because patients usually offer goats
and other goods as payments.
While Julie adapted to the cultural differ-
ences, she said the most emotional part of
the experience was getting close to kids she
might never see again.
As an example, she described a 5-year-
old boy named Niko who lives in a commu-
nity filled with garbage. While volunteers
gathered trash in a pile to burn, Julie spent
the day rummaging through the burning
heap with swarming flies, looking for shoes
for Niko and other barefooted children.

A Family Reunion
When the progam ended, Julie was excited
to have her family meet the kids she
worked with and to show them Uganda.
As their own family tzedakah project,
each family member brought an additional
large suitcase filled with clothes and school
supplies, which they donated to KAYDA.
"It seemed like we were bringing so
much, but it was so little said Pam, wish-
ing she could have brought more.
"I think the most difficult thing for me
to accept was that you couldn't do enough
to help anyone Rob said. "We could help a
couple of people, but its an overwhelming
task to solve their problems"
Besides bringing supplies, the Kornfelds
are sponsoring a child in KAYDA for $60.
The sponsorship pays the education fees for
the child to attend school for one year and
provides a uniform and school supplies.
Although primary and secondary educa-

tion is free in Uganda, kids are not allowed
to attend school if they do not have the
proper uniform or materials like pencils
and paper.
Throughout the trip, Pam said she saw
kids walking on the side of the road in uni-
forms."But you would see [just as many]
kids by the roadside not going to school.
They weren't in uniforms because they
couldn't afford it:'

established their own Jewish community.
They built their first synagogue in 1922.
Today, the Abayudayans remain obser-
vant Jews as they celebrate Shabbat, Jewish
holidays, read from the Torah and keep
kosher.
Abayudaya — located in Eastern Uganda
— has six small synagogues, consisting
of mud and brick rooms with no windows
or doors. For decoration, Jewish stars and
menorahs are drawn on the walls in white
chalk. Pam felt a connection when she
saw a calendar from the American Jewish
Federation on the wall in one home. The
date read December 2004.
"They were using it as a decoration',' she
said, "and the fact it had Hebrew on it was
important to them:'
The Abayudans are currently building a
seventh temple, but have paused because of
insufficient funds.
"They only build when they have money:'
Pam said. "When they run out of money,
they stop building" The Kornfelds gave
them a mezuzah to hang in the doorway
when the structure is complete.
Before leaving the U.S., Pam learned
Abayudan women needed measuring cups
and spoons for a cookbook they are writing
to sell in North America. Pam brought them
dozens of each, in addition to a cookbook
put together by the sisterhood at Temple
Shir Shalom in West Bloomfield, where the
Kornfelds belong.
During their visit, Rob was surprised to
see the Abayudans' primitive living condi-
tions.

Jewish Connections
During their tour of the country, the
Kornfelds visited the only Jewish commu-
nity in Uganda. These 600 Jews call them-
selves the "Abayudaya" or Children of Judah. Exploring Uganda on page 54
The community
was formed in 1919,
when their Bantu
tribal chief, Semei
Kakungulu, decided
AMA YUDAiik"'-13-0
to follow the Old
MEINEs s kit
Testament because he
liked the stories about
NANCOYE
good and evil and was
intrigued by God's
commandments. After
circumcising himself
and his sons, the
Protestant community
Kakungulu belonged
to declared him a Jew
and shunned him.
Kakungulu and a
group of followers
Pam, Julie and Danny Kornfeld visit an Abayudayan
synagogue in Uganda.
then broke away and

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