She's back!

So, here's the good news: Viola has been found! She was gone for about 38 hours and that was 38 hours too long, let me tell you. They ended up finding her in Mayuge District, which is quite far from here in the wrong direction from Bugembe, which is where she was headed. She was most definitely lost. She walked all that way, it's crazy! Some man saw her walking on a street that ended in a swamp and he didn't recognize her from the village so he stopped to see who she was. Luckily, he turned out to be a nice man. It could so easily have been the opposite. He took her home and contacted the LC1 (village chairman) who then questioned her a bit. She said she was heading for Bugembe, but all she could tell him about her family was that her grandmother sold milk there. So he went to Bugembe and started asking for an old woman who sold milk. He talked to the LC1 there, who we had already told about Viola. So they called Paul and he drove out to Mayuge to meet them there and see if it was her. Paul and Afan spent hours driving around on a motorbike looking for Viola. They were both covered in dust and absolutely exhausted, so when they got that call they were rejoicing. Paul hadn't slept, and actually not many of us had. Terra and I met them in Iganga and pretty much collapsed with relief when we saw that it was really her. The police told us that it was a good thing that her ears had been pierced. Apparently a child with pierced ears won't be picked up by a witch doctor because they are unfit for child sacrifice. So we're thinking we'll pierce all of the kids' ears...good plan.

Viola told us that she had not been the one wetting the bed, it was the other girl that she shared the bed with. So she was tired of being blamed for something that she didn't do and decided to leave. Logical solution in the mind of a kid. Anyways, we've got some work to do with the staff to help them be sensitive to the kids about things like bed-wetting. It's not really accepted here as nicely. But still, Viola's back and we are soooooooooo relieved. Whew! Hard times, but good in the end.