World's Apart: Bailey Shook's First Anniversary with Peace Corps
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Bailey Shook of Du Quoin has completed her first year as Peace Corps volunteer working in the Kisoro District in the southwest corner of Uganda. There, she is helping over 200 orphaned and vulnerable children.
Bailey is the daughter of Robert "Bud" Shook of Du Quoin and Beth Pyatt of Pinckneyville.
" I have done many interesting and amazing things in the past year. I have watched as a young girl got a new chance at life by helping her get a new leg, gave dozens of HIV positive women a chance at a better future by giving them the skills to financially support themselves as well as their families and prepared a handful of children to be leaders in their schools and in their communities, Bailey said.
Bailey said she is starting a new chapter in her Peace Corps service. "I have recently moved to Kasese District in western Uganda, just bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I work for an organization called Rwenzori Empowerment Center- Kasese (RECKAS). This great organization has become a leader in the community.," she said. They have three main projects: helping land mine victims, women's groups and orphans and vulnerable children.
A war raged on in Kasese District from 1996-2001. Many innocent people fell victim to land mines on the border where hundreds lost their limbs. RECKAS saw the need to help these people and soon formed shortly after the war was over.
Now in 2009 they have given new limbs to over 200 survivors, helped 8000 women get back on their feet by giving them small start-up loans for new income generating activities and have seen over 80 street children walk through their doors and finally reconnect with their families.
"One of these projects I have taken a special liking to are helping the street kids. The first day I arrived at RECKAS I noticed there were a few children playing in the dirt just outside the walls. I later found out that these children were street children who either ran away from home because of abuse or were abandoned by their family members. Currently at RECKAS there are eight boys who take up residence here. They are all curious, smart young boys but some have serious psychological issues. This great organization I am part of takes in these boys, gives him food, clothing and shelter, psycho-social support and much much more," she said.
" Another thing I realized my first day here was that the kids don't have a lot to do. This is common for Ugandan children. You will see a group of kids just playing with a water bottle and a stick for hours or a clever one making a frame of a car out of scrap wire. This is bad for all kids but even a more serious problem when it comes to street children. If these kids have no hope for the future and nothing to keep them busy today then they will go back on the streets where they will only be met with drugs, sex and other hardships. These kids here have been through a lot and I want to help them in a small, but big way."
"So here is my idea. I am creating an activity room for them. It is just at the early stages but the staff here and myself have decided this is a major project that needs to get off the ground. So my plan is to take an existing room here and make it into a sort of play room. It will have different sections; arts/ crafts area, sporting equipment and games area, study/lounge/ reading area, music area and much more,," she said.
"Now my plan was to write a grant for all of the things needed but some of you have expressed interested in helping my efforts here in Uganda. So this is what I am proposing. I know the economy is still a bit shaky and many of you are busy but I am not looking for you to clean out your bank accounts to help. So here is how you can help- big or small…"
She is asking for donations of books or financial help and adds that anyone donating will have their name scribed on the new play room.
Bailey Shook
Peace Corps Uganda
Community Health Volunteer
P.O. Box 446
Kasese, Uganda
Bailey's eMail address is:
baileyshook@hotmail.com