America - here we come!

We have really exciting news to share with you all.

Reunite is opening an office in America!

For some time we have been feeling the need to have an office in America, and we have been praying about the right person to run it and for the right timing to open it.

Well, the time has come!

We are really proud to welcome Darby Priest to the team.

Darby will be setting up a 501 (c) 3 in Austin, Texas, but to make this American office possible, we really need help with funding and prayer.

If you feel that you would like to contribute towards the setting up of the American office and the ongoing costs, then we would love to hear from you. Also if you would like to volunteer for Reunite in the States, then please do get in touch with Darby at darby.reunite@gmail.com  

If you wish to donate to the exciting work of Reunite then  please click here .

An  Interview with Darby Priest

Tell me a bit about yourself and what have you been doing for the last year.

Hmm, about myself…well, I love travelling, music, and making paper snowflakes. I love cats, working with children, decorating, and almost anything outdoors.  I’m a perfectionist, and I have a dramatic streak, though not to Keren’s degree!

The start of 2012 found me heading to Gwangju, South Korea, with my brother and his wife. We were all hired to be English teachers at public schools there.  I ended up being assigned to 600 5^th and 6^th grade students. 600! It was a blast, both in working with the students and in living near my brother again.  

I’m part social worker and part educator, and have lived in Thailand, New Zealand,  South Korea and Uganda.  Before teaching in South Korea, I worked with emotionally disturbed children at a children’s home in Texas, and I really loved my work there. Essentially, I was the ‘school mom’ to 41 abused and neglected children, so I fielded all the fun phone calls about my students throwing desks across the classroom.  But truly, it was an honor to advocate for and represent the needs of those children. Their stories are still with me, challenging and inspiring me to do more and work harder for others like them.

What brought you to Uganda?

Uganda has been on my radar since about 2006 when I first learned about Joseph Kony, the LRA, and the havoc they were wreaking in northern Uganda.  I have been intrigued by Africa since I was a little girl, and started saving and planning to come to Uganda in 2009.  However, my dream didn’t work out until late 2012 when I decided to stop over on the way back from South Korea.   Incredible connections and circumstances came together and paved the way for me to be in Uganda these 3 months, but that’s a whole other story!

My plan in coming to Uganda was wide open; I didn’t want to sign up for a strict program that would lock me into a single opportunity or organization for the duration of my time in Uganda. My hope was to learn about Ugandan culture, meet with some NGOs to hear about their work and difficulties, and to plug in as a volunteer where ever it made sense.

What have you been doing with yourself the past several months in Uganda?

I’ve gotten to do so much of what I came here hoping to do. My main involvement has been with an outreach to street children. I go with "Peace for Children Africa (PCA)" into Kisenye slum a few times a week to help teach and feed the children. PCA also runs a drop-in center where the street children can come to wash their clothes, bathe, participate in sports and literacy classes, and sleep when they are sick. Thanks to the generosity of friends and family back home, I have been able to purchase quite a few pieces of equipment for the facility including desks for the literacy classes, a large stove on which to cook all the meals, office supplies, reading and education books, bunk beds, mosquito nets, etc. Managing these purchases has been a big undertaking!

My time in Uganda hasn’t been all work…I’ve been to a Ugandan wedding, a graduation ceremony, and I've eaten a whole fish with my hands. I’ve made friends with boda drivers all over town. And since it was my first time to Africa, I made sure to go on a safari and take a boat on the Nile, too. Hippos are the best.

How did you meet Keren and hear about Reunite?

Just a little friendly cyber-stalking…ha!  I came across the Riley’s blog, and Keren and Mark seemed like people I wanted to know.  So I just sent an email asking to meet up, and the rest is history.  As soon as I started to grasp the magnitude of what is going on here in Uganda in terms of families being unnecessarily and unjustly separated from their children, I knew that I wanted to be involved.  Keren simply invited me along to see the work she’s been doing for a while now.  Before I knew it, I was blurting out that I had to stay involved once I went back to the US.

Why do you want to be involved with Reunite?

Oh, so many reasons… Primarily, because I’m drawn to people on the periphery of society, and these exploited families definitely fall into that category.  My experience with traumatized children makes me want to do everything I can to prevent similar types of trauma from happening.  It makes me think of that Helen Keller quote, “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something.”

In the past month what have you learned about international adoption, child trafficking, corruption, institutionalized care, etc.?

Wow, I don’t know where to start.  Previously, I didn’t know much about international adoption and mentally lumped it in with Care Bears, chocolate chip cookies and sweet, fuzzy chicks.  So I’ve been blown away to realize what a dark side there is to international adoption.  At first, I was resistant and skeptical to believe that the problems were as widespread and as criminal as they are.  But now, being here in Uganda, having seen and heard for myself, I can’t stick my head in the sand and pretend these things aren’t true.  I’ve always known institutionalized care to be less than ideal, but I’m understanding more and more why it’s so damaging and why other solutions must be found.

What are your plans and hopes once you get back to the US?

I’m really excited to be starting the US office for Reunite Uganda which will be based in Austin, Texas.   I hope to educate people about the damage caused by institutional care, discourage the opening of  more Ugandan orphanages [the government here is looking to close orphanages, not open them], and to educate people about different models for helping vulnerable children and families.  I will also be a resource for families who want to know more about the ethics of international adoption in Uganda. I’m also excited to be back in the same city as my boyfriend!

For more information then please do get in touch, I would love to hear from you.  My email address is   darby.reunite@gmail.com