The Don Bosco Children and Life Mission (CALM) is a Salesian work for street children. The Salesian community offers a peaceful and serene environment for 200 boys. "Good morning, uncle" is the greeting that Bartlomiej hears from the boys every morning. Daudi is one of them. He is 7 years old and he offers Bartlomiej some Ugandan jelly. "The boys eat jelly all year."
"I like being with the boys,” says Bartlomiej. In the afternoon we go out to cut grass and clean off the field and more than once I have asked myself: 'was I actually born in Poland? Is this not my home?' Because my heart beats to an African rhythm. We cut the grass. The sharp leaves hurt our skin. But no one complains, because without this work the animals would have no food, and neither would we."
"These are boys who have been wounded by life. The street has been their home. But the street is a cruel stepmother. The emotional scars remain for a lifetime. Ugandan streets make the young people anonymous. No one knows them. Nobody remembers them. The Salesian house in Namugongo is their salvation. Many past pupils continue to visit it, because the mission is their only family."
"It is God who took me from the dust and gave me a new life working in Uganda, his love moved me and awakened in me the desire to be his disciple,” concludes Bartlomiej. It is the love of Christ that made me go to Africa and I am happy today to be one of them."
