Orphan outreach

Mathis Winkler

Evelyn Komuntale knows what it’s like to lose your parents.

The daughter of a Belgian government official and a royal princess of

the Bahema tribe in Congo, she was forced to flee the central African

country in 1959, seeking refuge in neighboring Uganda without her

parents. She was 5 years old.

Komuntale never saw her father again; he died a year later. And it was

months before she saw her mother, Lina Lituko, who still lives in Uganda.

Four decades later, Komuntale has decided to help orphans in Uganda,

where about 2 million children have lost their parents to AIDS.

She founded the AIDS Orphaned African Children Project, which helps to

pay for orphans’ school tuition, clothes and medical needs. Komuntale has

found American sponsors for 100 children in Uganda and Congo so far.

Supporting a child through her program costs $23 a month.

On Wednesday, Komuntale will leave on a trip to Africa, where she’ll

tour Uganda, Kenya and South Africa for more than two months to find more

orphans who can benefit from her program.

Her luggage will probably burst airline baggage limits after she

received 100 yellow shoulder bags for her children Monday.

James Murphy, the owner of a Van Nuys-based tour company called

Brendan Tours, donated the bags after he heard about Komuntale’s work.

“The idea of schoolchildren being able to use the bags struck a chord

with me,” Murphy said, standing in the Lido Travel store.

Murphy heard about the project through Lido Travel agent Doreen Adams,

a Newport Beach resident who has been helping Komuntale with her project

for about a year.

“You get a feeling with Africa that is so spiritual,” Adams said,

adding that while she’s visited more than 100 countries on all

continents, Africa still remains her favorite destination. “You never see

a sunset like you do there.”Her love for the continent has brought her to

support Komuntale’s work, she said, adding that she’d thought Murphy’s

bags would make a perfect gift.

“We move about 70,000 people a year who have these bags,” Murphy said.

“Now, we’ll have 100 children in Uganda.”

Komuntale said the bags would become treasured possessions for her

orphans.

“Most children don’t have anything,” she said. “Presents like this

mean a lot.”

Komuntale, who also organizes safaris to Africa and works as a

storyteller and evangelist in the U.S., said she made sure donations

would only be used to benefit the children.

She added that she tries to encourage Americans to join her on her

trips to personally meet the children who can attend schools because of

the financial help.

So will Dublin-born Murphy keep sending his travel bags to African

children?

“I don’t know about that,” he said with a laugh. “We will not supply

all the children in Uganda with bags. But I was very happy to do it.”

FYI

To find out more about the project or to make a donation, call (949)

477-2056.