Wagensellers Help Ugandan Orphan Regain His Mobility

When 12-year-old Adolf Baguma first arrived in Los Angeles from Uganda, he had no toothbrush, backpack or luggage of any kind. His legs were permanently bent because of fused scar tissue and he could scarcely speak a word of English.
Despite the arduous flight to L.A. in November, however, Adolf’s real journey began in June when attorney Laine Wagenseller saw the boy at a small orphanage in the Keynjojo district of Uganda and decided to help.
Adolf’s parents both died of AIDS when he was a child, which left him in the care of his teenage aunt. When Adolf was about 6 his aunt, in a fit of anger, struck him with burning banana leaves on the backs of his legs, causing his skin to fuse together. The aunt eventually abandoned the child, leaving him scarred and unable to walk upright.
In fact, Adolf was forced to walk on all fours because of his condition, said Scott Wagenseller, Laine’s younger brother and CEO of Palisades Patrol.
Notwithstanding his disability and being treated like a pariah by the villagers, Adolf had been fending for himself and scavenging for food for close to four year before he was taken in by the Home Again Children’s Home orphanage.
Attorney Laine Wagenseller first spotted Adolf while volunteering at the orphanage last June,
“My brother has taken trips out to this orphanage for the past four years,” Scott said. “He ran into Adolf last summer and brought the story back through his Rotary Club mission.
At the orphanage, Laine liked to spend a lot of time working with teens and “teaching them problem-solving skills,” which is something “that does not exist there like it does here,” Scott said.
“Laine really focuses on teaching teens leadership skills and turning boys into men. He feels very strongly about not building anything physical for them but teaching them why they need to do it themselves.”
Ultimately, Laine reached out to the Children’s Burn Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing support services to young burn victims, about Adolf’s predicament. The group arranged the trip to L.A. and financed the surgeries needed to get him to walk upright again. The process would take two surgeries, skin grafts, and several months of recovery time and follow up visits. While the Children’s Burn Foundation paid for the trip and surgeries, a host family was still needed for the duration of Adolf’s visit.
“Laine asked my wife about this while we were at the beach,” Scott said, adding that his brother is a persuasive speaker. “He basically just commented on what a great day it was, on how great our four kids are and then just [matter-of-factly] asked my wife, ‘Would you like one more?’”
Adolf has been staying at the Wagenseller home in Thousand Oaks since his arrival in November and has made a tremendous physically recovery, Scott said.
Adolf, who has been attending Westlake Elementary School and has learned to speak some English, said that he “enjoys playing” and spending time with Scott’s four children. He shares a room with the two boys, 6-year-old Hunter and 3-year-old Maverick. Scott’s daughters, 5-year-old Kelly and 1-year-old Hayden, are in another room.
“The household is very rambunctious now,” Scott said, smiling.
Eva Mbabazi, Adolf’s legal guardian and one of his caretakers from the orphanage, is also staying at the Wagenseller home.
This experience has been “very positive for my children,” Scott said, noting that it has taught them to not only to “share and live with others but also to appreciate what they already have. Sometimes you have to release your own preconceived notions and just do what’s right.”
Ashley Wagenseller, Scott’s wife, has dedicated a blog to Adolf’s journey. At adolfsstory.blogspot.com, she wrote about a poignant moment between Adolf and her son Hunter as they discussed when Adolf was burned by his aunt:
“Did it hurt?’ and ‘Who took care of you?’ He answered them all in the same tone, without anger, sadness, or other emotion. It almost seemed like he was talking about someone else. This horrendous thing happened to him and he was describing it like he was telling us about a trip to the zoo. He did say, ‘I see it in my eye sometimes. When it hurts, I see me on fire again.’ It was hard not to scoop him up in my arms and tell him how much we love him.”
“I hope this experience will better help my own children appreciate the things they have,” Scott said. “I hope what Adolf learns from this experience is his own ability to improve his life.”
Adolf will be returning to Uganda on April 24, Scott said. When he reaches the orphanage, it will be the first time in more than five years that he will be able to stand and walk on his own two legs.