Monday Saidel and I did another medical clinic. A few minutes before we were going to leave, we found out some other medical team came just a few days before so we didn’t want to give medicine on top of medicine to them. So Sherry made a few phone calls and and hour or so later we had our new location. The medical team’s motto is T.I.A. (This is Africa) so be flexible! Haha how fitting! We set up at this one school in the slums of a town I can’t pronounce. It was so awesome because the teachers would come up to us with huge smiles and even the grown men would laugh and hug me telling me how thankful they were for us to come to them. And the kids were so so happy to see us…well some of them were. Haha I had at least five kids who were so afraid of me and wouldn’t even let me take their temperature. I’m told that a lot of the scary stories kids tell their friends or siblings actually revolve around Mzungus. Or even parents will say “If you don’t eat your pocho the Mzugus will come and eat you!” and since it was a poor area a lot of kids have never seen a white person, let alone a doctor. But the majority of the kids were so happy to see us and were climbing on me and playing with my hair within minutes.

Our main mode of transportation! These are Boda Bodas. They are like motorcycle taxis!

so much traffic!!

This is deworming line at the school! I think about 500 people saw the doctor that day!
Many of them have never gotten to see one ever!

They did a welcoming dance for all of us with drums and everything! I love Africa.

For our project day on Tuesday we went to Sanyu Babies Home. We weren’t allowed to take pictures because in the past people had made websites with the pictures getting money for a fake orphanage. So it was understandable but I was so disappointed because the babies were so precious and I love them so much. Sanyu has 50 to 60 babies at any time and they are from 0 to four years old. The babies come to Sanyu many different ways. A lot of them were left at the hospital-Sara says there’s even a section in the hospitals just for unclaimed babies. Also babies are left at trashcans around hospitals so they have guards constantly walking around to prevent it. Some babies are left in latrines (holes in the ground for toilets) and some are abandoned at police stations or at Sanyu’s door step. Abortion is illegal in Uganda and because of poverty a lot of women feel they can’t take care of a baby. A lot of the babies are in critical condition and need to be nursed back to health for months and they are given a name and birthday because no one knows anything about them. Sanyu is one of the only international adopting orphanages in Uganda. Uganda is really against international adoptions and only allow something like 200 a year. And Sanyu does the majority of these. Toddlers and babies are sometimes adopted out within weeks of arrival which is great! Because like many children’s organizations here they are very understaffed and the orphanage itself is in poor condition. It was such a blessing to feed, change, and rock these babies to sleep. I was in tears a lot of the day though. Just seeing how tiny they were and how they have no one at all-no mommy or daddy to care for them individually- it broke my heart. We worked with the toddlers too who were misbehaving so much to get our attention. And for fun we sat out on the street and watched bodas, busses, and cars go by for an hour instead of playing on a playground L It was hard and my heart hurt for them the moment I walked through the doors. Its just hard. I’m so thankful for the Rafiki home because it really is a family. The kids get to live and grow in an atmosphere filled with love and genuine trust and it’s not institutionalized like Sanyu can be where no one gets really the individual attention or love that they need. Please pray for Sanyu Babies Home. For the workers there and for the kids. Also pray for one baby that was very very malnourished and no one even knew her assigned name. 

 

Wednesday was my stay at home with the kids day! We did lots of fun things!

 

Sweet picture of Bianca and Emma!

I played with tennis balls with Don and Carol

These are trays filled with rice that the kids trace their letters and numbers with! If they did good then they got a sticker!

Don, Emma, Carol and Me with our sticker faces!

baby abby trying to eat a mango! :)

Emma was so cuddly that day because he was feeling sick but now he is better

Snack time! with Esther, Jerom, and Cocus!

Fauziya, Esther and Carol

Annet is so expressive! i have so many pictures of her looking so
thoughtful or so mad! haha She's great!

Emma!

Me and Esther

We are playing a story time game! Each of the kids gets a card and they have to make up a story about the animal on their card! Joel's story was about a Chimp! Carol thought it was really funny!

Uncle Saidel reading bedtime devotions!

 Thursday was an eventful day. It was my day at Little Rina Nursery and Primary School. It went so well. I taught P3 ages 7 to 10. At first I taught about leaves! We got a real leaf outside to label. They liked that a lot. I’m figuring out that teachers here really don’t do hands on activities with kids and so anything interactive is sooo fun for them. I don’t know if I said this before but the way kids learn here is by complete memorization and copying. The teacher will lay the book in the middle and say copy this page and it takes them about 40 mins. But Thursday wasn’t a typical day for them. They were practicing for a performance on Friday. It was really cool! I talked to the teacher a lot who was telling me that music and performance is really important to Ugandans and I could tell! The rest of the day they just practiced singing the songs and performing a skit about angles and demons that they were going to act out in front of the whole school. I taught them the song “Jesus let us come to know you, Let us see you face to face…” they loved it! And incorporated it into their act!

 

After school we came home and slaughtered two chickens. It was so gross. Me and Saidel were given the knives because Moses said we are nurses so we should be able to handle it! But I figured since I’m gonna be here a while after the team leaves I might have other chances. So BIANCA volunteered!! Haha by the way the chicken is completely alive when you cut it – no breaking it’s neck first or anything like that (that would waste time) and there’s no chopping with a butcher knife involved (we use the same knife used for cutting potatoes and we have to saw)! So Bianca is super brave! She sawed for a good bit screaming the whole time and then handed it off to me to finish the job. It was crazy!! and I didn't make a sound :) I decided not to show you the pictures/video of this cultural experience in case you are eating or something. So then Saidel did his chicken easily and we plucked, cleaned, and dissected it….sorry this is probably way more information than you wanted to know!

After that we ate dinner and went to pick up Laura from the airport! She’s working with us too this summer! Her bags were lost but we’re praying she gets them soon! She is just great! The kids love her! She is a kindergarten teacher in Minneapolis and she is so sweet! I’m pumped to have her here with us! Actually she and I will be taking the same plane back together to London! Anyways please pray for her and her ministry here and for her family!

Sorry this post was so long! But I just wanted to let you know that everyone is feeling better now but continue to pray for our health. Also I did get to find out what happened to the boy with a mass on his tongue. It was cancer and they found another tumor in his chest but that one was outside of the wall so its not as bad. The doctors are giving him Chemo on his tongue hoping to make it less vascular so they can safely remove it! so that's great news! Thanks for your prayers!

Please pray for our team and for Laura to feel at home quickly!