Another day is down in the books. I found myself waking
up at 5:30am, unable to fall back asleep. I just listened to my iPod for a
while until Taylor and I actually woke up. For a good part of the morning we
observed one of the home school classes which was helpful since we will be
teaching the P-6 home school class soon. The kids teach themselves for the most
part, reading out of one book together and then copying it down into their
notebooks. This makes me a little nervous for teaching, but that is not at all
how teaching is done in American schools.
We then ate some breakfast around 10:30am, which was
bread and jelly, a banana, and some yummy tea. The bread is quite dense
compared to ours in America, but it quite tasty. The bananas are much better
than those in America, tasting much sweeter. And the tea, well…nothing really
compares. While eating our breakfast Mama Sara came to ask if we were ready to
go into town to exchange our money and do a little shopping. We gathered out
things and headed off on a boda-boda to the chopping center.
I think my mom would freak if she saw these boda-boda
rides. The driver, Taylor, and myself all sit on one little motorcycle, without
helmets and speed down the road. I don’t think there are speed limits here and
there are speed bumps literally everywhere. Oh yeah, and they drive on the “wrong”
side of the road. Weird, and a little scary as well. I find it better to simply
look at my surroundings rather than at the road.
Upon arriving at the shopping center we went to the bank
to exchange our money. Taylor and were quite excited to realize we made $40
profit on this. Or so we think. We could be doing our math wrong. Be we like to
think we actually did make a profit anyhow. After the bank, Mama Sara, Taylor
and I went to the super-market. This was kind of like a Walmart. They had
everything. We first went to get notebooks for the students. Mama Sara gave
Taylor and I money to pay for them and then she headed on her way since she had
somewhere to be. Taylor and continued to shop around putting hand soap, room
spray, a converter, a small bag of chips, and some cola in our basket. We also
amused ourselves with the fact that alcohol is a lot cheaper here. We figured
it was a supply and demand issue in the states. I mean, just walk into and AMC suite.
Our items totaled up to 10 American dollars which was 19,000 schillings.
After, we had a bit of time before our boda-boda driver
would return so we just shopped around and then waited painterly for him to
arrive, while talking to a shop worker. She told us about children who were
left for the streets by their parents. She told us how they would sleep in the
pipes at night and would beg for money or for you to buy small items from them
during the day. We soon headed on our way back to the Family Home where we sat
on the back porch with another one of the home school classes. We also learned
a bit of Ugandan.
This soon turned into hanging out with Joshua and Nicole
who are both two years old at the moment. They are absolutely adorable and have
won our hearts over. We played hide-and-seek with the older kids and then went
inside for worship. The power had gone out at this point and we ate dinner
together in the dark. The children always serve us our food and clear our
plates for us. They also really enjoy when we have leftovers because they have
some big appetites. They serving sizes are huge.
Dinner then lead to Taylor and I crashing on the couch
before the girls decided they wanted to braid our hair. It only made me fall
asleep easier. I then grabbed my guitar tuner and one of the boys guitars to
tune it for him. I had noticed during worship that is was crazy out of tune.
While grabbing something from my room, I returned to find the boys out of their
room and playing my guitar. They were so excited for me to be tuning their
guitars. We then played some worship together before they were off to read
before bed.
At this point, being nearly 5 days without showering,
Taylor and I decided to attempt to wash our hair…in a bucket and the sing. I
think it worked.
It’s different here, that’s for sure. But I really like
it. The weather reminds me of California and the kids make my heart oh so
happy. I want to remember the little things about my time here. Like the
laughter, joy, gentle hands in my own, the chocolate colored skin, and smiles
on faces. Each of these kids have been left without parents, but they have more
joy than I’ve ever seen someone have. They never argue chores and in fact are
never asked to do them. They just do it. When they are called by a Mama, they
immediately drop what they are doing and go to them. Their obedience and love
for God I astounding. They get along extremely will with one another and each
have such big hearts.
I am beyond excited to get to know each of them better.
For now, I am tired and we must wake up at 6:30 because
tomorrow we start teaching the P-3 class in the New Creation Centre.
“So, with him on my side I’m fearless, afraid of no one
and nothing.”
Psalm 24:1
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