a quick round up!

I haven’t blogged in a while so I need to catch you all up on what we’ve been up to!

Monday: Monday is widow day, so we got a taxi and then walked a very long way (under the very hot sun!) to the first widow’s house. She was really lovely and welcomed us with open arms despite the fact that we were six very sweaty strangers wandering up to her house! She lived with her daughter and granddaughter. She spoke very highly of the work Smile does and showed us how she makes a living by making bricks. The second widow we visited was called Dorothy and she invited us into her home. Her lounge was pretty small and then she told us that 7 people lived there! Kathryn, Sarah and Susie were given the seal of approval when Dorothy found out that they shared their names with her daughters!

Tuesday: On Tuesdays and Wednesdays we go to Chosen School to assist with teaching and teach one lesson a day (although it doesn't always work out like that!). I had to do an impromptu English lesson for about 20 minutes with my year 6 class because the teacher hadn't turned up yet. After she arrived, I observed their lesson until Susie came to find me. Anna had been left alone in her year 2 class so I went to help her! After lunch, I went to visit Susie’s class, but before the lesson started it started to rain… now in a normal English classroom, this wouldn't be a problem, but the classrooms at Chosen have metal roofs and no glass in the windows. I couldn't even hear Susie sitting next to me, let alone the teacher! The rain turned into a pretty big storm with heavy rain and thunder! The weather calmed down a tad and so me and Susie did a RE revision quiz for them.

On Tuesday, we particularly struggled with witnessing the teachers using corporal punishment with the children. Some of us had seen or heard it happening, but on Tuesday all of us witnessed it in our own classrooms which was very upsetting. Anna and I both had to take children out of the classroom to calm them down as they were crying too much. Please pray for us as we deal with this situation weekly, for the teachers and of course the children who face it every day.

Wednesday: School again. Anna had woken up with a nasty cold but decided to power on through. Unfortunately when we got to school she was sick, so we rang Alex to come and take her home! Wednesday was exam day, but the whole school had a PE lesson first thing (can you imagine your whole primary school doing PE at the same time!). It was great to watch them as they were cheering each other on and really getting into it. The exams got under way and so Susie, Jon and I attempted to tackle the year 6 maths paper!

On Wednesday evening we made our first cake! It was very much appreciated and I’m sure it won’t be long before we bake another one!

Thursday: We became farmers again! Poorly Anna stayed in bed but the rest of us were up and out early to get to the farm. It was a very very hot day but we got to work planting the beans. I’m pretty sure that our farm days are the hottest days, it makes you really appreciate when the sun goes behind the clouds! Despite piling on the sun cream, I ended up with sunburn on my shoulders, oops! A lovely family who live on the farm cooked us lunch. On the way home, me and Susie thought it would be a good idea to take our hair out, when all the windows were down and we were sitting in the back! All I can say is, Jon called me ‘Aslan’ when he saw what the wind had done to my hair.

Friday: On Friday we made the decision to take Anna to the surgery because she wasn’t feeling any better. I went to accompany Anna and we were seen by a nice English doctor who was full of jokes after he heard that I was from Essex and Anna took malarone haha! We found out that Anna had a bad throat infection. It was weird that when we finished, we had to go downstairs to the cashier to pay for the consultation and drugs. We take the NHS so for granted! The other four had gone to run the children’s clubs at Blessed Word of Life Church and Family Believers Church.

Saturday: We picked up our post! This was very exciting as we had been eager to get to the post office for a while, another thing we take for granted – the postman! It was so lovely to receive some parcels from my Mum and Grandma (the haribos were very popular with the rest of the team!) and I now finally have a pillow!! Hooray! It would be great to receive letters from you guys (parcels are a bit more expensive so just stick to an envelope!). My address is: Grace Claydon, Smile Charity Uganda, PO Box 5895, Kampala, Uganda, East Africa.

After the post office, we went to the market and supermarket to do our weekly shop. When we got back I was able to skype one of my best friends Rebecca which was lovely!

Sunday: Today we went to KBC for the church service. All the public places you go to in Uganda, there are security to search your bags etc, it's a government requirement at the moment as there's a threat of terrorism. However I don't think I'll get used to being body and bag searched before I go into church! I love joining in with the dancing and trying to copy the choir’s moves (much to the other gappers amusement). After church we went out for lunch for Sarah’s farewell meal. It’s really sad that she’s going home on Monday and we can’t quite believe that one month is up already!

Thank you for all your love, prayers, and messages of support. It’s crazy that October is nearly over, 1 month down, 8 to go! Please continue to pray for our health and wellbeing, for homesickness, and for the safety of the team, local volunteers, and the country of Uganda.