Firstly, I apologise that I haven’t blogged in such a long
time! We’re busy busy busy! I will give you a quick rundown on what we’ve been
up to! I hope you’re sitting comfortably...
Monday 11th November: We went to Lubaga Hospital
to visit some patients. We saw 3 patients and prayed with them. I also got
asked for my number by one of them but (truthfully) told him that I couldn’t
remember my Ugandan mobile number! It was interesting to see inside the hospital
and the ward we went to had six beds in it, although in England you would
probably only find two beds in there. It was nice to be able to chat to the
guys in there and keep them company, especially as one of them said that his
Mum is unable to visit him very regularly because she has to care for his
younger siblings back home. After the hospital, Jon, Susie, Olivia and I went
to the post office to check our PO Box. I had a lovely letter from my Nanna and
Grandad.
Tuesday 12th November: Tuesdays are our school
day! I sat in my year 6 class for the morning and marked their English books.
In the afternoon I went into year 4 with Susie and the teacher asked us to do
RE revision with them, so we did a quiz! It went really well and we saw the
children’s competitive side! When we got home some of the others had a water
fight as it was a very hot day! Below is a photo of us with two little boys who always coming running towards us when they see us walking to school! They are so cute and we call them the twins!
Wednesday 13th November: Back to school again. I
had a really tough time in my year 6 class. They had science, and the teacher
was doing revision as they had upcoming exams. The pupils were struggling to
remember some bone names and so my teacher sent the 3 boys out to find sticks.
When they returned she caned the entire class. I had to walk out of the
classroom and ended up in tears, thankfully Kathryn was just walking past, so
she came to our little staff room with me. Over the weeks I have built up a
relationship with these children, which made it even worse to see them so
scared and vulnerable. It is really upsetting to see the children punished in
this way, and we are working with the school administrator to try and stop
corporal punishment at the school.
Thursday 14th November: We went to visit some
families who live in the slums. It was so hot when we left the house, so
Kathryn prayed for clouds. We then got a lot more than we bargained for when
the heavens opened and it chucked it down!! I’m sure any onlookers would have
been very bemused by the mzungu girl running down the road with a motorbike
helmet and Buckingham Palace rain mac on! Once we were in the slums we split
into two groups. I was with Nick, Anna and Jon and we visited about five or six
families. It was a very humbling experience and was also nice to meet the
parents of some of the children who come to our kids club.
In the evening, Susie and I went to choir and got measured
up for our Christmas uniform!
Friday 15th November: In the morning, we went
through the Christmas play that we are teaching to the children’s clubs. I took
up the role of Mary and Brian taught me how to walk like a pregnant woman! Moses
was Joseph and Anna was Angel Gabriel. The others multiroled! It was such fun
and we are starting to build friendships with the local volunteers which is
really lovely. In the afternoon, myself, Anna and Brian went to Blessed Word
Children’s Club. It was only the second time I’ve been there and was a nice
relief from the chaos of FBC! In the evening we went to TGIF, which is KBC’s
programme for university students. It was interesting trying to teach the
Ugandans how to play cheat… “two fours… three fives… what can I put down?... four,
five or six… I don’t have any of those… you’re not meant to tell us that…” and
it continued!
Saturday 16th November: We had a wonderful lie in
and slept until 10am! The first day that we had slept past 8! Usual Saturday
business of washing, cleaning and food shopping.
Sunday 17th November: Went to KBC for church.
Susie and I helped in one of the children’s Bible study group. After Church we
met a lovely group of ladies from the UK who are in Uganda for just one week!
It was so nice to chat to them and hear what they’re up to out here! In the
evening we had dinner as just the seven of us who live here, it was so lovely
to see how our little ‘family’ is developing.
Monday 18th November: In the morning we walked a
very long way under a very hot sun to visit a widow. Her name was Jennifer and
she was very lovely, she made the journey there much more worth it! We gave her
a Christmas care package which she was very grateful to receive, and immediately
split it in two with her neighbour. When we returned, Susie and I helped Brian
and Moses to get some aid down from the loft.
Tuesday 19th November: The end of year exams had
started at school so we helped with invigilating those. We had another incident
of quite bad caning. We would like to ask for your prayer in this area as we
really need God to intervene and change the hearts of the teachers.
Wednesday 20th November: Susie and I stayed at
home today while the other three went to school. We sorted out all the boxes of
aid that we had got down from the loft on Monday. We sorted clothes first and
made up Christmas gifts for the children at FBC and BWOL. I’m really looking forward
to giving them out in a week or two.
Thursday 21st November: We became builders! The
building at Blessed Word is still under construction so we went to help with
that. Our job was to carry lots and lots of bricks from where the truck dropped
them off, to the church. It was a very warm day and we got very much covered in
brick dust! We had a good day and showed off our strength by successfully
pushing a wheelbarrow full of bricks (or in some cases, wheelbarrows full of
gappers!). We had achey muscles the next morning but it’s satisfying to know
that we’ve contributed practically to the building project there. We are
returning next week.
Friday 22nd November (Happy 18th Birthday Jess!):
Susie and I went to Blessed Word for Children’s Club. It was only the two of us
to begin with but we managed to do songs and games without a translator! We
then made Christmas cards with the children and had to massively improvise when
we realised that we had forgotten the colouring pencils! Luckily we had brought
enough glue and stickers to decorate with! The children at Blessed Word are
lovely, but when it comes to squares of shimmery card they can get pretty
rowdy!! We have returned home and I was half way through writing this blog when
the power went! Hopefully it will come back soon so I can post it today.
Prayer Requests:
- For the children and teachers at Chosen School and the issue of corporal punishment.
- We desperately need rain at the farm!!
- The upcoming Christmas season
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