Rwanda

I sit writing this from my lounge in England - weird! The last time I wrote was the day before we set off to Rwanda so I will begin from there. We were off to Rwanda to celebrate the wedding of our project manger Alex.

Our 11 hour coach journey from Kampala turned into over 12 hours after we had to deal with not one, but two flat tyres along the way! We were being hosted by a lovely Rwandese family whose nephew is one of our friends from church. They were very welcoming. The first night it was Susie, Shavan, Innocent, Angello, Becky and I from Uganda. However as the week went on, a few more people arrived including some of last year's gappers! The house was very full by Friday but it was full of laughter and conversations in English, Rwandese and Luganda!

Us and some of the family

Another group photo

Six of us girls shared a triple bunk bed which was pretty cosy! We discovered that whether you're from England or Rwanda or Uganda, us girls still talk about the same things! It was so lovely to get to know the others more. Susie and I had decided to get traditional Rwandese dresses for the wedding and on mentioning it, the girls told us that their mum sold them in her shop!

We went off into town one afternoon accompanied by Tessie and Becky. We chose our material and they called the tailor to come and measure up! I went for a blue material with green swirls - photos below. The tailor only took an hour to do our dresses and we were very excited to try them on!

The dress is made up of a separate skirt and top (so I suppose it's not really a dress). They're a lot cooler than the Ugandan traditional dress so it was better for the hot day forecast! They were a great fit and we were excited to show them off at the wedding. On the way home we discovered that people from Rwanda are just as keen at queuing as the British! We joined a long queue to get on the bus home which made us laugh as you never queue for anything in Uganda!

On Friday night was the VOW Concert at Revival Palace Church. As LT Warriors we were making a guest appearance in the concert. I was really looking forward to it as we had done a lot of fundraising and praying to get all the LT guys to Rwanda for this evening. We performed 4 dances and there was a great reaction from the audience so hopefully it was not the last LT Warriors tour! They are such a talented group of young people who deserve recognition.

The morning of the wedding arrived and Susie and I started the day getting a tad lost! We were getting bodas to our friend's house, but we didn't really know our way around, plus there was a language barrier between us and the boda guys. God answered our prayers when we spotted one of our friends from church standing outside the house that we certainly would have gone straight past! Our lovely friend Trice allowed us to have a warm shower and get ourselves ready for the day.

wearing my mushanana

the gappers all dressed up

the girls!

Susie and I in traditional Rwandese dress

After getting all dressed up we had to negotiate getting onto a boda in our dresses! In Rwanda it's also a law that boda passengers must wear helmets so it's a good job I didn't spend too much time on my hair! We headed off to the wedding, excited to see Alex tie the knot.

Alex and his wife Benigne

It was a beautiful ceremony, conducted in both English and Rwandese. I got goosebumps during the vows! There were lots of people there which just shows how wonderful this couple have been, and I'm sure will continue to be to the people around them.

Susie, Shavan, Me and Innocent

Me, Anna and Susie

Gapper Selfie

Gabit, my dear friend from church

After the ceremony the LT Warriors had a chance to perform. We did a couples dance to 'I Wanna Be The Only One'. It was another fantastic opportunity to spread the name of LT and also lovely for us to be able to perform for Alex, who has been so supportive of us.

It was a beautiful wedding and I'm so happy for Alex and Benigne. I pray that they will have a happy marriage that will last for many years to come.

I suppose I'll need to write another blog about coming home.. give me a day or two...

our last days of work...

9th July

Wednesday was field trip day for the children at Ruth Mother Care! I had been so looking forward to taking the children to Entebbe Zoo as lots of them had never had the chance to go before. We arrived at school in the early morning and entertained the children as Teacher Ruth prepared lots of yummy samosas and chapattis! 
The taxis arrived and Susie, Jon, Teacher Ruth and I were in with Nursery class while Kathryn, Teacher Monica and Anna looked after P1 and P2. The number of children slightly outnumbered the taxi's capacity so I had Edith on my lap. After lots of waving and the children repeating 'we're going to the zoo' for about 20 minutes, some of them started to fall asleep. I had Edith and Joy both sleeping on me. Oh the joys of children's work - Edith decided she needed to short call and I only realised when I felt something warm running down my leg. Time for a quick stop at the side of the road! We arrived at the zoo with lots of excited children who were fascinated by the status of the giraffes outside the zoo. We had lots of fun seeing all the animals including zebras and rhinos. We each had a few members of baby class to keep an eye on and with Anna constantly head-counting, we didn't lose anybody! 

Zebras 

Some of the monkeys in the park roam free along the paths. It was funny watching the children's reactions to them! Some of them were fascinated and tried to get as close as they could to them, others ran away and some of them tried to throw stones at them! 

Rhino

When we got to the chimpanzee enclosure we noticed that one of the chimps was called Ruth! Teacher Ruth thought it was hilarious and it caused a ripple of giggles among the children too! They loved watching the chimpanzees and Betty spent the first five minutes chanting 'hello chimpanzee!'. 

 We left the chimpanzees and came across a gorilla statue, which ironically, excited the children more than some of the live animals had! They each wanted a photo with it and we had to convince them to move on to see actual animals! 

Group photo under the 'Elders Tree'

 Part of the park looks out onto Lake Victoria. As we walked past it we noticed that the children were amazed by it so we sat down and let the children take in the view! I assume that lots of these children have never really been outside their village, or beyond Kampala, so to see the beach was fascinating!

After seeing all of the animals we stopped off at the playground before lunch. These kind of play areas are pretty rare so the children found it a tad daunting! Us teachers didn't take much convincing in getting up onto the climbing frame and encouraging the children to follow us! 

It was our last day with RMC :( After a very peaceful drive home (they all fell asleep!) we arrived back at school and said our goodbyes. A few tears were shed by teacher and pupil alike and I walked Bridget, Gift and Shadia home for the last time. We will really really miss this school and the wonderful people we have worked alongside since March. 

the triplets, Kembabazi and Patric - all from one family!

 11th July

Our final day of work! The farewell party for Family Believers Church in the slums. I think I speak for all of us when I say it's our favourite place! We had songs, games, bubbles, dancing, cake and performances from the children. It was so lovely and a wonderful note to end on. 

Washing hands before eating

Cutting the cake

Dancing

Esther and Sabeeti singing

At the end, we gave them all a bracelet as a goodbye present. If you have sent me any bracelets in the post then keep an eye out! 

Attempt at a group photo

 Below are some photos of the children's club teachers. If you're wondering why we've all got our hand over our faces, it's because Kathryn has a swollen eye and Susie bumped her head bungee jumping!!

Tomorrow we're off to Rwanda, another 11 hour coach trip! Please pray for safety amid current troubles in some areas of Uganda. Alex's wedding is on Saturday so please remember him and his fiancee in your prayers! Also please pray for health as we're all feeling a bit run down!

Lots of love x

see you Teacher Grace!

 Blessed Word Children's Club
Last Friday we had our last kids club at the lovely Blessed Word of Life Church. All five of us gappers, plus Moses and Nic were there to say farewell. We started with lots of songs and games and I even led a song in Luganda! 

Setting up before the children arrived

Singing

Playing 'under over'

We sat the children down and explained to them that we were going back to England and showed them a world map so they could see Uganda and England. Some of the children then did little performances for us - singing and dancing - one of the boys who comes every week sung us a goodbye song and burst into tears! Then we cut the cake and shared it round as well as some biscuits and bananas.

Group photo

Cake!

Afterwards we had a little bit of time just playing with the children. Bubbles and balloons and cuddles! Then we gave each child a bracelet as a goodbye present (some of which had been sent to me by 1st Northampton Girls' Brigade - thank you!). Some of the older girls started crying when it was time for us to leave which tugged on our heart strings for sure! The children at Blessed Word are so lovely and we will certainly miss them. 

Us with some of the Blessed guys

Farewell Party
On Saturday afternoon we had a party at the Smile House for all our friends and the people that we've been working with over these months. I love the parties here at the house as it's always a lovely day full of music and laughter - and food! Towards the end of the party they made each of us give a short speech before we had cake! I have made such wonderful friends out here and can't even imagine how much I'm going to miss them all. 

Hassan

Anna and I showing Hassan how to do the 'Essex pose'

Jon

Teacher Monica and Teacher Ruth from RMC

Bosco

Equator Trip
After church on Sunday we headed for the Equator! 2 hours and 7000 shillings later we arrived in the Southern hemisphere! It was good to see a bit more of the country and do something a bit more touristy!

Equator selfie 

Retail Therapy

On Monday morning we went to visit one of the widows, Susan. She makes jewellery for a living and we went round to buy some presents for our loved ones back home. The four of us girls were in absolute heaven when she brought out bags and bags of necklaces and bracelets! Jon was not so interested! It was great to get some gifts to take home and also support one of the widows we have come to know and love. The rest of the day was spent in Kampala at the craft markets!

beads, beads and more beads!

 Ruth Mother Care
On Tuesday we went to school for a farewell presentation. My Girls' Brigade company back at home had raised money to buy sports equipment for the school and so we were able to use that. We showed the children and teachers how to use the various things; beanbags, eggs and spoons, dice and balls! It was lots of fun and the children really enjoyed the races and games, Teacher Ruth was also eager to have a go! We saved the best til last with the parachute. The children were so excited by it and we had to keep an eye on lots of baby class members as they kept running underneath! As it's dry season here, the excitement of the children + the parachute = a lot of dust being whipped up!!

Teacher Ruth balancing a beanbag on her head for the race!

Beanbag races with middle class

Egg and spoon race with top class

Parachute fun

After break, the children put on a performance for us. They sang to us and performed some dance routines which was so lovely. It included a song that said goodbye to each of us individually. We have really fallen in love with this school and I wish we could stay and work there!

On Wednesday we went to the zoo with Ruth Mother Care.

Photos will follow!

Tomorrow we have the last children's club at FBC and I think it's going to break my heart!