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