NicolesLetters.org

It’s Nov 7th and it’s about 1:15am. I just don’t know where the time goes. Now really it’s getting pretty late so this will be a quick update because I know the pictures will tell a lot of stories. Last night the internet was down at the hotel so there was no posting. I was also exhausted and fell asleep shortly after dinner. I fell asleep without the mosquito net also which is never a good thing. I was fast asleep at about 9pm and was good til about 1am when I heard a mosquito buzzing around my head. I wasn’t very happy about that because then the dogs were barking like crazy at about that (this – I hear them now) time.

The last two days have been pretty eventful. Yesterday was a day of seeing sponsored kids that came to collect their Christmas Gifts and get their updated pictures taken. When we weren’t doing that we were doing profiles. Some of the kids I saw .. Awuma Judith, Namazzi Catherine, Ntembe Elvis, Muyomba Joshua, Sembuya Samuel, Ajulu Juliet, Aliobe Solomon, Nampewo Scovia (Bridget-uncle), Nabyonga Berindah, Deborah, Nakitende Sylvia…. If you see the name of your sponsor child you can post to the site and I will respond to your email with any details that I have on them.

One child that I will share with is Purpose. The little guy came to see us. He is now 5 and wore stylish patches on his jeans ( they are supposed to be like that) and he was running around just like I remembered him from last year. You might remember a boy from last year, Mike. We met him when he came to be interviewed for sponsorship and I interviewed him at 2pm and he died at 5:30 that night. Purpose is his little brother. The next day was the funeral and the dad had someone bring Purpose to the school so that he might be able to have the education that his brother couldn’t have and have a better life one day. Well I also interviewed Purpose and he was running around and being a 4 year-old boy. Yesterday he was playing drums on the arm of the couch as if it was a real drum. I got a chance to speak with him and with a translator I learned that he likes learning the ABC’s and starts singing the ABC’s for me. HE also starts going through the numbers he gets to 11 before he gets into doing something else. He has a big smile and talks about soccer. He is really happy when I show him a picture of his sponsor, Trista. Luckily it was on my computer and he was so excited. She is his “muzungu”

This mosquito will not stop buzzing around me, it might make me crazy.

Richard took Michele and I to see the road that he has been jogging on in the mornings. That’s dedication that he runs while he is here! So we went walking before breakfast and it was great to see more sections of the town. The crazy thing is that people cruise so fast on this road and all the kids are walking to school on, probably doing 60mph or so on this I think it was paved road but a lot of mud on the sides. We had to walk in the mud a lot to make sure we didn’t get run over. You could tell the kids on this street didn’t see many muzungus because they were all yelling, “muzungu, muzungu, bye muzungu” and waving to us until we were out of sight.

I did some shopping this morning for many of the people that wanted to get things for their kids. Interestingly enough there are no prices on things even if it’s a normal shop. They give you a price and then you bargain. Godwin took me so we went to a variety of shops…here and there for this and that. We got dresses for girls, backpacks, some shoes and shirts…bed sheets for some and school supplies for others.

There was a big downpour today just before the lunch hour and still some rain while the kids had to have lunch. They played soccer but some of the girls hung out in a room where I was to stay dry. We just watched the others play games and they played their own games inside also.

Zachariah got his new shirt and sized for new shoes. He was so happy also with his letter and stickers.

I really would like to share with all the sponsors that these kids a lot of times do not have parental support and some are complete orphans. They really do think of their sponsors as an extension of their family. Please if you can, they love to receive letters and also very important pictures of you. I’m sure you can see that in some of these pictures ?

I’m going to wrap this up because now it’s really getting late. On our way home to the hotel today we had a small road block well it was the tow truck had had problems. Turns out the tow truck was much smaller and the truck it was towing weighed it down so much that it couldn’t get going….then the men were trying to jump start the tow truck by pushing it. See picture below. We also saw a truck carrying oversized veggies. It was amazing they were so big. A cabbage the size of a big watermelon.

Oh one more thing… there are some pictures that they took on the trip to the farm…the guys went their today, Richard and Steve. There are bags of cornmeal and the bags only last a couple of weeks to support the kids, hence the farm that they have to support the food needs of the kids at the school. Then there is also a picture of the sweet potatoes in the back of the truck. They had a delivery this morning at the school. Look at the amount of food there and it is only enough for one dinner and one lunch for the kids. Guess that’s what happens when you feed 700+ kids each day!

That’s a wrap! Enjoy the pictures.

Nicole