NicolesLetters.org

Saturday November 8, 2008

Today was a day to recover a little for a very busy week.  We arrived at the school after breakfast and a chance to catch up with Pastor Gabriel and Pastor Stephen.  Steve (from San Diego) and Pastor Stephen went to a conference today, Pastor Gabriel took us to the school.  Michele went straight to the office to work and sort out a list with Sylvia and to ensure that we have everything before we leave on Friday.

Ali took a lot of great pictures.  She actually found some kids playing under a shed.  It’s amazing what kids can find to do.  I walked around and found the girls having their porridge.  They have that every morning around 11.  I sat and talked with some of the older girls.  They have so many questions.  They were asking me about what it’s like in America.  They were asking me about snow and rain.  I gave them a small educational talk about the different sections of America and the weather patterns.  I told them that San Diego is a bit like a desert compared to other parts of the country where we do not get much rain.  Then I told them about Arizona, where Richard is from.  They wanted to know which type of desert it is.  I didn’t know.  I asked them to tell me about the different types of deserts. They described The Sahara Desert and some others types.  I told them that it’s nothing like The Sahara Desert.  I brought a world map so I’ll have to show them tomorrow.  They wanted to know if America is on the equator.  They wanted to know if I had been to other countries in Africa. I said no.  Then they wanted to know other places I have been. I started telling them about Central America and other places. I told them about Europe and that I speak Spanish.  They thought it was so funny.  The asked me to say something.  I started speaking in Spanish and they were practically rolling on the ground.  They thought it was so funny that it was something they had never even heard.  They would say, “Say this….” And that….. and they kept having me say phrases in Spanish.

Tonight at dinner at the hotel we were sharing stories about the day and Steve reminded us of a story from last year.  He said that some of the kids asked him if we have dogs in America. He said yes and they asked him if they speak English or Lugandan.  We all had a good laugh but then we talked about how it was a really good question.

Before lunch I had a little time to read with some of the kids. I have a beginner child’s bible and I read some of the stories. I had about 9 kids in the room.  See you have to be in an office or something or else you get bombarded with 100 kids and then you can’t even read.  I read about 60 pages and handed it off to one of the girls to read.  They had fun each taking turns reading.  They love the stories also because they already know the stories.  I make sure to point to each word so they can hear the sounds and identify the words.

Some of our sponsored kids get to have lunch with us.  It’s such a privilege to do that.  It was Michele and her boys, Ali and Perez and my girls with me.  Today we had local food; sambosas (flour triangles filled with beef and fried), fried pieces of beef and we traded some of that for the kids’ boiled sweet potatoes.  The potato is so good!  I preferred that to what we had. They enjoyed the trade so they could have some meat.

Mulenzi sang a few songs for us during lunch today.  There was no music he started singing and used the desk as a drum from time to time. It was amazing. He called Jonathan (Green Oak) over because he had taught him the song. Jonathan was his back up singer.  He would sing a few lines here and there.

Michele Lawton..I saw Jemimah she’s so sweet. I talked to her for a while and met her little sister.  I can’t remember how to spell Jemimah’s last name but the English definition is “Good”. Luckily I have some old rugby pictures from a game on my computer that I can show her.  I can’t promise that they are the most glamorous pictures but if you want to email me one I will show her it in addition.

The kids love to see pictures of their sponsors so please everyone be encouraged to send them a picture. They love them so much.

I have seen Wairama Timothy a lot. I’ll attach a picture today.  He always stands out to me since I did his sponsorship interview last year.  I will post pictures of him and the other receiving their gifts. Put the cursor on the picture of the child to see the name.

On Monday I plan on visiting a family that is close.  The oldest brother is 15 and he cares for all 6 of his siblings.  Two of the kids are in the program.  I can only imagine their living conditions.

There are so many things that we witness on our drives to and from the hotel.  Yesterday we saw men trying to push start a tow truck.  Today we saw a motorcycle taxi transporting a weed whacker.

This evening upon our return to the hotel we walked down the street.  So many people come out at night.  Probably because it cools off enough and you aren’t under the direct sun.  The busses were trying to recruit us to go to Kampala.  Not really we just walked near where the bus pick up is and they were telling us that they were going to Kampala.

Today was a great day and tomorrow will be filled with church in the morning and we will hopefully get to give out some letters and gifts to the kids.

Thanks for all of your support!
Nicole