NicolesLetters.org

Hi Everyone,

Today was a great day. You will find the attached doc is a full view. My time online tonight is limited so sorry for no individual emails I will do that here. Bridget: Awesome! Whatever you are working on… I love it and thank you! This is great, I throw it out there that we need to do a fundraiser and all my worker bees get into action before I can even get home. Love u guys! Thanks girls!

Aunt Chris, Thanks I will give it to her for Christmas she will love it. When I asked Sara if she had a bible, she said “You want to give me a bible?” Her eyes lit up. I’m going to give her the travel bible that Aunt Chris gave me for my birthday to take here with me.

Aunt Jan, I think you are right!

Mom, I tried to add Steve, did it work? Does Alex like the stories or are they too intense?

Thanks everyone for your support!

Hugs,

Nicole

Uganda Day 8

Today is Saturday and we had a great day. The team is back from Gulu. I was up late last night. Getting up this morning was difficult. They picked us up at about 11:00 or so. We went to the school to see the kids and Pastor Gabriel went to Kampala to go to the bank to get the rest of the money for our hotel. They must not have universal banks? There are many things in this country including the inefficiencies of every day life that confuse me. We stopped at the bank so I could exchange some money. I asked our driver to come in with me. He is our friend, Jerrard, and he is a driver for the school and has been shuttling us around all week. Aside from the shotguns that the guards were holding outside and inside the bank, it was a pretty normal experience! Huh? At any rate, did I tell you about last night when Jerrard dropped me off at the hotel, the team was still coming back from Gulu at that time and it was he and another guy from the school, maybe a teacher. This other guy was showing me how there are a bunch of grasshoppers here these days. They are buzzing around everywhere. He asked me if we have those, I said yes. He said that they fry them and eat them with onions to make them sweet. I wasn’t expecting the conversation to take that route. ! Yikes, Yum!

Michele was going to see a family that one of the women involved in the organization has given some chickens to help support the family, I think. All I know is that Michele and I went to interview this woman and follow up on the chickens and pigs on her property. I know it sounds strange. Actually she is 62 years old and is the grandmother of 18 children (about) she didn’t know exactly. Hmmmm…. The foundation or organization has helped her with these pigs and chickens so they want to make sure these types of donations are helpful I assume. I don’t really know. Michele asked me to go with her to do the interview while she did photos. Okay so we arrive to this home and it wasn’t that bad actually. It had solid walls and roof so they are better off then some. Well this woman lives there and cares for about 9 of her grandchildren. She is the only adult and she is very grateful because many of these children have sponsors that send them to school, i.e. Children’s Heritage Foundation mostly and I think one is sponsored by another organization. They were all dressed in their best dress. They knew they were going to get their pictures taken. I asked her where the parents are of all these children. She had 7 children and only two are living now. One recently died in a car accident and only two are still living, all the others have died of AIDS. I thought she seemed older then 62, I suppose it makes sense given the facts. The grandkids ages range from little one, maybe 2 to about 13 or 14. The older ones maintain the property, garden, fetch water and do a lot of the cleaning. Mostly she does the cooking. I am quite impressed how the people live off the land here. Most have a small plot of land and they grow food to sustain them and maybe sell anything that is left for money to send their children to school. We went to see the well that is on the neighbor’s property that was built by the rotary club here. It is on the property of a neighbor but she said that anyone can us it. It was quite a trek. Not far just like hiking through the countryside with a little humidity. The ground is moist because they do get rain even though their rainy season is over. Glenda, parts were like the mellow hiking in El Salvador last year. So I am wearing my crocs and Michele is wearing flip-flops. She was slipping a sliding all over the place on this hill so she took off her shoes and hiked barefooted. I couldn’t believe it, she is such a trooper! It was funny for the kids they got a kick out of it because some of them were barefoot also. Ha, ha…. We were at the well and heard thunder. The thunder was roaring in the sky and I could see dark clouds coming our way!!!!! We were about 10 minutes walking from the house. It started to rain a little and I said hey we have to hit the road it’s going to pour. We all started running through the countryside back to the house in the rain with the thunder roaring. The kids got the biggest kick out of that, we were laughing and having so much fun! We got back to the house where the van was and Jerrard was there. The neighbors were coming out of their houses to see the white people. It was funny to see everyone peering out at us. We went back to the school and had a little bit of time to play with the kids. Does anyone remember a game called “Chinese jump rope” or am I making it up? Remember it’s where two people stand apart from each other and someone jumps in and out of the ropes and jumps on the ropes, etc. The girls were playing that.

I saw a girl this afternoon that I saw in the morning. She was standing near a wall by where they bathe. She looked sad. I asked her if she was okay. She said yes. I asked her if she was sad. She said that she is sick. I put my hand on my stomach and asked her if her stomach was sick? She said no. Then I asked her if she was sick and put my hand on my head. She said that she has malaria. I asked her if she was taking medication. She said yes for two days. I asked her where she got it and she said from the “matron” the woman in charge of her dormitory. I was glad to hear that. She looked ill but mostly sad. I think when the children hear that they have malaria they fear death because they know so many people that die of malaria and the medication is only $2 for a treatment here. People can’t afford it. It just amazes me. Like I said I saw her again this afternoon and asked her how she was feeling but she just looked at me, she is maybe 10 years old. I might come home with just the clothes on my back. I give little care packages to my girls each day. A pair of socks and a bar of soap…, some candy and wet wipes, a hard-boiled egg and a book. Whatever I can find in my hotel room as I go through my stuff. I also bartered with the other team members a pair of shoes for your sponsor kid for some school supplies for mine……ha, ha… no really we did. I know it sounds funny. We are very efficient. I was helping the girls bead some necklaces it was fun. They will put one bead on a string and wear it, it’s just what they got during the time Ali brought out the goodies. Some had more, some less. A couple of girls made me a necklace. They are so sweet, how nice that they want to give it to me. I love them. I can’t wait to see the kids in the morning. I am really glad that I didn’t go to Gulu. I really enjoyed staying at the school and spending time with the kids there. And teaching them UNO.

I called Godwin tonight. Remember he is one of Pastor Steven’s adopted children that has been translating for me all week. He said he had a friend that lives near Sara and maybe she can start bringing her to church on Sundays. I called him to see if she can start bringing her tomorrow. It was almost 9 by the time I spoke with him so I don’t know if he can arrange it for me but he said that he doesn’t know Sara’s address. I said I would take care of the taxi for his friend to bring her and take her home but he said that when he gets to church in the morning he would try and find her address and go get her for me. I really hope he can find her. I want to see her again before I go. How weird for her if he just shows up at her house and says, Nicole wants you to come to church. Hmmm tomorrow will be a good day. Like today. I am looking forward to church. It will last about three hours then we can play with the kids all day I think. Some people are going to Kampala to go shopping but not me I have some games to play like jump rope and UNO. I think I will leave some clothes here actually most. I don’t know if they will want them or not. Probably. Kyla… I gave the black teva flip flops to one of the staff women and she was telling people all day that I gave them to her. Even the staff that are put together don’t have that much. It’s so weird to me. Jim and Andy finished the video doc tonight. It’s only three minutes but it has great pictures and sounds. I can’t wait to show all of you.

Lots of Love,
Nicole

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