Heyhey sorry I havn't written in a while its been quite a busy few days!
I continued to work at Good Will School all last week. It was good to spend a week there as we have started to build up really good relationships with the kids. I wont forget one child in particular who remained on the outskirts whilst we were playing.. she was only about 5 if that, dressed in rags and broken shoes and her eyes just told a story filled with hurt.. she was so reserved.. I have never seen her smile. She burst into tears whilst we were playing as she lost 100 shillings.. which I think is the equivelant of about 3p.. her cry was so heart felt it was like she was so scared of the consequences for her loosing this money.. she was absolutely distraught.
I picked her up and took her into one of the small run-down brick rooms and sat on the dusty floor as she cried in my arms.. it was just me and her in the room and I was getting quite emotional myself as I listened to this poor hurting girl cry and cry.. Naj had a 200shilling coin on her so I discretely placed it in her hand and as she realised she began to calm down but hold on to me so tight. She didnt move in my arms she just wanted me to hug her.. it was as if she had never been hugged before.. I later found out that the girl comes from a family of 7 children who are scattered around the country, all from different dads who all had left the mother on her own with no money to support the children.. which made the mother very tempermental in bipolar moods, showing little care and leaving the children to fend for themselves. As I sat there holding this girl I knew my visit was well worth it, even just to give her a hug.
During lunch time the children are meant to go home to eat but a lot of them stayed as they didnt have anywhere to go... we felt so bad getting our munch on as the children sat there starving, having the teachers complain at them for not being able to concentrate at school.. so we handed out our lunch.. it was only a few sausages, bread and crisps but they were so grateful..
On Friday a lot of us went in with a full days plan of activities to do with the kids.. ending up with making mashmallow and banana kebabs covered in chocolate! Oh my gosh you should have seen the kids faces they absolutely loved it! Most of them had never even seen marshmallows before. It was so good to finish on a high seeing them smiling. We have decided to go back next week and completely re-vamp the school.. paint n all!
The weekend has been well fun! Immaculate introduced us to her boyfriend and his friends and we all went out and saw the other side of Kampala. Everyone was dressed up smartly, dancing, having fun, spending lots of money.. we went to the most amazing club I have ever been to seriously it was FULL of amaaaaaaaaazing dancers aaah I absolutely loved iiiiiit! I made friends with Immaculates mates, one in particular called Jose who picked me up in his suburu with his snazzy music dvd player in the car (!) and showed me all the best places to go in Kampala to party.. it was so much fun!.. but so weird.. such a contrast to the environment which we have been working in.. it was hard to know what to make of it all.. I suppose its the same as anywhere.. theres always a rich and a poor side. Why cant all the wealth just be shared out so everyones the same.
On Sunday we did a bit of site seeing... the national museum, the tombs of past Kings and the spot where the early catholics were martyred for their faith.. Then we went to watch an outdoor traditional African dance show which was soo cool.. there was a band of random african instruments, men and women dressed up in traditional tribal style gear, beating big drums, shaking their big featherd bums and bells on their feet and hips.. whilst balancing pots on their heads... now that's impressive!! Everyone here has amazing rhythm.. there was a group of school kids who went and they were asked to get up and follow the main guys dance moves and wooooo they were sooo good!!!.. and they all joined in with huuuuge smiles on their faces.. they were well getting into it! I reckon in England only about half of the kids would join in with something like that.. the rest would either be too shy or think it was majorly 'uncool'. Thats what I love about this place there is such a community feel, everyone is just up or a good time and no-one cares what they look like as long as they are having fun. Good tiiimes!
Today I was supposed to be working in the slums but in true Ugandan style the lady who was taking me was over 3hours late so I ended up writing up a case study to be used in the Hope for Children magazine. It was about a boy who lived in the slums with only his mum, as his dad died and his baby brother was taken somewhere by someone who thought it wasnt safe for him to live with the mum.. but noone actually knows where the baby is now... his mum has HIV and is sick a lot so lost her job in a factory and ended up begging on the streets.. which led to her struggling to cater for her family and loosing all hope and will to live.. she totally gave up on being a mum.. leaving the boy to sleep on the rubbish pit with the animals.. he became very aggressive and didnt turn up to school, just wandering about the streets trying to find food. So Hope took him into a boarding school where he is now making huge progress.
It was pretty shocking going through all the children's files to read that most of the children's parents were dead and/or that they came from such a big family with parents suffering from AIDS that they were not being cared for at all.. some are being beaten on a regular basis. I think Im going into the slums tomorrow to visit more families and find out what their situations are and how Hope can help.. pretty intense stuff to see and hear about... some days I can deal with it and other days, like today, it just messes with me.
My eczema has come back, I stubbed by toe the other day so its all cut under the nail and Im trying to walk with a big fat toe bandage lol and my IBS is starting to effect me so maybe Im a bit run down.. nothing a good sleep and an ice cold shower cant sort out Im sure lol. Miss home quite a bit too... its getting to the half way point isnt it.. its the 'three week itch' as mum calls it lol.. being here though naturally makes you compare everything to how things are back at home and how amazing I have it.. maaajorly thankful for everything and for all of you
Sending biiiig amounts of love right at cha and you best all be prepared for the biggest hug EVER when I get back x
Toodles for now xx
I continued to work at Good Will School all last week. It was good to spend a week there as we have started to build up really good relationships with the kids. I wont forget one child in particular who remained on the outskirts whilst we were playing.. she was only about 5 if that, dressed in rags and broken shoes and her eyes just told a story filled with hurt.. she was so reserved.. I have never seen her smile. She burst into tears whilst we were playing as she lost 100 shillings.. which I think is the equivelant of about 3p.. her cry was so heart felt it was like she was so scared of the consequences for her loosing this money.. she was absolutely distraught.I picked her up and took her into one of the small run-down brick rooms and sat on the dusty floor as she cried in my arms.. it was just me and her in the room and I was getting quite emotional myself as I listened to this poor hurting girl cry and cry.. Naj had a 200shilling coin on her so I discretely placed it in her hand and as she realised she began to calm down but hold on to me so tight. She didnt move in my arms she just wanted me to hug her.. it was as if she had never been hugged before.. I later found out that the girl comes from a family of 7 children who are scattered around the country, all from different dads who all had left the mother on her own with no money to support the children.. which made the mother very tempermental in bipolar moods, showing little care and leaving the children to fend for themselves. As I sat there holding this girl I knew my visit was well worth it, even just to give her a hug.
During lunch time the children are meant to go home to eat but a lot of them stayed as they didnt have anywhere to go... we felt so bad getting our munch on as the children sat there starving, having the teachers complain at them for not being able to concentrate at school.. so we handed out our lunch.. it was only a few sausages, bread and crisps but they were so grateful..
On Friday a lot of us went in with a full days plan of activities to do with the kids.. ending up with making mashmallow and banana kebabs covered in chocolate! Oh my gosh you should have seen the kids faces they absolutely loved it! Most of them had never even seen marshmallows before. It was so good to finish on a high seeing them smiling. We have decided to go back next week and completely re-vamp the school.. paint n all!The weekend has been well fun! Immaculate introduced us to her boyfriend and his friends and we all went out and saw the other side of Kampala. Everyone was dressed up smartly, dancing, having fun, spending lots of money.. we went to the most amazing club I have ever been to seriously it was FULL of amaaaaaaaaazing dancers aaah I absolutely loved iiiiiit! I made friends with Immaculates mates, one in particular called Jose who picked me up in his suburu with his snazzy music dvd player in the car (!) and showed me all the best places to go in Kampala to party.. it was so much fun!.. but so weird.. such a contrast to the environment which we have been working in.. it was hard to know what to make of it all.. I suppose its the same as anywhere.. theres always a rich and a poor side. Why cant all the wealth just be shared out so everyones the same.
On Sunday we did a bit of site seeing... the national museum, the tombs of past Kings and the spot where the early catholics were martyred for their faith.. Then we went to watch an outdoor traditional African dance show which was soo cool.. there was a band of random african instruments, men and women dressed up in traditional tribal style gear, beating big drums, shaking their big featherd bums and bells on their feet and hips.. whilst balancing pots on their heads... now that's impressive!! Everyone here has amazing rhythm.. there was a group of school kids who went and they were asked to get up and follow the main guys dance moves and wooooo they were sooo good!!!.. and they all joined in with huuuuge smiles on their faces.. they were well getting into it! I reckon in England only about half of the kids would join in with something like that.. the rest would either be too shy or think it was majorly 'uncool'. Thats what I love about this place there is such a community feel, everyone is just up or a good time and no-one cares what they look like as long as they are having fun. Good tiiimes!
Today I was supposed to be working in the slums but in true Ugandan style the lady who was taking me was over 3hours late so I ended up writing up a case study to be used in the Hope for Children magazine. It was about a boy who lived in the slums with only his mum, as his dad died and his baby brother was taken somewhere by someone who thought it wasnt safe for him to live with the mum.. but noone actually knows where the baby is now... his mum has HIV and is sick a lot so lost her job in a factory and ended up begging on the streets.. which led to her struggling to cater for her family and loosing all hope and will to live.. she totally gave up on being a mum.. leaving the boy to sleep on the rubbish pit with the animals.. he became very aggressive and didnt turn up to school, just wandering about the streets trying to find food. So Hope took him into a boarding school where he is now making huge progress.
It was pretty shocking going through all the children's files to read that most of the children's parents were dead and/or that they came from such a big family with parents suffering from AIDS that they were not being cared for at all.. some are being beaten on a regular basis. I think Im going into the slums tomorrow to visit more families and find out what their situations are and how Hope can help.. pretty intense stuff to see and hear about... some days I can deal with it and other days, like today, it just messes with me.
My eczema has come back, I stubbed by toe the other day so its all cut under the nail and Im trying to walk with a big fat toe bandage lol and my IBS is starting to effect me so maybe Im a bit run down.. nothing a good sleep and an ice cold shower cant sort out Im sure lol. Miss home quite a bit too... its getting to the half way point isnt it.. its the 'three week itch' as mum calls it lol.. being here though naturally makes you compare everything to how things are back at home and how amazing I have it.. maaajorly thankful for everything and for all of you
Sending biiiig amounts of love right at cha and you best all be prepared for the biggest hug EVER when I get back x
Toodles for now xx
Tiarna - Biiig hug. We've all got back from faith camp so hopefully you'll get a few more comments now. Great record. The 'itch' will soon pass and then you'll wonder where all the time has gone when you're starting to pack! Hope the toe gets better. Luv Unc Andy.
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