So, so tired!!

I'm soooooooo tired! The combination of not sleeping, getting up early and manual work has caught up with me today!  We managed to leave by 8.20 this morning. Some of us headed out to Kiwi orphanage and others went to Bula, the orphanage Jack visited yesterday. He went there again today and Zoe and I went back to Kiwi.

When we arrived some of the girls were ready to leave for school. They walk there by themselves. Today Jess, Jess, Zoe and I walked hand in hand with them, We walked through the slum where homes are mud huts or shed like buildings with corragated iron roofs. We jumped trenches, crossed a small rickety bridge, walked passed a dump and then dropped the younger girls at nursery and the older girls at school. This is a million miles away from home.  Us four white girls felt conspicuous and more vulnerable without the children with us on the return journey.

Once back at Kiwi we set to work decorating. My last three decorating experiences at home were my lovely lounge 2 years ago, with its fancy feature papered wall and new lights, Jacks bedroom last year and Kev & Alis house during a work party one evening. This decorating experience bears absolutely no resemblance. Here we are decorating 'rooms' with crumbling walls, lizards jumping out when we moved furniture, a light bulb hangs precariously, the rafters are all exposed, these are more like out buildings. However, we worked together and gave Benedictas (think I called her Bernadeta before?!) room a coat of paint. Josh & Zo painted Minnie Mouse & Pluto on the wall in the wall in the girls room! We also tackled the boys room. I know lots of farmers that really do have out buildings in better condition than this 'room'. But you know, once we'd painted, stencilled stars and planets & Josh added a fantastic rocket we had some how turned it into a boys room! He loved it, as did the girls with theirs. Zoe painted flowers and butterflies around Benny's door frame - she cried!!

Some of the lads spent much of the day erecting a fence for Benny. They dug holes, and used posts made of tree branches/trunks. They worked incredibly hard with basic tools and in very hot conditions. Africa it appears can be frustrating. The fence looked brilliant and served its purpose but when Benny returned (hours after having to go out for 5 minutes!) she said a water pipe had to be moved to the other side of the fence and half the fence had to be removed. It was disheartening and dimoralising. Communication across the cultures is tricky!

This afternoon, Zoe, Jess, Jess & I took another walk in search of a baby!! The knitting club at school had made squares which had been sewn into a blanket. They gave it to me in assembly at the end of term and asked me to pass it on to a baby in Uganda. We didn't have to go far. We tried to explain and showed the mum a picture of the group who'd made it. She was so very grateful and I was very proud of some children in England who had given their time to make this small difference to a family in the heart of Africa - Well done you lot! I have pictures to show you!!

I flagged by mid afternoon and am sure I'll sleep well tonight?!

Tomorrow we have a couple of days off.  Many, many years ago my friend Janet bought me a book called "These things I will do" - in it you write down things you want to do or accomplish and the date on which you decide. Theres a place to fill in when you've done it too - like an official Bucket List! I love my book. In it there are things that are relatively easy to do, like take my kids to see Lion King - that got ticked off 6 years ago. Some are harder and have taken a long time to achieve like "Become a teacher" but got ticked off in 2008. Some aren't yet acheived like "Buy an old cottage"!  But tomorrow I get to tick off "Go on Safari" - Yahhhh!!  I am soooooooooo excited!  This is the bit I have saved up for myself. Musa who has been linked with Possibilites for a few years and who is Robs 'man on the ground' here in Uganda has been driving us around all week in his taxi bus. He is also a Safari Driver and so he is taking us!!!  I can't tell you how excited I am about this and of course about sharing it with Jack & Zoe........ Will try to post.

So thats us for now all up to date - thanks for reading. Please excuse the awful spelling, grammar & punctuation - I have to do this quickly as others are always waiting!!  A final thought today......"Your life loses its true meaning when material possessions become the content of your life"  xx