Oh I forgot to tell you about the party bags yesterday!!! Well, after the school fair a few weeks ago there were lots and lots of bits and pieces left over so I asked Julie, who heads up the PTA, if I could take some of them to Uganda - she said yes!! So having added a few sweets to the mix, on Saturday morning before we left we made up 70 party bags full of small gifts and goodness anticipating that we'd give them away in Uganda. Whilst in the remote village yesterday we did just that. The children were bemused and simply held their bags! They needed encouraging to look inside and take out what was in there. They gradually got the idea and began to investigate and then play with the contents. It was lovely. Its so apparent these children expect nothing.
Anyway, that was yesterday. Today.....after yet another bad night, (I'm sure someone shot one of the birds last night!) we got up. I opened the curtains and a lizard landed on me!!!
We headed back to the orphanage this morning to decorate the bedroom. We worked hard, rubbing down then painting. We were working in a tight space amongst the bunks. Once the new paint had dried we stencilled stars and planets, fairy castles and unicorns. The stencils had been left after the school fair and I popped them in my suitcase wondering if they could be used. they were perfect. This was more like it. It was a fab day of working hard, working together, and working with a common purpose. Job done. The girls were thrilled and danced with excitement. This room is still grim but less so. At one point when I was painting behind a door, I accidently painted a cockroach! He didn't seem to mind?! John gets 'top man' of the day award for staying in the toilet (think hole in the ground used by 20 + children) long enough to rub down and paint!! He is to be applauded!
We had chicken for lunch, we chose which ones and then watched them be beheaded and bled before being cooked! Oh my!!
The girls at the orphanage work so hard!! They helped prepare food and they worked on the straw bag manufacture. Later on they sang to us, songs of appreciation and of determination to work hard in order to succeed in life. We have a lot to learn from these children. We handed out more party bags and enjoyed sharing the contents with the children - we gave what we could to onlookers from nearby who were watching us. The hardest thing is you can't give to every child. At the end of the afternoon, Margaret, a new comer to Kiwi, sat on my lap and fell asleep. As I rocked this beautiful 3 year old, I held her tight and considered that she would never again be held by her mum or dad......
Never have I been so glad of a shower, even the pathetic trickle that is this one!! It was so good to wash away the dust and dirt of the day and get ready for our night out at Khana Khazana - Indian restaurant. It was fun and delicious. I thought of Mr Cox and the curries he has cooked for me to raise funds for this trip, and the fabulous Christmas cake, thank you Mr Cox for helping to make this possible, I raised a glass to you tonight!!
Tomorrow.........African church. I'm hoping for gospel singing and Oh Happy Day!!!
XX
Saturday, 30 July 2011
High on a hill......
No electricity last night....no blog! Here's what I wrote but couldn't post yesterday......
If I'd had a gun I'd have shot those birds last night!! What a rough night: Zoe clambered into bed with me feeling unwell, thunderstorms overhead & those pesky birds!!
But 9.30 (a half hour lie in today!) and we boarded the buses and headed for Kiwi - this is the orphanage that Possibilities primarily supports, I'd heard so much about it over the years and today we would see it. The children would be at school but we'd be able to look around and assess what work we'd do tomorrow. I hadn't realised I had an image already in my mind of what it's be - it wasn't. We met Bernadeta, the amazing woman who at 63 is running the orphanage. She welcomed us like long lost friends. She took us into the home. We wandered through and straight outside to talk about work she'd really like done to the wall outside. In the very small space she has a cow, a calf and chickens. We also discussed decorating the boys and girls bedrooms. We couldn't get into the boys room as it was locked; this wasn't a room this was a shed attached to the house. However, we could see the girls room. As I stood in the bedroom as it keeps doing, my mind shot back home. Home to my children's nursery which they slept in as babies, then to Zoe's 'big girls room' with its big bed and pink and pastel colours and stencilled flowers on the wall and ivy climbing over her archway, then to her most recently decorated room in its dark purples. I saw her beds, she's had three, including a high sleeper with a desk and now her mid sleeper. My mind came back to this room, only a little bigger than Zoes. Here the room contains 4 three tier bunks where 20 girls sleep. There is just room to move between the bunks. There walls are bare. I knew these people didn't want my pity, I knew they have achieved so much and are so proud of what they've accomplished. I knew that this is good, its very good comparably. I therefore knew I shouldn't do it, mustn't do it, I tried really hard not to but I just couldn't stop myself and I stood and cried.
Tomorrow we will decorate their room.
Attached to the orphanage is a small business run by Bernadeta, they make bags and mats out of recycled straws. These people are so resourceful, so determined and so brave. This is a quality product they are producing - you should see them, you should buy one!!
After deciding what needed doing tomorrow we headed out to visit some goats in a small community. The goats are sponsored by Possibilities and on some land that belonged to Benny's family. It was a long way from the orphanage! I felt like we'd driven half way across Uganda!! We bought food on the way which we were told the ladies of the community would cook for us. We had such an African day!! We picked maize and prepared leaves for cooking. We watched as the ladies with babies on their backs prepared food, wrapped vegetables in banana leaves and steamed them over an open fire. Only the pictures will do this justice. We were in the heart of Africa, in the heart of a rural community, cooking on open fires just sitting and watching and waiting. This surely is Africa. When the children returned from school - we all ate the feast together. After the meal, Benny called a community meeting where she stressed the need to work together to look after the goats that possibilities have provided - that these goats are helping to provide hope and a future. The community are in desperate need of a bore hole, they must provide some money in order for the government to provide one. Possibilities agreed there and then to match anything the community could raise - the community leader cried.
Arrrrggggghhh I'm out of time - I have to catch the bus to the orphanage........ that'll have to do for now!!
I
If I'd had a gun I'd have shot those birds last night!! What a rough night: Zoe clambered into bed with me feeling unwell, thunderstorms overhead & those pesky birds!!
But 9.30 (a half hour lie in today!) and we boarded the buses and headed for Kiwi - this is the orphanage that Possibilities primarily supports, I'd heard so much about it over the years and today we would see it. The children would be at school but we'd be able to look around and assess what work we'd do tomorrow. I hadn't realised I had an image already in my mind of what it's be - it wasn't. We met Bernadeta, the amazing woman who at 63 is running the orphanage. She welcomed us like long lost friends. She took us into the home. We wandered through and straight outside to talk about work she'd really like done to the wall outside. In the very small space she has a cow, a calf and chickens. We also discussed decorating the boys and girls bedrooms. We couldn't get into the boys room as it was locked; this wasn't a room this was a shed attached to the house. However, we could see the girls room. As I stood in the bedroom as it keeps doing, my mind shot back home. Home to my children's nursery which they slept in as babies, then to Zoe's 'big girls room' with its big bed and pink and pastel colours and stencilled flowers on the wall and ivy climbing over her archway, then to her most recently decorated room in its dark purples. I saw her beds, she's had three, including a high sleeper with a desk and now her mid sleeper. My mind came back to this room, only a little bigger than Zoes. Here the room contains 4 three tier bunks where 20 girls sleep. There is just room to move between the bunks. There walls are bare. I knew these people didn't want my pity, I knew they have achieved so much and are so proud of what they've accomplished. I knew that this is good, its very good comparably. I therefore knew I shouldn't do it, mustn't do it, I tried really hard not to but I just couldn't stop myself and I stood and cried.
Tomorrow we will decorate their room.
Attached to the orphanage is a small business run by Bernadeta, they make bags and mats out of recycled straws. These people are so resourceful, so determined and so brave. This is a quality product they are producing - you should see them, you should buy one!!
After deciding what needed doing tomorrow we headed out to visit some goats in a small community. The goats are sponsored by Possibilities and on some land that belonged to Benny's family. It was a long way from the orphanage! I felt like we'd driven half way across Uganda!! We bought food on the way which we were told the ladies of the community would cook for us. We had such an African day!! We picked maize and prepared leaves for cooking. We watched as the ladies with babies on their backs prepared food, wrapped vegetables in banana leaves and steamed them over an open fire. Only the pictures will do this justice. We were in the heart of Africa, in the heart of a rural community, cooking on open fires just sitting and watching and waiting. This surely is Africa. When the children returned from school - we all ate the feast together. After the meal, Benny called a community meeting where she stressed the need to work together to look after the goats that possibilities have provided - that these goats are helping to provide hope and a future. The community are in desperate need of a bore hole, they must provide some money in order for the government to provide one. Possibilities agreed there and then to match anything the community could raise - the community leader cried.
Arrrrggggghhh I'm out of time - I have to catch the bus to the orphanage........ that'll have to do for now!!
I
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