LEAVING
Waving goodbye to a bunch of dedicated friends and family who dragged themselves out of bed at 5.30am to watch us leave was a special moment, thanks to the core team for being such good support! I wish I could say I was really sad to leave home but knowing what was waiting at the other end just made me so excited.The plane journeys were a mixture of emotions especially with it being Sarah and Will's first time and them not knowing what to expect at all and me just grinning. We skipped through one of the terminals making snapchat videos and waving our arms around until I remembered I had left my passport in a wallet in the pocket in front of me on the Manchster-Heathrow plane... nice one Rachael.
After running back to rescue the most important document I could have lost on my trip, we boarded the plane to Entebbe, Uganda. We joked about my over excitement about long haul flights "guys you even get blankets"... Yes Rach...
ARRIVING
Stepping from the plane and into the heat was such a satisfying feeling - we had made it. We had a gun held to our head as soon as we arrived... a temperature gun. Ebola checks are now in full swing. Once we had collected our bags it was time to find my friend Wilson who had come to collect us in a pickup truck. This proved more of a challenge than I expected as we stepped out of the airport exit to find a sea of faces looking at us. Among the hundreds, Wilson waded out and greeted us.As we arrived at 11.30pm, I had decided to book us into a guest house for the night so that we could do the 3 hour drive to Jinja the next day in the day light. As predicted the journey was an amazing and eye opening experience, especially for the other two. I will never forget my first time driving through Uganda, it's just like another world... The green palm trees, the bright orange dusty ground, the busy streets of colourful activity, people working and sweeping and selling, and children playing.
For the people who ask whether Uganda is a place where people live in mud huts - yes, in the outer villages and remote places there are lots of mud huts. But like anywhere in the world there are towns and cities which are more built up. Kampala, the capital, is full of lots of tall buildings, supermarkets, hospitals, schools, big main roads, and I noticed this time a lot of billboards advertising iPads. Kampala is quickly developing, however also like other places, the gap between rich and poor is widening. There are still places further out of the towns where homes are not made of brick or concrete but sticks and mud. I hope that answers some people's questions about what Uganda looks like as I think most people are only exposed to those adverts we see on TV which don't nessessarily give a true representation of the country or continent "Africa"
We sang for most of the journey which was fun, Lion King songs, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and worship music. And when we weren't singing I would just stare out of the window, trying to comprehend the fact that I was actually back in Uganda. I've never felt so happy and excited in all my life. I just kept thanking God for this opportunity, for the funds that have brought me here and the love he has planted in my heart for this place.
Seeing Juliet, Sam and the kids was lovely, I have missed them a lot as they were the family I lived with for four months of 2014! They weren't expecting me so it was a nice surprise and I was so excited for Will and Sarah to meet the kids; Tendo, Blessing and Jeff. We also finally met the three Aussie girls who are staying at our guesthouse too, Maddie, Hayley and Sophie. Everyone is great and we all got on brilliantly right from the very start.
RETURNING TO THE VILLAGE OF HOPE
I went up to the Village of Hope that evening. For those of you who don't know, it's a closed piece of land which has 10 houses now, each one housing 8 orphans from local slums and each house having a mother who is usually a widow. The village is like an orphanage but creates a village environment where everybody washes their own clothes and help their mothers cook their Ugandan meals over stone stoves. They also attend the local Christian school.My experience of returning to the Village of Hope was incredible. Sooo much love. Kids ran up to me hugging me and shouting Rachael and saying they had missed me. Lots of them began singing the songs I had previously taught them which was lovely to hear. There are two new houses (house 9 and 10) which have been built since I left so there are around 16 new kids who I can now get to know. After circulating all of the houses I felt right at home, excited at the thought of having another 9 weeks to spend with these amazing children.
When we visited Welcome Home - (orphanage and care home for AIDS babies and children) I noticed that one of the new children at the Village of Hope looked familiar. Her name was Susan and I was sure I had seen her before. After asking Rachel Kafeero who does the social work for Hope Builders, I discovered that little Susan was actually from Welcome Home and I had played with her there last year. I was so excited to find out she had been chosen to live at the Village of Hope, and is healthy AND apparently she has a sister already at the village, Irene. Yay.
SPECIAL MOMENTS
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| Meeting Grace in 2014 |
During my last week in Uganda in 2014, I went with Rachel to Masese slum where we had to do some home visits and interviews. This is the process taken when they are selecting the next 16 children to occupy the two new houses that are now in the Village of Hope. This was particularly hard because the aim is to find the children who are in need the most. How can you look at two separate orphans, both living with an old sick relative, both in a house made from mud, both owning very few possessions and usually just the clothes on their back, and choose which child is "more" in need. It was difficult to see this kind of analysis taking place but there are so many children in the slum. I suppose the way to look at it is that at least some of these children can be helped and given a better life and even if one individual is helped then it is worth it.
ANYWAY. I remember back in May during this visit to the slum, meeting one girl who seemed to have very little. She was small and quiet and was wearing an old waistcoat. The zip on the waistcoat was broken and it was stuck in the middle with both sides flapping. I knelt down and asked her name and fixed it for her. Up until then she hadn't smiled and it was a really special moment. After seeing so many children in the slum that day I just knew she was one that didn't have a family and anyone who really cared about her. I really hoped she would be shortlisted for the Village of Hope.
On Saturday, we had film night at the Village of Hope, where we project the movie onto a white sheet in the outdoor hall. We watched High School Musical which brought back memories and the kids loved it. Whilst watching it, somebody introduced me to Grace. I got out my phone and showed her this photo of us from when we first met. I was so so so happy she had been given this opportunity to live at the Village of Hope, to have a family, three meals a day, school and clothes. She smiled when she saw the picture and remembered who I was.
Then she sat with me and the other children on the floor as we watched the film and ended up falling asleep on my lap. She clung onto me as I carried her to bed later on and I just felt so happy to have seen a change in a child's life like that, and really appreciated all that Hope Builders to to provide this kind of change.
HOME OF HOPE
Visiting Home of Hope (disability home for children) was another pleasant experience for me. I was so exicted to see my friends Waswa and Hausi and smiled so much when they spoke to me in English, showing they have really excelled since we sent them to school with your donations! Waswa kept saying "Rachael" "Thank you for coming. Thank you for school"
It was a big challenge for Sarah and Will, visiting Home of Hope for the first time is very hard-hitting. However it went well, we took Henry, Junior and Peter for a walk in the wheelchairs through a village which they really enjoyed. We returned in time for lunch. Sarah and I helped to bring bowls of rice, beans and potato to all of the children. Some can feed themselves (Ugandans mostly use their hands to eat meals). Many of the children, particularly those with cerebral palsy, have to be fed, and they find it very difficult to swallow so it's quite challenging to do so. I was so impressed to go out to the balcony to find Will had sat and fed Henry (young boy with cerebral palsy) his whole meal. I know this is a really hard job so it was great to see Will getting stuck in on the first day, not to mention him later voluntarily sweeping and mopping the entire main floor after a messy meal time (he is very domesticated now, any takers??)
FUN AND MOTORBIKES
I loved going back to church on Sunday! I have missed the lively dancing and amazing singing that the Ugandans are so good at. When Pastor George preached on being branches that bear fruit (fruits of the spirit) Will and I jumped up and couldn't resist teaching everybody the actions to the fruits of the spirit like we did for Kids Church back at home.
I also took Will and Sarah to the markets as it is a fun and interesting experience. Sarah particularly loved seeing the animal intestines laid out in the meat section of the markets... as you can imagine.
To our parents' horror (sorry) we have had lots of fun travelling around on Boda Bodas (motorbikes like taxis). Hop on a bike and the driver will take you rom A to B for around 25p.
We also took our three little Ugandan siblings swimming for a treat day and also to give Juliet (their mum and ours too) a day off. This was really enjoyable, we has a nice meal afterwards too. The kids were so well behaved, and made it to the toilet on most occasions... I will say no more.
MILKING
Lastly, one of the best times so far was our afternoon with Pastor George. He is one of, or maybe even THE most kind, humble and gentle men I know. He is so dedicated to the church, to helping others and to God. He has twelve children, some adopted and others his own. His house is next to the church and is very small compared to what we are used to. He let us come and milk his cow on Monday.All three of us were so excited as although milking cows is not unique to Uganda and we do have farms at home, none of us have done this before.
Once we had milked the cow (or squirted it everywhere BUT the bucket in my case - including Pastor George's face...) he told us that he sells it for about 25p a Litre and produces about 7L per day. It is very little and yet after this he invited us to sit with him and drink tea. He used up most of the milk which to him must have been a large gift to us. We shared a good time together, talking and laughing and also meeting more or his extended family.
An ongoing joke stemmed from a conversation between Will and Pastor George.
"Is it a friendly cow" said Will.
"Yes she is a very humble cow"
So the Humble Cow became a joke, a jokey insult and also a new idea for the name for Pastor George's future milk business which he is praying for (watch this space) #humblecow
THANK YOU
So all in all it's been an exciting first week. I can't express how happy I am to be back and am loving being with my friends this time. If you made it to the end congratulations, I've just realised how much I've written. We will be doing one weekly post each on our blogs instead of small stories this time as there's three of us and three blogs to trundle through!Thank you for your ongoing support and prayer, it means so much and is so encouraging to have so many of you on this journey with us.
