A Hard Lesson to Learn.

It's coming up to the last third of my trip and you can imagine time is scarily flying by. Finding time to fit everything I want to do and achieve is hard. Over half way through the home sickness and exhaustion hits you while sat hot, tired and dripping in sweat waiting for the water to come back on so you can cool down, or hearing the rat scratching at your door at night. But it makes it all worth it when you see the smiles, joy and love that the children have to share with you everyday. 

Mark and I

There is so much need here you just want to help everybody you see. I don't think a day goes by where someone hasn't requested my help in some shape or form. Because I am white they believe that I have everything and have endless amounts of money…. which I am starting to realise compared to them we do. A couple of days ago a man in the street was pushing this piece of metal that he would refer to as a bicycle, saw me and said hello as I was walking past him. I asked him how he was and he replied with, "I am not fine, I am poor and I am hungry" 

Pastor George came to me the other day asking if I would stand with him financially to help families in the community who have nothing. I have so much love for this guy! This is a great ministry that I would love to stand with. The easy thing would be to just throw money at these things. Sometimes this can do more damage than good. 

Trevor, Ronald and Myself

These boys live across the road from us. The boy on the left is called Trevor and the other boy is Ronald. When I was a child playing outside after school,  Dad would pull up in his mark 2 red Polo after a days work and as soon as I would see him I would drop whatever I was doing and run as fast as I could into his arms. I know I can't compare myself to my amazing Dad, but this is exactly what Trevor does when he sees me. The past few weeks we have been seeing him sat on the side of the road, chewing sugar cane in clothes that we would deem as unwearable when he should be at school.

Visiting a true ugandan family

So one day while walking home Rachael and I thought to go and meet his family. In one house there are 5 generations with many missing members due to death or running away. Trevor (sat on my knee) is looked after by his Great Grandma, his Aunty and sometime his Father when he is not out finding work. Seeing past all the poverty this was just a really close family that seem to be very happy with what they had. A couple of days later again Trevor came running over with a piece of paper. Written was his school fees, uniform fees etc… That they couldn't afford to pay anymore.

These are only a few examples of many encounters with people in need. It actually made me very upset and start to question a lot of things. 

Why ME? 

The only thing that makes us different is the location of where we were born. 

Why was I born into such a wealthy country? 

Why am I the one who has the power to decide if they get help or not? 

You could say that it is a pleasure and an honour to be able to help these people but what makes me so special to decide who to help and who to not?  

The problem is you can't help everybody, but you want to help somebody….which leaves you to decide. This is probably the biggest learning curve I have ever had to face. 

Even though there is a lot of need in this country there is still a lot of happiness and beauty. This week we got the chance to visit the source of the River Nile. Of course this meant SELFIE STICK TIME

Sarah, Rachael, Juliet and I at R.Nile 

Cant believe where the time has gone, but its not over just yet. Thank you for everybody's interest in what we are doing. Here are some pictures of the past few weeks. 

Promise, Their Grandma and Ronald

Bath time with Jeff

They love a selfie 

The Kitchen 

Trevor 

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good spirit lead me on level ground. 

Psalms 143:10 

A Mixed Bag of Emotions

Before I came out here one of the many things I was excited about doing was a bit of teaching. Of course teaching my little cousin Sarah as an 9 year old counts as 'experience in the classroom' right? So I sat down with Ron and Ann and told them I was interested in getting involved. Ron and Ann are the lovely couple who set up Jinja Christian School. They are basically our Mum and Dad in Uganda, you could go to them with any issue and they would sort it out. Plus they are from Australia, so I feel like I'm on a constant episode of neighbours. 

Teaching P3 Class

My first lesson as "Teacher William" was Maths, or for those Americans reading 'Math'. I had 10 kids from Primary 3. They try to sort classes to age groups however most of the time they have to do it on ability. I would say ability wise they were year 2/3 in England. Having an hour and a half to fill and not much time to plan I had to think on my feet for most of it. I have doubled my respect for all those teachers out there, especially those who had to teach me. Keeping the interest of a class is a skill and a headache in itself, however I was pleased with the way it went. By the end of it, they were all counting in a northern accent. 

I also taught an English lesson to many different groups throughout the day. Instead of doing a typical English lesson, I did a Drama lesson which was so much fun. We had a poem which we turned into physical theatre. This gave them the opportunity to have a go at speaking English aloud….again with a northern accent.

Finally I taught a Music lesson. This was also great fun as we did singing. However not having a piano in front of me tested my abilities. You would think all Africans sing beautifully…. pitching was challenging. Here is a video of one of the songs we did. 

Teaching the Senior class

This week we got an opportunity to visit the slum down the road called Masese. There are more than a 10,000 people living there in such a small amount of space. In the slum community poverty, Hunger, alcoholism and disease are part of everyday life. Many are forced to turn to prostitution, picking through trash for food and brewing alcohol to sell. Most children can't afford school so instead they are fetching water, looking for food or begging on the streets. 

We were taken round by a translator to four different families. We gave each family a bag of sugar, a bar of soap and prayed with them. This was very eye opening as you can imagine. Praying for food and water for a family isn't something I have ever had to do. 

A Mother and 4 out of  7 of her Children

This is one of the families we met. The woman is 29 and has 7 children already. Even though she is smiling for the picture, they hadn't eaten for at least 24 hours. Her husband said that he was going out to look for work months ago and hasn't returned leaving her with nothing. Her youngest children are twins which are aged 1 and a half, but because they are so malnourished they looked only a few months old. As we were talking with her, she was breast feeding them. However because she hadn't eaten or drank in a while she was completely dry. This was so hard to see such hungry babies desperately trying to get food. 

The sad thing is, when you work out what they have to pay for a place to sleep and think what you would use that money for at home, it knocks you sick. 1 McDonalds meal would give shelter to a family for a whole month. A pack of chewing gum is the amount of money someone would earn for a whole working day.  

The local Supermarket 

A 7 year old caring for her baby sibling 

The way most people travel is by a Boda Boda (a motorbike). Most journeys cost about 25 - 50 pence. Because I am white and they all assume I am rich, some try and charge you a 'white persons price'. After trying a few out I eventually found a decent, safe and reliable driver. He is called Charles. Charles is my personal chauffeur… well I like to think he is. Whenever I need to get somewhere I call him and he will arrive in minutes. As if he is waiting round the corner for my call. He earns from £2.50 - £6.00 a day. When he makes £6.00 in a day, he is over the moon. Again try and put that into perspective of your own life……its scary.  

After having many journeys getting to know him, I found out he was an orphan himself and had a really hard life. He has three children who are constantly being sent home from school because he hasn't been able to pay the fees. Last week his son Jerome, got sent home from school. I ask how did he manage to sort this and he had got a loan from one of his friends. The loan was for £25 with £5.00 added each 2 weeks. He didn't even have £25 to his name.

He then invited the three of us for sunday lunch. We were so pleased to be asked however slightly nervous of what we would be served.

(L-R) Charles, Joash, Jerome, Jemima and Justine  

Once we arrived to their two room house we were greeted by 4 huge smiles and 1 crying baby (he was scared of white people). They were all dressed in their Sunday best and had this huge meal set out. This meal would have cost them more than a days wage. They even bought bottled water for us because they knew we don't drink local water. We asked where do you prepare the food and she pointed to the floor where this small coal burner was. Charles plays keyboard for his church so he got out the church keyboard and he started playing some Uganda worship songs. This was so moving because the whole family got involved singing. After a while I played him a few English worship songs as the girls sang. This was so touching and a really special moment that I will cherish. After some thought about the loan, I decided to use some money that someone kindly donated to me to pay off his loan. We wouldn't bat an eyelid about spending this kind of money. For us such a small gesture…. for him it meant the world. 

The three of us and Charles' family

A selfie with the neighbours

                                                                                     

Over the past few weeks as I have been walking down the road our neighbours would often come running over to me and ask me to come and play. Eventually I got to know them all quite well. This one time they dragged me over to the bench and said "sit, you must eat with us" I didn't really have a choice…. Even though they don't have much, they are so willing to share their meal with me. As the sunset, all we were lit by was the stars and moon. I felt so African. However I have to admit I did get my head torch out to walk home.  

This is 'Momma Danny' when you have a child you are automatically called your oldest child's name. House group was at hers this week and she lives where I had dinner. She is my age and is already married to Moses and has one child, Danny. It came to prayer requests and she told the group she is pregnant and hasn't felt the baby move for days. She believed she had been pregnant since July yet wasn't showing at all. This left me very confused. We all prayed for her. The night I was over for dinner she told me she has really bad stomach pain. My alarm bells were ringing and I decided to get in contact with Nurse Dent. After some advice I got the girls to come across with me to chat to her about the lady things. We decided the best thing was to take her to hospital the next day. Of course this was never an option for her as that would be so much money. We left the next morning at 6.30 and there was already a large queue.  After a scan they discovered that she had miscarried a while back and was still carrying the baby. She was devastated. The only way of knowing if you are pregnant or not is if you miss a period. There are no tests, unless you can afford a scan which most people can't. For a consultation, a scan and medication, all it cost was £4. 

Sarah, Rachael and I all agreed that we should cook them a meal one day and buy them a soda each. So on Monday we cooked Chapatti, Beans and Rice and took it over to eat with them. We also bought them a soda each which cost us 18 pence per drink. As we handed them out, one girl said "It is Christmas" After we ate we put some music on and danced with all of them under the stars. Momma Danny was still recovering so couldn't dance however she had a good laugh watching me dance. The lady with the traditional dress on at the back of the picture is 80 years old. She is left to look after her 2 grandchildren because they don't have anyone else. It was great to see her having fun and dancing with us. 

Selfie with the neighbours 

Momma Danny's house 

This week has certainly been a mixed bag of emotions. However it is such a privilege to be here and to be a part of what is going on. Thank you again for all the support and for reading my blog. 

Jesus looked at them and said, "with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" Matthew 19: 26