I woke to the sound of children this morning. Babies crying, children yelling and squealing. I think I may have even heard a monkey in the trees outside.
I got up at 8am and only one of the other girls was up. It was nice to be almost alone for a while and reflect on God's Word and draw strength for the day ahead.
"Let Your work appear to Your servants, and Your glory to their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands."
Psalm 90:16-17
The weather is perfect at the moment. It's a little more humid than home, but not uncomfortably so. There always seems to be a fresh breeze coming through the windows. It's warm enough that you only need a sheet at night, but cool enough to sleep comfortably.
I had Vegemite on toast for breakfast with a much needed coffee. I have to admit I'm a little fussy with my coffee and so I never had one on the flights. So I've been craving my coffee for a little while. Mum wouldn't let me take our espresso machine with me:). They have a plunger in the kitchen and the coffee wasn't too bad.
I haven't been doing much this morning. I got some blogging done and sent off some emails. Then I spent some time tiding my corner of the room and unpacking my suitcase. My bed is up quite high with a little desk and stool underneath and space to hang my clothes. The bed is up high enough that I can stand up underneath with about an inch to spare. There are 2 other girls in my room; Paige and Katelyn. They are both eighteen and come from California.
For lunch one of the local women cooks for everyone. Today we had cornmeal, potatoes, lentil stew and cabbage. Apparently we get meat about 3 times a week. I haven't been very hungry, I think just because I've been tired, but I really enjoyed lunch. The cornmeal was the only thing I didn't enjoy that much. It's not horrible but it's really just a filler and has no flavour. The potatoes were really nice, they were sought of like the consistency of potato salad but hot and seasoned. I also really liked the cabbage, it was cooked with something like chili but it wasn't spicy.
After that, 2 other girls and I headed for Budundo, a village about a half hour drive. We were picked up by a lady, Charlie, who runs the kids program. She is from Australia too. Charlie and about 5 local men run the program every Saturday. The other girls I went with, Nicole and Katelyn, had never done this before so none of us knew what to expect. Nicole is older than most of us, but she's the most talkative of the group. She's been really helpful to me in settling in.
As soon as we arrived at Budundo and hopped out of the bus my hands were occupied with several other little hands:). I'm not good with numbers but I think there would have been 100 kids or more. We sat down on tarps with the kids to start. One older girl near me was holding a little girl about 9 months old. The older girl wanted to move spots, so she passed the baby to me. I was more than happy to hold a baby girl:). She was adorable. I felt privileged and this little girl was quite happy being held.
One of the guys had a guitar and led the kids in singing. I stood up with my new baby and clapped along to the songs. Then they split the kids up for a bible story. Katelyn went with the littlies, I went with the 5-10s and Nicole went with the older kids. All the kids call us girls Aunty, so I was introduced as Aunty Alicia. My driver, Alex, called me "ai-e-sha" and some of the kids said it the same. I didn't do a lot, just passed out work books, read some of the bible story and passed out "sweeties" at the end. Most of the kids don't know English so the whole thing was done in the local language. I'm not sure if it was Lusoga or Luganda. There are so many different tribes in Uganda, you can drive for about half an hour and the people speak a different language. Each tribal group has their own king too, or sometimes just a chief.
We spent a few hours in Budundo and then Nicole and I got dropped off in Jinja, while Katelyn headed back to Amani. Nicole rented a DVD, they just burn it straight off a computer while you wait. Then we went to the grocery store. Nicole has kindly lent me some money, as the banks aren't open on the weekend. Then we caught a boda home, that's a motorbike. You simply wave someone down and jump on the back. It doesn't matter where you are going, it always costs 1,000 shillings, which is about 50c Australian. It's safer than walking by yourself though accidents can happen.
It was so good to get back and have a shower. Travelling to the village was very dusty. We came back looking like we'd got a tan we were covered in so much red dust.
After that I headed over, on a few bodas, with the girls to a place called "The Keep". The girls go there to watch the Olympics. We had tea together and watched TV for a while. I ordered a caesar salad and a milkshake. I'm told that all the food there is safe to eat. Pretty much only mzungus (white people) eat there. Still, my doctor would be having a fit. I'm eating salad and not using my mosquito net. Don't worry I'm still doing all the right things, but I'm not going to live in cotton wool either. I wouldn't be in Africa at all if I was worried about getting sick or something.
All the girls I'm staying with leave between now and a few weeks into April. So it will be my job to meet and greet the new volunteers coming in next month.
Any way, we caught a few bodas home and I've been writing and blogging while the others watch movies.
Tomorrow we leave for church just before 10am and then Sandra is having a party in the afternoon at her place. She is turning 23 on the 23rd.
I'm looking forward to church tomorrow and meeting more of the locals.
"You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it."
Psalm 139:5-6
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