Bubbles, ballet and cardigans!

 

Ruth Mother Care with the teachers and children



Last week I wrote about how quickly time is going here and that remains the case- I still can't believe we are into our second month here! They do say time flies when you're enjoying yourself.

This week I have been thinking about appreciating each day I am here and making the most of the opportunities I have here both for others and myself because before I know it six months will have gone by.  I really feel so blessed to have the opportunity to work with the children and families Smile work with every day.

The verse that has been reminding me about this during this week is Psalm 118:24.



Appreciating each day here

Weekly update 2nd-8th November

Monday- In catch up class at Family Believer's Church in Nabulagla, we had to be quieter because there were exams going on in the school next door to the church. We wrote out grids to practice writing the letters ‘a’ and ‘A’, through which I learnt that perhaps I need to practice my handwriting too!  I helped some of the children by holding the pencil with them. Afterwards, we got out bubbles as a treat and I've never seen children so excited ever.

 

After class



Bubble time -Lois

 

Bubble fun

Tuesday- At Ruth Mother Care, I was in P2 again in the morning to teach literacy. I revised the topic of transport with them for two hours in preparation for their exam next week. After they could sort types of transport into different categories,  I got out the colouring pencils we brought with us so that they could choose their transport of choice to draw and colour in as they don’t normally get a chance to do that. We also gave out new pencils from the supplies to help them complete their work.

 

Revising transport

 

It started raining at the point of lunch time and it’s as if time stops here when it rains (because of how heavy it is) but most especially so at RMC because the roof is made of tin. We finished off by singing ‘Our God is A Great Big God,’ which was essentially a competition between the rain and us as to who could be the loudest! In the afternoon we got to watch the children practice their Christmas play, complete with very dramatic performances of Mary giving birth, and more dancing taught by Teacher Grace.

In the evening we had our first experience of a long power cut. I was cooking dinner at the time so I had to get out my head torch so I could see what I was doing. Eventually everyone’s devices ran out of charge so it ended up being fun because we were able to chat over hot chocolate. There was also much excitement because our project manager Alex had picked up some post from home for us- thank you for your parcel mum!

 

P2 with their new pencils

Making scratch crowns for the Christmas play

  

Wednesday- I was in P1 on Wednesday morning, teaching vertical multiplication with single digits. After this, I was excited to be able to read ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ to the children. They LOVED pressing the sound effects and I had great fun doing the actions with them. The afternoon was hilarious because we had to teach a group a ballet routine for their graduation performance. Considering I last did ballet when I was seven, this took quite a lot of thinking and creativity! I didn’t realise how hard it was going to be to get 15 children all doing demi- plies in time together.

We also got to give out cardigans that had been sent over from a primary school in England to all of the children to keep them warm in the mornings as it is cold weather for them here even though we are warm. They looked so smart in them!

Ruth and I with the jumpers

Nursery class in their new jumpers



Helping P3 try on the jumpers

Christmas 'cow costumes'

Ballet formation

Making up ballet moves

Thursday- I went with Innocent this time on community outreach in Nabulagala. We visited the home of the young man we met the first week who was struggling with his business. Last week he had told Innocent that was he was thinking of giving his life to Christ so we went to encourage him in this and pray with him. It was a real privilege to be able to share my faith in this way but also a challenge to find the right thing to say, so prayers for wisdom for that would be really appreciated.

Friday- I went to Blessed Word Church to run children’s club with Innocent and another one of Smile's volunteers. We taught the story of Joseph and got the children to answer questions about the story. It was lovely to get to know this group of children more.

 

Please pray for:

-Our continued health as we work on the projects.

 -For the condition of the road up the hill to the Smile house as it is very muddy due to the rain and can be hard for the boda boda motorbikes we travel on to get up there.

-For the children at Ruth Mother Care as they sit their exams this week before the end of term

 

Love from Uganda x