Week 4 update

Children from Ruth Mother Care-

Another week has flown by here, taking it to a month since we arrived in Uganda! It's strange feels quite a long since we left England but it definitely doesn't seem like that long we've been here.

Whilst looking back I think I was suffering from culture shock without realising it in the first couple of weeks (more on that on my first month reflection to be posted soon), I feel a lot more settled now and am continuing to love the work we are doing. The children we are working with have stolen my heart.

A wonderful friend of mine sent me the following verse which has really encouraged me this week so I thought I'd share it with you:

Job 23:10 'He knows where I am going and when he tests me, I will come out as pure gold.'

 

 

Summary from the week beginning Monday the 23rd

Monday- Today we continued with the catch up class in Nabulagala, largely revising the alphabet and helping the children to remember what we have taught them so far. We also moved onto writing the letters as well as reciting and reading them, which understandably proved to be more of a challenge. I taught some of the children how to hold a pencil and helped them to trace over the dot to dot letters we drew out in exercise books for each of them.

Gabit and I at catch up class

 

 

Teaching with alphabet flashcards

 

In the evening I cooked rice and sausages with a vegetable sauce for dinner, which I was quite pleased with as I didn’t poison anyone (!!) I am getting used to the manually lit gas stove.

Tuesday- I taught P2 in their reading lesson again in the morning by reading the book ‘5 Minute’s Peace, which they loved because they found the illustrations of elephants in clothes hilarious. I  absolutely love reading and have been so privileged to have parents who read to me to encourage my abilities in this so I am so glad to have the opportunity to read books suitable for their age group to them.

 Until lunch time, I taught shapes and made up a pyramid dance to help them remember the shape of a pyramid, which amused me just as much as them! In the afternoon, the teachers held a dance practice for the children, was amazing to watch. They are such fantastic dancers and you really can’t help but smile the whole time whilst watching them.

'Me teacher, camera!!'

 

They love posing for the camera

 

In the evening we had some friends from church over for dinner, which was lovely. We cooked lasagne, which was a delicious treat! It's one of my favourite dishes and I love Italian food.

Dinner with friends

 

Wednesday- In the morning, I revised shapes with P2 and taught them the difference between 2D and 3D shapes. Then I revised column subtraction and subtraction word problems with them. We were treated to watching another dance and catwalk modelling practice. The teachers even persuaded Lois, Kate and I to model down the catwalk, which the children found hilarious! We have even been asked to teach ballet next week, which could be interesting as the last time I did ballet was when I was six.

In the evening I went to KBC youth fellowship whilst the others stayed home to rest. The last Wednesday of the month is a worship evening, which was so nice because it was a time of spiritual replenishment in the middle of a busy week. It reminded me of home as they sing a lot of the same songs. Afterwards, a friend gave me my first Luganda lesson. Luganda is the local language in Kampala, spoken in the Buganda region of Kampala.

With my friend Jovia after youth fellowship

 

Thursday- Kate and I went with Gabit again whilst Lois went with Innocent to visit some of the same families from last week in Nabulagala. It was so touching to see that some of them had remembered our names and I hope that despite the language barrier, we can continue to develop good relationships with them. It is also fantastic to see how open some of the people Smile visit regularly are to the Christian faith even if they are not Christians and ask us to or are happy for us to pray for them even though they are not Christians or even follow another faith. It can be hard to know what to say some but we are remembering as a team that we are ordinary people but we serve an extraordinary God who equips us to share our faith.

In the evening I went to Christmas choir practice at KBC again. I am slowly getting to grips with the songs in Luganda. One of the guys from the church dance group LT Warriors tried to teach me to dance, which was very embarrassing but good fun.

Friday- This week we split up between the two different children’s clubs at Family Believer’s Church and Blessed Word of Life Church in order to keep the consistency of a club every week for the children. Kate was ill (she’s better now-thanks for the prayers!) so Innocent and Lois went to Blessed Word whilst Gabit and I went to Family Believer’s.

There were 55 children at Family Believer’s this week! I taught the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den with the aid of the picture book again (because it was a different group of children to last week) whilst Gabit translated for me. They all wanted to see the pictures and I don’t think I’ve ever seen them so quiet.

Laughter at FBC

 

Becca

 

Please pray for:

 

- Our church KBC, as there was a break in last night and equipment was stolen. Please pray for security in the future there and for God's provision for the equipment needed for the service etc.

 

-Safety in the area where the Smile house is, especially when we come back on the bodas at night.

 

- For peace at the start of the 2016 election campaign period here.

 

-For the people in the Kampala slum areas as there have been issues with flooding in this rainy season.

 

 

Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement!