Stephanie in Uganda: My birthday week

This sums up my week :)

It has again been a very busy week filled with lots of smiles, rain (it's the rainy season here) and cuddles from the children as well as a milestone for me!

Monday 18th- We went to catch up class but it rained heavily, so it was almost impossible to teach over the pattering on the tin roof. Despite the rain, we still had lots of children come because as soon as one child spots a 'teacher', they all run off to tell their friends. Instead of teaching, we played with the children using the skipping ropes and bubbles we had brought with us for a treat after the class. I taught the children how to do the limbo using the skipping ropes and we discovered Gabit’s new talent for limbo. I believe this creative play is just as valuable for them as the formal educational teaching we are doing with them as they don't often get a chance to use equipment like that.

Tuesday 19th and Wednesday 20th at Ruth Mother Care- My highlights were teaching about the body in P1, talking to the children and talking to P2 about how great reading is. The children are always enthusiastic about reading and it's a universal truth that children everywhere love having their favourite story read to them again and again. P2's favourite is Mama Panya's Pancakes, which is set in Kenya. I think they love it so much because they can recognise their own cultural setting in the pictures. I have been thinking of new ways to tell the story, for example by adding pancake making actions and teaching the Swahili words found in the text.

Lois handing out bracelets at RMC

P2 with reading books

P2 boys

P2 reading

Thursday 21st- Today on community outreach we visited our usual families and prayed for them. Our friend Gerrad who we visit very kindly gave us some of the samosas he sells!The vegetable filling is SO good. I wish it was possible to take some back to the UK with me. You haven't tried samosas until you've tried Ugandan 'sambosas', specifically Gerrad's. After, I headed back home with Kate and when we arrived at the house the power was out which gave me a chance to get on with things instead of getting distracted by the Internet.

Friday 22nd- Today I spent kid’s club at FBC. It had rained lots in the morning so whilst we were walking down the hill, we had to cross the swollen stream. Everyone stared at it for a while I was the first to wade through. I misjudged the depth though and ended up getting my clothes a bit wet. Lois made us laugh when she got a lift through it from a boda guy by telling him she loved him. At FBC I was with the little ones singing some songs and supervising their colouring, which mainly involved me using the limited Luagnda words I have like ‘sit down’ and ‘good’ whenever they showed me the colouring. Meanwhile, Kate and Gabit ran a fun ‘London Bridge’ style walk through game and continued to teach about the life of Joseph, complete with an acronym of his name to help them remember what they learnt.

London bridge activity at kid's club

Flood

Saturday 23rd- MY 19^TH BRITHDAY- I feel so lucky to have had the best Ugandan birthday I could have wished for! I had a wonderful day celebrating with my ‘family’ here. In the morning, the ever amazing Kate made me a cooked breakfast with eggs and soldiers and then went swimming in an open air pool with Lois, Kate, Innocent and Gabit. Sometimes it’s easy to take the sunny weather here for granted but it was so amazing to be able to enjoy an open air pool. Lois and Innocent even threw me into the pool, which was a shock but fun in the end.

After a quick turn around, we went to the Saturday service at church where I received a thorough soaking afterwards by friends at church. It’s a tradition here to throw water on someone on their birthday here so everyone lined up at church ready to throw buckets of water on me when I came out. I ran around screaming and just having a laugh being chased with everyone. I was soaked- so much fun. I wish it was warm enough to do that in England on every birthday!! Luckily, I took a spare set of clothes with me because I’d been warned about the tradition. After a youth choir meeting, we went for a meal at Café Javas, which was so lovely. I had a massive vegetable pizza, a berry smoothie and a nohito, which was a real treat. At the end of the meal, I also had the fantastic surprise of getting a slice of cake with all the staff singing ‘happy birthday’ to me.

All in all, I had a very special day.Although I missed my family, I am so thankful I had the chance to Skype them in the morning. Thank you to everyone who helped make my day.