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| Path to the Smile house |
I can hardly believe that I have come to the end of my time with Smile Charity Uganda and soon I will be flying back to the UK. Nine months seemed to go so quickly but we have packed so much into them. We have been making the most of the last month doing fun activities with the children at our catch up class, kid's club and at Ruth Mother Care and enjoying spending time with out friends. Unfortunately my laptop broke a few weeks ago so I haven't been able to publish my blog for June until now. Here are my highlights for the month:
Interviews in Nabulagala
Over the last weeks, I spent time visiting the families we have built relationships with on community outreach with Gabit to hear more about their stories and their perception of life in Nabulagala. I am so grateful for the families for welcoming us into their homes and being willing to share about some tough experiences that must have be very emotional to tell. Many of the parents are refugees from conflicts such as from war in the Congo and the genocide in Rwanda and I hope to write about their testimonies soon. They inspire and encourage me greatly.
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| Mama Gadaffi family |
Thursday 21st June- Sports day at Ruth Mother Care
Community outreach was cancelled on this day because most of the Smile team were involved in another children's outreach project at Return Ministries. We decided to run a games and sports day at Ruth Mother Care instead. We organised relay races, egg and spoon races, the limbo and parachute games, which was so much fun! The children and the teachers loved it, just as we did. The games were run in class groups and everyone was very competitive with lots of good natured cheering.
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Ruth Mother Care
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| Benita |
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| Relay races- P2 v P1 |
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| Fruit salad |
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| Playing |
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| Promise after winning a race |
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| Parachute |
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| Cheering on |
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| Egg and spoon |
Friday 22nd- 'Paper people'
On our last kid's club of teaching at Family Believer's Church before our goodbye session next week, Kate and I ran a session on image based on Psalm 134:14 'I am fearfully and wonderfully made.' To help them understand and think about what they had learnt, we gave out cut out paper people which I had written the memory verse on. We asked asked them to draw themselves on it and write the gifts that God has given them and things that make them special. Thank you to my mum for sending the out- the children loved them!
Lois 'unbirthday'
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| Javas |
Lois' birthday is on the 8th of July, a week after we get back to the UK so she decided that she wanted to celebrate her birthday in Uganda too. We went out for a meal at our favourite restaurant Javas with Innocent, Gabit and Anna, who stayed at the Smile house for two weeks. It was a good time of giving speeches, eating some western style food and listening to the Javas staff singing happy birthday.
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| Cake |
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| Singing |
Tuesday 26th and June- RMC goodbye and school trip
On Tuesday the children at school did goodbye performances for us, singing songs, dancing and modelling. It was a lovely, but very emotional sendoff! The songs included lines like, 'Kate, Stephanie and Lois, tell your parents that Ruth Mother Care is missing you.' There were definitely tears in my eyes. Through teaching each of the different classes from P1-P4 regularly, we have got to know each child in the primary section well. We don't just know them by name but know things like their academic strengths and weaknesses, their favourite story of the books we brought with us, their favourite picture to draw.... Ruth Mother Care is a special place that I will miss so much
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| Last tea and cassava chips at break |
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| Preparing for the song |
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| Watching the farewell performances |
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| Dances |
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| Berindah |
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Goodbye present with Teacher Monica-
'Stephanie- you have been special to us, hopefully we pray
for you to come back again. God bless you.' |
The next day we took the children on a school trip to Freedom City Kid's Park. I went on the bus with mostly children from the nursery section, who were so excited about the day ahead. I was just as excited as them and proceeded to get them cheering 'We're going to Freedom City' before we left. Once on, I taught them the song 'The wheels on the bus go round and round,', whilst each of us teachers led some songs on the journey, competing against the other bus when we stopped at a petrol station.
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| Teacher selfie |
At Freedom City, the children enjoyed swimming, a bouncy castle (I wish teachers had been allowed to join them!!), playing on the swings, roundabouts and trampolines in the indoor park, going on the fairground rides and going down slides in the soft play area. They also liked their special lunch treat of chapattis, rice and meat with a soda, which made a nice change from their usual meal of posho, beans and vegetables.
It was a fun way to spend our last day with the children!
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| Teacher Anna |
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| Bouncy castle |
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| Teachers having fun too |
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| Lunch time |
Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th June - Goodbye to children at Nabulagala slums and Blessed Word
I couldn't believe that it was time to say goodbye to all the children we know and love so much at Nabulagala slums. To make time to say goodbye to both children's clubs we usually teach on a Friday, we ran the goodbye party for the children at FBC on Thursday instead of community outreach. We started with games and songs before Gabit got the children to share things that they had learnt from us and what they wanted to thank us for. Their responses ranged from thanking us for having good manners to saying we'd taught them to read letters. We also had a chance to thank them at the front. At the end, we cut a celebratory cake and gave each of the children a slice. After our final few cuddles, it was time to say the hard goodbyes.
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| Goodbyes |
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| Games |
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| Children's thank yous- me with Becca |
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| All the children |
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| Kate and Jemima |
On Friday, we ran a similar goodbye party at Blessed Word, this time with the addition of face paints and music through the sound system,
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| Cutting the cake at Blessed Word |
Please pray:
-For Lois, Kate and I as we say goodbye to our friends over the next few days
-For safety as we fly back to the UK.
-For a successful debrief from Wednesday morning to Thursday afternoon at the OM guest house for returning missionaries.
-For our families as they prepare to receive us back home.
