Sponsored Children Visits.

I was having a tough time today getting up because I was tired. It is Saturday which means i'd be hanging out with Shawna and Alannah and i'm not there. AND to top it off, my cousins Jeanine and Mark's graduation party is today and i can't be there either. I was having a little bit of a sad moment. Not at all that i don't want to be here, and not at all that i am not enjoying my time here. Just a mini- moment of missing my family. Today we split off into small groups to head into homes and visit children who are being sponsored. Today was an amazing day. It was truly incredible to meet these children and families. Their lives are literally changed completely when someone decides to spend 30 a month to sponsor them. The hope and potential that comes from that small sacrifice is visible and i am truly at a loss for words. Brendah took us into the homes where we had to evaluate the home condition, students success in school, and look at their needs based on what they have. Which in most cases is nothing. Whenever we walked up to a home, they brought out mats or chairs as a welcome for us. The children shook our hands and got down on their knee to do that. Each of the children that i met lived in a home about the size of a 10x10 room with multiple family memebers. While it is devastating to think about their lives in comparison to my own, it is unbelievable to talk with them and hear their stories and perspectives on life. These people truly get it. They understand that important things in life are not measured by your possessions. They are so faithful and thankful to God for life in general, and anything else that they have is icing on the cake. It is certainly not that they have nothing, but when you're comparing material possessions it seems like it. The Ugandans are rowdy, fun loving, beautiful people and i have learned so much about life just by talking to them. Today was a very humbling experience.
Robert, Angela, Dora, and Daisy are in this picture. The older 3 are all sponsored. We started at Roberts house. He lives with his mom in a home about 20 feet from the school. Robert was very shy at first but then warmed up as the morning went on. We were told that his mom has been sick for over 2 months. Brendah's guess was probably HIV. Robert told us all about school. He told us that he likes school because they feed them there, and the teachers at his school are nicer then his old school. We found out later that his mom walks him lunch everyday so he really doesn't eat at school, he was just kidding. The more he warmed up, the more we were able to see his spunky personality. Angela's house was next. She was so beautiful and smart. Her little brother was home and cried the whole time we were there because he thought we were there to take him. Her situation was so sad. The mom is pretty negligent from what we could see. Her mosquito net was missing and we think that mom may have sold it. Their house was dirty and mom was not very engaged in what was happening. It was heartbreaking. The next house was Daisy's. She lives with her grandma. Her mom left her there when she was born and took off. They have not seen her since. She is very smart and has a lot of potential. Grandma told us that she is stubborn and won't help at home. Brendah gave her a talking to about that and made her apologize. I felt sad for her to be embarrassed infront of the muzungu's. After each child's house, they accompanied us to the next house.
Our next student was at school so we went there to get her and have her walk us to her home. Her name was Olivia. She is 12. She couldn't find her shoes whenever we got there so we had to wait, which was fine because then i was able to meet Trevor. He is 11 (in the blue shirt) He told me all about how he likes mathematics and wants to be a doctor. He introduced me to his brother Eddie who is 12 (in the yellow). He wants to be a pilot. It is awesome to see how similar the kids are to kids in America. They all like to play, the want to be loved, and they have dreams and hopes for the future. These boys definitely know what they want out of life. Once Olivia got herself together we took a walk to her house. She lives with an aunt and uncle because her parents are deceased. She told me that she loves science and wants to be a doctor. She was very friendly and beautiful. I loved her. We talked for a very long time. I felt badly for her because her uncle said she was struggling in school, and that she needed to improve. Brendah told her that she had to work hard because if she didn't the program might have to drop her. It made me really sad because she was so hopeful that she would be a doctor, only to find out that school is very hard. She is number 42 out 58 or something like that and around here your rank in your class matters. The other kids we met were all in the top 5 of their classes. It just made me sad. Her family was so kind. I hope that she will be able to improve her grades and stay in the program. This is a picture of me and Olivia.
For lunch, we went to a restaurant called Whiteplate. It was fantastic. Everyone got somosas, which are basically fried triangles filled with meat or vegetables. They only have meat ones, so i had a fried egg and chips. With your chips, you get a 1/4 of an avocado. AND sadly for everyone, they don't like them. So basically i had an entire avocado for my lunch as well. It was fantastic. I was so happy about it.




In the evening we went back to the cafe to watch the Argentina v. Germany world cup match. It was really fun because i got to hang out and talk with Caron and Sarah. I had an African Coffee, which is amazing! I love it. The Nestle' instant coffee that i make in the morning doesn't even hold a candle to the African Coffee from the cafe' thats for sure. It was really a lot of fun and helped me to forget about the party i was missing at home.