My license is finally here!

Hello all-

So it was sort of back to normal life for me this week. I have been back at the school all week working with my 4 kids that are here and getting prepared for the rest of the students to come back next week. The huge praise of the week, is that I finally got my physiotherapy license in Uganda! Thank you all so much for your prayers over the past 4 months for that!

Super happy to be holding my license!

One interesting thing that happened this week was it stayed right in the mid 60's ALL DAY on Wednesday. I think it is a new record for Uganda. For a girl from the midwest, being able to cozy up in a sweater in January was amazing!!! That did mean that it rained ALL DAY.... and my faucet water was freezing since the sun didn't heat up the water tank, but regardless I was so thankful to wear a sweater!!!! (Thanks Aunt Beth for my new white one!)

It is hard to tell, but there is about 1.5 to 2 in of water in the wheelbarrow all from Wednesday

So what did we do on a rainy day - made necklaces

We also worked on facebook and computer skills - note the sweatshirts - this is not our normal attire!

The girls and I even made puppets while riding out the rain

One perk of living in Africa is cheap produce! (If it is local only) On Monday I was able to buy a bunch of bananas, 6 passion fruits, 3 onions, 3 eggplants, and 2 avocados all for $2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Before you think living here is ridiculously cheap.... a can of quality tuna is $4, grapes are $12 for a plastic quart sized container, orange colored oranges are about $12.50 a kg, and cereal is $6-8 a box! Lets just say I try to avoid buying fruit at the grocery store

To prevent this post from getting any more random, I want to make sure you are introduced to the 6 students that have stayed with us at the school for the past 2 months.

Phoebe
Phoebe is a wonderful woman that helps with my laundry every week! So thankful for her! I tried to do all of my laundry when my mom was here.... big mistake, my arms were so sore! It was pathetic! Phoebe is an orphan and the school is her permanent home. She no longer attends classes, and instead does random jobs around the school. She loves to always be working and is constantly looking for more work to do. One more thing about Phoebe is that she is wonderful with the teacher's children at the school. She is always taking care of one of them!

A little blurry, but I love this picture of Phoebe

 Sophie
 Sophie is a student at our sister school in Kireka called GoodWill. I am not entirely sure on her story, I believe she is an orphan as well but I am not sure. One thing i do know is she is the only student that i know of that is HIV positive (Uganda has a fairly low percentage of AIDS at somewhere around 7%). She is a sweetheart and loves to give big hugs. The only difficulty is she speaks Swahili, so most of us cannot easily communicate with her.

Sophie

Daniel
Daniel is 16 years old, and is in the 6th grade at Kampala school for the physically disabled. He is just joining us for the break. He is a very sweet boy that loves to chat! I have been doing PT with him. He is generally very VERY weak. Please pray for him though, he has a lot of pain in his hips and knees. He is very sad to be leaving us next week. 

Daniel - he LOVES coloring!

Teddy
So you all met Teddy awhile ago here. I just love her to pieces, not only is she one of my students, but she has also become my friend. She is the one responsible for my laundry every week and Phoebe helps her. She looks out for me. If my skirt is wrinkly she tells me I need to go find an iron so I look smart, and always makes sure I don't forget my clothes on the line. Lately she has enjoyed coming over and watching a movie once a week at my house. Teddy is like Phoebe in that she is an orphan and calls Kireka Home her home.

Teddy

Tobias
I do not believe I have introduced you to Tobias yet, so skip reading if I already have! Tobias is a sweet boy that is VERY VERY involved mentally. He is 17 years old, and was severely abused for most of his life. A missionary found him tied to a tree about 2 years ago. When they brought him to the school, he was just skin and bones, he was tiny (and still is but has grown) and he could not even stand on his own. His house mother has taken wonderful care of him and taught him to walk! He is generally doing very well, but still moans to communicate and has difficulty with walking and balancing.I have been working with him in PT, but it is quite difficult as he does not follow simple commands and he is not interested in any toys. He does LOVE food though, so I usually get him to participate in my exercises by giving him pieces of food :)

Ok... I greatly apologize........ no picture of Tobias - I did not get it done today. I will work on it and show you his lovely face next week!

Dorothy
Dorothy is another orphan that lives at the school. She technically is not an orphan, but her family abandoned her at the school many years ago, and she has been here since. When her mom filled out the paperwork, she gave all fake information so they could not find her. Now, for students to be accepted here the teachers go visit the home first! Most of Dorothy's challenges are mental, but she has some issues with muscle weakness and poor balance so her and I work together as well. She is an absolute sweetheart and loves coming to work with me in therapy.

Dorothy

Well, that is it for this week.  I updated the prayer request on the right, and I added a slot to add your email address if you would like an email update every time I post. You all are the best! I love each of you so much!

Oh and an additional note... if you made it this far you deserve to laugh with me a little bit...... this week I found mouse poop under my blanket on top of the sheets of my bed.... that was nice. And then the next day a cockroach ran across my table while I was eating. I proceeded to kill it and go back to eating my lunch... hopefully these lessons in patience and not screaming at bugs will carry over to the States!