A Day in My Shoes

So I decided to show you all what a day in my life looks like. I hope it sheds a little more light on my life here, or at least on my Tuesday :)

6:45 am: Wake Up

6:45-7:15 am: Catch up on life in America

Remember how you all are going about a large chunk of your day while I sleep. So I usually wake up to lots of updates on facebook, during Blackhawks season I woke up to the results of the game, and some times even major news

7:15-8:15: Get ready, eat breakfast, have some time with God, and somethings that only go with life in Africa (by the way I also realizing that not getting ready til 7:15 in the morning is a perk of life here... and living where you work!)

Almost every morning I have to get up and check how my water filtering is going

Breakfast (my bagels are yummy and homemade in Mbarara- breakfast Tuesday was a special treat!)

A few mornings a week I coat my house in insect killer... this brand was only effective on the baby cockroaches :(

By the way... please keep praying about the cockroach problem.... my neighbors moved out and I guess they did not realize how "Bad" their problem was until they moved out.... well as they moved many cockroaches moved to my house :(

8:30 am: I officially start working

The rule is all teachers are suppose to be signed in my 8:30am to not be considered late

8:30-9:30ish am: First student of the day - Sumaya

Sumaya is doing amazingly well!!! She can now walk with her walker (and an adult) around the school compound two times. This is a huge accomplishment for a girl whose whole life she has only walked with assistance from her wheelchair to the bathroom and back. Ignore the bandage on her head... she had an accident in her wheelchair earlier that morning.

9:30 - 10:00 am: Daglous

Daglous comes to therapy to work on writing... we have not quite mastered any letters (largely due to lack of repeition between sessions) but he can at least now consistently name a few letters! The new OT could not get here soon enough - handwriting does not fall under PT.

10:00 - 10:30 am: Clare - Seeing Clare at this time happens everyday

Clare walking to the dining hall- Everyday I put Clare's leg braces on at this time and we head to the dining hall. Praise the Lord she is also finally improving.... At the beginning of the term it was taking us 30 to 40 minutes to get from class to the dining hall. Now we are down to about 15 minutes!!! 

Taking a rest halfway to the dining hall (no it is not that far... but for Clare it is)

10:30-11:00(ish) am: Tea Time

The large kettles for just the teachers... Africans LOVE their tea

11:00 - 12:00 pm: Hope

This day Hope was working on a fine motor art project and her sitting balance

12:00 - 1:00 pm: Kato

Kato stretching out his back on the ball... he absolutely LOVES this!

1:00 - 2:30 pm: Lunch time

Sorry I failed to get any lunch pictures.... so what do I do with an hour and half for lunch (I rest!) I have come to find that most days I need a little down time by then so i enjoy it. I may take a short nap, catch up on paperwork, work on my blog, do the dishes, do some work in the office, but I always eat with the teachers when lunch is ready. Lunch is always posho or rice with beans.

Showing you my day would not be complete without including the window peepers...... which happens C.O.N.S.T.A.N.T.L.Y!!!

Cyrus at the door to the sick bay where I work

Ethero looking into my house

2:30-3:00 pm: Nakku

Sorry I also failed to take pictures of her

3:30: School day (and my "official" schedule) ends

My weekly schedule... While this is very hard to follow in this context, it really helps me be accountable to try to make sure I see all the students I need to each week.

3:30 - 6:00 pm: Relationship time

What happens after school varies each day. Sometimes I am super behind on paperwork, while other days I play games or color with the students and teachers kids. Sometimes I make a trip to the market with one of the teachers and some days and go sit at the local stores and visit with the owners who have become my friends. On Tuesday, I went to town to have coffee with a friend from AIM and then went grocery shopping on my way home.

Sitting at the coffee shop with Bobbie Howley 

Riding home on the boda with my bag of groceries. I am so thankful Katie Hogerty gave me this bag a few Christmases ago. I do not know how I would easily get my groceries on a boda without it!!! My friends can actually recognize me on a boda when they see my pink bag go by!

First thing that has to be done here when returning from the grocery store or market... all produce gets washed

6:00 - 10:30 pm: Everything Else

I usually try to be home by 6 or shortly after every day otherwise there would never be any separation from working and being at home. That being said, many nights (including Tuesday) that doesn't happen. During this time I usually make dinner, clean up from dinner (far more difficult when your kitchen is outside.. and you are fighting bugs), shower, skype, catch up on life in America, and anything else that needs to be done. 

Tuesday night I got sidetracked talking with Esther and her mom when I got home. This is a horrible picture, but I love that is shows Esther using my boda helmet as a chair. (and her new shoes)

Just to show you what bathing involves here..... if I want hot water I have to heat it up first. Since my bathroom is true to the name "water closet" my toilet paper is contained in the tupperware and the "squeezer" in the back is necessary to getting the water off my bathroom floor.

Last cockroach defense of the night which I just discovered this week: chalk... I now put it generously under my door every night. (Too bad my neighbors moved before I found it :( )

And other News:

The other day Esther decided she wanted to be at my house first thing in the morning... she joined me for breakfast - and yes it was actually cold here!

Lucky has been struggling with wanting to do therapy to strengthen her hands... so lately I have been getting more creative. Last Friday we mixed ingredients so I could make pumpkin donuts while I was away. (I dont have an oven at my house)

I am really sad that my neighbors and wonderful friends moved :( Thankfully Christine is not living too far, but Berinah went back to school in Arua and I will not see her again before I leave :(

Please be praying for us. The chicken pox has officially come to Kireka. By God's hand there have only been 3 kids with it since one boy came home from school with it. Please just pray that no more get it.

Questions ?????

 Let me know if you or your kids have any questions that I can answer next week! (Angie this might be all o you, so have the girls get really creative!)

Thats all for this week. As always thank you so much for your prayers, love, and support!!

Sports Day

The day we have been praying for finally came! On Saturday we had the Sports Gala for kids with Special Needs. There were around 400 kids represented from at least 11 different schools or organizations in attendance. It was really a fun and special day! I was in charge of pictures for the day, so instead of talking a lot about the day, I will just show LOTS of pictures! (PS- Sorry for some of the tiny text under pictures.... I am not sure why it does that and I have too many other things to do today to fight with it)

The arrival of Kireka Home  and Goodwill students

We started the day we with an awareness march down one of the busiest roads in Kampala:

We even had a band to lead the parade!

There were lots of wonderful signs made that the kids and parents carried

Daglous marched the entire parade route.... not walk.. MARCH

Linda my wonderful unit leader came to help out (Thanks Linda!)

Teacher Loyce and Esther - (Esther ended up being carried in the police car as we all got tired of carrying her :) Teacher Loyce did most of the work to be able to get the Kireka Home kids to the event!

The kids that did not have a wheelchair and were too heavy to be carried rode through the march on boda bodas - and for kids that got too tired we started flagging down boda bodas - we really need to get them in the US!

The Kireka Home and Goodwill team were very proud!

We had one parent from Kireka Home come down to the sports center to join us. They were so proud of Cecelia

Cece with her mom, grandmother, and baby sister

Onto the sports events:

First up Cone Dance AKA Musical Chairs

This sweet girl from Kampala School for the Physically Disabled is part of the reason we used cones instead of chairs. She does not have her lower legs, but crawls ridiculously fast!

This was so special this little guy goes to Dawn Children's Center and the man holding his hand is Fred his occupational therapist. It was so special to see Fred help his friend all day with each event.

Second event: Parachutes

Third Event: Ball Passing - Be the first team to pass the ball to the end of your row

Fourth: Harvesting and Planting Game (too difficult to explain)

Sixth: Boccia the kids at Kampala School for the Physically Disabled love this game and they specifically played it just for them!

Fifth: Balloon Busting :)

On to the races... the wheelchair race came first

And then the running race

Hula Hooping Contest - this little guy from Goodwill was the last one standing - he did so well!

Last but not least, "Ball in Basin" the kids had to run keeping the ball in the basin on top of their heads - yes this is very African :)

The last item of the day before lunch was for all of the parents and caregivers to play with the giant parachute

Some Sweet Faces:

Thanks so much Linda (AIM Kampala unit leader) and Julie (leader in special needs ministry in Uganda for AIM) for your help!

These boys are both from Watoto Orphanage. They do a wonderful job of taking care of their children with special needs there. I was able to spend some time talking with the little guy on the right named Peter, he just warmed my heart!

Lucky and Esther

Our twins - Kato (meaning second born) and Wassua (first born) - to keep them out of trouble their uncle sent one to our sister school Goodwill and Wassua is my friend here at Kireka Home

Jonathan, Shoan, and Ethero

This little guy was super cute and looks like he would be a football player if he lived in the USA

Esther from Dawn Children's Center

I ended up with a million pictures of this girl, she was just so precious

And what would be a sports day without Face Painting????

The girls that did the face painting were VERY talented!

The girls did such an AMAZING job painting faces

The kids at Kireka Home finally agreed to getting their faces painted with the Ugandan flag

The last part of the day was giving a certificate of participation to each child. The parents were so incredibly proud to have had their child participate in something special

Kato absolutely had to have his photo taken with the President of the Para Olympic Committee in Uganda. 

This guy was so great, he used his feet instead of his hands for everything

So sweet, he has no arms, and yet he could still participate fully in the day!

THe proud mothers

Last but not least, the volunteers that helped plan and run the Sports Gala

And this is Florence the wonderful woman who had a vision for this whole day. She is such an amazing lady!! She is already trying to figure out how she can start fundraising so you can do it all again next year!

Thanks everyone for your love and support!!! This special day would not have been possible without your prayers!

BYE!