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!