Day 2

Woke up early. I have been having a really hard time sleeping. I wake up every night so far at 3 am and can't fall asleep for another 1 1/2 hours. My mind just starts-what to do, what am I fogetting, who to give things to etc, etc.


We met with Hellen this morning and decided to go to the market to buy the school food to last them 1-2 month. Not just porridge- beans, rice, posho, fish, vegetables,oil and salt! After being at the school yesterday I could see just how badly the situation is. None of the kids eat at home, all at the school. No sponsors, no donations =no food. This was the case very very often. A lot of the kids are severly malnourished and it is blantantly obviouse. The experience of being in an African market was fun. We let Hellen do the buying as we would of been charged triple as there is a notion of mzungus(whites) being filthy rich. My mom picked up a baby that was wondering around, which ended up peeing on her which was pretty funny. We then headed off to the school. We had to hire another truck to take all the food. The drive up the CU school is about 10 minutes from the main road. The roads are bad and it is all an uphill drive. There are some small shops, cows, chickens and goats, and tons of kids which chase your car. Once we reahced the school we started to onload. When the kids saw all the food from their classrooms- screams litterally poured out. They where ecstatic. We prepared everything and then it was time to eat. The nursery kids eat first and the older ones help them wash their hands and serve
them. They lined up and got their plate of posho, beans and sauce. They where happy to have a change and began singing songs of praise.

We handed out some of the parcels I received for specific kids in the office after lunch(nursery and younger grade stay in school till 1pm, and the older ones until 5!) Even the chatty kids who recieved a parcel turned silent. Complete disbelief. The poverty here is so bad, the community(all refugees from the north often with a different culture/language than the south) they are so in their own world, while Kampala is a bustling developing city with sky scrappers, fancy restaurants, etc. Many of the parents have witnesses the atrocities of war, if they are still living, and have turned to alcohol and drugs. There are many many alcoholics in the community and the children are totaly on their own. It got to me today after one girl, Rebecca, came in the office where I was sorting donations and she took my hand and went on her knees and said "thank you aunty for everything. I am so gretaful" I gave her a hug and she just held on. This girl is so smart, and helpful. There is always a baby on her back or a child she is washing. Her family situation is not great, living with relatives who abuse her. It's angering. Why her, why anyone? And why be so greatful for receiving a few pencils and a toy when there are such bigger needs. But I quickly learned the awnser, because even the littles things are appreciated. Acts of kindess go far when there is none at home.

After lunch, we left the school to go into town and buy a playgym set for the school. It sits 12 kids and is a merry go round type of thing. When we drove up with it the shrieks where so loud. Everyone was running around like a chicken without a head!

"Tommorow" we go to Didi's World( the amusement park) to book and rent the buses needed to transport the kids. This should be fun.