The last few days have been a whirlwind of new experiences!
On Friday morning our team visited the GEM foundation. This is a local children’s home that takes in children with disabilities that have been abandoned. There are about 45 children in the home and most have severe disabilities. This means that a majority are non verbal and non vocal.
Our group split up and began to help in a variety of ways. Some helped with speech and feeding re-assessments, others ran hearing screenings, and others played with children who normally don’t receive enough individual attention.
In the afternoon we visited a craft market. This market had craft and souvenir you could think of, and everything was dirt cheap! They told us to barter, but when you can get a pair of cute earrings or a bracelet for 30cents or a hand carved giraffe for $2 you almost felt bad paying any less.
While we were at the market we ate friend grasshoppers which was a new experience for most of us! The general consensus was that they tasted fine but we couldn’t stand that they still had eyes!
Later that afternoon we visited the other outreach clinic in the slum of Katanga. This location was even smaller, with just one room, so they had tents set up outside as well! We once again helped with therapy and played with the local kids until it started to pour and we headed out!
That night we headed to our entertainment for the night – a cultural dance! This was a performance meant for mostly tourist and included dances from the different regions of Uganda! While the dances were extremely impressive, the humor was a different story. The host of the show would drag on jokes forever, and his topics often just weren’t what an American audience is used to. It was very interesting, however, that the Africans in the audience were roaring with laughter.
Saturday was a more relaxed day! We left at about 11 and headed south to the equator. It was about a 2&1/2 hour ride each way and as soon as we got there we had to take lots of photos with the signs. We then watched the coolest demonstration of how water swirls on each side of the equator. It was amazing how it swirled counter clockwise on one side and then you could walk 10 feet and it swirled opposite. In the middle it just went straight down without swirling at all! We also ate some delicious food and did some more shopping while we were there!
At night we watched the Disney movie Queen of Katwe. If you haven’t seen it I highly recommend it! It was filmed in Kampala, where I am, and is very accurate to what I have been seeing each day.
Today, Sunday, we left at 8:30 for a church that starts at 8:30. Those of you who know me well know that I hate being late for things like this, especially church, so it stressed me out. I soon realized forever that although church officially starts at 8:30 most people don’t show up until around 9:30.
The church service was much louder and involved lots more crowd participation than I had expected, but I think it’s always good to see God worshipped in different ways by far there around the world!
This afternoon we had a long lunch at Cafe Java and have also been hanging out and taking walks around the neighborhood. We are trying to rest up for a long week of working in the clinics and schools!
Thank you to everyone for your prayers and for following our journey! Please pray for our classmate Jenna as she is flying in to join us over the next few days!
Also look at these giant snail!!!!
Disability and Hope in Uganda 