Oli otia! Balunge!
(Hello, how are you? We are very good!)
Words cannot describe this place! But I will do my best...It is beautiful yet scary, from hot muggy sun to windy wet storms...all in one day. The first hour in Uganda is a blur because I was blown away at the living conditions and a glimps of survival. To start things off...AFRICANS ARE CRAZY DRIVERS! Way worst than any california driver I have ever witnessed!!! We got here pretty early in the morning on the 15th, we are 11 hours later here so you can imagine how hard it is to catch up on lost sleep.
Our house is amazing! We are so blessed, it is a 4 bedroom, 2 bath with a gorgeous yard and view. The perfect comfortable back patio...and the best part about my room is I have a full mesquito net all around my bed, I feel like a princess...but really it does help keep the bugs outs. Yes we have running water, but we have to boil it all the time and let it set to cool off before we drink it. The electrity has only worked one day since we've been here but there is nothing wrong with candlelight dinners...showers...reading, we just make good with what we have.
Walking the streets of east Africa is very intimidating at first, everyone looks at you funny and all of the kids yell...muzungu! muzungu! (white person) and they run up to us...even if we are in the car, and touch our skin. It was scary at first, I thought I was going to get mugged, but after a couple days of walking around town and I felt a little more confident and comfortable.
All the stories and pictures you have all heard or seen about Africa don't do justice for the real thing. It is crazy how much it all becomes a reality when you are living in the center of it. I pray that some of you get the opportunity to witness this amazing part of the world. The Lord has and is doing a lot of things here and I am more than blessed to be a part of it.
Shelly and I are a great pair, it has been great getting to know each other and traveling together; as the only two munzugu's in town...I think I have seen 4 other white people since I've been here and two of them were mormans (the uniforms gave it away). My favorite part of living here is the morning...a typical morning for me is wake up at 5:30 watch the sun rise with a perfect cup of african tea, then read and write for about an hour outside on the padio, then back to bed for an hour or so...wake up and have another cup of hot tea with Shelly as we enjoy the beauty of Africa and share our thoughts.
As for the kids...THEY ARE SO PRECIOUS!!!! I was a little overwhelmed at first because our first day back at the activity center was a Saturday...for those of you that don't know...all of 150 kids are there at once!!! It was sooooo much fun to see them run and play and sing and dance!! I love to interact with them. They all call me auntie Sheena and of course it is maama Shelly!
I taught them how to make noise by putting a blade of grass between their thumbs...an annoying whistle noise if you will...some of them were trying so hard they cut their lips with the grass, others tried to watch and learn and I found them holding grass between there palms and then blowing as hard as they could into there thumbs. It was priceless. I forgot to tell them to only do this outside during playtime because during quiz time and assembly we had a hard time keeping them quiet and focused, all you could here was annoying blowing and whistling.
Another thing that they had so much fun with were the glow sticks that Shelly brought back. Their attention went out the window at this point, we decided to wait until the end of the day to give out any gifts. I have so many more stories but I also don't want to bore you guys, I meant to post some pictures from yesterday at the activity center but I forgot my computer...I will do it next time.
Until then, I hope you are all doing well in the states. Know that we are in the Lord's hands and He is already doing amazing things, He truly has a hand in Christopher House Ministries and is blessing us left and right. Pray that we can buy a car soon, ours is running well, we just need to sell it and get a better one.
Please keep us in your prayers. Pray for these kids that they will be changed for the good and pray that we don't get hit by any taxi's.
In Him
Sheena and Shelly
They absolutely LOVE the camera...and they love digital...to be able to see themselves on the screen two seconds after the picture is taken is amazing to them. Once my camera is out I have to take at least 3 pictures of every kid. They all scream "auntie sheena me me me, auntie let me let me!!"
Our beautiful house!
This is Aaron and Elliot, both come from abusive homes but never miss a day at Christopher house. They always come with smiles from ear to ear, they love it here...actually Aaron is in the Joshua house (Tuesday) and he was at the center every day last week...we just can't push them away eventhough they are only supposed to come twice a week.
My room is the second set of windows on the left.
I was in the process of learning Lugandan...it is very difficult but necessary to communicate with the little kids.
The joys of having a mesquito net!!! I feel like a princess, and it is so peaceful not having buzzing mesquitos at your ears all night...or geckos...or spiders...or cockroaches...lets just say it keeps the bugs out.
An average day in Uganda. A kid or two, a tire...they find amazing ways to have fun with the littlest things...things that we would trash they play with, it is quite eye opening. Another popular toy around here is a water bottle filled with dirt and rocks, it makes a musical shaker...and then an empty jerry can (use them to gather water everyday) they cut the top off, get in it like a little wagon, tie a rope to it and get drug around all over...they love it, it's kind of like a sled.
Typical traffic...this was a good day. Those are taxis with the blue and white checkers...and that is a "bota bota" they are not safe and the drivers are not smart...but then again no drivers here are...
More smiles for the camera!
