DAY 9: May 26- Children in Jinja

Fast forward pass breakfast (cause it’s the same old same old.. however, we did have honey today! That was exciting). I did my reading for class tonight. Walked to Lunch. We wanted to eat at Indulge. However, when we finally reached it we saw that it was closed and realized it is closed on Tuesdays. Oops. Welcome to Africa. So we decided to just go into the first random place we saw.

It was called Explorers Inn. No one was there, but the staff members. People wanted to order the fish, but as we had learned earlier from the missionaries, most of the time they don’t actually have the things on the menu.. “The fish is finished.” That’s what they say. The spaghetti was finished as well and the chicken curry. So we all ended up having chicken and chips (fries) and watching “Ugly Betty” cause she turned the TV on for us (we def didn’t ask, but I guess that’s what they think Americans like). We weren’t sure what to expect, we were taking a risk by going into a random place instead of one of the restaurants people had recommended, but it was actually really good.

Next, it was back to The Source to wait for our service learning to start. As usual, we were on African time so our meeting time of 1:30 really didn’t start until 2:30.. surprise surprise. But the extra hour gave me Zack. Zack is the son of one of the women that worked at the Source. A Mzungu (or a white person/foreigner) who was holding little Zack just put him on my lap. Seriously such a cute kid.  He was about 3 or 4 years old and just the coolest kid ever. He had a lollypop in his mouth and didn’t cry or whine or try to get off of me. So obvi, I busted out my DG slap bracelets and some soccer stickers and the kid had a blast! After his face lit up from learning how to use the slap bracelet, he was going around the table slapping everyone.. and he was really good at it. I was impressed. Then he started putting the stickers all over his body and ours. He was so cute. He had the most precious laugh/giggle ever. AH! I wanted to take him home. When he finished his lollypop he hopped off of my we no words, walked to the kitchen to throw out his stick, and just came right back to me and tried to get back on my lap. My heart just sunk.. he was so cute… I love the kids here.....

Next, Amanda, Andrew, Michael and I went to the Christian Children’s Fund (CCF). It is pretty well known all over the world. We got to talk to the regional manager, Martin, about the organization as well as the issue of children poverty. He told us many interesting facts. CCF is not really a Christian organization; it is called that because the original group that started it were Christian. But they do not associate themselves with a particular religion, they are just trying to help children. They have different centers all over the regional for kids to come who are about 3 to 7 years old. They play games and learn skills. We asked if we could help volunteer and he said yes, so hopefully next week we will be able to go to one of the centers. He also told us that once a child qualifies to participate in the program, they will get funding/help until the age of 25. He said that his biggest joy in his job was seeing the children grow up and gain skills and actually be able to go out into the work force. We could tell that he was really passionate about helping the children. He was very well spoken. I learned a lot just listening to him.

After CCF, Tom picked us up in the Matatu. And we went to Beam of Hope to pick up another group of kids. The Beam of Hope is this organization where people with mental or physical conditions come together to get life skills training. However when we got there, we saw only 2 of the 4 students from our school there.. and they were playing with kids. We realized that the other two were in the room actually talking to the people. But children! They were so cute!

I busted the stickers back out and they all wanted them! There were about 15 of them total. I would take a picture of them and then they would fight to see the picture. The camera probably could have entertained them for hours. They even wanted individual pictures. They were just so freakin adorable. When I showed them the video I took of them, they just loved it. My friends even got them to say “Hello from Jinja” on a video. SO PRECIOUS. These kids (one of the girls grandfather attended the Beam of Hope and I am thinking that is why the kids were there) were all friends (basically family) taking care of each other. The oldest boy was carrying the little baby. The big sister was taking care of her little brother. One of the girls made sure everyone got their individual picture. Although they might have fought about who got to see the picture first, they watched out for each other.

I seriously had such a good time hanging out with the kids.. I even got them to throw up the pi phi sign and take a picture with me. HA. (hope I didn’t start a gang). But really. They were so great, so happy just to see something like a picture on a camera or to have silly stickers. It’s crazy to see how different these children are from U.S. children.. They just have so much life, even though life might not have given them many material things or opportunities. I really won’t forget their smiles, frowns, and playful banter.. man, its going to be hard to leave Africa..

After saying bye to all the kids, it was home, dinner, and class. Then time to sleep and get ready for one of the big days… WHITE WATER RAFTING in the NILE. Don’t worry.. that’s only like.. um.. level 5’s.