First Day

Written by Tracey (still getting added as a poster here): -

Day One with the whole team (minus Rebecca and John)

So after a 9 hour through the night flight we arrived safe and sound in Entebbe at 7am Wednesday morning. After convincing all the staff that we didn’t have swine flu and we gathered up all 36 suitcases we were on the bus to Shalom guesthouse. Arriving at Shalom around 11am we checked out our rooms in the fields of life new accommodation and we went for a half hour nap (that’s all Dickie would allow) but the twins decided to stretch it to an hour!!

From here we went down to Garden City, where we changed our money and bought some small treats (yes.. they do Cadburys in Uganda!!). Down there we also randomly met another team from Northern Ireland many some us even knowing a few of them! Then out for food we have all quickly come to learn that we all love to our food. This meal was an experience…we are used to going up to the counter and ordering what we want, but oh know here in Uganda things are rather different- you take a seat and ALL the different restaurants come to you with their menus trying to convince you to eat from them!!

Back up to Shalom where we practised through our presentations and kids programmes, and then eventually at 10pm Basil and Nan arrived and then of course the peace was broken with basil about as he arrived in very hyper while everyone else was ready for bed.

Eventually to bed and up and out for 8.30 am…but it was more like 9.15 (we’ll not blame anyone Janice!). Driving down the roads was an experience in itself, watching all the locals set up their stalls and sitting outside waving as we drive past. Although what they had was little their smiles oozed warmth. Our first school we went to was Kijabijjo, which had 12 teachers and around 300 kids. Here we received an amazing welcome with some of the older kids singing and sharing poems with us.

Then separated up, taking some kids for kids club while some of the older ones were given a love for life presentation. The kids listened so well and participated amazingly with the programmes. After all the programmes were finished we went outside onto the green and played loads of games which was interesting trying to explain when they don’t understand much English-but we succeeded.

The school was very poor, with little to no resources. However although they had very little this didn’t stop them from smiling and showing joy constantly. When I say they had very little this is no exaggeration, they didn’t even have lunch to feed the pupils. This is when we as a team decided that we would give them our bread and pineapple for lunch. It was amazing to see how grateful they were, they received the food with such joy and amazement. For us as a team this was the most amazing part of the day. We couldn’t help but be reminded of the story of Feeding the 5000. This was an incredibly humbling experience and left us all with strong thoughts about how fortunate we are, but also amazed at how much God blesses and cares for those in need. This really hit home Jesus’ message of caring for those who are less fortunate than us. But our richness is only in material things, for the joy and attitudes of all the children and teachers we encountered was truly humbling and a blessing to us all.