Time for a vacation…

--- just so you know this was written a few weeks ago... the internet in Busia is very hard to get :(

So last week Casey and I taught at New Hope for the first time. The children were all so welcoming and happy to have us spend our time with them. I taught math and Casey taught English to some of the secondary school students.

We also did our arts project for the first time. That day made this whole trip worth it. I have been a little depressed because I have not felt like I was making a difference here and I was feeling like my time was being wasted, but last Wed. made the whole trip worth it. We taught the children a lesson about weather. Granted I’m not sure there was true comprehension about what we taught but, the craft part was what got me. We made pin wheels. These are really simple things, made from pencils, thumbtacks, and paper. The children were so excited. They colored the papers and then we put the pinwheels together. The children were soooooo excited. They were running around the compound to see the pinwheels spin. To see the smiles on their faces was so overwhelming. They just were so grateful that we were there and that we have spend our time to help them.

New Hope has become m favorite place here. The problem with New Hope is that all of the children need sponsors in order to continue their schooling. They currently only have 10 sponsors for the 60 or so children. Casey and I are hoping to return to the US and look for sponsors for all of them.

This weekend all of the interns met up in Jinja and saw the source of the Nile. It came at a good time. We have all been a little stressed and needed a bit of a break. We went and saw the source and took a short boat ride down the Nile and on Lake Victoria. We also went to Bugagali Falls. We went white water rafting down the Nile, and swam a little in the Nile… oh it was such a great experience. Our raft did not flip which was nice and only 3 people fell out, I was not one of them J. One of the rapids was a 3-5 meter waterfall. It was a straight drop, and was pretty scary, but so much fun.

It was definitely a great time for a vacation, but now it is time to go back to work. It will be an interesting 2 weeks, until our next vacation.