I spend 9 days in Jinja at an orphanage called Home Sweet Home. The orphanage has 14 kids, 5 of which are special needs. They also have a day care, for special needs kids, on the same property. I helped at the day care in the mornings, then spent some time helping a few other kids (from the orphanage) with school. The rest of the day was just hanging out with the kids (and when needed, retreating to my room to get a bit of a break). I was also able to meet the family that I will be living with come January (so that was really cool).
There were a few of the kids that I bonded the most with at the orphanage, so I will introduce them (in no particular order).
This gorgeous 13 year old girl's name is Gift. She was so helpful with knowing what to do and when to do it. I'm not sure what I would have done without her.
This is Opio. He is 12(?) years old and has Cerebral Palsy. He is incredibly fun. We took this picture, because one day he come up to me, showing me his sun glasses, he was so proud of them. So later, I pulled out mine and we got a picture together, he was so happy.
David is one of the sweetest, most obedient 7 year old boys you will ever meet. You can tell that he takes pride in the fact that he listens (even when his siblings and friends don't). He would, also, always say, "I hate it when you speak Spanish." but I knew that was just his way of asking me to do it, he loved it.
Richard is 16 years old and autistic. He likes to spend his time walking around, so I would hold his hand and we would walk around together. (In order to get this picture, I had to tickle him because he would not smile when I told him to).
One day, we crammed 26 people into a 15 passenger van, drove 2 1/2 hours and spend the day at the zoo. Sadly, I have no pictures because my camera battery was messed up :(
After my time at Home Sweet Home, I returned to Kampala and joined back up with Teisha (she has all of the pictures). We helped with a kids program (like a VBS) in the slums. It was a great time. The last few days in Uganda were spend driving around, doing errands and last minute things before traveling (including ear piercings and shopping).
After my time at Home Sweet Home, I returned to Kampala and joined back up with Teisha (she has all of the pictures). We helped with a kids program (like a VBS) in the slums. It was a great time. The last few days in Uganda were spend driving around, doing errands and last minute things before traveling (including ear piercings and shopping).
Our flight left at midnight (Uganda time). After a "short" flight (8hours), layover in Brussels (4hours), another "short" flight (8hours), we arrived in Washington D.C. (at about 2:30pm their time). Since our grandparents live about 2 hours from there and we had a 19 hour layover... they drove to the airport, picked us up, took us to their house... where we were blessed with an awesome meal home cooked by our amazing grandma, and we had dinner with our grandparents and a couple aunts and uncles. We were also able to have warm showers and a great nights sleep on an american bed.
The next morning... up at 5:30, breakfast, 2 hour drive to the airport, 5 hour flight to Panama, 2 hour layover, 2 hour flight...
we were getting restless, and she was getting annoying ;)
...and we FINALLY arrived in Guatemala : D
The family met us, took us to Pizza Hut, and we talked a lot (more-so Teisha than me, but I did a fare amount also) about the people we met, things we did, and culture. I really miss Uganda and the people there, but I have to say...
It's great to be home :)
