Let's throw in a few long days...

On Tuesdays, at 8:15 am all of the mamas, volunteers, kids, strollers  wheelchairs, backpacks, diaper bags and lunches piled in a bus and a van and pulled out of Ekisa. We set out on a 3 hour drive on our way to the Zoo (each adult with a child on their lap). It was a really fun day, but also very stressful. 

But first, the kids all had to get ready... which means their smart clothes :)

Everyone was paired up and divided into groups. One child to each adult... and everyone was assigned a group (each with a leader). Josh was my buddy. He is a very interesting little boy.... he often fears white people (that's the way the Ugandans say it).... but he is improving. Josh often likes me, but not always. He is defiantly my boy, I love that boy like crazy!

When we got to the zoo, the first thing we did was sat down and had a snack (after the long drive the kids needed it). Some of the milk that was lugged that far was bad, so we put it aside.... and the monkeys got a hold of it. There were a LOT of monkeys... and they were NOT afraid of humans. At one point, Luke (one of the other volunteers) took some of the boys to the bathroom. On his way back he heard Jason yell "Zeke!", and when he (Luke) looked over, he saw Zeke laying on the ground and a couple monkeys jumping off of him. 

Now, here are a bunch of other pictures....

This monkey totally looked like a Dr Seuss character...

So, that was Tuesday....
on Wednesday... 1 Ekisa nurse, 4 volunteers, 1 driver, and 7 kids piled back in a van and headed to an appointment at the hospital..... another 3 hour drive. This day was super stressful. We had 3 kids that couldn't walk (one of which cried if you put him down, or handed him to Luke) and we had 4 kids who could walk but ether had autism or were mentally disabled.  Normally that would be fine, but when you have kids that are really hungry cause its way passed lunch time, who are super sleepy and grumpy, you don't have the amazing ladies that know how to properly keep the autistic children calm, and you are in a hospital hallway.... it gets difficult. Luckily we all made it out alive :P It was quite the adventure :)

After a long day, Zak was wiped out.

On the final leg of the last trip, I took a minute to figure it out.... over those 36 hours, I spent about 14 hours traveling back and forth... and about 11 of those hours I had a child on my lap. Oh, what fun :)

The one advantage of having to get up super early, is seeing the amazing sunrise! God is amazing!

Power outages, kids, and mud… lots and lots of mud.

Last Saturday (the 27^th) I moved into Ekisa (which means Grace)… well the Ekisa volunteer house. I got there at 6ish and the power went out about an hour and a half later….. it was off until Tuesday (the 30^th).  We had it back on for maybe 2 days then went off again (luckily this time it only lasted a few hours). At this point we have power and we have had it for 3 whole days!!!! Ahhhh…. The joys of Africa :D

The house is great, there are 5 volunteers now, and we all share a room… it feels an awful lot like camp, I’m not complaining. 

We have a lovely living room and kitchen (there is also a dining room, with a large table, but I don’t have that picture… I also assume that you guys don’t want a picture of the bathroom, so I didn’t bother with that)

 My schedule. 
On weekdays I am supposed to be at Ekisa at 9 in the morning. From 9:00 - 10:30 school, 10:30 - 11:00 snack, 11:00 -12:00 school or one on one time (I will explain in a min) 12:00 lunch. From lunch, till 3:30 the volunteers have off, we can walk back to the volunteer house or head into town, or chill at Ekisa…. Just do whatever. From 3:30 -5:30 is school or one on one time. 

For one on one time we have a schedule. The Ekisa kids (not the kids that come for school, but the ones that live here) each have one day a week that they get to go out with a volunteer. What we do depends on the child, the weather, and many things… but basically we can take the kids into town, go on a walk, take them swimming…. Whatever. We just give them a chance to get out of the house. This past week I had not yet been put on the schedule,  so I only went out twice… but the new schedule is posted (which I am now on), so I am sure within no time I will have all kinds of fun pics and stories :)  The two times I did go out were a blast…. Once to the pool (sadly I didn’t have my camera with me :( ) and the other time we went on a short walk and got sodas.

But generally I just get to spend my time playing with kids toys.... oh and you know the kids were there too ;)

…Snuggling with cuties….

…and goofing off with silly little ones.

The walk from the volunteer house to Ekisa is about a 10 min walk. The walk is not bad at all….

 

…Unless it has rained. (which it always does)

On Saturdays and Sundays we get off… we can go hang out at Ekisa or do our own thing. This past Saturday was spent swimming and reading by the pool…. There were also a bunch of monkeys (super hard to get good pictures of them).

I am absolutely loving my time at Ekisa… and tomorrow we are all going to the zoo! I am super excited! (and I am thinking I will probably have enough pictures from the zoo to do another blog update within the next week)

Thank you all for the continued prayer and support.