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!