So I reached a week being in Uganda on Wednesday and it seems like its been a lot longer than that! I got to sit in on the meeting that the Youth Home leaders from different homes Wednesday morning. They are called Aunties and Uncles by the kids they take care of and mostly they are people who went through the homes and schools themselves that Cornerstone has. It was good to see how passionate they were about being intentional in doing whats best for the kids and discussing how they can improve. After that I drove up to the Ranch that they have along with 2 schools and another Boys Leadership Academy that they have. That afternoon/night I got to give out a couple soccer balls and volleyballs to the schools that I had gotten as gifts. All the kids were so thankful and were jumping up and down as the ones that they had were falling apart if they had any at all at the 3 schools. They also said it was a blessing as they were starting to have inner school competitions in volleyball and soccer and getting these balls would make it a lot better than the ones they had. I got to play with them for a little while and then got to have dinner with another group of Americans that were also visiting the ranch that night. They had a bonfire going and there were actually a couple different groups there meeting together. One was a group of teachers coming to visit different schools in Uganda and do a survey of the schools as they are raising teachers to eventually come and teach in Uganda. And another was ACM, African Children's Ministry who were there helping at the ranch and working with the students.
That night I ended up going to bed early as it got dark at 8 and was pitch black everywhere as it was out in the bush away from the city and there was no electricity or running water where I was staying. The next day I got to sit in on 2 classes that they had, each at a different school. They were character development classes as the main focus of Cornerstone is developing leaders that will impact Uganda in a positive way. I also got to have breakfast with some of the teachers and lunch with the boys. While I was there I ended up doing some math problems with some of the students as I was getting a tour and was introduced to them and asked to help do some problems. When I go back to stay longer than just a day visit I suspect that I will be doing more of that as well. In the afternoon we headed back to Kampala as Richard needed to be back that night. It was good to see outside of the city and I got to see what Richard said were typical houses that most Ugandans lived in, which were very small and no electricity or running water and had to walk a long distance for water and even longer for school a lot of the times.
This last day I spent resting as I am fighting being sick and I have a big day tomorrow (saturday) that I'll need energy for. I'm going to be doing community service with the kids in the morning and then in the afternoon I'm playing in a soccer game of the alumni cornerstone students against the boys leadership academies team that they have. I'll be playing on the alumni team. Even though I didn't do too much today I got to catch up and see my old friend Kacie Josifek. Our families have been friends since before I was born and we went to school together in the same homeschool co-op group when we were younger. She's been doing nursing/medical related projects here for almost 2 years now. It was great to hear some of here experiences and what she's been doing and we will most likely see each other a couple more times while I'm here.
-Its been pretty hard a times being on my own here and the hardest part has been trying to understand what the Ugandans are saying a lot of the times. Its funny how you start to talk in a different sort of accent a lot of the times and your english changes when talking. I definitely have felt out of place a few times when interacting with Ugandans or just staying here in general. At times I feel like I'm not doing that much here so far, but a couple people have mentioned that a lot of times even if you only get one thing done in the day its an accomplishment as Ugandans are not run by time but relationship.-
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