Highlights, Lowlights, and Changes:
☀The people I am with are amazing. Alfred and his family are helping and supporting me in my transitioning and adapting to the field. It is like a long hike: campfire cooking ?, bucket showers, and headlamps every night have become the daily routine.
☀The nature is wonderful, waking up with the rooster’s crow and going to sleep at sunset.
But there are also difficulties which the locals deal with each day and night. For instance, unwanted houseguests: small ones (malaria-carrying mosquitoes) and larger ones (mice and rats) which run on the rooftops and through the rooms during the entire night… ?
I tried to deal with this for a month, trying to sleep at night, but with no success. We placed poison and brought a cat, but the problem is deeper. For this reason we decided that for now I will go live in Kampala at Alfred’s, and will teach in the local kindergarten until after they can do some serious extermination and kill the rats. This process will take time, perhaps several months…
In addition, I faced difficulties in the kindergarten on the mountaintop. There ought to be 3 teachers with 3 age groups, but they found only 2 teachers, and therefore combined two of the classes. In other words, one class had 40 children, and many times I was left alone with the class and tried to teach them or run an activity, but with communication difficulties. They don’t understand me, and I don’t under them. Hence, until they can find an additional teacher or a translator I can’t be effective.
The conditions at the kindergarten are challenging: there’s no equipment and the building itself is not entirely built: there is only a roof and posts. Hopefully, they will finish building the walls before the rainy season begins. Otherwise, it will be cold for the children because of the rain pouring in.
In light of these circumstances and conditions, we earnestly desire and pray to complete building the school below and to open it next year, so that the children will have better conditions.
Regarding my visa: I have a 3-month visa, and am still in the process of gaining a volunteer visa. If need be, it’s possible to extend the visa for an additional 3 months.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be broken…