New Roomies!!

Another change that I can now blog about is that 2 weeks ago, Jenna left to return home. She had to take a summer class in order to receive her scholarship from Grand Valley. I thought I would be lonely without her, but I've been just fine. Like I said before, I moved down to a room down the hall with 2 other volunteers, Marianne and Evie. Things have been GREAT with them; I'm loving getting to know them! Last night (Saturday night), we had a new volunteer arrive. Her name is Lauren. She is from British Columbia, but has spent the last 6 months studying in Norway. She is going to move into the open bed in our 4-bed room. I'm thrilled!!

I'm also getting closer to the other volunteers, which is great! I think now that I don't have a friend here to lean on, I'm more open to getting to know other people. I know my last two weeks here are going to be fantastic as I continue to get to know my roommates and the other volunteers!!!

It took too long for the pictures to load...I'll try and get them up next time. Arrugh, so frustrating!

Recent Adventures

On the weekends, shifts either end early or start late. Since we were on the morning shift this week, we got done a few hours early on Saturday. All of us who either had the day off or were on morning shift headed out to Speke Resort. This is an absolutely beautiful 5 star resort on Lake Victoria. We paid $10 to lay by the pool and swim for the day. It was sooo nice. At sunset, we walked along Lake Victoria (the sun wasn't setting over the lake, that's just the time we went). It was a great day!

Sunday was my day off (along with Marianne, Evie, Harrison and Krista). All of us, along with Laura and Ruth, who are working the later shift, and a new volunteer, Laura headed to....THE EQUATOR!!! It was a rough start; took us a while to find a ride there and such, and it was kind of expensive but it was SO FUN!! We took many pictures, bought some cheesy touristy tee-shirts. Hahaha, we had a blast!!

Pictures:
1. This is part of the Speke Resort gang...from left to right: Becky, Me, Rachel, Harrison (Jesus?) and John. Becky, Rachel and John are siblings. John is really goofy...that hat fits him. Hahaha.
2. The roommates at the equator...from left to right: Lauren, Me, Marianne and Evie.

And They're Off

One of the changes that I wasn't allowed to talk about was the move to village. This past Friday, 26 of the "babies" moved to the Watoto Bbira village. There was a lot of preparation involved. First, all the children that were moving all took a day trip to the village. This was to make the adjustment to their new home once they moved a little easier, to make positive memories of the village. We also put together bags for each of the children, which included clothes, eating utensils, toiletries, toys, books, blanket, etc. We shaved some of their heads, depending on how much hair they had (apparently it's easy for the newcomers to get ringworm when they first get to the village, so they shave their heads so they can discover and treat it as soon as possible.) And we had all of the girls' ears pierced. This is a safety precaution because once their ears are pierced they are considered "scarred" and they wouldn't be a target for abduction for sacrifice (crazy, I know!) Lastly, we took a lot of toddlers on a final "day out" to play in the yard at Serena's. I took
Miles, and he was extremely difficult. Haha. It was still enjoyable though.

The actual move was very exciting and sad. Many of the nannies and volunteers were crying. It is exciting to see these children "moving up" though, knowing they are continuing on the path to a fantastic future! Now that they are gone, the place seems EMPTY!! There are only 19 children left in the upper 3 rooms so playtime out on the playground is incredibly quiet. It's....very strange. They are going to "even it out" soon (move some of the kids from the younger rooms up), which will also be very strange.

Pictures:
1. This is from our last "day out"; Matthew is on the left in the red and Miles is on the right.
2. Vicki's newly pierced ear.
3. This is Grace, post head-shaving.
4. This is Krista, a volunteer from Kentucky, who helped put together the bags.
5. This after one of the groups returned from a village visit...eating lunch before nap time.

Even more changes...

This week, John and Becky's family joined all of us at Adonai 6; Dewey and Debbie, their parents, (Dewey is a GV grad :) ) and Rachel, their 17 year old sister. It's nice to have them around, and they have temporarily adopted me into their family. Dewey has continued his fatherly role and pays for practically everything...ice cream outings, transportation and such. It's nice :)

We also had another volunteer join us, Harrison, who is from Atlanta. He is pretty chill and is a great addition to our little guest house team. He is really outdoorsy, has a massive ball of curly hair on his head, and rarely showers. Haha. He will be here for 4 weeks, and then is going to Jinja for 2 weeks to work with "Pennies for Pasha", an organization that provides pasha for orphans. Pasha is tastes and feels like play-doh, with less salt. It is not appetizing, but is filling
(apparently, I wouldn't know because I never eat enough of it.)

We also got 2 new babies, in addition to Daniel and Patience. One of them is a preemie, from the nearby hospital, who was found in a toilet. Her name is Nellie. Another was found abandoned in a building and is malnourished. His name, unfortunately, is Alfie. They say he is nine months old, but he appears to be much older than that. Once he is healthy, the baby home is planning to re-evaluate him and see if they can better identify his true age. Alfie is absolutely adorable. He is
extremely smiley and loves to giggle.
The picture above is of him.

Lucky, the baby I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, also left us this week. I don't know all the details, but I believe his mother is now allowed to have him in her custody. Watoto is going to stay in contact with her to be sure he is being properly taken care of. It was sad to see him go, but it's obviously good for a child to be with his mother.

All of these changes puts the count of babies at 101. We were discussing this over dinner last night...The Bulrushes was built to hold 60 babies with a maximum capacity at 75. Haha. I can't even imagine this place with only 60 babies!! It's not that they can't take as good of care of the babies when there is more than 75, it's just that their budget is meant for only 60 babies. So with 101, the money is definitely wearing thin and fast! But God will provide, and He has.

I also have two new roommates, Mary Ann and Evie. They have been here for 3 weeks and were living in a 4 bed room room down the hall. Adonai 6 has a group of 38 coming in this week, so they needed to do as much condensing as possible. Needless to say having 2 people in a 4 bed room is silly.

Prayer Requests: That I will have the strength and energy to give my all at work, that I wouldn't be missing the giraffe room while working with Daniel and Patience

My New "Assignments"

We got two new kids this week, Daniel and Patience. Daniel is 2 and Patience is 6 months. Because of their age difference, if they were put into their proper rooms (Elephant and Giraffe) they would rarely see each other. At the baby home, the three younger rooms (Monkey, Giraffe and Nursery) will see each other and the three older rooms (Zebra, Hippo and Elephant) will see each other. But they are all very rarely in the same area. So, because the administrators didn't want to have to split Daniel and Patience up, they needed someone to watch over them. I was the one asked to be the "nanny" of Daniel and Patience!!

My days now consist of these two. I have to be sure that Patience is fed, bathed and naps according to the Giraffe schedule and that Daniel follows the Elephant schedule, while keeping the two together. It's a big difference, going from having 20 babies at a time to only 2. And having them be so far apart in age (well, it's really not that far apart, but compared to what I'm used to, it is). It will definitely take time to adjust. But I am already loving spending my days with these two cuties. Seriously...how cute are they?!

Morning at Serena's

Today was Jenna and I's day off. We, along with 2 other volunteers, Mary-Ann and Evie, headed out to Serena's breakfast buffet. Serena's is a really nice hotel in downtown Kampala. The breakfast buffet is pretty expensive, and I wasn't initially planning on going. But one of the volunteers heard this, and paid for me to go! She said she felt she needed to bless someone who wasn't expecting it and God gave her this opportunity. I am so grateful!

We had such a great time! Each of us brought a baby. Evie brought Joy, who is 4 months old (on the far left in the picture.) Mary-Ann brought Ava, who is a 3 months old (the redhead next to me.) Jenna brought Mark and I brought Phoebe (of course!) We sat there from around 10:00 to 12:30. We had numerous people coming up to us asking if we had just adopted. It was tempting to say, "Yes!" but we decided it would be good to spread awareness about Watoto :)

Phoebe was wiped out by the time I brought her back; she had missed her morning nap and it was nap time when we got back. I fed her, swaddled her and laid her in her crib. I went and grabbed my bag (which is in the locker right next to Phoebe's crib) and by the time I turned around, she was fast asleep.

Phoebe LOVES to laugh and smile. It's absolutely adorable; I hope she keeps this trait through out her life. She is pretty crazy too. So full of energy! The little girl has stolen my heart. Even after just 5 weeks, I'm realizing how hard it is going to be to leave her!

Thank you all for praying! I have been doing MUCH better with not missing home. I do occasionally think about home, but more in the sense of HOW WEIRD it is going to be to be back there. And how I will have less than a month before I have to go back to school for R.A. training. It's going to be a huge adjustment to go from this life style, to the "R.A. lifestyle" in a month. Oh goodness. Please all bear with me when I'm not myself for that month. I MAY be an emotional
basket case.

I just read through this blog and realized how it's kind of all-over-the-place. Haha. Sorry!! I tend to do that.

Prayer Requests: Next week is going to be a week of BIG CHANGES. I'm not allowed to talk about them just yet (we were specifically asked to not blog about the upcoming events), but pray that the changes would be handled well and I would be able to adjust quickly. THANKS!

Safari!

Jenna and I got back from our Safari Wednesday evening. It was SO MUCH FUN!! And it was incredible. I don't want to "ruin" any stories for when I return, so you'll just have to wait to hear all about our safari experiences. I can tell you a little bit about it though...We joined a team from Canada, who had just finished a building in the Watoto Suubi village. It seemed like it was mostly a "middle-aged" group, but I guess there were just as many under 40 or so as there was above. Whatever. They were fun, for the most part. VERY touristy, but Jenna and I were welcomed with open arms. We enjoyed 2 days in Murchison National Park, located in Northern Uganda. And we spent 2 nights at Paraa safari Lodge. It was a wonderful, relaxing and VERY COOL trip. It was weird to come back to this guest house, Adonai 6, after a trip rather than going home.
Like my stories, I want to have some cool pictures to show when I come home, but I am willing to post a few from our safari. Enjoy!

Wednesday also marked the half-way point of my trip, 4 and 1/2 weeks. It's crazy how fast time is going. But at the same time, it seems to be going slow. I was telling Jenna today, I'm really ready to go home but I'm also already dreading the day I have to leave. I'm 50-50. Which I guess is perfect, since I'm at my half-way point!

Pictures
1. For dessert at Paraa Safari Lodge, we had this chocolate sauce that we could drizzle over fresh fruit and cakes and such. HEAVENLY!! Jenna and I LOVED mealtime, just for that chocolate sauce!
2. On our 2nd day of the safari, we got to ride on top of our van. What an experience!
3. Me on our safari, with giraffes in the background (look closely, they're there)
4. Giraffes. Self-explanatory.
5. This was where we had our bathroom break. Jenna thought Sam (our Watoto leader) was kidding. We pulled off the side of the road and he said, "Alright! Ladies to the right, men to the left!" Good thing I thought to bring a little bit of toilet paper with me!

Another Outing with Phoebe

Yesterday, Jenna and I took our "favorites" to the evening service at Watoto Church. We got to pick out cute church-ey outfits and everything. I took Phoebe, and she wore a brightly colored flowery dress. It was absolutely adorable.
Phoebe has only been taken out twice, both times by me. She gets very nervous being outside of what she knows. She isn't like herself at all (which is typically giggly and squirmy.) This was actually a blessing in disguise, since I was taking her to church. She did pretty well, up until the last 15 minutes. And then the real Phoebe came out. She was fidgety and "talking" up a storm. The two ladies who run Baby Watoto were sitting in front of us, and they just turned around and laughed. Thankfully she wasn't being too loud and like I said, it was towards the very end.


We leave for our safari bright and early tomorrow morning!! I probably won't update again until Saturday.

Prayer Requests: I've been missing home a lot lately. Please pray that this won't get in the way of my work. I came here to love these children and I don't want my mind to be anywhere else while I am with them. Pray for safety for Jenna and I and the other volunteers. And lastly, Jenna has been feeling very scared of everything lately, pray that that won't hinder her in any way. Thank you!!

A "Hot and Cold" Kind Of Day

Sigh....Thursday started out as such a great day. Jenna and I headed into town, laptops in tow, to Cafe Pap. I mentioned we were there in my last post, that was where the picture was taken. I enjoyed a chicken parmesan sandwich for lunch, a mocha and a fudge brownie. Mmmm! They have wireless internet there, 1 hour for 3000 schillings. It was wonderful. And that mocha was sooooo good!! A little taste of back home (I miss Ferris Coffee and Nut!!) After our cafe excursion, Jenna and I took a boda-boda to work. These are just taxi motorcycles, I guess that is the best way to describe them. They can be very dangerous, but Jenna and I were fairly close to the Baby Home and we knew the roads that we would be taking would not allow for fast or risky driving. It was fun! Such a great, relaxing afternoon.

Work, however, was a completely different story. We got to work a little before dinner time for the kiddos. I helped with the special needs. I was feeding Kevin. Now Kevin is either a very happy child or very angry. I had yet to witness angry Kevin. So I was feeding him, one bite at a time, nothing out of the ordinary. When all of a sudden, he freaked out. He grabbed my leg, bit it and then turned around and bit the nanny sitting behind him. Needless to say, the nanny was like, "Um. Let's leave Kevin alone for a minute. You can feed Nicole."
After all the babies were asleep, it was time for Jenna and I to start our final and most dreaded project for our night shift week....cleaning the kitchen. Now, Baby Watoto is the best baby home in Kampala, probably in all of Uganda. It is very clean, the children are well-dressed and have great toys to play with, the employees work hard and put their heart into everything they do for the babies. I am, in no way, trying to "bash" Baby Watoto. But the kitchen is not pretty. I'm sure it is just because we are in Uganda, bugs are everywhere and just a normal part of life. I went into the task with a serving heart and I just kept telling myself, "This is for God. This kitchen needs to be cleaned, and I am the hands to do it." I don't really know how to go into detail about how awful this job was, but I will say that THANKFULLY the only BIG cockroach we found was already dead. So...that's a plus! I got through it, alive and with a new perspective on what it means to be a servant :)
After cleaning the kitchen, Jenna and I decided that as a reward, we would cuddle some babies. I went to get my favorite little one, Phoebe. One whiff near her crib and I knew something had happened. I laid sleeping Phoebe on the changing table, unbuttoned her sleeper to find it and her completely covered in diarrhea.
Oh, Phoebe! It's a good thing I love her so much (just kidding, I would have done this for any of those babies!) Anyways, so I cleaned Phoebe all up, changed her and her sheets. During this, the supervisor comes in and tells me that Jenna and I's taxi driver, Robert, was taken by the police!! The police are really corrupt here. They aren't paid enough so they abuse their power and demand money from people. In "our" case, they told Robert that he could either give them money or they could frame him by saying he was waiting for a prostitute. Poor Robert!! He gave them some money and came back to pick us up.
So I had to give clean Phoebe over to a nanny and they got to cuddle her until she fell asleep (so jealous!) Once getting into the taxi, I realized that I had baby diarrhea all over me; we got to smell that all the way home. Mmmmm! Thanks Pheebs!
We got home around 12:20 and found that we were locked out of our guest house, even after we told them NOT to lock the door, we would be home late. So Jenna and I called two of the Adonai employees, but neither of them were in charge of the key. The one who was, didn't have his phone on. Of course. So we had to call John (a volunteer in the room next to us, who is working the morning shift and has to wake up at 5am) to come let us in.

What a day!

Matatu Video

I took a video on one of our Matatu rides. I tried to get it to upload with my last post, but it was taking too long.
Enjoy!!

Matatus: A Blog-Worthy Subject

(This picture is completely unrelated to my post, but this is where I am at right now. Cafe Pap in downtown Kampala. It's a great little coffee shop, and I have a feeling Jenna and I will be here often)

So in an effort to save money, the volunteers at the guest house have begun to take Matatus, rather than "hiring" a taxi driver. A taxi to and from Baby Watoto is approximately $12 and Matatus are about 20 cents a ride, it takes two to get there so a round trip is roughly 80 cents.
I don't even know how to begin to describe how hilarious I find riding Matatus. I, honestly, just laugh through out the ride. I will do my best to describe the Matatus, and hopefully you will get a glimpse into their hilarity.

Matatus are Kampala's form of public transportation (and I think in other large cities around Africa, not just Uganda). They are taxi-vans that travel along certain routes. They are licensed to carry 14 passengers, however, I'm pretty sure it is common practice to have at least 17. These white vans with a blue checkered stripe in the middle are always PACKED. And just when you think you can't fit anymore people in, they pick up two more.

Each van has a "conductor". This person sits in the first row (behind the driver's row) on the opposite side of the van than the driver, halfway hanging out the window. As the Matatu drives along, the driver just beeps the horn at any and every pedestrian. Because anyone who is walking is looking for a ride on a Matatu, right? The conductor watches for any signal from pedestrians that they would like to be picked up; typically a wave of the hand. Then the conductor waves you on, as if saying, "Okay, we're stopping eventually, just keep running behind us until we do." So we run behind them...until they stop at their next designated stop. However, these stops are not marked. So you never really know where their "designated" stops are, you just hope it's sooner than later.

Almost all the matatus have one large speaker attached to the roof of the vehicle, which blasts ridiculous Ugandan music. Which just makes the experience that much more amusing to me.

As I said before, it takes two Matatus to get within walking distance of the Baby home. So after our first ride, we get dropped off near the "Taxi Park". Each day that we have ridden these, we have gotten dropped off at a different place (like I said, "designated" stops). But we make our way to the "Taxi Park". This is kind of like a Central station for a typical form of public transportation. This is where all the Matatus "start their route" I guess. It's overwhelming.
Matatus as far as the eye can see...none of them marked except for two. How other people find where to go, I have no idea. Thankfully, one of the two that are marked is the one we need to take. By marked, I mean that there is a wooden sign on top of it that has a list of road names, including Jinja Road (our final destination.) There seems to be no organization at "Taxi Park", the drivers just park wherever they can fit. When one leaves, two more take it's place. I have no idea how all of the Matatus get out of this mess, especially the ones in the very center in this cicle of confusion. But ours has been somewhat towards the outskirts of the commotion, so I have yet to witness the exodus of all of the vehicles.