Wow, has it really been over a week since I last updated? The time is flying by, and I think every day that I am NOT here long enough!! This trip is going to be over before I know it, so I'm trying to soak in every moment - it's just going by too quickly.
That said, I am absolutely loving it here. The kids at GSF are absolutely wonderful - I love getting to know them each better and better every day. I really enjoy working with the children for writing their sponsors. It's sweet to see how excited they are to write their sponsors. I think it's a special time for them because 1) they're writing something that's going to get sent to AMERICA! 2) they enjoy the special attention/1-on-1 time. After they get home from school, I make sure they get done their chores (slashing, washing clothes, cleaning), and then I pick a couple children to work on their sponsor letters for the day. Ages 7+ (give or take a few kids) write letters to their sponsors and draw pictures, and 6 and under just draw a picture. It takes some of the kids 20 minutes and others 2 hrs. I didn't realize how long it would take each letter, but they really do put much effort and time into it - it's so sweet. I also ask them a couple informational questions about themselves and take their pictures. When the girls are finished writing their sponsors, I "reward" them by painting their fingernails. For the boys, I read them a book of their choice when they're finished. It's so cute - they love being read to.
Besides the sponsor stuff, I've been working steadily with three special needs children: Mark, Moses, and Tom. Moses is downsyndrome and about 9 yrs old. I usually take him along with Mark to play ball or to the playground. Caleb, a boy with mental disabilities and tuberculosis of the spine, and Lianna (another intern) come along too. Lianna is "assigned" to work with Caleb, so it works out well. The three of them are a total handful. We've had many rough moments, but we all manage to survive our 30 min - 1 hr together every day. It started out especially rough. The problem is that they know we are white, which they associate with no punishment. They're typically able to do whatever they'd like if they have a white person in control of them. We've realized this though, so we make sure that they know we're really serious and will punish if they do not obey us. Their behavior has improved, which I'm thankful for. We knew all along that they are capable of following commands and obeying because we see how they behave with their house moms, and they obey well! But I guess I really can't blame them for testing the waters with us.
Besides working with Mark in that group setting, I also take him every day for some learning/coloring time. Mark is about 5 years old, but he's not in school due to misbehavior. He's also a little behind the other kids when it comes to learning. So, we're working on the alphabet and colors. He's doing well. I have this big coloring book that I'm going through with him, and every day we color a different letter as well as pictures that go along with the letter. He also gets to practice writing the letter by tracing. Because he has behavior problems, I try to be real strict with him, and if he misbehaves, I send him home (which does not make him very happy). For the most part, he does very well, so well that I suggested we try school with him again. The problem is that the teacher has over 30 kids in his class, so she cannot afford dealing with such a disruptive child in the classroom. So, starting tomorrow, I'm actually going to go into school with him. I'll take him to school at 8 and stay with him for the full day (which for his age is just until noon). Ideally, I will start by going in with him every day, but will eventually lessen my supervision of him until he's weaned off of my presence altogether. I'm excited to see how he does. I know it will be very different for him to be in a group setting, but I'm praying he does well!! He's such a precious kid.
Tom is the other special needs kid. He is autistic, I think about 6 yrs old, and doesn't talk at all. I've spent this week taking him on walks just to start some interaction with him. He does well on the walks and really enjoys them. Actually, now whenever I see him around he comes to me, grabs my hand, and tries to get me to take him on a walk! He really is such a sweetheart.
Things around GSF has been pretty busy lately! A team from California came in on Tuesday afternoon, which has been quite a change. There are 10 of them that came, as well as another girl who will be here for five weeks. She also has a team of 12 people coming in two weeks, so that's exciting. So, the room has increased by 8 girls. It's quite full now! Actually, really full. Haha. We've all managed alright though. Since they've been here, the cook, Justine, has been making lunch and dinner every day....and it's so delicious! So that's a big bonus.
A couple days ago Suzanna, Lianna, Cassia (the girl staying for 5 weeks), the Renzlow family, and I went four-wheeling along the Nile (Bujagali Falls?). It was SO much fun. Because we were on four-wheelers and in the bush, we were able to cover a large amount of ground and see so much! We drove through many villages, which was especially neat. We left at 5pm and went until 8:30pm. The ride included a sit-down dinner at a Ugandan home. We didn't really know what to expect for that, but it ended up being so nice (relatively speaking)!! They had so much food prepared for us - it was delicious! I seriously love the food here. They had rice, beans, pork, yams, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, spinach, cabbage, g-nut sauce, matoke, and poscho. It was like a feast. We were there for about 40 min before we headed back to the four-wheeling place. We had 2 guides with us who did a great job. Some of the areas we went through were real dry so we got dust all over us. Some were real wet and muddy, so we also got covered in mud. Some of the paths were through real thick jungley bush, so it was really beautiful to drive through that. We really had a blast.
Today we went on a walk through the jungle with the team and some of the GSF teens. It was so fun and a total mess, haha. It has been raining quite a bit, so the swamps were pretty high. So we trudged through some mud and water, but it was so much fun. It was just beautiful! We walked from GSF up through the jungle and came out at a village. There was a soccer game going on, so we enjoyed watching some of the game, and then walked back to GSF. It was a treat to hang out with some of the older high schoolers. Some of them are in school Mon-Sat, so there's not a lot of time to spend with them.
We've had some pretty intense creatures around here lately. Yesterday they found a 6ft cobra trying climbing up the wall of the guest house (the house I'm at!) at the window of the girls' room (the room I'm in!). Thankfully I was in Jinja during the finding of the snake, but they had the body for us to see when we got back. It was intense. We have also found 3 wolf spiders in the bathroom, and one was HUGE. Again, I wasn't in the bathroom for that, for which I'm very thankful! I was in the bathroom for one of them though (it was about a half-dollar size). .It was in the shower with me so I killed it. It was actually really difficult to kill and it took me a solid 10 min to finally REALLY kill it. It was super gross. The mosquitos have also seemed to really pick up the past few days. I have only gotten a couple bites until the last few days - I feel like I suddenly got them all over me! It must be the weather or something. Don't worry though - I am taking my malaria pills!
I really appreciate all of your prayers! Here are a couple updated prayer requests/praises:
1. Thank you for praying for the nagging bugs! I feel like the bugs havent decreased, but I think my sensitity to them has. For instance, I had to brush off about 50 little dead bugs from my sheets before crawling in bed. Bad part was that there were so many little bugs on my bed and pillow, good part is that I was able to do it without freaking out internally! So, please keep praying! I know your prayers have been helping me deal with them thus far!
2. Praise: I have yet to be real sick! There have been some days where my stomach feels a bit upset, but for the most part it's very minor. Thank you for praying, but please keep praying for continued health!
3. The little boy who I mentioned in the last post is not going to come to GSF. Keep praying for him though! That said, there is a little girl who is hopefully coming this week. I think I'll be able to go with the social worker to pick her up in a couple days. I'm very excited about it, but please pray that her transition into GSF would go smoothly!
4. Pray for Uganda. There have been severe thunderstorms around here lately, which have led to 20-30 known deaths due to the lightening...! Pray for the families of those people as well as safety.
5. Pray for Mark going to school tomorrow! Pray that he'd behave and absorb the information.
Thank you for your support! If you have any questions or anything, always feel free to contact me. So much "action" happens in a day here - it's hard to get it all into an update! If you'd like me to expand on anything, just let me know!
A couple pics. I'll upload more sometime soon!
Typical Sighting. Yes that little girl DOES have a baby strapped to her back!
Dinner at the Ugandans house during four wheeling
Driving through the jungle!
That said, I am absolutely loving it here. The kids at GSF are absolutely wonderful - I love getting to know them each better and better every day. I really enjoy working with the children for writing their sponsors. It's sweet to see how excited they are to write their sponsors. I think it's a special time for them because 1) they're writing something that's going to get sent to AMERICA! 2) they enjoy the special attention/1-on-1 time. After they get home from school, I make sure they get done their chores (slashing, washing clothes, cleaning), and then I pick a couple children to work on their sponsor letters for the day. Ages 7+ (give or take a few kids) write letters to their sponsors and draw pictures, and 6 and under just draw a picture. It takes some of the kids 20 minutes and others 2 hrs. I didn't realize how long it would take each letter, but they really do put much effort and time into it - it's so sweet. I also ask them a couple informational questions about themselves and take their pictures. When the girls are finished writing their sponsors, I "reward" them by painting their fingernails. For the boys, I read them a book of their choice when they're finished. It's so cute - they love being read to.
Besides the sponsor stuff, I've been working steadily with three special needs children: Mark, Moses, and Tom. Moses is downsyndrome and about 9 yrs old. I usually take him along with Mark to play ball or to the playground. Caleb, a boy with mental disabilities and tuberculosis of the spine, and Lianna (another intern) come along too. Lianna is "assigned" to work with Caleb, so it works out well. The three of them are a total handful. We've had many rough moments, but we all manage to survive our 30 min - 1 hr together every day. It started out especially rough. The problem is that they know we are white, which they associate with no punishment. They're typically able to do whatever they'd like if they have a white person in control of them. We've realized this though, so we make sure that they know we're really serious and will punish if they do not obey us. Their behavior has improved, which I'm thankful for. We knew all along that they are capable of following commands and obeying because we see how they behave with their house moms, and they obey well! But I guess I really can't blame them for testing the waters with us.
Besides working with Mark in that group setting, I also take him every day for some learning/coloring time. Mark is about 5 years old, but he's not in school due to misbehavior. He's also a little behind the other kids when it comes to learning. So, we're working on the alphabet and colors. He's doing well. I have this big coloring book that I'm going through with him, and every day we color a different letter as well as pictures that go along with the letter. He also gets to practice writing the letter by tracing. Because he has behavior problems, I try to be real strict with him, and if he misbehaves, I send him home (which does not make him very happy). For the most part, he does very well, so well that I suggested we try school with him again. The problem is that the teacher has over 30 kids in his class, so she cannot afford dealing with such a disruptive child in the classroom. So, starting tomorrow, I'm actually going to go into school with him. I'll take him to school at 8 and stay with him for the full day (which for his age is just until noon). Ideally, I will start by going in with him every day, but will eventually lessen my supervision of him until he's weaned off of my presence altogether. I'm excited to see how he does. I know it will be very different for him to be in a group setting, but I'm praying he does well!! He's such a precious kid.
Tom is the other special needs kid. He is autistic, I think about 6 yrs old, and doesn't talk at all. I've spent this week taking him on walks just to start some interaction with him. He does well on the walks and really enjoys them. Actually, now whenever I see him around he comes to me, grabs my hand, and tries to get me to take him on a walk! He really is such a sweetheart.
Things around GSF has been pretty busy lately! A team from California came in on Tuesday afternoon, which has been quite a change. There are 10 of them that came, as well as another girl who will be here for five weeks. She also has a team of 12 people coming in two weeks, so that's exciting. So, the room has increased by 8 girls. It's quite full now! Actually, really full. Haha. We've all managed alright though. Since they've been here, the cook, Justine, has been making lunch and dinner every day....and it's so delicious! So that's a big bonus.
A couple days ago Suzanna, Lianna, Cassia (the girl staying for 5 weeks), the Renzlow family, and I went four-wheeling along the Nile (Bujagali Falls?). It was SO much fun. Because we were on four-wheelers and in the bush, we were able to cover a large amount of ground and see so much! We drove through many villages, which was especially neat. We left at 5pm and went until 8:30pm. The ride included a sit-down dinner at a Ugandan home. We didn't really know what to expect for that, but it ended up being so nice (relatively speaking)!! They had so much food prepared for us - it was delicious! I seriously love the food here. They had rice, beans, pork, yams, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, spinach, cabbage, g-nut sauce, matoke, and poscho. It was like a feast. We were there for about 40 min before we headed back to the four-wheeling place. We had 2 guides with us who did a great job. Some of the areas we went through were real dry so we got dust all over us. Some were real wet and muddy, so we also got covered in mud. Some of the paths were through real thick jungley bush, so it was really beautiful to drive through that. We really had a blast.
Today we went on a walk through the jungle with the team and some of the GSF teens. It was so fun and a total mess, haha. It has been raining quite a bit, so the swamps were pretty high. So we trudged through some mud and water, but it was so much fun. It was just beautiful! We walked from GSF up through the jungle and came out at a village. There was a soccer game going on, so we enjoyed watching some of the game, and then walked back to GSF. It was a treat to hang out with some of the older high schoolers. Some of them are in school Mon-Sat, so there's not a lot of time to spend with them.
We've had some pretty intense creatures around here lately. Yesterday they found a 6ft cobra trying climbing up the wall of the guest house (the house I'm at!) at the window of the girls' room (the room I'm in!). Thankfully I was in Jinja during the finding of the snake, but they had the body for us to see when we got back. It was intense. We have also found 3 wolf spiders in the bathroom, and one was HUGE. Again, I wasn't in the bathroom for that, for which I'm very thankful! I was in the bathroom for one of them though (it was about a half-dollar size). .It was in the shower with me so I killed it. It was actually really difficult to kill and it took me a solid 10 min to finally REALLY kill it. It was super gross. The mosquitos have also seemed to really pick up the past few days. I have only gotten a couple bites until the last few days - I feel like I suddenly got them all over me! It must be the weather or something. Don't worry though - I am taking my malaria pills!
I really appreciate all of your prayers! Here are a couple updated prayer requests/praises:
1. Thank you for praying for the nagging bugs! I feel like the bugs havent decreased, but I think my sensitity to them has. For instance, I had to brush off about 50 little dead bugs from my sheets before crawling in bed. Bad part was that there were so many little bugs on my bed and pillow, good part is that I was able to do it without freaking out internally! So, please keep praying! I know your prayers have been helping me deal with them thus far!
2. Praise: I have yet to be real sick! There have been some days where my stomach feels a bit upset, but for the most part it's very minor. Thank you for praying, but please keep praying for continued health!
3. The little boy who I mentioned in the last post is not going to come to GSF. Keep praying for him though! That said, there is a little girl who is hopefully coming this week. I think I'll be able to go with the social worker to pick her up in a couple days. I'm very excited about it, but please pray that her transition into GSF would go smoothly!
4. Pray for Uganda. There have been severe thunderstorms around here lately, which have led to 20-30 known deaths due to the lightening...! Pray for the families of those people as well as safety.
5. Pray for Mark going to school tomorrow! Pray that he'd behave and absorb the information.
Thank you for your support! If you have any questions or anything, always feel free to contact me. So much "action" happens in a day here - it's hard to get it all into an update! If you'd like me to expand on anything, just let me know!
A couple pics. I'll upload more sometime soon!
Typical Sighting. Yes that little girl DOES have a baby strapped to her back!
Dinner at the Ugandans house during four wheeling
Driving through the jungle!
YAY!!! So wonderful to hear from you!!! Miss you and love you, Mom
ReplyDeleteWOW you killed that wolf spider!?!?!?! Crazy!! I bet that's an experience you'll want to forget!! I'm praying for you so much. I am so glad that you are doing well! Clark misses you!! Tonight it took him over an hour to fall asleep and I knew he just wanted his Aunt "Baby Whisperer" Rin to soothe him! haha Thanks for the update--you are so busy it's probably hard to find the time to blog but we LOVE reading about your time!!!! LOVE & MISS YOU!!!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Clark is already fitting into 3 month clothes and he's only seven weeks old!!