Gulu week 2 part 1

We started off week two by going to Mother Theresa’s on Sunday. So many members of the exchange group came out. The kids were thrilled, and Sister Helen was happy. We spent a couple of hours playing with the kids. Hope stayed with me the whole time…she is the little one that I wanted to bring home with me last year. She is five years old this year, and remembers me from last year. She asked me to bring her home with me. I so wish I could. The deaf kids remembered me as well. They remembered my sign name and came up for hugs. It is probably my favorite place in the whole world. I am so glad that I was able to share it with this awesome group of people. The best part about our group going out to Momma T’s was that everyone was able to cover a group of kids and do different activity. Love everywhere…it was awesome. And even though Pablo and Joe could not sign, they really made a connection with the older deaf boys. I was so happy to re-connect with Momma T’s and Hope…This is a place that I will be seeing a lot of while I am here.

Pablo and I started Layibi on Monday. We had our first round table and we were shown a tour of the school. It is an all-boys boarding school. With “Invisible Children” they are now in the top 100 for schools in Uganda. They are 54. It is such a huge difference from Pabo. This school actually can feed the students and the teachers. There is a lot more money coming in. They also have a complete computer lab with internet (I will definitely set up a skype account so that my American and Ugandan students can communicate. The teachers take Pablo and I to a different room to feed us every day. At first, it was hard to come to a school that seems well off (for Uganda) when there are schools like Pabo out there…which has so much spirit but is so poor and in the middle of an IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camp. We had to convince ourselves that seeing the difference between the high end and low end schools would be good for us….It would be something new that we could experience as well. I still struggled with figuring out how we can make much a difference to a school that seems to have it all figured out. I have to keep reminding myself that this program has contributed to their success and has gotten them back into the top 100. As the students are attending a high-end school, these are the students that will get high-end positions in the future. If we can make a difference in the future leaders of Uganda, then that is where change will take place. I just have to keep remembering to give it my all.

Overall, the environment seems to be a bit different than last year. I think that the atmosphere of the World Cup changed quite a few things. We don’t have electricity very often for one thing. The water has also been off for days! I went from Friday until Tuesday without a shower (keep in mind I was playing in an orphanage and leading Zumba classes every day. Hello baby wipes!!! Tuesday night, after Momma T’s and another Zumba class, I finally gave in to a jerry can shower. It’s like Pabo all over again…Home sweet home.