By having smaller numbers of kids, I could give them more individual attention which many needed. It also meant I could be braver in what we tackled. As a result, we made kites as part of our shapes topic...
They loved it when we had stories! This one was all about animals and was well received despite me having to fight with drilling work going on to be heard.
And we did the classic mask making this week to end our animals topic. They didn't quite get the idea of making them like a particular animal and all had very similar designs, but they loved it and had great fun in all the colouring and sticking.
Yesterday was a day of farewells as sadly it is time to move on from these beautiful people to meet others elsewhere. The kids and I had a party as our final class with games, dancing and laughing. I couldn't understand half of the games they were playing (lots of chanting, dancing and bizarre rules) but they all had fun which is what I wanted. These are the most amazing kids - they have so much on their small shoulders and yet they still smile every day and are loving, joyful and hard working. I will miss their smiles, their hugs, and maybe even them prodding and poking me (but we will see about that one!).
This is the group of ladies who welcomed me into their community and who I met with twice a week to do basic English. These ladies are truly inspiring - all of them are full time mothers and full time bead makers. They are basically raising their kids on their own; I have only seen one of two of their husbands, but I don't know where the others are or what they're doing. They have welcomed me in and have taken the time to practise basic English despite always working, cooking, cleaning or patching up their kids. Incredibly, two of the ladies haven't missed a single of the sessions and all except one (the one missing from this photo) have been remarkably consistent. They all want education, showing the gap for adult literacy. Betty, the lady in the bottom left corner of the photo, has a very special place in my heart. When we had our first session, she couldn't write, say or order the alphabet. She is one of the two who has come twice every week, and in our last class on Thursday she did almost the whole alphabet on her own, she can write her name, the letters in the right sizes and the colours. She is the 'lowest' in the class in a western rating but she is the top for me because she has progressed so far and has never given up despite being embarrassed many times and very unconfident. All of these ladies are precious and deserve all the blessings in the world.
I will be going back a couple of times to visit the Acholi Quarters before I leave so this wasn't the ultimate goodbye, thankfully. Please pray for them - the ladies and the kids - none of them will go to school when they start back next week after Easter and are in the daily grind of living in poor conditions; they are all so hopeful and positive, and I pray that God will meet all their needs including the needs of love, value and education.
So, what's next for me? Well, on Monday I will be travelling to Rwanda for a few days. I will be staying with the CRED partner, Pius, and his family whilst seeing the work he is doing, and hopefully having space to rest and process all that has happened in the two months since I arrived here. I will be back next Sunday. After that, I will be spending a lot of time outside of Kampala in a small town called Maya about an hours drive east of the city where John is starting a doctors clinic. I will be getting involved in this in some ways, which I will be more specific about when I actually get there.
I hope you all had a good Easter weekend. I was planning to blog then, but never got round to it. Sorry! Have a good couple of weeks until I write again. For those of you going back to uni, enjoy! And all the best with revision and exams - I am thinking of all of you entering this exam season. God bless you and keep you.
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