Skip to main content

Babysitters Club 

 
 
 
Here begins our updates from our August 2012 trip. We have 20 aussies here, as well 
as 6 Americans who have joined our group. We are here to live as Ugandans, to learn and to soak it all up!
 
Caitlin: 
Today we had our first session of our specially developed program for our sponsor kids.
Our kids here in Uganda are better off than millions of kids here in the North. 
They live in a beautiful home with their brothers and sisters, their school fees are 
paid, they have adequate medical care and they are given lots to eat. We are grateful 
to our sponsors for helping us to provide these material needs, however during this 
trip we wanted to address the emotional and spiritual needs of these kids.
 
In the middle of 2011, we watched a video that featured the story of a Ugandan sponsor 
child, who grew up to become a politician in her area. Coincidentally, she looked 
exactly like one of our very own sponsor kids, Monica, and we thought "well if she
 can do it, so can Monica!" We started brainstorming and planning and came up with 
a two day program to teach out kids that they are precious, they are valuable, and 
they can grow up to be whatever they want to be.
 
Today we started by making fools of ourselves... Sitting in the big garden in Lira,
 under the grass hut, we asked the kids how much one chicken costs. 
"It depends on the size!" screamed one. "about 25,000 Ugandan shillings." (approx. $10aud)
 
 
We then had a race to see who could catch the most chickens in the yard. The kids, who 
range in age from 8-16 pounced on their chickens in no time flat, where as us muzungu's
 (slang for "white prrson) were all hopeless having never touched a chicken in our lives.
 
Once the ice was broken, we started discussion. We asked what was valuable to each of the 
children. Answers started coming from the boys, "food!" "friends!" and then one girl at
 the front said "education." all of us leaders smiled- bingo! Other answers that broke 
hearts were "God" and "peace."
 
We asked  "if that chicken is worth 25000 shillings, how much are you worth?" the 
kids were quiet.  We explained to them that they are worth far more than all the chickens 
in the world, than all the cattle, than all the gold and silver you could carry.
They are precious and unique, and valuable to us and to each other.
 
We then spent a beautiful afternoon painting, chatting, and sewing all together. Some young mums joined
our group, and we were able to act as babysitters and take their kids from them to enable them to sew.
It was so rewarding to see the joy on their faces as they did something for themselves. It was rewarding for us
to give them a much needed break from motherhood.
 
Tomorrow we will talk about choices- that we all have decisions in this life and some 
will lead to good things whilst others may not. Hopefully it goes just as well as today!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I am Strong

Tug of war with the boys  We began our second session - this time talking about "strength" in the harsh heat of the afternoon on Friday. We started with a brilliant demonstration of strength. We bought 3 yards of rope and  set up a tug-of-war. We started with two strong boys against each other, and then added  more and more people but only on one side. The game made everyone laugh and led to lots  of different teams: kids vs adults, girls vs boys etc. Andy began the session by stating "on our own we may not be strong, but together as a  team, we can be strong." this was a clear way to communicate a strong message of the  importance of unity. Then we explained that being strong is not only about having big muscles. Strength can  be on the inside as well as on the outside, and being strong means making good decisions. Andy used the example of two coke bottles. He took one and shook it very hard, then put another unshaken bottle next to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The One VS The Many

Caitlin's personal thoughts   With just over one week under my belt after Uganda, I have finally had a chance to process and put into words some of my personal feelings on the trip.    These are just my own quiet thoughts, and do not necessarily reflect the views of LMF.   This trip I had the absolute privelage of leading a team of people, most of whom  had never been to Africa before. Even though it was my third trip, many times I felt as though I was experiencing things for the first time right there with them. The age old issues of  Africa came up once again for me. The main theme I found I wrestled with was the tension of helping one or helping many.    At the clinic dedication, a lady grabbed me and led me through crowds of people to her sick grandson.  I couldn't understand what she was saying, and no one was around to translate, but I could make out  the word "malaria" and he didn't look healthy. I had actually s...
2 comments
Read more

Settling In...

It’s hard to believe but it has already been a whole week since I arrived in Uganda! It’s only now that I feel as though I’ve finally started to settle in and begun getting my bearings for this place back again. Sticking to tradition, I’ve done nothing half-heartedly and have literally thrown myself in headfirst and learnt a few useful lessons along the way. Below are a few I thought I would share. Lesson one: the pace of life here is not the same. On my second day in Lira I quickly learnt that as much as I would like to try, I cannot operate at the same speed or the same intensity as I do at home. In Sydney, I’m used to being busy and constantly on the go and often find myself feeling inefficient at times when I have nothing to do or no one to see. Over here however, everything is done at a sloooooowwwww and leisuuuuuurelyyyy pace and your daily activity is somewhat limited. So goodbye efficiency, hello frustration! On this particular day, the sun was beating down from about 9am s...
2 comments
Read more