I can’t believe that it’s almost the end of February... already! Time is certainly flying by much faster than I would like, and I can now say that I’m just past the halfway point of my time in Uganda. Crazy. I have been very blessed to continue to live out in the Suubi children’s village here in Mpigi, and am just heading into my 4th month here.
Every month as volunteers, we wait (sometimes not so patiently) to hear where we will be posted the following month. Watoto moves us around depending on the needs in the varying babies homes as well as the number of international volunteers in Uganda, as people are coming and going at all times. Last month I had a complete change of roommates and am currently living with 4 lovely girls all from different parts of Western Canada. We have gotten along great, and are having lots of fun living together. So needless to say, we were all happy to hear that we will be staying together here in Suubi for the month of March.
The past two weeks there have been LOTS of power outages. Mainly power has been on only in the overnight hours, so lots of evenings have been spent by candlelight; playing games or reading, or anything else that does not require electricity. Unfortunately the evening power outages have gotten me a bit behind with responding to emails or posting pictures, but am hoping to get caught up on all of that in the coming week.
This past month I have been spending much of my time working in the office at the babies home, helping the new inventory supply manager set up some systems and create some form templates for managing the numerous supplies required to run this facility. When the babies home is at full capacity, they can use 900+ diapers in one day, so I’m sure you can understand the importance of keeping a handle on all of the day to day supplies. I’ve definitely had to try and wrap my head around the way different cultures operate a business, so it has been a good experience for me.
On the days that there is no power to run the computer, or if there is a nanny shortage in one of the units, I get to sneak back downstairs to hang with the kids. Gotta admit, after a few days straight in the office, I miss their little faces and having them cling to my leg the moment I walk in the door.
We’re gearing up for a big village move at the beginning of March, and the majority of the kids in the big toddler unit will be moved to one of the surrounding children’s villages. It’s a bitter-sweet thing, because after seeing these kids day-in/day-out for the past 4 months, you get to know them well, and they will certainly be missed! However, they will grow and thrive and be in a new family once they are moved, and that is a good thing too.
I’ve also had the privilege of helping out at some of the worship practices for the village worship team over the past month, and have really been enjoying the opportunity. The team at the church is made of up mostly youth and young adults from the village; some just learning how to play various instruments and learning how to lead the worship service on Sunday mornings. I’ve been working a bit with one of the keyboard players; teaching him how to use some different sounds with the music that he plays. Yesterday at practice it was like a whole new world opened up to him... and he was loving it!
We've been asked to try and take the babies out of the home as much as possible, so there has been lots of walks duiring the morning, and today we all decided to take babies to church with us. The behaved like perfect little angels too!
This next week ahead we have a very full schedule, with a painting project currently underway in the babies home, our monthly international volunteers meeting, and hopefully squeezing in a field trip to the zoo with some of the toddlers.
So all in all, life is busy, but life is good. I’m reminded daily of how blessed I am to have the opportunity to live over in Africa for this short season of time. Having the chance to see our babies growing up into little people. Celebrating their milestones like standing on their own, saying new words or taking their first steps. Getting concerned when I look across the hall from our apartment and see one of the little toddlers in the clinic and knowing that they’re up there cause they’re not feeling well. And best of all, my heart gets all warm and fuzzy when the babies run up to me and call out “mumma”. I know I’m not their mom; and they know I’m not too, but it still puts a smile on my face.
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