Uganda 2025 day 5

Uganda 2025 Day 5:

I went to bed around 10:30p and woke up at midnight wide awake. I laid there for two hours and prayed a lot while trying to fall asleep. I finally did and woke up again about 4:45a. We had breakfast at 6a and left the house at 6:30a for the MAF airport. After JoAnn checked in, she learned only one plane was able to fly out. She had to split up the team.! I was on the second flight that would go out later. Along with me were Shanna, Chelsea, Arianna, Jess, Ethan, Hector, and Ross. We decided to go to the coffee shop at quality. Ivan drove the van and Moses left his at the airport to ride with us. When we arrived, I got a mango smoothie at the recommendation of the waiter. I was asking about a different one because it had a weird name, but he said mango is the best. Some of the guys also ordered food. Ross gave me one of his somosas and Ethan had me try a piece of his croissant. It was chocolate, but the chocolate was a dark chocolate. I think it was the best chocolate croissant I have ever had. A couple of us ran upstairs into quality and bought a couple items before we went back to the MAF airport. I think we arrived a little before 10:30a and we were told to be there by 11. While we waited some of us used my “thumb ball”. It has questions on it. Someone throws it to you and you answer the question about yourself. We did a few rounds of this and then Chelsea and I played the card game speed until just after 11a. Not long after that someone informed us the plane would land at 11:35a, gas up, and the pilot would eat a quick lunch before we left. They brought us down to the plane just after 12p. We had a new (to me) pilot named Ryan. He gave us our instructions when we boarded. We took off after a couple planes came in. Karamoja here we come! 

We arrived and didn’t stop at the hotel as normal because the rest of the team had already started clinic. Our group did not start helping right away because they were setting up for lunch break. Once we finished lunch, most of us helped with kids. Having only 2 people (and the teachers/interpreters) with around 300 kids is hard. Ben was relieved to have the help and we sent Sydney (along with a couple others) home to rest up for the next two days. We did singing and dancing which the kids love! Then there was a science experiment teaching about mixing vinegar and baking soda. The kids were interested in this. Last year was the first year we taught a science experiment, so we decided to do it again. The last structured thing we did was teach them in smaller groups to make paper airplanes. Chelsea and I worked with a group together. It was hard because we forgot how to make the one we were shown and we had a lot of littles. A couple of the older kids knew how to make fancy ones. After all the groups were done, it was fun to watch the kids play with them. Although, after a few minutes I started helping clean up trash… including left behind planes. During this time, a couple little girls started throwing their planes to me and I would throw them back. The problem was, they did not go straight and sometimes the wind would blow extra hard. After about 5-10 minutes of this, I tried to walk away. I don’t even remember why. Then I was surrounded by so many kids. I was walking by Ethan (our 16 yr old team member) and had to stop to soak in the scene. It was such a precious moment and my favorite of the day. He was surrounded by a bunch of boys. Some almost his age and many younger. It was amazing to see how happy they were to have someone their age. Not long later one of the girls requested to take a photo with him. They did take a few, but trying to take a photo with one person is hard because then all the kids run in. During all this watching I had some of the kids around me poking my side and trying to tickle my armpits. They thought it was so funny. They were also rubbing my arms and hair. There were so many kids I could not move without almost stepping on one. A few of the boys left Ethan to come talk to me. They stepped right in front of me to say hi. Of course the first question out of their mouth was, “how old are you?” Haha! They were shocked when I told them. I asked their ages and they were 13-16 years old. We talked a little longer, I asked their names and favorite subjects in school also. Some favorite subjects were science, math, and English. My favorite answer from one of the boys was when he said the favorite subject is food. Hahaha! The other children and I laughed so hard. Two of the boys asked for a photo, so I had someone take it. I have one decent photo, but in seconds there were multiple kids in the photos. After thanking the guy that took my photo, I turned around and walked closer to Ethan. He was smiling so big! The kids were so noisy that I had to shout the question, “are you living your best life right now?”. He said, “yes” and I said, “me too!” We did talk a little more and while that happened some of the kids kept counting to three and tried to lift me. It took a couple times for me to realize what was happening. So I decided to squat to just for fun knowing they could not. Oh was I wrong! I think about 8-10 kids ended up lifting and carrying me around. Each time they set me down they would say, “again!” It was so hilarious! The Ugandans and Americans that witnessed it laughed so hard. I almost felt like royalty being carried to where I needed to go. Although, only twice did I tell them to walk toward someone. It was such an entertaining moment for me. The kids would not leave my side after that either. When I finally got in the coaster/party bus, the kids were standing outside my window yelling “auntie” and blowing me kisses. They did this and waved goodbye until we left the gate and Sam could safely speed away from them.

At the hotel, I went to the kitchen to help mama Esther and Sarah. They did not really need my help as they were almost done. Sarah was going to have me dry the lettuce, but I was not aggressive enough with it and mama was going to have me cut the cucumber for the salad, but she did not like how I held the knife. Haha! I am sure I held it the same way she did. In the end I held the bowl and Sarah layered the salad and cucumbers in it. We did not do much after dinner tonight because everyone was sleepy.