My Two Girls!

Today was a fantastic day with an even better ending; Rebecca came to visit, and I was able to do a home visit with Mariam, my other sponsor child! We arrived around 9:30 and had a very productive morning of finishing (!) the sponsor profiles! Every single child who has attended CUS this week (as I said, they trickle back after break, so others will come) has been photographed, interviewed, and has written a letter and/or drawn a picture for their current or future sponsor. So many kids need sponsors in order to get this school off its feet, but I feel productive having that first step completed. I took the role of photographing the younger children, and then interviewing the older ones. The interviews went well and many kids lived with both parents, which was a nice surprise. One girl, Sarah, is a story I won’t forget. I met her on Saturday, as she and some other kids were at choir practice. She is one of the best singers in the church choir, and her eyes crinkle when she smiles; she is beautiful with big dimples. Monday and Tuesday she hadn’t been at school, but I would see her every day after school and would urge her to come. She was all smiles until I mentioned school, at which point she would become withdrawn. I was so excited to see her at school today and gave her a big hug and made a huge deal out of it. When I did her interview I learned the reason why. Sarah is a housemaid. She is 12 years old and only in p2 (with 7 year olds) because she has spent so many years not getting her education. Her mother is alive and lives in the village. Sarah lives with a family near the school and works for them, and they send money back to her mother. They hadn’t been allowing her to go to school, but with the presence of sponsorship, and with Hellen going to talk to them, they have agreed to let her come, although Hellen is doubtful she will be able to make it all the way through her primary education. Sarah is in need of a sponsor, and I hope that perhaps having a sponsor will help the family she lives with allow her to continue coming to school.

After school we went on two home visits. First we visited the house of Gloria, who Sarah is sponsoring. Gloria is in p4 and is a real sweetheart with great English. She lives with her mother, father, 2 sisters, and 1 brother, and there is another daughter who is living in the village. Gloria’s mom speaks very good English, and Hellen tells us the father is a drunk who has caused problems in the past for the family, but she seems like a wonderful mother. When Sarah told her that she was sponsoring Gloria, she was very overwhelmed and had tears in her eyes. It was really touching. I love meeting those mothers who really work hard to give the best for their kids.

Next up was Mariam's house. I have only just begun sponsoring Mariam but she is so sweet and I love her already. She lives with her mother, father, and 6 siblings. She is in p5, Onyongo Alex is in p4, Namyeri Sharon and Atyeno Sylvia are in top class, Okuma Francis is in baby class, Namyenge Agness is 2 years old, and Awino Alen is just 3 months old. It was a fairly nice house compared to others I have seen; it was 2 rooms and made of brick instead of mud. There is an outdoor kitchen. Mariam brought us inside and a pack of young kids (her siblings) all came over to greet us. Her mother spoke a decent amount of english and we chatted for a bit about school, about what being sponsored means, about her family, etc. I gave Mariam the doll I brought her and her face lit up. She is just super cute with her big gap-toothed smile! I handed out stickers to her siblings and they covered their foreheads in them. Mariam shared the doll with little Agness, who warmed up to me by the end of the visit. I asked her mother if I could take a photo, and she went to the other room to change and get the baby dressed. It is always interesting to get a look into what the homes are like, and I feel like talking to her mom and telling her that I plan on supporting Mariam through secondary school will enforce this and will encourage her to continue sending her to school. Mariam is super spunky... a little pipsqueak of a kid with long skinny legs and a toothy smile, but who I have seen on multiple occasions threaten the bigger boys! In the photo she is the one in the yellow uniform. Her little sister Agness is carrying the doll. She makes me smile :)

When we got back from the home visits Innocent had arrived back from town. He had been to Didi's World (the amusement park) to confirm our trip tomorrow and get the final costs (prices have been raised, so we are thinking we will cut the zoo trip in order to bring all the kids to Didi's World). I paid the year of my sponsorship for Mariam upfront, and he used it to buy text books for the school. He had a big bag full of the books and it was so exciting seeing how far the funds went. I flipped through the books and they are amazing; I can't wait for them to be put to use. We went outside to say goodbye, and then Rebecca arrived! So of course we changed our minds and ended up staying much longer. I have written about Rebecca before, and the challenges we have had with her aunt. Her aunt is a twisted woman and wants the worst for Rebecca. Hellen has had problems with her for as long as Rebecca has been at the school. She makes Rebecca work at the market a lot, while her kids do nothing, and so I have only gotten to meet with Rebecca for a few short visits. Rebecca is amazing. She is such an inspiration to me. We sat down outside the school today and everyone made themselves busy with other things, giving me a chance to get to know Rebecca more in private. She was not shy at all this time, and was quite chatty (and has excellent english). She watched the video of me bungee jumping and was in awe, it was really funny. She said I am "smart", but that she would never do it and the rope is too long! She had her geography and history exams today and I looked through her notebook and her writing is so neat and geez, she is waaaay smarter than I will ever be! Her notebook is impressive and I can tell her studies are important to her. She wants to be a doctor, and told me so proudly with a giggle. We talked about her family, about her brothers who are back in the village, and about school. We talked about the differences between Canada and Uganda and looked through some of my photos so she could see the Nile. As we talked, Hellen continually looked on and shooed the other kids away from joining in on our conversation. It was really sweet because Hellen looked at me with such a satisfied, happy, motherly look about her. She really understood how important this meeting was to me and Rebecca, and she was so happy that it finally worked out and I could spend more than 10 minutes in a crowd of people talking to her. As we talked more and more, we got closer and closer and by the end she was leaning close to me, clutching on to my legs as she spoke. Kate said that whenever I looked away she would stare at me with huge, happy eyes. It warms my heart to hear that, because it is so important to me that she knows how much love I have for her. She means so much to me and to be able to sit in privacy and get to know her and her amazing self is something I am so grateful for.