Hello, So, I was informed that I should probably update this so that people know that I'm not still in Uganda! (everyone knows that already tho right?) So on wednesday the 23rd, I arrived here at my next step towards mission - All Nations college... It was a good but scary first day, feeling nervous but seeing so many kind new faces... so many people of All Nations - probably the reason for the name..! To give you an idea of the people here (my new friends) I will list just a few of the places people are from; south Korea, Denmark, taiwan, thailand, germany, switzerland, south Africa, kenya, faroe islands, papua new guinea, greece, zibabwe... places all across the world!! you get the picture!!
so my introductory few days were so good - meeting new people, decorating my room to make it all home-y feeling... its all lovely now! every evening we had a girly film night, so that was nice.
the weekend was so so so good, yesterday I went for a walk in the morning to the nearest village - that took around 45 mins through the deep countryside - breath taking counrtyside - but you will know that when you all visit me!! (haha!)
then in the after myself and 4 of the girls went together to a local nursery garden centre type place, its so beautiful with a hidden corner with a shed of africa art, photos and crafts - I got talking to the lady and she invited me to a few of their events so that will be interesting. in the same place theres a petting farm!! so I had a great time with the goats!!
anyways... student life calls but I will update you soon another time - I'm going to watch the x-factor!! (and now theres a fire alarm!! fire brigade are on there way - burnt popcorn apparently so must RUN!!!!)
Lessons start tomorrow so please pray for me....
much love...
xxx
Sunday, 27 September 2009
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
not even African timing...
Oh my days! Im so rediculously slow and have been so so so busy so apologies once again for taking lo9ng to update the blog.. as the title says.. its not even african timing, its just pure slowness..
Anyway... so its been a long time and so much has happened.. each and every day has brought SO SO many things to do and be involved with and I havent even updated my last week in kenya... let alone what Ive been doing here in Uganda...
So... my last week of kenya.. I cant remember everything that I did now.. which sucks a bit.
the last week i was in kenya I got a bit ill.. i think from exhaustion or worrying about leaving, anyway it wasnt too too bad but i was so tired.. I stayed at home in ngong and just stayed with the girls (who im missing so much) helped them with there work, sorted potatoes, pealed potatos... did some harvesting in the shamba (farm) and sorted out my washing and stuff.. I MADE myself ok on the last tuesday i was there so i could go to the streets of mlango kubwa for the last time, I wanted to see alan before I left - especially as the only time id seen him before was the awful incedent i mentioned in my previous post.
I went on a prayer walk before going to the streets and found the kids (AND ALAN!) there, aaaaaaaah he was so happy to see me, and proceded straight away to hug me and hug me so much and said "Aunty Rachel Im so sorry I didnt talk to you last week, I was scared and embarrassed and I had no clothes on", I said to him that it didnt matter that he didnt talk to me and I just was so worried about him and wanted to check that he was ok - and that i had noticed that he didnt have any clothes on and he laughed.we had a good talk about the possibility of him going home, but that day I couldnt do anything - im hoping so much that the team will work with him in my absence - he PROMISED me he would go back home, but im worried about him because he has a strong attatchment there - he has family close to those streets and yet there is something evil always pulling him back to that place. hes ten and just shouldnt be there.
So then after that i was just at the house for a few days not feeling so good - and dreading leaving the girls - on the previous sunday before I left we took one of the guys who had been staying at the house with us to the airport to go back to wales. he had been around for 3 weeks. I found it so hard seeing the girls crying because they didnt want him to leave, and it made me so so anxious about leaving also.
On the friday I went to the office to say my bye's to everyone there - unfortunately most of them were off, but I recieved a lovely card and some even lovlier cake! I left a thankyou card with them appreciating there work and friendship and left some money to buy the boys at joseph Kangethe rehabilitation centre a lolly each.. they love lollies so much! and never get them!
Sunday was an awful awful day and i just felt so bad and emotional the whole day, i cried for so many hours altogether and held back so many more hours worth of tears, I was trying so hard to be strong so that the girls wouldnt be so upset but i was a wreck! the girls were crying so so so so much and I felt awful, I had felt so protective of them and even felt kida like a mother towards them - they were my girls! leaving them was awful and i dont want to write much more about it cos I still miss them so much.
It was good and hard my first day bvack in uganda - the flight was just 1 hour so when i got there i was still upset from leaving the girls- and that was difficult to deal with mostly because everyone here was expecting me to be same old excited Rachel, people wondered why i didnt seem as happy as expected - it wasnt that I wasnt! It was just i was so full of so many different and conflicting emotions!
So I got here and caught up with everyone- which was awesome, my friend laura from the first time I was in Uganda is back here for a year and I haven seen her since May last year shes from Canada so its awesome to have her around.
On the second day here I decided to visit a project I heard about through a friend once Id arrived. Its called hands for hope and is not far from the guesthouse, they work with the poorest families in a small nearby slum area and give the small children free education and enable small business loans and sponsers and schooling for older children, its good and is run by a man who once worked in Havant waitrose! haha!! small world! it was good there.
while i was at that project I had a call from the gate man at watoto babies home (who i didnt know!) and then laura, saying that there was a boy called kaggwa at the gate trying to find me!!
Kaggwa joseph is my friend who is an EX street kid, and it was a pure miracle that he found me, as he had spoken to laura whos the only volunteer out of over 30 volunteers at the babies home that knows me. Anyway, he had read in an email from me that id be arriving in kampala the previous sunday and left the village he had been resettled in, to come to town to find me. and 2 days later he finds me - obviously there was no other way to contact me as the only we have ever been able to contact had been internet and as you know that hasnt been very regular for me!! but anyway he found me and it was so awesome to see him again, telling me about his schooling and his village and everything he has been doing, he has come on so so much its amazing and such a transformation!! we hing out for the day and he refused to go back to the village yet, so the next day we went to the field to the street project i was helping at last time i was in uganda - the place were i had first met him, and my friend charles. wow it was good to be back there with all those lovely kids, was talking and relating to some of the boys - there were maybe only 5 there who had been there in december and january when i was last there.
When I was here before me, joseph, charles, and another boy called joseph spent a lot of time togther, to cut a long story short the OTHER joseph stole my camera... so unfortunately i no longer have a camera to take any pictures while in Uganda... the good thing is that id ACCIDENTLY taken the kenya memory card out so all of my photos from kenya were safely in my room and not in the hands of my confused friend who made the bad decision to steal the camera. anyway, i have more that 30 street kids hunting for him day and night with my crime reference number in their back pockets. theyv had him arrested twice, and yet hes escaped twice... we shall just have to see if its third time lucky and if its still in his possesion.
So the next day I went with joseph to his village were he stays with his cousin - the place was AWESOME, maybe 2-3 hours drive from town and then 20 mins on a motorbike through thick farm land and JUNGLE! im told at night they even have leopards! man!!!
The place was so good, so far from everything and anyone! hes cousin is a pastor and has a small house were he takes orphans as well as an on site school for them, it was such a nice little project. there land was so big with all home grown foods imaginable, and even there own freshwater spring... and so many animals inclusing pigs, goats, cows, chickens and ducks! was a beautiful place and i hope to go back there to visit him before I go home. (hopefully I can borrow a camera and capture the beauty!)
hmmm.... so thennnnnn............i was just helping at the street project and spending my spare time visiting the boys in the slums with charles...
Then, on sunday I had the opportunity to go to the other project thats quite far away that i told you all about, to help the irish man whose setting up his charity. its called new begginings. I travelled for around 3 hours with him and his friend to get to the site in a area called nakasongola. wow... what an amazing experience, i came back yesturday night but i didnt want to leave! i spent 3 days and two nights there! the place had no running water and ran from a generator for electricity for a few hours in the evenings, and had pit latrines (those toilets that are purely just holes!) but the children were AWESOME, in the house he has built there (2 houses 3rd building built over the next few days) there are around 10 kids. but there are always more from the community hanging about. hes taken some from the streets (one boy i connected with so so much was a boy called nicholas who he took from the streets of kampala) and some are orphans, some are just from poor families who cant take care of them. They stay in the house, and they get education from the school thats just across the field and about 2 minutes walk away. for 2 days i taught in that school... i was teaching baby class- for tiny children from the age of 3/4.
Im definately definately going back to nakasongola at least a few more times before I leave - i didnt want to leave, the kids didnt want me to leave and even the guys and working said I should stay. I loved hugging the kids and one boy Steven loved having his hair stroked - just small things to give the affection that theyv so so missed out on.
So il be going back there, and am currently making plans to go to marachi, in busia ditrict, kenya. (going back to kenya i know!) but its closer to kampala than nairobi. I really want to find Hamissi, the boy from the rehabilitation centre in kenya, I just want to make sure he really did get back home, want to connect with the mother, see how I can help them, and link them with the charity in kenya so they can maybe hopefully get long term support.
SO!! thats my update! LONG!! I know!! Hope its ok!! and I hope to hear from you all soon, thankyou so so so much for your support, even knowing uv read this means so much to me.
Love you all and thinking of you. must sleep! on a mission tomorrow to find a luganda bible for the kids in nakasongola and then will go to the other project close to hear in namwongo.
Lots of love, Rachel x x x x x x x x :-)
Anyway... so its been a long time and so much has happened.. each and every day has brought SO SO many things to do and be involved with and I havent even updated my last week in kenya... let alone what Ive been doing here in Uganda...
So... my last week of kenya.. I cant remember everything that I did now.. which sucks a bit.
the last week i was in kenya I got a bit ill.. i think from exhaustion or worrying about leaving, anyway it wasnt too too bad but i was so tired.. I stayed at home in ngong and just stayed with the girls (who im missing so much) helped them with there work, sorted potatoes, pealed potatos... did some harvesting in the shamba (farm) and sorted out my washing and stuff.. I MADE myself ok on the last tuesday i was there so i could go to the streets of mlango kubwa for the last time, I wanted to see alan before I left - especially as the only time id seen him before was the awful incedent i mentioned in my previous post.
I went on a prayer walk before going to the streets and found the kids (AND ALAN!) there, aaaaaaaah he was so happy to see me, and proceded straight away to hug me and hug me so much and said "Aunty Rachel Im so sorry I didnt talk to you last week, I was scared and embarrassed and I had no clothes on", I said to him that it didnt matter that he didnt talk to me and I just was so worried about him and wanted to check that he was ok - and that i had noticed that he didnt have any clothes on and he laughed.we had a good talk about the possibility of him going home, but that day I couldnt do anything - im hoping so much that the team will work with him in my absence - he PROMISED me he would go back home, but im worried about him because he has a strong attatchment there - he has family close to those streets and yet there is something evil always pulling him back to that place. hes ten and just shouldnt be there.
So then after that i was just at the house for a few days not feeling so good - and dreading leaving the girls - on the previous sunday before I left we took one of the guys who had been staying at the house with us to the airport to go back to wales. he had been around for 3 weeks. I found it so hard seeing the girls crying because they didnt want him to leave, and it made me so so anxious about leaving also.
On the friday I went to the office to say my bye's to everyone there - unfortunately most of them were off, but I recieved a lovely card and some even lovlier cake! I left a thankyou card with them appreciating there work and friendship and left some money to buy the boys at joseph Kangethe rehabilitation centre a lolly each.. they love lollies so much! and never get them!
Sunday was an awful awful day and i just felt so bad and emotional the whole day, i cried for so many hours altogether and held back so many more hours worth of tears, I was trying so hard to be strong so that the girls wouldnt be so upset but i was a wreck! the girls were crying so so so so much and I felt awful, I had felt so protective of them and even felt kida like a mother towards them - they were my girls! leaving them was awful and i dont want to write much more about it cos I still miss them so much.
It was good and hard my first day bvack in uganda - the flight was just 1 hour so when i got there i was still upset from leaving the girls- and that was difficult to deal with mostly because everyone here was expecting me to be same old excited Rachel, people wondered why i didnt seem as happy as expected - it wasnt that I wasnt! It was just i was so full of so many different and conflicting emotions!
So I got here and caught up with everyone- which was awesome, my friend laura from the first time I was in Uganda is back here for a year and I haven seen her since May last year shes from Canada so its awesome to have her around.
On the second day here I decided to visit a project I heard about through a friend once Id arrived. Its called hands for hope and is not far from the guesthouse, they work with the poorest families in a small nearby slum area and give the small children free education and enable small business loans and sponsers and schooling for older children, its good and is run by a man who once worked in Havant waitrose! haha!! small world! it was good there.
while i was at that project I had a call from the gate man at watoto babies home (who i didnt know!) and then laura, saying that there was a boy called kaggwa at the gate trying to find me!!
Kaggwa joseph is my friend who is an EX street kid, and it was a pure miracle that he found me, as he had spoken to laura whos the only volunteer out of over 30 volunteers at the babies home that knows me. Anyway, he had read in an email from me that id be arriving in kampala the previous sunday and left the village he had been resettled in, to come to town to find me. and 2 days later he finds me - obviously there was no other way to contact me as the only we have ever been able to contact had been internet and as you know that hasnt been very regular for me!! but anyway he found me and it was so awesome to see him again, telling me about his schooling and his village and everything he has been doing, he has come on so so much its amazing and such a transformation!! we hing out for the day and he refused to go back to the village yet, so the next day we went to the field to the street project i was helping at last time i was in uganda - the place were i had first met him, and my friend charles. wow it was good to be back there with all those lovely kids, was talking and relating to some of the boys - there were maybe only 5 there who had been there in december and january when i was last there.
When I was here before me, joseph, charles, and another boy called joseph spent a lot of time togther, to cut a long story short the OTHER joseph stole my camera... so unfortunately i no longer have a camera to take any pictures while in Uganda... the good thing is that id ACCIDENTLY taken the kenya memory card out so all of my photos from kenya were safely in my room and not in the hands of my confused friend who made the bad decision to steal the camera. anyway, i have more that 30 street kids hunting for him day and night with my crime reference number in their back pockets. theyv had him arrested twice, and yet hes escaped twice... we shall just have to see if its third time lucky and if its still in his possesion.
So the next day I went with joseph to his village were he stays with his cousin - the place was AWESOME, maybe 2-3 hours drive from town and then 20 mins on a motorbike through thick farm land and JUNGLE! im told at night they even have leopards! man!!!
The place was so good, so far from everything and anyone! hes cousin is a pastor and has a small house were he takes orphans as well as an on site school for them, it was such a nice little project. there land was so big with all home grown foods imaginable, and even there own freshwater spring... and so many animals inclusing pigs, goats, cows, chickens and ducks! was a beautiful place and i hope to go back there to visit him before I go home. (hopefully I can borrow a camera and capture the beauty!)
hmmm.... so thennnnnn............i was just helping at the street project and spending my spare time visiting the boys in the slums with charles...
Then, on sunday I had the opportunity to go to the other project thats quite far away that i told you all about, to help the irish man whose setting up his charity. its called new begginings. I travelled for around 3 hours with him and his friend to get to the site in a area called nakasongola. wow... what an amazing experience, i came back yesturday night but i didnt want to leave! i spent 3 days and two nights there! the place had no running water and ran from a generator for electricity for a few hours in the evenings, and had pit latrines (those toilets that are purely just holes!) but the children were AWESOME, in the house he has built there (2 houses 3rd building built over the next few days) there are around 10 kids. but there are always more from the community hanging about. hes taken some from the streets (one boy i connected with so so much was a boy called nicholas who he took from the streets of kampala) and some are orphans, some are just from poor families who cant take care of them. They stay in the house, and they get education from the school thats just across the field and about 2 minutes walk away. for 2 days i taught in that school... i was teaching baby class- for tiny children from the age of 3/4.
Im definately definately going back to nakasongola at least a few more times before I leave - i didnt want to leave, the kids didnt want me to leave and even the guys and working said I should stay. I loved hugging the kids and one boy Steven loved having his hair stroked - just small things to give the affection that theyv so so missed out on.
So il be going back there, and am currently making plans to go to marachi, in busia ditrict, kenya. (going back to kenya i know!) but its closer to kampala than nairobi. I really want to find Hamissi, the boy from the rehabilitation centre in kenya, I just want to make sure he really did get back home, want to connect with the mother, see how I can help them, and link them with the charity in kenya so they can maybe hopefully get long term support.
SO!! thats my update! LONG!! I know!! Hope its ok!! and I hope to hear from you all soon, thankyou so so so much for your support, even knowing uv read this means so much to me.
Love you all and thinking of you. must sleep! on a mission tomorrow to find a luganda bible for the kids in nakasongola and then will go to the other project close to hear in namwongo.
Lots of love, Rachel x x x x x x x x :-)
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
busy busy busy! wow.. update...
Im so so so sorry Ive taken so long to update this blog, I have only just got on the internet for the first time in over a week = every opportunity that Ive had to use internet has been snatched up by another job - Its hard work here but im enjoying itIve wanted to use the internet SO SO SO MUCH. A lot has been happening, going to the streets and the rehabilitation centre etc etc etc.
I Went on a school empowement day not friday gone but the one before - was so good i spoke to the oldest girls about optimism and using talents - the head teacher was really wanted me to be so firm with them because they were all failing - it was good and I said what I wanted to say and think i empowered them to achieve better, After an hour or so of them bein silent and scared the class teacher left (which was unusual and didn’t happenen to any other team member,) wow their face’s changed! I told them they could all breathe now and then they were laughing and joking and contributing, which was amazing, and such a positive reponse, some of them even ended by saying they were going to work hard to become doctors and stuff, which is awesome especially for girls in remote villages. We had a good day and as a team I think we aschieved a lot. I enjoyed being teacher Rachel. It was proper right out in the sticks and I felt soooooooooooo trravel sick - the car journy was like 4 or 5 hours, I was exhausted.
Yesturday was the worst morning ever, ever ever.. me and some of the team went to the streets, where I hoped to find a little boy that I saw last week- it was sad because he was sniffing glue and was only 10 years old. but he was such a good boy and liked me so much, i hoped to talk to him about his family and how we can get him back home. I’d so so hoped I’d find him! his name was Alan. But when we got there it was a different story…
i had the worst day ever, it was quite traumatic... im feeling ok today but yesturday was hard... went to the street slum place where we go on Tuesdays – milango Kubwa, and there where no kids there,... i was planning to talk to the 10 yr old boy called alan to try and get him back to his family so i was confused cos theres usually so so many kids there (at least 30 or 40 )... all of sudden 6 of the boys including alan came out complately naked bein whipped, then people around where bein whipped so we had to run, turned out this muslim guy had taken it into his own hands and decided the boys should be circumsised, he then took them to a wooden cart, we walked a different way round and found the man, the boys and the cart on the main road, they were putting the cart with the naked boys infront of the traffic and stopping the cars demanding money, threatening with their whips, people are scared of repercussions and getting beat up by the street kids as well as the whips, so the man was getting money out of these poor scared boys.
so to make a long story short we got out of their but the team are meeting with all sorts of people to try and sprt out the issue and find out what happened and what can be done next, it was ok because there was a team of around 8 of us so there is a lot of information that everyone got from it.. but it was horrible, we couldnt do anything, seemed like a hopeless situation. But the team here will sort it out. God tried to warn me before but I didn’t check the bible verse he had been shoving in my face until we got home. I was so confused and shocked, God had been trying to tell me to read Jeremiah 9 verse 24, I even saw it written on the back of a bus – which upon reading it cant have actually been there cos that makes no sense – it was a pure miracle – the verse is about being circumcised in the flesh and not in the heart – and being pure in heart and giving your heart to Christ and not just being circumcised in flesh – but metaphorically circumcised in the heart. – a verse which was weird and confused me especially after those events!! But I told the team, and the team is now taking this verse to the apparently Christian lady who is behind the whole situation.
apart from that news…I now have permenantly stained hands... I have scabs on my knuckles from hand washing my clothes and my hands are now permenanly dirty from all the potato pealing... no matter how much I wash - ive only had 3 hot showers while ive been here - cold showers every day arent good!!! but its ok... 6 am cold showers are a big wake up call! And today I discovered the water heater switch! Hahahahahahaha…… oh man, silly girl!
On the tourist-y side I went on my first touristy trip last week.. was amazing! i went to an animal orphanage last week.. like a zoo animal orphanage with animals from the game park; was amazing!! me and one of hydwyn and lydiah's sons and his friend from
About the boy from the Joseph kang’ethe rehabilitation centre – the boy who I was planning to trace his family when I got to Uganda- somehow got taken back home apparently, so il try and travel to visit him when im over there, i was upset when he'd dissapeared from the rehab place, i though he'd escaped and gone to the streets without saying bye, and I was shocked because hes such a good boy – and clever! and i wished id got to say bye but im so happy hes got a lift back home, and hope i can see him – he’s about 13 and sooooo lovely with a fantastic smile, the best smile infact! So I hope and pray he’s doing ok and his family welcomed him back – that was something I was worried about. But I hope to follow up whats happening when im there.
Anyway, so, wow, that’s my news I think – as much as I can think of! I now have only 12 days left in
Oh – and on Monday I was teacher Rachel again! Was amaaazing I enjoyed it, I taught a Christian religious education lessons, that was requested by one of the boys in the government rehabilitation centre. I had a class of 5 boys, and it was so good – they read the bible, I taught them about the basics of the bible = like it being in 2 testaments and how many books in each testament, we then learnt the creation story and they memoprised what was made in each of the 6 days (and about the rest day!) was good J they had a good time, and tried so hard.
I hope that update was ok!!!
Love you all and thanks to those who keep in touch – I wish I could reply all the time but internet is a rare opportunity for me… thankyou though and keep it up, I love them and appreciate them.
Love and miss you all…. Hope your all well… thinking of you all there..
Love Rachel J
rockwivrach@hotmail.com
Thursday, 18 June 2009
streets, slums, home, hills and rehab...
wow... its been a long week... i was hoping to update this sooner but wow... Ive been busy and at times theres been no internet access...
I will write as much as I can now, But in a few minutes ( well a few minutes ago) I am leaving for Joseph Kang'ethe Rehabilitation street kid centre.
Ive been having fun at the house... playing with the two girls, they wore outfits I had bought for them to church on sunday.. they looked so beautiful and they were so proud of themselves.. church was so funny.. I had 4 options of what I wanted to do for church... but... The girls had been saying to me since I'd arrived "wow Aunty I love sunday school, I will show you on sunday!" so I figured there really was only 1 option and went to sunday school with them. I love those girls a lot and them really come out of their shell since ive been here - lotsa of hugs and kisses.. its good. haha so I went to sunday school with them - its huge sunday school with its own marquee tent thing.. about... id say.. over 100 children.. haha so anyway I was made to sit near the front between the two girls - i probably ruined a few childrens sunday school by blocking their view.. Esther who is 10 went up on the stage and infront of everyone introduced her friend Rachel - as if they hadnt noticed me.. haha.. but it was very sweet and she was so confident.. everyone here was so amazed and proud that she did that for me.
The younger girl Sarah has really improved on her english.. shes 7 we peel potatos togther most days and also enjoy our walks together to go and get fresh milk from a family with a cow nearby. We both enjoy chatting and love her singing as we go - i love getting milk with her - its one of my favourite things to do here!!
Tuesday I went to the streets - the streets where they rescued the 2 girls im in the house with now - it was so painful and horrible to think that this is where they were just a few months ago - 7 and 10 yr old girls - its not right. Ive been so looking forward to going to the streets but its was hard, very very hard.. every single child had a bottle of glue that they were sniffing, but it was good to talk to them and pray with them. We sung when we got there with the kids. they loved it and the sound was beautiful.. ive never seen girls on the street before and I found that the hardest thing, in Uganda i never saw street girls andf there were many there, so many! even pregnant girls.. that was very hard to see.. I prayed with them all for good health and that they would know that they were never alone, no matter how lonely they felt God is with them. I prayed for a guy who had a broken arm and many other issues... one girl took me to one side and looked deep into my eyes and sang me a song about the love of Jesus.. it was beautiful.. especially as she was so young but had tragically lost her husband. She had been so scared even to come over to me and yet stood there looking at me and singing her heart out... it was just beautiful and amazing yet sad and heartbreaking.
On monday I went to the rehad centre again - we go there 3 times a week, I was in a maths class (of 5 kids) and had to intoduce myself... one boy came up and said to me he was from uganda - we spoke luganda for a bit and now its my mission that when I get to uganda Im going to try and track his family - pray I get the information I need to do this - Im getting this info today.. wow... he should not be in that place and needs his family back... it makes sense for me to try to look while im there - there is NO other way.
There is so much more I wasnted to talk about but now im very late.. so i will update you soon. the power was off lots of yesturday so It was sweet just falling asleep on the sofa with the 2 girls. But Im looking forward to today - tomorrow I have to wake up at 5!!!! its been 6 most days but I dont know how im gnna cope with 5! we are travelling upcountry to a remote village to do a day of empowerment at a school - im teaching life skills to teenage girls - pray that goes well.... (and travel sickness! mannnnnnnn 5 o clock!!!)
Thanks for checking and I hope to hear from some of you sometime - hope that was a good enough update! get back to you all asap!!
With love, Rachel :)
I will write as much as I can now, But in a few minutes ( well a few minutes ago) I am leaving for Joseph Kang'ethe Rehabilitation street kid centre.
Ive been having fun at the house... playing with the two girls, they wore outfits I had bought for them to church on sunday.. they looked so beautiful and they were so proud of themselves.. church was so funny.. I had 4 options of what I wanted to do for church... but... The girls had been saying to me since I'd arrived "wow Aunty I love sunday school, I will show you on sunday!" so I figured there really was only 1 option and went to sunday school with them. I love those girls a lot and them really come out of their shell since ive been here - lotsa of hugs and kisses.. its good. haha so I went to sunday school with them - its huge sunday school with its own marquee tent thing.. about... id say.. over 100 children.. haha so anyway I was made to sit near the front between the two girls - i probably ruined a few childrens sunday school by blocking their view.. Esther who is 10 went up on the stage and infront of everyone introduced her friend Rachel - as if they hadnt noticed me.. haha.. but it was very sweet and she was so confident.. everyone here was so amazed and proud that she did that for me.
The younger girl Sarah has really improved on her english.. shes 7 we peel potatos togther most days and also enjoy our walks together to go and get fresh milk from a family with a cow nearby. We both enjoy chatting and love her singing as we go - i love getting milk with her - its one of my favourite things to do here!!
Tuesday I went to the streets - the streets where they rescued the 2 girls im in the house with now - it was so painful and horrible to think that this is where they were just a few months ago - 7 and 10 yr old girls - its not right. Ive been so looking forward to going to the streets but its was hard, very very hard.. every single child had a bottle of glue that they were sniffing, but it was good to talk to them and pray with them. We sung when we got there with the kids. they loved it and the sound was beautiful.. ive never seen girls on the street before and I found that the hardest thing, in Uganda i never saw street girls andf there were many there, so many! even pregnant girls.. that was very hard to see.. I prayed with them all for good health and that they would know that they were never alone, no matter how lonely they felt God is with them. I prayed for a guy who had a broken arm and many other issues... one girl took me to one side and looked deep into my eyes and sang me a song about the love of Jesus.. it was beautiful.. especially as she was so young but had tragically lost her husband. She had been so scared even to come over to me and yet stood there looking at me and singing her heart out... it was just beautiful and amazing yet sad and heartbreaking.
On monday I went to the rehad centre again - we go there 3 times a week, I was in a maths class (of 5 kids) and had to intoduce myself... one boy came up and said to me he was from uganda - we spoke luganda for a bit and now its my mission that when I get to uganda Im going to try and track his family - pray I get the information I need to do this - Im getting this info today.. wow... he should not be in that place and needs his family back... it makes sense for me to try to look while im there - there is NO other way.
There is so much more I wasnted to talk about but now im very late.. so i will update you soon. the power was off lots of yesturday so It was sweet just falling asleep on the sofa with the 2 girls. But Im looking forward to today - tomorrow I have to wake up at 5!!!! its been 6 most days but I dont know how im gnna cope with 5! we are travelling upcountry to a remote village to do a day of empowerment at a school - im teaching life skills to teenage girls - pray that goes well.... (and travel sickness! mannnnnnnn 5 o clock!!!)
Thanks for checking and I hope to hear from some of you sometime - hope that was a good enough update! get back to you all asap!!
With love, Rachel :)
Thursday, 11 June 2009
I am ACTUALLY in Kenya - wow!
WOW! HELLO! :) hope you are all fine and good and lovely. I definately am. I am doing well and im happy and excited for the weeks that lie ahead.
I do not know how much time I have to write!! eeek! I have JUST got a sim card and have been able to contact the girl- bex who arrived here the day before me, she is staying close to the offices where I am now so will be meeting me very soon! wow! what a suprise and adventure!
These last two days ive been resting and working and playing with the 2 rescued girls at my "home". The place is in ngong hills which are around an hour from the offices and an hour from central nairobi - ngong is soooooooooooo cold! unbelievable eh!!?? so so cold, especially at night. right now im in hot centre of town so its ok - im thawing out!!
On my first day I met everyone, there is currently 8 of us in the house, tomorrow I believe there will be 10 as more of lydiah and hedwynn (the directors of the charity) 's children are coming. here in the house there is lydiah, hedwynn, their son josiah, their nephew and neice Mary and Jimmy and the 2 girls... that makes...7... oh and me!! 8!!
Yesturday I helped the girls peel potatos by hand for dinner, it took a long time! home grown potatos from the ngong hills. we cleared the green house (...plastic sheets and sticks!).. of spare leaves and fed the chickens.. then before dinner I sifted rice by hand to get the stones out,... it was worth it dinner was good - oh and the day before I cooked nearly 10 chapatis! it was hard to do - and was VERY hot! but I think i did ok - and was very (christian version of..) proud of myself.
Right... well then today came! my first day at the offices...I met the team again and then went with 3 other team members to the government rehabilitation centre for street kids - these kids are not there by choice, they get put there once they have been arrested and cannot get out unless parents collect them. the team goes there to talk, sing, play and teach the kids. was good but hard.. as the new kids have to tell their stories to the team of how they got there and how to get back... one child who I heard today came to nairobi for what he thought was a day trip, his friends convinced him that he could come and see the tall building and the city, then they said they would take him back, but they didnt they ditched him and went back to their home village which is over 7 hours away - he was stuck in naorobi with no money to get back, no phone, no numbers to call, he didnt even know where his village was or the direction to go in to get there, so then he was arrested. The team will work on how to contact his school and family in his home village and try and get the parents to find him and collect him - the government will not allow the team to take him back.
My friend from England has just arrived at the offices - hallalujah! another person who cannot speak swahili! haha...
Well, I hope to hear from any of you soon! take care and lots of love... il update with what I am doing as soon as possible.
Asante! (thankyou!) bye :)
rockwivrach@hotmail.com
I do not know how much time I have to write!! eeek! I have JUST got a sim card and have been able to contact the girl- bex who arrived here the day before me, she is staying close to the offices where I am now so will be meeting me very soon! wow! what a suprise and adventure!
These last two days ive been resting and working and playing with the 2 rescued girls at my "home". The place is in ngong hills which are around an hour from the offices and an hour from central nairobi - ngong is soooooooooooo cold! unbelievable eh!!?? so so cold, especially at night. right now im in hot centre of town so its ok - im thawing out!!
On my first day I met everyone, there is currently 8 of us in the house, tomorrow I believe there will be 10 as more of lydiah and hedwynn (the directors of the charity) 's children are coming. here in the house there is lydiah, hedwynn, their son josiah, their nephew and neice Mary and Jimmy and the 2 girls... that makes...7... oh and me!! 8!!
Yesturday I helped the girls peel potatos by hand for dinner, it took a long time! home grown potatos from the ngong hills. we cleared the green house (...plastic sheets and sticks!).. of spare leaves and fed the chickens.. then before dinner I sifted rice by hand to get the stones out,... it was worth it dinner was good - oh and the day before I cooked nearly 10 chapatis! it was hard to do - and was VERY hot! but I think i did ok - and was very (christian version of..) proud of myself.
Right... well then today came! my first day at the offices...I met the team again and then went with 3 other team members to the government rehabilitation centre for street kids - these kids are not there by choice, they get put there once they have been arrested and cannot get out unless parents collect them. the team goes there to talk, sing, play and teach the kids. was good but hard.. as the new kids have to tell their stories to the team of how they got there and how to get back... one child who I heard today came to nairobi for what he thought was a day trip, his friends convinced him that he could come and see the tall building and the city, then they said they would take him back, but they didnt they ditched him and went back to their home village which is over 7 hours away - he was stuck in naorobi with no money to get back, no phone, no numbers to call, he didnt even know where his village was or the direction to go in to get there, so then he was arrested. The team will work on how to contact his school and family in his home village and try and get the parents to find him and collect him - the government will not allow the team to take him back.
My friend from England has just arrived at the offices - hallalujah! another person who cannot speak swahili! haha...
Well, I hope to hear from any of you soon! take care and lots of love... il update with what I am doing as soon as possible.
Asante! (thankyou!) bye :)
rockwivrach@hotmail.com
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
The starting of the blog...
Right.. well...
Seeing as I'm going to be embarking on some adventures and new stages I thought I'd set up a blog.. Just so that I could keep a sort of online diary to keep people up-to-date with whats going on. I know that its sometimes hard keeping in touch with everyone that I wanted to keep in contact with, and thought that this might be a good way to start -
for the people that see this and check this - I will try my best to update it and keep you all informed.
so - these are my important dates so far!!
June 8th - Kenya. working in Nairobi, staying in Ngong Hills. working with a charity called Tumaini kwa watoto (or in English - Kenya children of hope) check out www.kenyachildrenofhope.org
The main aim of the charity is to place street children back into families.
July 10th - off back to Uganda in central Kampala..
September 2009 - All Nations Christian college. Studying a overseas missionary prep course in biblical and Inter-culteral studies.
Thankyou in advance for checking and being interested in what I'm doing, thankyou for all the love and support.
Rach :-)
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