Day 9- Namyoya

I suppose I was in a considerably better mood today! My good mood from yesterday really did stick. Ben talked to me about it, he said maybe the feeling of actually doing something myself, actually helping and not feeling different, caused me to feel a lot better about the whole thing. Interesting take, although I wouldn't really be surprised if it turned out to be true.

Today was a work day, we worked on the church we visited on Sunday. It looks incredible!

I'll try to find the before pics of the church; It really was awful. I saw a video in church a while ago of one of the services here, and halfway through the sermon the roof (a bunch of tin plates) actually fell onto the congregation. Imagine spending three hours every Sunday there!!

Now, it's made of brick, all the walls are plastered and painted (painted yellow; I think maybe it's going to be the second yellow box). There's even a house built right outside; it's not finished yet, but there's actually a garage! Which means, they plan to put a car there... =)

First, I helped sand out the walls that were painted today. This was really not my kind of work (they noticed it pretty early) and Ben sent me off with Mike, Luke, and a bunch of kids to fetch water.

Backstory: Ben used to work at Big Idea (Veggietales) and is now good friends with Phil Vischer. Well, Phil's working on a new project called "Jelly Tellies" and I suppose Mike is a sort of spokesperson. Ben shoots videos of Mike talking about Uganda and what he's doing in Uganda, and all the videos pretty much say the same thing ("Hi Jelly Tellies! I'm Mike, and we are..."). After a while, it gets simply aggravating. Mike himself even got aggravated. I'm looking forward to seeing him in the video, though.

But that's not really the point. The point was, the water was about a mile away from the church, and it was really heavy. I couldn't carry it more than about fifty feet, and even then water got everywhere.

When all of the Mzungus had their turn carrying it, the kids took it. Apparently it was not anything they hadn't done before, and all took turns carrying it as if it was something they did everyday. It probably was something they did every day.

I forget who, but someone pointed out that as soon as the kids could walk here they were independent.

I wasn't sure how much I believed that, but now I am sure of it.

The kids in America have the easy life, really. An overwhelmingly large percentage of the population would not let their kids under 5 out of their sight for a moment. Their hand is held through every step of life; they are never, ever alone.

It's the exact opposite here... Like in Finding Nemo, the thing with the sea turtles. As soon as they are born they are alone, and they are left to find their way back to the ocean on their own.

As soon as they can walk, they are expected to be self-sufficient...

It's shocking, really.



As I got back I found that Amber and Kaitlin were going off to the primary school down the road with crafts and candy for the students. I suppose it was exactly what I needed at that moment.


The kids were extremely excited to see us. As we stepped onto the campus for the first time, I was overwhelmed with kids wanting to touch my hand. I walked to the place with the desks with about seven or eight kids hanging off of my arms.

Our first activity for them was awfully simple; drawing. Oddly enough, it took them a while to get it.

When they did get it, though, the response was absolutely brilliant.

I was very, very proud of the kids... There were so many kids there that were just brilliant.

I love them, really. I do.

I was mostly surprised with how much English some of them knew. It was apparent that they had all taken grammar lessons at the school, since so many of them drew pictures of the same things (cups, tins, girls, boys, houses) and all called them by those names exactly.

Me: *draws picture of house* What's this?
Them: House!
Me: *draws picture of tree* What's this?
Them: Tree!
Me: *draws picture of little African child* Who's this?
Them: *collaboration amongst the pupils* God!

And it was clear many of them had a very vivid imagination. And it was clear some of them were no good at drawing at all (myself included). But all of them were absolutely remarkable in their own way...

There was some light about them, I don't know.

That was even more apparent when they sang their song, and everyone knew the songs, and everyone sang them at a volume that would make your ears ring.

Which is really why it was heartbreaking to see them lie.

We handed out dum-dums, and a startling number of children hid the sucker they had already recieved in an attempt to get another one. None of them did it very well, so none of us were fooled. And I realize to some of them, this would be the first thing they had eaten in a while, but it was still heartbreaking...

I don't know. I love the kids for their childish innocence; most of them have never really sinned all their lives. They wander about in a state of wisdom that is lost as they become more aware of the world. And it is so sad to see that, in my favorite people in the world...

That was just one little thing, though, in the vast ocean of things to make me smile today. Even with their one little lie, they have so much more good in them. It's nothing, really; I left today in a very good mood.

I don't know what's changed exactly, but if I have been making a difference this entire trip it's only become apparent to me now.