Swimming and Adventures!

We have been having a blast this summer, both doing special activities and just hanging out at the house playing games and doing activities.  One of everyone's favorite outings is going to the swimming pool.  The kids get  to wear their swimming costumes and love showing them off to their aunties and uncles.

The pool has several different depths, so the younger kids are able to wade and splash with toys, while the older kids go into the slightly deeper water and swim around with their aunties and uncles. Its fun to watch the kids learn to go into the deeper depths, learning to trust the volunteers and themselves in a new way! 

Swimming comes naturally to some of them - Carol loves to jump in the deep end and comes up with a huge smile on her face! Where as Annet and Cocus need a little encouragement to go deeper in! Y

Once we are too cold to keep swimming we all dry off and head over to the playground.  The kids enjoy swings, slides, balance beams, and other fun play structures. As you can imagine, they have a blast with so many fun things to do!

Here are some pictures of our day at the pool and playground!

The kids love showing off their silly faces, 

so do the volunteers! 

(All photos courtesy of Laura Karsjens!)

We are loving summer!

School is back in session here in Uganda, but our kids have still been having a great summer enjoying lots of fun games and activities with our summer volunteers! 

Here's a few peeks at the fun we have been having together, hope your summer has been as great as ours! 

Getting our crab walk on!

Bubble making adventure, love Carol's excitement in this picture!

Some pre-lunch ridiculousness!

Story time with Auntie Laura is always a big hit!

And of course, fun celebrations with face paint and laughter! 

 

| All Photos Courtesy of Laura Karsjens |

African Luau??

The volunteers have been teaching the kids about different places around the world this spring and summer. We started with making a passport with each child and talking about Uganda and other countries! The kids have been learning about different animals that live underwater, about jungles, and now about Hawaii. 

We pretended to ride on an airplane across Africa, past America (where we waved at all out Aunites and Uncles), and across another ocean, we landed in Hawaii where we saw the beautiful ocean, plants and animals.

We got off our imaginary plane and the kids made their own leis and we wore our Ugandan grass skirts to learn to hula dance.Our gifted and creative volunteers started shaking their hips and moving around, making a combination of Buganda dancing and hula dancing - a great combination!

 

After some hula dancing, the water games commenced.  We played a version of Duck, Duck, Goose that was hilarious.  It was called Drip, Drip, Drop.  The person who was "it" had a cup of water.  They poured a small drip on each child's head until they decided who they wanted to chase them.  They poured the rest of the cup on that kid's head.  If you get tagged, you stood in the middle of the circle and had a whole cup of water poured on you before rejoining the game.

We also played a few relay races and then got out several buckets of water balloons.  That evening during bathing time, the kids raved that it was their best day.  It was filled with giggles, laughter, smiles, and fun. We are so thankful for the volunteers that love our kids so much!

 

(All Photos Courtesy of Laura Karsjens)

Elizabeth House

We have been able to take our short term volunteers to Elizabeth House several times this spring and summer. Elizabeth House, located in Mukono, is about an hours drive from Rafiki. We first got connected here when we were looking for a home that would be a perfect fit for Mary. 
 

We love coming here to be with Mary and its a great opportunity to love on the other 30+ students that are at Elizabeth House. This is a place where children "rejected by society and often by their families, find love, care, encouragement, and a sense of identity and purpose. As these young people discover themselves and their potential, joy replaces misery and hope overcomes despair."  Their mission is "to bring hope to children with disabilities and their parents, and create a positive attitude towards them in the community." 

"These children have autism, Down's syndrome, cerebral palsy, malaria, induced palsy, learning and other disabilities. Some walk, some talk and others don't do either. When they first come to Elizabeth House many do not know how to keep themselves clean, dress themselves or go to the toilet because they haven't been taught these essential life skills. In African culture, having a child with a disability can be seen as a curse and is an embarrassment. Parents use children at an insurance plan, hoping that one day when they are too old to work their children will help them financially. However disabled children are often seen as useless and are resented. Many of them are left alone in a house by themselves all day long, stuck on a couch or mat, while their parents are at work; there is little awareness of the needs and potential of disabled children. They feel isolated, lack confidence and lose many feelings of self-worth.

Our children come to Elizabeth House and here they learn to live. Here they find love, acceptance and attention. They are treated as valued individuals and learn life skills. They are fed with nutritious food and receive physiotherapy. Here we see to enable them to live to their full potential."

The laughter, the learning, the dancing, the listening and the sharing that happens during our time with Mary and these precious kids leave a beautiful image in my head - one of peace and joy. Being with these hilarious and truly beautiful kids is an incredible image of His redemption of each of us. It consistently humbles and amazes me the patience, the quiet (or loud!) joy that exudes from them! From the moment we pull into the gate, there is big smiles that great us and often tears from us and them as we are saying our goodbyes - our time with them is full and beautiful! Lots of dancing and singing, as well as a few actors demonstrating our bible stories before we sit with them for lunch. In the afternoons we do rotations, 3 or 4 stations lasting 10-15 min that are designed to encourage physical and social development including identifying colors and shapes, fine motor skills, language, and simple fun through dancing or chasing bubbles.

 

 From my first visit at Elizabeth House, one sweet girl has been on my heart. Her name is Maurine. Her constant smile grows and her eyes light up when I walk into the room, a tight hand squeeze and a "welcome back" greet me each time. Her tenacity, her patience, her grace with me and with others, her sweet laughter and bright mind leave me amazed and so thankful for her! I treasure my moments with her and am so thankful that she has the staff and environment of Elizabeth House to be growing in! 

 

Mary is doing so well, we have noticed a lot of improvement in her physically while she has been at Elizabeth House. We are so thankful for those that have chosen to sponsor Mary, because of them we are able to make sure that she receives the care at Elizabeth House that she needs! Here are some fun pictures of her from this summer! 

 

Written By : 

Kailey Jensen

Volunteer Coordinator / Admin

For more information about Elizabeth House and the great work they are doing, visit them at http://www.elizabethhouseuganda.org/!

Sanyu Babies Home

     Sanyu means “joy” in Luganda, the local language, and is located on Namirembe Hill in downtown Kampala. It started in 1929 and was the first and is the oldest Babies Home in Uganda. They care for up to 50 babies and toddlers, aging between 1 day and 4 years old, at any given time. Most of these babies are abounded and found in pit latrines, ditches, taxi parks, garbage heaps or left by the side of the road then brought by the police to Sanyu; babies are left by the gate at all hours of the day and night by families that don’t want them or feel they can’t provide for them. 

     With so many children, you can imagine there is a great need for extra hands all the time! With loads of dirty laundry to wash, buckets of laundry to hang out to dry on the lines, mountains of laundry to fold and sort, tubs full of dishes to wash, diapers to change, tears to dry, games to play, muscles to help develop, positive interactions needing to happen, feeding and bathing multiple times a day, hugs and cuddles to be given, there are unending things needing to be done.  It’s one of my favorite and hardest parts of the week, to be surrounded by so many children that desperately need clean diapers and food but more than anything, they need love and someone to care about them. There’s something about walking into a room of babies a few months old, sitting on the floor and having them crawl over to sit in your lap… Going there each week means that I get to know their names, I get to see their personalities develop, celebrate the milestones of a new tooth or taking the first steps, I get to see their smiles when they recognize me and catch them as they try to jump into my arms. I’m not a substitute for the family they don’t have, but I can hold and cuddle, I can giggle with them and wipe the tears, I can pray over them and beg the Lord to provide for them in every way…

     There is a room that the smallest babies are in, the ones that are a few days or weeks old. Sometimes there are some soft gurgles and baby noises coming out of small beds, sometimes tiny arms and legs are stretching towards the sky with baby marathons being run in the air, and sometimes it’s quiet with big brown eyes looking up at the ceiling in silent wonder. I go in and pull a sweet little one into my arms, letting the bottle cool while hungry lips are seeking and for a few minutes I can sit in the quiet at a tiny table to pray over them while rocking back and forth, offering comfort and sustenance.  As the bottle slowly empties I ask the Lord to bless them with unending grace, I pray that no matter what happens they would grow into life knowing that they are loved desperately by Him and by a woman who prayed over them once upon a time in a small, quiet room.

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I asked Jenny to share about her experience at Sanyu and this is what she said this : 

At Sanyu you will find yourself folding clothes, washing dishes, sorting beans and our personal favorite holding the babies and toddlers.  Around feeding time we all pile in the feeding room and grab a hot bowl of rice or potatoes and start feeding tiny babies to toddlers. Then after milk bottles for the small ones we change diapers and outfits and get them ready for nap time.  Sometimes you find a baby that touches your heart and you can't bare to let go so you do what your heart tells you and you hold on to that baby lavishing him or her with kisses and hugs and soft whispers in the ear.

- Jenny Moser

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Written by : Kailey Jensen  

To find out more of what they are doing, you can visit their website at http://www.sanyubabies.com/