109

Now that I've seen the projects I'd like to be involved with, I used this week to focus on those programmes and also found projects outwith Jenga to visit in my spare time. So on Monday I took the day to visit St. Kazito's baby home where my friend Lexy volunteers. When I arrived I was hit straight away by the reek coming from piles of unwashed baby clothes. Threes hours at the home, and I never got use to the smell. However, the smell didn't put a dampner on my morning there as I spent my time playing with them, feeding them, bathing them , changing them and dressing them. Even holding these babies was enough, they just need someone to love them.

On Tuesday I was able to revisit CRO, where the children have started to recognise me (though I'm not exactly hard to pick out from a crowd). Some of the interns from the CRO even joined us we played an intense game of netball. They interns even outshone me in their competitive sides, which is really something (especially coming from a Craib).

Exercise here is difficult to do in regular hours of the day, as the sight of a Muzungu  running in shorts is a rare sight here. However I gave in and have now joined Nat in here early morning runs, which consist of waking up at 6.15am, before the sun comes up and the streets get busy, and avoid an absurd amount of potholes!  However, the gentle sounds of the morning and misty views are very different from regular runs, so are well worth the early wake up.

I had another chance to visit Nat's children's home, so myself, Nat and Sarah headed out to Luwanda.The children were at nursery/school while we were there, so we only got to play with them during their intervals. Instead, myself and Sarah spent the whole day arranging 109 sponsor photos of the children to be hung up on the wall. The number 109 is no simple number, and if you don't believe me then try it yourself and you too will find yourself sitting for 7 hours looking for some sort of combination!  However it was the ideal chance to get to know Sarah better, and we weren't short of any time to do that.

Later on in the week I stayed over with my American friends; Erin and Megan. Sadly being a volunteer here means other volunteers come and go, so after a short but enjoyable time with them, I had to say good bye to Megan as she headed home for her sisters wedding in the states.

While in Mbale I was offered to stay with an African family, and I was eager to accept. I was staying with Grace and Vinnie up in the village with three of their children for an evening. Vinnie is the pastor of Bethel church, and both are heavily involved with the work of Jenga. I soon discovered that it was the couples 16th wedding anniversary and their daughters 8th birthday, which gave me a great desire to bake a cake (which is somewhat daring, considering the flakey oven and unfamiliar measurements in the American recipe book ). It was a great evening to stay as they had their closest friends over to celebrate their special day, and they were great at making me feel apart of it. I was even able to contribute a (only slightly burnt) cake, which was added to the celebration feast!

Love Hannah xxx