Hot and Sticky

It is so much hotter here than I thought it would be. It gets so humid and the sun just bakes us as we walk miles everyday to and from the city center. Today was a little overcast, at least, so we felt a little better. I think I will have amazing calves when I return to the states, from all this walking. I think I'm getting tanner from being outside so much, too. It's just so dirty here that whether or not you are blessed with a shower, you walk onto the street and you are immediately covered in Ugandan dust again. I swear I will never feel clean until we get to our hotel in London. I haven't even had a real shower yet except once, but it only lasted about 5 minutes. The other times I had to use cold bath water. Welcome to Africa.

Did I tell you that our guesthouse is right next to a mosque? They have prayers every morning and every night and we hear them loud and clear. That's how we wake up at 6 am most mornings. It actually sounds quite beautiful and I'm getting a little used to it. Anyway, here's our view of it, as well as the city, from our room.


Our guesthouse is pretty large and has running water but we run out quickly and with 13 of us living there, it runs out even faster. The other day Raquel and I did our laundry and we used up all the water for the rest of the day and night.


We felt pretty bad but what could we do? We'll have to try and use up even less clothes per week than we already do.

Our guesthouse really is very nice. We have the guest house manager, Jo-el, who makes dinner for us every night and who cleans the house and washes our sheets. He's very sweet and funny. We have some cool people who live in the house with us, too. One girl is from New Zealand, one from Australia, one from England, and a bunch from America (Colorado, Alabama). Three of them are going to adopt babies from the Babies home. It's interesting.

Here is the lounge area where we all have dinner.
Here is the outside patio.
Here's my bed! :)

Speaking of babies, I am in LOVE with these little ones.

I look forward to going home to see them every night. We've helped a few nights already. We go up and play with them for a while then help feed them and put them to bed. What an ordeal! I love it, though. I am getting baby fever, I fear. Anyone need a babysitter when I get home?

Today has been a good day. Raquel and I went to an orphanage, called "God Cares" or Buyumba. Raquel found them online and got in touch with the pastor who wanted us to come visit them when we arrived here. It was an amazing school. They have 700 children. It is incredibly organized and these kids are amazing- so smart and very well taken care of. This has to be one of the best orphanages in the country. Pastor Dongo picked us up from our house and brought us to the school, where the 2 of us led chapel time with the 6-7 year olds. I loved those kids. Raquel had this great idea to explain Ephesians 3: 16-17, which talks about being rooted in the word of God. She had one kid stand up and be the tree and when the wind (in other words, problems in life) picked him up and moved him around he could not stand still (I had the fun part of tossing him about which the kids thought was so funny). Then she had 3 kids come up and grab his legs tight. Each one was a root (reading the Bible, praying, and loving others and God). When the wind came this time, he did not move. The teacher who was there with us helped translate and had the kids repeat the story back to her then act it out then read the verse multiple times, until they really seemed to get it. We had so much fun.

After that, the teacher, Eva, led us to the taxi and we took it back into to town, where we exchanged money, went to lunch, and went shopping at the local craft fair. We got a bunch of souvenirs and gifts. We spent a few hours there then started the long trek back home. It probably took us an hour to walk. Now we're at the internet cafe and taking a break before the rest of our walk home. It was good to get out today. I was sick yesterday with a slight fever and stomach problems so I stayed home all day. I was bummed, too, because I missed out on apparently the greatest day Raquel has had since we got here. :( One of the girls in the group lent me her laptop though so I got to watch movies and feel a little bit at home. I feel all better today, so it's nothing to worry about. Something has been going around the guesthouse and the other team we have been working with (a 24 hour bug of some kind).

Well, I'll have to tell you about the slums in my next blog. I want to post pictures now. Feel free to ask me any questions you have, though. I'm sure there's a lot I'm leaving out! Love you all and miss you tons!