Rosemary's day out of the village

It has been a long day and my brain is kind of fuzzy but while the thoughts of the day are  fresh on my mind I thought I would write. 

Imagine you are a nine year old girl who has grown up in a mud brick hut in a village where your main job is to care for your younger siblings due to mom having seizures  and no dad in the picture.  Because of ITFM, mom is getting medical care and the school js close enough for Rosemary and the younger sibling to go to school but still be nearby in case of an emergency.

This morning before leaving for Kampala to do supply shopping and price checking for the school kitchen, Aunt Kimberly had Hannington walk over for permission from the mother to take Rosemary on a field trip.  Once permission was granted, Rosemary was sent home to change from her school clothes to church clothes and she appeared back on our porch in a white little dress...probably size 3T on her 9 year old little body.  Being quiet by nature she looked rather unsure about what we were doing but didn't say anything.  Before we left we introduced her to deoderent and sparkly lotion and had  Nurse Josephine come over to show her how to use the toilet in the apartment so that she would be familiar with the ones in town... very different from a pit latrine.

 

So besides the toilet... here are some other firsts...
@first car ride

@first experience of air conditioning...the sweet child was wrapped in a blanket on the carride and the AC wasn't even really working

@first time out of Busunju

@first time in Kampala

@first time seeing all the traffic and large buildings that come with the city

@first time on an escalator

@first time seeing sculptures of animals and being very timid as she didn't know what it was

@first time in a store with stuffed animals bigger than her and shopping carts that she could push and ride in

@first time seeing shelves of food and all she could do is point to her mouth and say yom...yom

@first time looking at all the items on the store shelves and being able to say in English what she was familiar with

@first time in a restaurant and she ate her chicken and rice like there was no tomorrow
@first time enjoying french fries...ketchup...soda with ice...and ice cream...

This list could go on and on... but there is nothing like seeing the excitement in a child's eyes over the things that we take for granted.  Throughtout the day as I was  holding her hand or as she slept in my arms as we drove back to the village, my heart was filled with the blessing of this sweet child knowing that it is moments like this that I am here for.  Moments that will impact eternity and give these children a hope and a future.  My heart truly yearns to be a wife and a mother but for this moment, the God of the universe has allowed me to assist in mothering one of His precious little ones!

Down for the count

Well at the moment... I am laying in my mosquito net with a purring kitten taking up more that half of my pillow.  Thought I would go to sleep but after two cups of chai tonight and sleeping most of yesterday... I am very much awake.

The past few days have been filled with missed fun and commanded rest.  Woke up Thursday to a bit of a sore throat and by the time John and Kimberly came in that evening it was a full blown head cold.  Had no other choice but to keep on going until I got back to Nabisooto on Friday afternoon... had to make introductions and lead Bible study... then I was down for the count.  Friday night included two rounds of nyquil and Saturday spent most of the day commanded by my aunt to rest.  We as women have a hard time staying down to rest especially when there are boxes to unpack... meals to cook... dishes to clean... and children to play with.  I do have to say it was nice to have my aunt here telling me I must rest for a few days and get better... which meant rest quietly in bed or on the couch.  Thankfully by Sunday morning my fever broke and I was feeling more alive.  Blessed that John and Kimberly were here to take care of me... blessed that this is the first sickness I have had since moving and that it only lasted 3 days.

Things worth waiting for...

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago about starting a bible study with the women here on patience and the warning label that it came with.  Well Thursday was one of those days that really tried my patience...  I guess I really needed some tangible examples for Friday's meeting. 

Thursday my aunt and uncle were flying in in the evening but Hannington needed to run some errands and get the AC fixed in the car so he told me to be read by 8am.  I was up and ready to go by 8am and by the time we left it was a little after 9.  Drove to Kampala and added money for the internet... went to Oasis to check out prices for school supplies and pick up a few requested items for my aunt... and the I was to meet a friend for her birthday at Cafe Javas.  Due to security in town, we choose to meet outside of a mall area.  Hannington dropped me off about 12:15 and went to g et the car fixed....Sarah and I talked over lunch for 2 hours before she had to leave for a meeting and then I moved to a couch in the corner... ordered an iced coffee and read on my tablet until a little after 5 when my battery died... paid my tab and decided to go for a walk in the beautiful park behind Javas since the car was still not ready... after a nice walk and the sun went down... I messaged Hannington to see how much longer... was given the recommendation to get supper because they weren't finished yet... so went back to javas and ordered a salad...while I was waiting met two medical students from Minnisota doing research at Mulago Hospital on fungal meningitis and we sat and talked for an hour or so... by this point the sore throat I woke up with had progressed to a constant runny nose ... and I was really tired from not sleeping well the night before so I messaged Hannington again to find out he was stuck in traffic.  At 7:30 I finally got a text that he was almost there.  Needless to say this was a great trial of waiting that I had to persevere through.  I really tried to count my blessing but there were moments that it was a stretch. 

After Hannington picked me up...it took a little more than 2 hours due to traffic to get to the airport where we arrived as they were getting off the plane and getting their luggage.  Finally got to the hotel at 12:30 so that we could rest before heading back to Nabisooto on Friday! 

This is Africa when it takes 7 hours  to service the AC in the car.  This is the place that God is choosing to use to refine my patience!

Teaching basic skills

I am a firm believer in the verse... "Train up a child in the way they should go and when they are old they won't depart from it."  For many they think this is referring to discipline but I think it refers to life skills and through guidance these children will learn discipline as well.  Training refers to work that is put in... you can't train for a marathon by sitting on your couch watching other people run... you must get up and run to train your muscles and build endurance.  Same thing with raising children... it takes effort and a lot of energy.  You can't just sit back, do nothing, and expect your child to turn out well trained.   God blessed these little ones to you for such a time as this to steward and train... whether they are biological kiddos ... grandchildren.... nieces/nephews... students... or children that just seem to hang aound.

So with all that said... we have been doing a lot of training aound here with out little ones.

@toothbrushing...  several weeks ago we introduced brushing teeth to the children and it has been a huge success.  I find it funny that the children have to be told to stop brushing their teeth or they would continue for 15 or 20 minutes if we let them.  Anyone else have that problem?  LOL!  I have a couple that just beg to brush teeth on the weekend as well.

@cutting... last week I gave the teachers scissors and a lesson on how to teach scissor safety to the children.  Yesterday the P1 teacher asked for help on introducing scissors to her class... she has the oldest children and in her class of 13... only one had ever used scissors.

@handwashing...  yesterday while I was waiting to start staff development I was watching the children clean their hands with the jerry can and a bowl... a couple would wash their hands and then dump the water and pour fresh for the next children.... I also notuced a couple of the children washing hands and then drinking the dirty water.... so today before break with the help of the teachers... we talked about the importance of clean hands... introduced soap and nail clippers... and did a demonstration on how to wash hands... ALSO taught them' look at my hands'... a signing time song dealing with dirty and clean hands!... we also talked about when we wash hands and to not drink the dirty wash water!

@gentleness... The children find it funny to give me five when they see me however some of the children are a little stronger than they realize and it hurts... so we have been working on the concept of gentle (strength under control)... I am not sure how many times a day I remind them "gentle"... but the past couple of afternoons from my apartment I hear the children outside in the yard playing... repeating... gentle!  Maybe they are getting the concept?!?!

Well the introduction of new concepts will continue for both the children and staff but I want to encourage each person reading this that has any contact with children to be diligent in training up our future generations with the life skills they need to impact their world!

Adopt a classroom

After meeting with the teachers for the past few weeks, I have asked what they needed assistance in and would like more knowledge in... and these were their responses...

• I need assistance in...
  
  • making charts
    
  • decorating the classrooms
    
  • real play/hands on materials/books
    
  • learning with concrete objects
    
  • catching the children up who are behind
    
• I would like more knowledge in...
  
  • organization
    
  • lesson planning (need ideas on other methods of how to present a lesson...)
    
    • needs to be student based versus teacher based.... instead of teacher will... the goals should be student will be able to...
      
  • including all the children
    
  • developmental needs
    

For most first time teachers, these are common things that need to assistance. A lot of these topics we have started to cover in our weekly staff development meetings. However, in the village, getting our hands on real play materials for the classroom setting is difficult. Can't just pull out the Lakeshore catalog and place an order! So over the past two weeks I have been rummaging through my garbage and “making” learning materials. Attached are some of the very simple ideas that I have put together. I do have markers, construction paper, and scissors with the teaching stuff that I brought and thanks to generous donations the teachers have things like markers, colored pencils, and crayons. But for hands on materials, they are lacking so much that would be beneficial to hands-on learning for these children. I am going on a scouting mission next week to see what I can find in Kampala but after several people have asked of some of the needs I thought I would post this now instead of next weekend when I get back from my scouting mission.

• Wooden clothes pins for activities involving letters, spelling, and numbers (can only find plastic ones in country)
  
• a simple playdough recipe that includes only basic materials
  
• 

  

  Toilet paper rolls to assist with sorting colors... need beads or pompoms to go with this!

  beads (like the big pony type beads) and pompom balls in bold primary colors for sorting and counting and touch math
  
• small cars (matchbox type) for fine motor skills
  
• stickers or other small gifts
  
• felt (to make quiet books... Mr. Potato head... visual stories...puppets... etc)
  
• permanent makers (Sharpie)
  
• pipe cleaners
  
• food coloring
  
• powdered paint (the kind you mix with water) and paint brushes/ water color would also be fun to introduce to the children
  
• shallow trays for writing in sand/flour/salt/dirt
  
• items to make busy bags... see pinterest for more ideas!
  
• contact paper or a way of laminating so that things can last longer than one use
  
• construction paper (preferably in bright colors)
  
• drawing paper
  
• toothpaste/brushes... introduced brushing teeth a few weeks back and it is a hit... however with 60 children brushing teeth daily we go through a lot of toothpaste!
  
• soap/fingernail brushes/nail trimmers … working on personal hygiene
  
• Children's storybooks...these have been such a hit with the research project that each teacher has requested books for their classroom... there are no story books!
  



Ok... well I am sure my list could go on and on... I am sitting here thinking how blessed I was in my former classroom to have all these supplies and shelves of books... all that I took for granted most of the time. So if you are a teacher or a mom of young children and you want to do a service type project or an adopt a classroom for Christmas, we would love to partner with you. We will send pictures and messages back to the children and it will be a good geography lesson of where Uganda is as well as what it looks like to help other children out.

Our mailing address is...

In the Field Ministries

c/o Integrity Primary School

PO Box 71748

Kampala, Uganda, AFRICA

*When you mail a package... you will have to list on the customs form what is inside and the value... please list any of the above mentioned items with “educational supplies” and put a low value amount! Packages also can take anywhere from 1 to 3 months to get here so take that into consideration if mailing “Christmas” related materials!

Thank you in advance for your assistance in educating the children of Nabisooto!

Sequencing... ruler...Velcro dots... and an old workbook... BEING CREATIVE!

When you don't have posters for conversation starters... you make your own from and old workbook!

Again... another thing that needs beads or pompoms to work on counting skills

Since we have not building materials... I have been saving all my boxes for the children to use as blocks!

Old soda bottles can be used for all sorts of games and projects... these will be used for a game of bowling!

Misconceptions from a servant's heart

This morning as normal routine, while eating breakfast I was checking messages and noticed a link called “10 Reasons not to become a missionary”( http://www.alifeoverseas.com/10-reasons-not-to-become-a-missionary/) . I read it, understood where the writer was coming from, and then went about cleaning. As I am cleaning, I am thinking of this article and the misconceptions of missionaries (which is what this article was about). So I felt prompted to respond to some of these in my own personal opinions and thoughts (again... just my opinion... take it or leave it!).  Many of these are born out of comments made directly to me. 

A little background for those just joining in this journey (and to clarify what is about to be written!)... I am currently in Uganda, AFRICA serving God by using the gifts and talents He has given me to assist in putting policies and procedures together to build a quality Christian school in a remote village. I have spent the past 10 + years in Molokai, Hawaii as a teacher and director of an early education program... before that I taught everything from fourth grade through college age... almost every subject imaginable.

1. I am not a missionary. I am simply under the calling (as we all are) to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you...” (Matthew 28:19-20)... the way God calls each of us to do this may look very different but it is something we are commanded by Jesus to do.
2. I did not grow up with the aspiration to teach or travel. Those are desires God has put in my heart through the years. There have been so many times that I have felt so inadequate and unequipped but the saying is true... “God doesn't call the equipped... he equips the called!”
3. I have never prayed “God don't send me to Africa”. I learned a long time ago not to tell God I am not going to do something. I have had to do everything I told God I would not do... but Africa was never mentioned.
4. I will not beg for money. My God is big enough to supply all of my needs according to His riches in glory so why do I need to beg and plead in my own strength for people to give me money. I am simply trusting that God will supply each thing that is needed in His timing. I have also been blown away by his faithfulness and who He chooses to use to assist and provide my needs. The stories are endless and I am beyond blessed.
5. I am not under an established “mission board” or sending agency. After doing research and seeing what the stipulations were for some of these agencies, God led my heart to trust in His provisions. Where God guides, He will provide... may be a cliché of sorts but I truly believe that if He calls you to the middle of Africa (or anywhere for that matter), he will not forget about you. (For those that are curious... a few of the stipulations I ran into... must spend 3 years in “official missionary training”... must raise a minimum of $50,000 a year in committed support... must be within a certain age range...)
6. I do not have it all together. I struggle with new things and change... I struggle walking by faith at times... I struggle with loneliness... I struggle with listening before speaking... I struggle with learning a new language... I struggle with trusting... but God uses me anyway.
7. I don't always get what I want. For years on MKK, I prayed to live in a place with no dirt or bugs... well Nabisooto, Uganda, is not that place. A perfect reminder hat God has a sense of humor and didn't send me to Siberia... which probably doesn't have dirt or bugs but is a bit colder than I am comfortable with. And it reminds me that there is no such thing as a “perfect” place except to be right in the middle of His will.

So with all that said, God chooses to use each of us... not all are called overseas... but if you listen to His small still voice... He will show you where you're to be his hands and feet... could be to the dear sweet children sleeping in the next room... the couple in the neighborhood that are out of work... the friend that just lost her spouse... who can you serve today???

What a week it has been!

I am realizing that I am not so good at blogging the day to day stuff so as I had time today I wrote out a recap of the week...

Monday- I met with the teaching staff.  My clock and the teachers clock were 30 minutes different so here I called the meeting at 10:30am (beginning of break) showed up a few minutes before to start and the teachers were thinking by their clock break was almost over.  We fixed the 30 minute time zone difference and the children got an hour break.

The purpose of the meeting was to see in what areas the teachers need help or assistance.  They listed things like organization, class decorations, lesson planning, helping those children that are not where they should be, and more hands on learning ideas.  All things that the first year teacher needs assistance with so we will be working on these things in the next few weeks.

Tuesday- I was checking messages while eating breakfast and all of the sudden a message pops up to back up my computer as something was wrong with the hard drive.  So instead of being up at the school, I sat and backed up all of the documents, pictures, and music from my computer.  Then ran the disk drive scan which seemed fine.  At this point, the computer is still running but everything is backed up now.  Hannington also came to the village to bring supplies and make sure the work supplies for the new buildings were getting here.  We talked about school related stuff and how the teachers meetings went.  Realizing good communication is the key to getting things done well!

Wednesday, I heard Allen leave at 6:!5am so I got up and let Sheba out... as this is when she has decided she needs to be up.  I laid back on the couch for a little while.  At a little after seven, I heard a mass exodus of small children that had come to school not realizing that it was Uganda's independence day.... (also had a couple of teacher's that had forgotten as well!)... so they all had a holiday.  Ended up spending  the day making hands on resources for the teachers.  I have all of these amazing ideas... and no resources so I am using tp rolls to sort colors and empty water bottles for counting beads in... hopefully when I am complete I will do a blog on these resources... TRASH to TREASURE!  Will go to Kampala in a couple of weeks on a scouting mission to see if I can find things like beads or marbles, fingerpaint (or ingredients to make my own), pipe cleaners, wooden clothes pins, etc.  I have quite the list for hands on learning so we shall see if I can find the supplies in country!

Thursday I woke up before 5 with stomach issues... I will spare the details with simply saying, it was a "cipro" day and I had to stay close to the bathroom.  Praising God for an indoor bathroom. 

Friday I was feeling much better and spent the day with working on more hands-on stuff for the teachers and children.  Spent time reading with the children and then prepped to lead Bible Study.  Met with four other ladies and started looking at what God's word says about patience

Saturday... worked on my cooking skills... made pancakes... biscuits... and vegetarian chili (yes out of dried beans!)... I am breaking the stereotype that muzungu don't cook!  That evening I was sharing what I had made with Allen and she was excited that I made biscuits so I let her try one...  she gives me this face like "what kind of biscuit is this???".  I inquired about what she calls biscuits and realized that their "biscuits" are sweet cookies to us... their "cookies" are more like crackers to us... and they normally don't have things like I was referring to as an American biscuit.  Even bread is a special treat here... you can buy it, it is just not a staple food here.  I am finally realizing why I keep getting weird looks when I pass out the biscuits... I have been excited to make them so I have been sharing them because I thought they were so good...it is like us telling a child they are going to get a chocolate chip cookie and giving them a slice of wheat bread instead! LOL! 

Also spent an hour or so working on  a project for Aunty Kimberly taking pictures of the children for thank you notes...  Cute story for the day...

I had seen the children out this morning getting water in their "play/work" clothes... told them to take the water home and come back... that we needed to take some pictures for Momma Kimberly. They came back half an hour later in their Sunday best! They had even bathed!  Love these precious little cuties.

 

That leads us to today where the question of the day has been... Do you have a baby (or children)?  This has come from numerous of the children and adults and is a foreign concept that I don't have children.  We had almost 30 people at church today (more than half are children)... three of the older girls which I had talked with on Saturday and invited  them to church were there... they are in P4 at the Catholic school down the road.  When I invited them... they looked at me and said they couldn't because they weren't "born again".  I told them that Jesus loves them and they are welcomed to come and learn more about Jesus.  And it thrilled my heart to no end to see all three there in service this morning!

 

After church I came back to the apartment to make rice to go with the leftover chili and my following of children was waiting on the front porch of the clinic talking to me through the kitchen window.  Gave them a futbol and a playground ball to play with while I had lunch.  Unfortunately... eating lunch took well over an hour because I kept getting distracted to rescue Sheba from the hands of Paulo who loves on her a little to snug and she just hollers... also had to join in the game! LOL!  All afternoon I would settle in the apartment to do something... and one of the brown eyed cuties would come to the window "ANGELA"...  not much work was done today but hopefully some friendships were built. 

 

Well that is a brief synopsis of my week.  Sheba is doing well and caught her first frog this week.  I also had my first bat escapade which freaked me out a bit.  Now that I know the sound they make... I am aware that there are a lot outside at night!