Dear friends and family,
I have not forgotten about my blog, I just have been very busy with a lot of other things. The children finished their year of homeschooling and we spent a week in Winnipeg, wrapping up our life there. Last week we got the key to our new house in St Thomas and we immediately started renovations.
As said before, I really want to finish my blog and I love going back in time to Africa, where I felt so much at home.
So back to Uganda we go...
We really tried to live as locals in Mukono, but a touristy day in Kampala, the capital, we couldn't resist.
My friend Famke joined us for a day of sights, smells, and sounds.
We walked past the central bus station, and we went to Owino Market, which is the biggest open market in Uganda. It is not the place tourists go to, but we really enjoyed it. We got a lot of "Mzungu, what are you looking for?" , but we weren't looking for anything specific, we were just taking in the sights.
We visited the Uganda National Mosque, formally known as, and by the locals still called, the Gaddafi National Mosque. It was the first time for us to visit a mosque and we learned a lot from our young guide. He was open to all our questions and he even lay down with Myron in the middle of the mosque to explain about the ceiling. Climbing the minaret at the end of our tour, was rewarding. The view from here of the largest mosque in East Africa and of the city, was breathtaking.
We finished the day at Endiro Coffee where we ate a delicious lunch. It is a bistro run by a group of Deaf people and ordering is done in sign language. Posters on the wall can help you explain what you like to say, but luckily for me, my ASL and their USL made it easy to have a conversation.
At home, life continued like normal. We cooked every meal with local ingredients and got our jibu exchanged whenever it ran empty, rain or shine ;)
The children who stayed in the dorm, had a movie night most Sunday nights. It was lovely to hear their excitement and to see them enjoy the small screen all together.
We loved the unique way of transporting goods in Uganda. Trucks full of bananas were a normal sight and the recycling truck that picked up plastic bottles behind our house, always seemed to have space for one more bag!
The best days in Uganda were the ones we spent with friends.
Famke introduced us to her Ugandan spiritual parents and their family. We were welcomed so warmly, it felt like we had known these people for a long time already.
Jonathan, Famke's Ugandan brother, became a dear friend of ours and he invited us to his home. We had a great time getting to know his wife and sweet children.
There is nothing better than a toddler snuggling up and falling asleep in your arms ❤
John had the opportunity to give two presentations in Kampala. He talked to a group about Managing Up and he talked to a large group of sales people about Effective Sales Techniques.
During the month that we lived above the school in Mukono, John took it upon himself to help the school with some electrical problems. He would have liked to rewire the whole school but there was not enough time to do so. Instead, he fixed the most dangerous situations and made sure the children had a safe place to learn and stay.
Myron and I twice taught an art class during which we made origami figures with the children. It was a totally new concept for the students and they were very excited to learn how to make paper creations and to see their finished products. Raija loved spending time in this class and she always was allowed to sit next to her best friend.
In our last week, John and I spoke to the teachers of the school where we stayed, about being a parents of a special needs child. It was a great way to connect with the staff and to empower them to keep teaching this group of special needs children in their school in the best possible way.
And for Myron and Raija? The best part about living above a school was always having friends around to play with!
It was just our everyday life ;)
Comments