Olwotya!
This time I greet you in Luganda. It is now the third african language I try to learn. When I did my DTS about a year ago I had to learn Swahili because we went to Tanzania for Outreach. When I spent my 7 weeks in Soroti I got to know some words in Ateso. And now in Jinja I have been working in a school where most of the kids just know Luganda.
However, it has been a while since my last blog enty. The last few weeks have just been so stressful.
After I spent 7 wonderful weeks in Soroti I went back to Jinja to the very same place where I did my DTS in 2012. Even though I was very excited for Jinja it was much harder than expected to say bye to all the people I got to know in Soroti, especially the children. My last day in Soroti was one of the saddest days I ever experienced. The children from my class made a card for me in which each of them signed and they even prayed for me. I had tears in my eyes when I left the school. On the same day the people from the YWAM base where I stayed organised a little 'bye bye party'. They cooked very nice food and one of the teachers even baked a cake. They also prayed for Noemi (she was moving to Amecet to stay there) and me and told us how much they appreciated our effort. It just felt like saying bye to another family.
But it was still nice to
go back to Jinja. During my four weeks there I shared a room with a
23 year old ugandan girl called Judith. Since 2011 she is part of the
evangelism team and I got to know her during my DTS. Because she
loves to play the guitar and to do worship as much as I do we always
found time to do that together. I thank God for having her as a
friend here on Hope Land.
The weather here in Jinja is
much cooler than in Soroti and it rains almost everyday. It is good
on one side to be away from the heat but I have to srcub my feet evey
day about 3 times because they get so muddy. And it takes so much
more time to wash clothes. It is so hard to get the red dirt out of
my stuff. Oh how I wish I would have a washing machine!
The
first two weeks in Jinja I could spend some time with my boyfriend
before he left for his outreach to Tanzania. Now he is staying at the
exact same place I was staying when I did my oureach about a year
ago. This time was very challenging for me and I'm glad that I didn't
have to go with them. They don't have running water or power. They
have to sleep on the floor and Benni and some other students struggle
with stomach problems. But hopefully they will experience that God
makes all things work together for their good. He did beautiful
things during my time in Tanzania and it is my prayer that he will do
the same or even greater things there right now.
If your interested
in checking out Bennis blog, here the link:
During his lecure phase he worked on Hope Lands webpage. Now it even has a picture of me with a pre- school child in it. Check it out:
So what am I doing in Jinja now? The fist three weeks I worked in the pre-school right on the YWAM Hope Land base. I helped the children of Top Class to pass their exams and worked together with the teachers to get eveything ready for graduation . At the beginning I thought the headteacher was kidding because I couldn't believe that 5 year olds have to do final exams to be able to go to primary school. But that's how it works here in Uganda. Children normaly come to pre- school when they are 2 or 3 years old and have to lern English as fast as possible so that they are able to read and write in that language by the time they finish pre- school with 5 or 6 years. I was 10 years when I seriously started to learn a second language and even by that time it was hard for me. I guess I would have failed that test if I would have been in that class. But anyway, some of the children did pretty good and even almost all of those who struggled passed in the end. I was so proud of those little ones but at the same time I felt bad for them. All they know is how to perform in school and how to help their parents with their daily work. But they don't really know how to be a child and just play and joke around. Apparently children here don't have toys at home. I guess they won't have time to play anyway because they have to help their parents when ever they are not in school. When I ask a child what it was doing on the weekend it would tell me things like 'cutting fire wood' , 'carrying water' or 'cooking for the younger siblings'. So the only time where most of then children can play here is in pre- school. But most pre- schools don't have toys either. We just have a few blocks, some picture books and one doll. During a normal school day on Hope Land pre- school the kids have about an hour for playing. Mostly they play outside and just use wood or what ever they can find to play with because we don't have enough toys for all the 130 children. So if you want to contribute some of your old toys I promise the children would be more than happy. In case you want to help the teachers you could send some permanent markers, pencils, sharpeners or book cover tape (Buchbindefolie). The longer I work here the more I realise how hard it is to prepare as a teacher. You just don't get the materials you would need.
At this point I want to thank those people a lot who have already sent me stuff for the pre- school! I really appreciate your effort! May God bless you so much!
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| writing exams |
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| Ruthy |
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| break time |
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Ethan & Danny
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Working
in Hope Land pre- school was quite different than working in
Harmony. Most of the teachers in Harmony pre- school are YWAMers
and some even did the YWAM School of Early Childhood Development. The
teachers in Hope Land pre- school are all employed and non of them is
staff in YWAM. Even though they are all christians their view of
children is just different. It feels like they don't value children
as much as the teachers in Harmony do. I hope I can help to change
their view a bit.
Besides working in the pre- school I
have to attend all the meetings and devotions and I have to work in
different areas when there is work duty time. My schedule looks like
this:
Monday:
8:00 - 9:00 am Devotion (Worship &
Message)
3:30 - 5:30 pm Work Duty
Tuesday:
3:30 - 5:30 pm Work Duty
Wednesday:
8:00 - 9:00 am
Intercession
2:30 - 5:00 pm Staff
Meeting
Thursday:
4:00 - 5:30 pm Bible Study
8:15 - 10:00 pm Worship
Friday:
6:30 - 8:00 am Work
Duty
When I first came here I thought it would be very tough
to attend all that besides the pre- school but it turned out to be
nice to have all those different things so I don't get bored.
Especially the worship times on mondays and thursdays are very good
and they help me to focus on God and to not get lost in my ministry.
The longer I work here the more I see how importent it is to be
filled up by God for doing ministry. You can just give what you have.
And if I'm not full of Gods love what love will I give to the
children and to the people around me?
About two weeks ago we had
graduation. First I thought it would have been so nice to have
graduation as well when I was in pre- school as a kid. But very soon I figured
out why we don't celebrate it in Austria. It is so so so much work!
And I'm not even exaggerating. The children had to learn so many songs
poems and skits. Children in Austria would be way to shy to perform
like they did. But it wasn't just much to do for the children, also
for the teachers. We first had to mark all the exams from all the
different subjects and put them into files. Then we made hats for the
children and cleaned the school. After that we cleaned the hall were
the graduation took place. We even had to scrub the wall. We had to
bring all the chairs and tables from the wohl YWAM base to the hall
and clean each one of those chairs. Just to mention some of the work
we did. But graduation day was nice. I could see how proud the
parents were and how much joy the kids had while performing.
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preparing the hall
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The day after graduation I went
back to Soroti just for 10 days. This time I helped with a camp for
HIV+ children who used to be in the Amecet orphanage. It was called
'Amun Week' (amun is Ateso and means 'hope') and the slogan was 'I am
chosen' out of 1.Peter 2:9-10. They planed this week to encourage
the kids, to train them in taking their HIV medicins and to
strenghten them in their relationship with God. During the time of
preperation the leaders of the camp told me I would be resposible for
the games in the afternoon. First I thought it would be easy but then
I found out the age of the kids was between 8 and 19 years. So
finding games which the younger kids unterstand but which are not too
boring for the older ones was hard at the beginning. Especially
because I would have needed materials for most of my ideas. I tried
to remember what games we used to play on all the kids and youth
campes I went to. Fortunatly the kids and teens all liked the games
and we had a lot of fun. I was glad I could give them some hours where
they could forget their sorrows. During the teachings about HIV and
Aids so many children cried. Most of them lost their parents because
of Aids and some friends just recently. Having the same desease ist
very frightening for some of them. But I could see how the mood of
many of them changed during that week. I was so touched by one of the
songs we sang in the end. One phrase was: 'Jesus I'm gonna make it with
you, on this journey that seems so long.' Seeing all those childen
who have a long journey indeed going it with Jesus was such a joy.
During that week I realised how much work a kids camp is and how many volunteers it needs. Since I'm 7 years old I went to a camp almost every year and I never thought about what's going on behind the scenes.
During that week I realised how much work a kids camp is and how many volunteers it needs. Since I'm 7 years old I went to a camp almost every year and I never thought about what's going on behind the scenes.
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| time table |
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| Rehema & me |
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| playing some games |
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| Rehema & Rebecca |
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| our tent |
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| Michael & me |
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playing some games
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| group picture |
Now I'm back in Jinja again.
I am tired of traveling . I've already told you how exhousting
traveling is here in Uganda... I guess it wasn't the last time that I have to travel...
Before the base is closing for the
Christmas break I have the opportunity to check out some other
ministries which work with children. Next year I will help with the
preperations for the coming primary school starting in february. The
base leader wants me to teach then as well there so I'm very curious
how that will be.
I wish u all a Merry Chistmas and a Happy New Year!
Blessings from Jinja,
Raphi
