• Tea here is fantastic! Apparently the coffee is too – so much that even instant coffee supposedly tastes good.
• Everyone here keeps on complimenting me on my clothes, saying they look “smart”. My peasant skirts are especially a hit, which is good, because I love them, and so I’ll buy more for my next trip.
• When the children in Top Class want to go to the toilet, they come and kneel at your feet and ask if you will let them go out. It’s rather disconcerting to have a child suddenly throw themselves at your feet.
• Regarding the water – don’t even brush your teeth with it. Use bottled water or fresh rainwater.
• Malaria pills make you feel sick. I suppose they beat the alternative.
• Turns out the way I wave me means “come” in Uganda. I need to work on changing that.
• I finally learnt how to spit spitballs! I’ve always wondered since reading about them in Enid Blyton novels. You shoot them through the U shaped position you can put your tongue in. I don’t think I’ll ever use this essential life skill, but it’s good to know.
Onto my day:
After school, we had LOT, the Youth Group, which stands for Leaders Of Tomorrow. Britt and Andrew ran the talk, which was on sex. They handed out leaflets so you could privately write down any questions. I was offered one, but said that I really don’t have any questions on this topic. The first hour of LOT was the talk, then the 2nd hour was games. So I left. I don’t play games – I barely even played them as a kid – I thought they were a waste of time, and I had better things to do. My opinion on games has not changed. So I came back here to write in my diary.
After dinner we had a prayer meeting. Half of it was in Luganda, and the other half was in English (they translated as they went into the opposite to whatever the speaker’s language was), and a lot of the songs were in Luganda. Even without being able to understand a lot of it (even the English is not necessarily easy to understand) it was wonderful. I remember thinking that this must be a bit like what heaven will be like – lots of people praising God in their own tongue together.
Afterwards there was a group going to a nearby church where they were having a combined all praise night. Theirs is actually all night – it basically ends when everyone has to leave for work the next day.
The other thing that I really must write about is how in the middle of the night, Amaya woke up. The power goes off often in the night, so it was pitch black, and she was scared, and started screaming. I have a torch, but I waited in bed for about 5 minutes, not wanting to get up, before I actually did. I even thought at the time what a horrible person I was for not getting up to comfort a scared child. Definitely an appalling lack of love on my part.
Me and the kids at the Nursery school
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