Kibaale at Last!!

This was written quite a few days ago, so "yesterday" was the 3rd, and "today" was the 4th :)

Part One

Oh man, I can’t even describe how amazing it is to be back in Kibaale! I’ve been waiting for this since the second we drive out the front gates back in March (which, as pointed out to me yesterday, was already 7 months ago!!! It seems like only days since we were here).  Today’s going to be a super loooong entry (feel free to skim, I just had so much to write about, I couldn’t edit it down!!)…. I wish I could put pictures up, but hopefully I’ll be able to in the South African airport in a couple of weeks, which apparently has free internet J

It was sad to leave the kids at Eagle’s Wings, but for some reason I just have the feeling that I’ll be back there someday. I don’t know why, and maybe I’m wrong, but I just felt like that wasn’t the only visit to EWCV that I’ll be making in my life. Hopefully I’m right, because I loved those kids so much. Bill and Anne told us they really really want to start a baby home as well, they just need someone to run it…. If university wasn’t already in my definite plans, I would so be there!! But then again, I don’t know if I could handle running a baby home all by myself! But we’ll see what God has in store once I graduate J

Anyway, after Eagle’s Wing we went up and looked around the Timothy Centre for a bit.. when we come back to Uganda after South Africa, its very likely that we’ll be staying there, so my parents wanted to see what it was like. Its so beautiful there, and once the accommodations and school and everything is finished its going to be a great place! Carissa and I also got to see Lizabee Wickett (one of our teachers from High School) who has moved out here for 2 years to work at the Timothy Centre once it’s up and running, so that was sweet to chat with her for a while… so weird to see an old teacher here in Uganda!!

The drive from Masaka (which is where both Eagle’s Wings and the Timothy Centre are located) was pretty short, only about 1 ½ hours. When we saw Kibaale Hill, and the buildings on our left, and turned onto that red dirt hill leading up to the front gates, Carissa and I were literally screaming in the back seat haha :P And seeing the Dykes (http://jeffshan.blogspot.com) , and Sean and Jamie (http://seanandjamie.blogspot.com), and Rachel again was so great, and Ayana and Moses were very excited to see Avin and Finn (the middle two Dyke children) … even though they had only met once, months ago, they were children around their age, who could also speak English! Very exciting J And, of course, they’re all the best of friends now, within one day of spending time together.

There are government exams going on at the moment, and since Kibaale is a certified Testing Centre, all the schools in the area come here to take their exams. They’re super strict about exams here, so the Primary school was all sent home for Monday and Tuesday, because they were being too loud :P

Because we didn’t really have much planned yesterday, Jamie took Megan, Carissa and I down to Kibaale town to buy and fill up gift baskets for each of our kids. While we were there, we noticed kids going by with Cornerstone uniforms, which is Jessica (Jackie’s little sister) and Prossy’s (a little girl we met in March) school. Then, while we were loading the now full gift baskets into the back of the truck, we noticed two little girls walking over to us, and realized that not only was it Jessica (who is easy to spot- she’s the only one of the school who’s hair isn’t shaved.. no clue why!) but it was also Prossy, who we weren’t sure if we would be able to find again!! They both remembered us, and as shy and giggly as they were, had come over to say hi; they were so sweet, and were very excited when we took a picture together, so that was cool.

At 2:30 we all headed over to Jamie’s, and loaded up two gift baskets in the truck, and set off for Jackie and Reagan’s houses!!

When we drove down the road and parked by Reagan’s house it seemed like the whole town of Kibaale was down there; he has 7 siblings, most of whom were there, plus some other relatives. He wasn’t there at first, but a few minutes later he slipped in through the door.. I think he had gone and washed himself and changed into nice clothes; all the other kids were super dirty, and he was squeaky clean :P

He was a little shy at first, but he warmed up pretty quickly, and came over and held my hands. His sisters were laughing at him, I’m assuming because he was holding my hands, but he just giggled and stayed with me, he’s so precious J We all talked a little bit (through Mugabi, the social worker here at Kibaale, who also acts as a translator) and then I got some pictures with the whole family outside the house. Reagan was beside me the whole time, and even though he was pretty quiet, you could tell he was so excited, he never stopped smiling.

Its so so sad though, because Reagan’s father died a couple of months ago, and apparently since then the family hasn’t had enough food; they take turns eating every day so that the youngest kids can usually have some. Ugh that just makes me sooo upset, I don’t even know what to do about it. The gift basket will hopefully help, but that won’t last forever. It breaks my heart :(

What’s cool is that Carissa’s new little sponsor boy from March, Ssenyondwa Ivan, is related to Reagan;  Reagan is actually Ivan’s uncle! Haha so funny :P While we were all standing in the backyard, all the kids suddenly pointed out to some bushes and shouted “Ivan”.. and there came Ivan, walking over to say hello! Carissa was so excited to see him, and Ivan was a little shy, but seemed happy to see her.

While we were still in the backyard Reagan suddenly noticed my camera (he was obsessed with it back in March) and came alive. He grabbed it from me, and started taking pictures and video of all his family, so excited to show them. I only kept about 2 of them, but he had a blast doing that, and I don’t really mind, he’s really careful with it.

After Reagan’s house we went back towards Kibaale to Jackie’s house. Her family is so sweet, I just love them. She has two younger and one older sister (again, Jessica is one of her sisters), but for some reason her older sister lives with her Grandmother, so I’ve never met her, but I know Jessica and Justine pretty well. Her dad speaks extremely good English, so we almost didn’t need Mugabi there to translate, and they’re all super friendly and outgoing, so it was almost just like a social visit more than anything. After we sat inside for a while we went outside to get family pictures again, and then Jackie and Jessica sang us a song they had written for us, haha it was the cutest thing!! And then Carissa, Megan, and I sang a song for them haha :P We’ve been practicing it though (The Call, by Regina Spektor… SUCH a great song J) so we sounded pretty amazing :P Both of Jackie’s parents said that they want us to come back, and that they’re going to come up to the school to see us again, so that’ll be nice.. and of course I’ll see all of my kids at school every day!

 Part Two

Anyway, both of those visits were great yesterday, and then today I got to visit Clair’s house (we also went to Ivan’s house this afternoon). When we were here in March, and I told her that I would be her sponsor, she was happy, but really super shy. This time however, oh my goodness did she ever warm up quickly! Within seconds she was tickling me, babbling away in Luganda, and making silly faces at us. Carissa, Megan, Josh, Clair, Ivan and I all rode in the back of the truck (one of the best parts of Kibaale!! Haha soo much fun!) and Clair and Ivan were both so excited and happy. They were chattering away to us and each other; both completely different than the shy little kids we remembered from March!!

Although I never visited Clair’s house last time we were here, I did get to meet her mother; I took Jackie and Reagan to the market, and both Clair and Reagan’s moms came along to help. So she said she remembered me, and that she would never ever forget both days when she met me. She’s such a sweet lady.. Clair’s little brother, Kennedy, and her older sister (who is sponsored by someone in Joshua’s grade… Jasia if for some reason you happen to ever read this, we met your sponsor girl Brenda! J) were there as well. When I took the gift basket out of the truck to give it to them though, Clair came over and took it from me to give to her mom, Mugabi said she was too excited to let me carry it :P

She has a bit of a sad situation too.. they have a house, but it’s apparently very weak, and will collapse within 6 months. The kitchen isn’t good either, and their food is often ruined.  I so wish I could help somehow, but houses are so expensive if you want good quality… please keep both Clair and Reagan in your prayers! Thankfully Jackie’s family is doing very well, and have said they aren’t in need of anything J

Anyway, I know this is super long, so I’ll end it now, but I’m sure you can tell that we’re having an amazing time being back in Kibaale, seeing our kids and old friends…. we saw Justus, Ham, and Samuel again a couple times as well if anyone from Team Kibaale is reading this! J Oh and I’ve also seen some friends’ sponsor children:
- Ssanyu, Tracy, and Teddy (Cathy, they totally remembered us.. we visited Teddy’s house today!! Tons of pictures to come when we have better internet! J)
- Mike (Cassy)
- Leticia  and Gloria (Alyssa)
- Dick (Savages.. we got to see him get all his gifts!)
- Robert and Wilson (Kirsten/Kotts.. we saw them recieve their gifts too!)

- Moses, Sylivia, Sengooba (Hattons.. we also saw them recieve their gifts from you! :))

And I’m sure there’ve been more, but those are just off the top of my head. We’re going to try to go into one of the Nursery classes tomorrow, so I’m sure there will be many more to come! J

Bye for now! Welaba J (congrats if you made it this far :P)