Last Thursday I was lucky enough to make a trip into town with the school children and vocational students from Mukisa. One of the volunteers at Mukisa had some sponsorship money that was used to fund the outing. I went to Mukisa early Thursday morning to help get the kids ready to go. The taxi was a bit late so we were all outside waiting when it pulled in. The kids were so excited they actually cheered as it drove down the hill into the compound! Talk about enthusiasm! They piled in with huge smiles on their faces. One of the little boys jumped in and smooshed his face up against the window and started waving at us, it was so cute!
The destination was Centenary Park, a great little playground in downtown Kampala. There was a bouncing castle, trampolines, swings, a teeter totter, and all the other usual playground stuff. The kids played for two hours straight and the heat barely slowed them down. Most of the kids enjoyed an added surprise; face painting! The way they paint faces over here is so cool; forget about rainbows and hearts on your cheek, they do all sorts of cool designs! It was amusing that when some of them got their face painted they were so proud of it and excited yet others didn’t even bother to look at it, they just went right on playing! There was music playing in the background; songs like head and shoulders, if you’re happy and you know it, and how much is that doggy in the window. At one point though they were playing Rudolph…we were a little confused about that one! The music was fun and the kids had a great time dancing to it when they weren’t too busy playing with the other things. We were served lunch in the park from the restaurant located there. We had chips (French fries), chicken, and soda. It was a great treat and it was fun to see the kids enjoying it so much! Even though they live in Kampala this was a new place for a lot of them.
After lunch it was time to go back to Mukisa and by then we were all tired anyways! It took forty minutes to get back because of all the traffic and I couldn’t keep my eyes open! One of the boys sitting behind me kept tapping me on the shoulder every so often and then would just smile at me; I guess he didn’t think I should be sleeping!
I’ll be the first to admit, the day was exhausting…but it was so worth it! Seeing the kids running around and enjoying themselves was such a blessing and I’m really glad I was able to join in on all the fun!
Hi Molly,
ReplyDeleteGreetings from very HOT Michigan! Heat index of 116 degrees! Just finishing up the day here at the office, reading your "too-cool, too-fun, too-much-of-a-blessing" posts and just picturing you in the places and people you are with. I think I see about a two hour visit when you get back just to look at all the pictures and hear the stories! I've been training for my day at XC camp! 3-5 miles a day! I'm becoming a runner! (Don't tell the tennis team!) You are prayed for each day! God bless you a bunch!