The Start of Many New Friendships

The morning of my first full day back at RG (10/11) started with prayers at 6am. Mama Janice, Dr. Tim, Experito, and his wife, Justine, pray together on the McCall's veranda every morning, and so I wanted to experience it for once. It was awesome, and I love how passionately Ugandans pray. The credit is never their own; it is always God's! I love being able to be a part of this culture! After prayers, I talked with Janice about the curriculum here and the potential uses for all the art supplies that I brought. 

Then, I did some laundry in the sink 😊. 

As I was doing laundry, I heard some noises outside that sounded like whipping or swooshing for lack of better words. I looked out from my porch and, some of the workers were doing what is called "slashing" (below). It's basically cutting the grass with big machete-looking blades. Sometimes in America we complain about having to use a push mower instead of one that you sit on! Imagine doing it by hand! They do have a big tractor that they prefer to use, but I think it was under repair. 

I ate pretty much every meal with the Durrills for the next week. Breakfasts usually consisted of eggs and toast, breakfast burritos, fruit, mandazi, or chapati. We made coffee in the french press too, which I've never done in the states before. 

I went to the auditorium to help with all the sound equipment, even though I know absolutely nothing about wires and sound boards 😅. I found Zac and met Moses as well. Those two were putting all the new equipment together and making sure everything was working properly. I proudly screwed in a total of maybe four screws 😁👷.

Zac and Moses made me feel super welcome! Zac started plunking away at the piano, and that's where I first learned how talented of a musician he is! Stay tuned for another blog post with a video at some point. The reason that I am actually in the picture above is because Zac insisted. "You are the only one not in your own camera", he said. 

Four older boys walked in in their nice school uniforms, which comprise of dark green pants, a cream shirt with an RG logo, and a green tie. They introduced themselves as Denis, Patrick, Christopher, and Joseph. They ended up being some of the kids that I was closest to at RG! I write "kids", but really they are within a few years of my age 😂. The guys were so nice, and we shared a little about ourselves. They are all senior 6's, so they have some big tests starting at the end of November. Most of their weeks in October and November are spent doing personal studying for these tests with a handful of taught lessons each week. One of the boys said that Denis had a date on Thursday (in two days), so I had to interrogate him a little, which they thought was pretty funny. I found out that this "date" was actually prom. It was a big celebration for the candidates. I may have explained this before, but the candidates are senior 4 and senior 6 students because they are preparing for the tests that will move them into A level and universities, respectively. I asked if they needed a photographer for prom, and their faces lit up. They said that they would LOVE it and that I should stay for a year 😂. 

The boys left for a meeting, Zac and I sang The Blessing, Reckless Love, Promises, 10,000 Reasons, and It is Well, and then I went home for lunch. As I was leaving, I was stopped by these cuties who wanted their picture taken 😊:

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After lunch, I went back to the auditorium and saw Denis. He took me to the basketball and volleyball courts, which were right next to the big soccer field. Some kids were playing volleyball, and they were pretty good! Coming to Uganda I did not really know what to expect regarding their skill level, but I was impressed. Denis went to play basketball, and I met a senior 4 girl named Olivia (below). She said that Meredith told her to find me. She sings in choir and told me to go to worship practice on Saturday. Art is her favorite subject, so I was excited about that. 

She left and Denis came back over. He and I talked about school, prom, and basketball. He wants to be a doctor and is studying biology, chemistry, and math. In Uganda, if you choose to go on to A level from O level, you "sit" for three subjects. These are the subjects that you specialize in. It is called your combination. BCM (biology, chemistry, math) is the combination you take if you are going to medical school. I told him I could maybe help him with some of those subjects depending on the material. So, he grabbed his chemistry book, and we headed to the secondary school. I read through some of the exam practice questions, and I only knew a few. Some of them were really hard! We went through a couple biology problems on one of the chalkboards, and I was very impressed! Some of the material we looked at I did not study until college. Denis knows his stuff and will be a great doctor. This is Denis being camera shy, even though he is one of the most outgoing and talkative people at RG haha:

After going through some biology problems, I went back to the Patrick house to eat supper. The Patrick house is a complex next to the McCall's house with three apartments. A big team apartment sits on top of two side by side smaller apartments. Molly and the Durrills stayed in the top one, I stayed in one of the bottom ones, and Dr. Robert (one of the physicians at the hospital) lives in the other. During supper, Diana read a chapter to us from Love Does. The chapter was about Bob Goff telling his kids about 9/11 and what their responses were. It made me want to read the rest of the book for sure! After supper, we had Experito and Justine and their kiddos over. We played a game called the "rule game". You play by having someone leave the room, coming up with a rule with the rest of the group, and then seeing if the person who left the room can guess the rule when they come back. They ask questions to each person, and when you answer you must do the rule. For example, the rule might be crossing your feet. The one who doesn't know the rule will go around asking questions that might be "What's your favorite color?" or "Why do you like RG?" and then when you give your answer, you have to sneakily cross your feet. The person in the middle has to keep asking questions until they guess the rule. Below is a short clip of us playing this game with the kids.