AIDSPIRIT- TRAVEL TEAM
- aidspiritwebsite
- May 13
- 3 min read
Updated: May 14
Good afternoon from Kayunga, Uganda!!!
Day 8 of travel-
Another great day in the sun!!! It was WARM today!! I applied sunscreen three times before 3, and still got pink on my shoulders. The sun is different here, just like most tropical places. Where at home I may wear 15-30 sunscreen, here one might wanna go with 50 or more. That being said, these dark local beauties don’t really burn. It’s so funny, simple acknowledgment of differences based on where we come from. I was helping one of the teens make a best friend necklace from some of our donated jewelry. She sweetly touched my skin and asked softly “what are these?” She was pointing to the freckles on my arms, from my European ancestors. I explained how when you’re from different heritage sometimes our skin has marks like these. How one of my best friends has black hair, super milky white skin, with freckles all over her face, and showed her a picture. I lifted my yoga pant slightly and uncovered a dark brown birth mark on my left ankle and said, “see this, I have a birth mark.” She pulled up her leggings, pointed to her left calf, and said “I have one too!!” All of us made special and unique, with many similarities, Gods masterpieces in progress!!
We spent most of the day at Tender Mercies, 7 ladies and 1 man, with the kiddos and staff. Charles and Tom had to run to Entebbe last night to pick up Gretchen and her grandson flying in with 6 more totes of goodies. The one with glasses was confiscated at customs. So Charles had to take a boda boda (Ugandan motorcycle) to go get it back from somewhere “official,” while the others traveled around Entebbe in search of our grocery list of supplies. Special requests were: a seeing machine for one of the girls who’s def, so she has a way to make a living, a metal foldable/convertible ladder (their using a rickety wooden one now), a projector to play movies, and a POPCORN MACHINE!!! They actually sell some of these on the side of the road, haha.
This weekend we have a party for the kids, where us ladies are supposed to wear dresses. One of our gals Karen didn’t bring a dress and said she doesn’t own one. So WE WENT SHOPPING, African style! One of our teen ladies Rachel took Karen & I down to a local boutique, with a brave teen boy Maurice as our chaperone/ninja/bodyguard. There are absolutely ZERO white, asian, Hispanic , etc. people here, so us Mzunga’s attract attention. I was actually glad to have him, JUST incase. We walked about a mile down the red dirt road to an open faced store filled with bright and unique clothing, and maniquins Rachel showed us an almost 50’s housewife style lavender dress, with black polka dots, she picked for Karen the day before. She tried it on and it was a “no go,” so the store owner brought us more. We settled happily on a different dress with a pretty black butterfly belt, to pull the large bunch of fabric in to accent her small waste. We’ll be presenting her to the team later for her “coming out party.” Lol.
When we got back home to Tender Mercies, the kids asked for some bubbles to play with. I gladly obliged and tracked some down. We only had 6 bottles so we had to take turns. What an absolute joy bubbles are, for any age and any culture!!!! Always a great and simple way to keep people entertained!! The other kids caught the rest of Shrek 1, finished Shrek 2, and started Despicable Me, some Disney classics.
Tomorrow is our eye glasses clinic. The towns people can come and get their eyes checked. I’m super excited to be a part of this! Just this year our 7 year old son needed glasses in first grade. We literally had no idea he needed them, and felt some serious parent guilt for not knowing. He never squirted or said he couldn’t see, just started complaining of headaches and was regressing in reading. What an absolute life change it will be for some, TO ACTUAL SEE!!! Those like myself, who’ve never had to wear glasses, barely having perspective. It may be like God turned a light on for them, an absolute miracle! I cant wait to report our results! Have an absolutely blessed day today!! More to come tomorrow!
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