Thursday, May 01, 2014:  Greetings from Uganda!  It was another early morning today, up before dawn and on the road by 7:00.  But we were all very excited to be heading to Muko because today we spent the day with the younger children (ages 5 to 12 years) from the MukoHOPE program!  When we arrived in the village there was already a hum of activity. Violins were playing in the back, and construction was underway.  During the day electrical work was completed on solar panels and to add more lighting to the center, which will be much appreciated. Another crew was hard at work plastering over the brick and finishing the exterior of the center.  Dave V continued to work on the attempting to improve the internet activity working with the electricians to install the antenna extenders to the top of the roof.  Unfortunately the attempt failed to obtain a strong signal, nothing has worked to obtain a strong 2g signal for an extended period.  What is frustrating is that if you move less than two hundred yards closer to the lake, there is a strong 3g signal.  We believe it is the steel of the roofs around our center including the new potato storage building that hinder our ability for a strong signal.  Children were already arriving with their guardians, so we quickly got to work organizing the gifts from the sponsors and getting ready to greet them.  As each orphan came in, they were greeted by Karen and one of the other adults and photographed with the gift from their sponsors. We then tested their vision (all seem to have great vision!), and measured their height and their shoe size.  We hope this will be helpful to the sponsors in the future when shopping for their orphan.  Each child then opened their gift, tried on clothing if that was part of the gift, and interviewed with questions such as “What is your favorite color?”, “Who else lives with you in your home?”, and “What do you want to do when you grow up?”.  For the most part the clothing that was sent was the correct size.  The most popular item may have been the many soccer balls that were included.  Some of the older boys stayed busy pumping up the balls and the children began playing with them as soon as they could. The smiles and happiness were priceless! Thank you so much to all the sponsors who continue to make such a difference in the lives of these children!

After all the gifts were distributed, interviews finished, and pictures taken, the boys and girls went their separate ways for a while.  The boys took some of their new soccer balls (or what they call “footballs”), and walked over to a village field for a rowdy and happy game of “football”.  Dave Mozahn and Josiah joined in for a game very different from what you would usually see in the United States!  A hill in the middle of the pitch? No problem! No soccer cleats or shin guards? No problem!  There are some soccer coaches we know back home who would’ve been pretty impressed with some of the skills we saw out there this afternoon…. Meanwhile, back at the ACT center the girls were treated to mini-manicures by Karen and Diana with polish and supplies donated by Tina Regan, the owner of Serenity Hair and Nails in Holt, MI. The girls really enjoyed themselves, showing off their pretty pink nails with big smiles and happy faces! After an hour or so we all came back together to have a talk with the children.  With Josiah’s help, Karen led a discussion about standing up for yourself, being assertive, and encouraging cleanliness, among other topics.  After this we all headed back to the field for some fun and games! Some played more football (soccer), and some tried their hand at baseball and Duck, Duck, Goose. But the most popular activity may have been playing catch with water soaked nerf balls of all shapes and sizes!  Every time a catch showered someone with water there were smiles and laughter.  Even some of the women from the village joined in, and they were pretty good at jump rope too!  What a great way to spend a sunny afternoon.  The last thing we did with the children was helping them write letters and draw pictures for their sponsors.  Then it was time to say good bye.

After the children left, Karen worked with some of her violin students. The students who returned this week seemed to play through the last year, using the knowledge from last May to play by ear. So it was back to the beginning, with emphasis on music reading. Every day one student adds to our group so we currently have six with one waiting to start. Henry Arimpa, Boaz Twikirize, Frances Girukwayo, Haward Biryomuriwe, Isobel Akanduhura, and a young man from Muko High School named Benson are in the “advanced” class. A young man named Deacons came in today and will get started on Saturday. There is much to do, not only to teach new techniques, but to straighten out misconceptions occurring during the past year with no teacher.          Meanwhile, a few of us made a few choices from among the beautiful baskets made by the women of the MEP handicraft program. Then it was time to head back to Kabale.  On the way home we made a stop at the market to shop for food to feed the older orphans (13 years and up) and their guardians who would be arriving at the ACT center in the morning.  Tomorrow will be another busy and wonderful day!

P.S.  there will be pictures in a separate blog tonight, we are doing pictures as a separate blog