Letters to Africa, 4
Friday, June 15th, 2007Another message from Hilliary!
Hello Everyone!
The start of week 3 here in Uganda has begun. Amazingly, this week has started off wonderful on Saturday. A man here who works at the Baby Home bought a few of us tickets to see the Uganda verses Nigeria soccer game! It was amazing! The day started off wonderful. People travel here by scooters and motorcycles or bikes. So if you can image 3 white girls crammed on the back of a little scooter with a little Ugandan man driving you can image just how fun the day was. We kept bottoming out the scooter and he almost hit our legs off of a huge bus, but he just laughed and so did we hahahaha! Then as we made it to the stadium everyone was chanting and I’ve never been in such a high energy level as that game. We think sports games are big here in the U.S. but not after you’ve been to a foreign soccer game. The fact alone that there were only 20 white people in I bet a 10,000 person stadium was hilarious! Plus, all the Ugandans started cheering when we walked down the aisle to find our seats. Then during the game, us white folks got up and started dancing and before we knew it the whole stadium was dancing with us and everyone was hugging and kissing us on the checks, thanking us for coming and supporting their game! It was super fun and we all had a great time at the game and the fact that Uganda won 2-1 by making 2 penalty kicks! Also, a random fact about the game is that normally you get peanuts or hot dogs at a game right? Ha, not in Uganda. The concession stands there contain fried dough called chipatis, or you can get fruit like bananas, or if you really want to go crazy you can get an assortment of coffee beans. Which they don’t taste as well as they smell. They are really hard and taste really bitter. So my advice is stick with the hotdogs J
As for the prayer requests, I wanted to thank you all for emailing me back and letting me know that the mamas and the children are in your thoughts and prayers. The two children got cream and have recovered very well with their cut bottoms. As for the two girls with the teeth problem, there is still no infection at this time and hopefully will continue to heal properly. As for the mama who cut her eye, she is recovering well and didn’t lose any eye sight. So just know your prayers are working!
However, after writing that, I must ask you all to keep my health in your prayers still. I went to the clinic this morning after having terrible stomach pain for the past week. Since the doctors here never actually diagnose sicknesses they only write out prescriptions they told me that they think I have a worm inside of me. Ha, sounds yummy right?!? But thankfully like back home, I have been given antibiotics and I got de-worming medicine. Plus, the woman who is the nurse at the baby home is keeping me under her wing and will keep a close eye on me so no need to worry J
Another prayer request I have is that I just moved from the toddler room to a room called Baby 1. This room has children ages 1-1 ½ and this children are so developmentally small. Most children can’t crawl, in fact they can’t even stand up when holding onto things. They have very small legs and arms and even have trouble sitting up. After nannying for the little girl in Colorado named Zoe, I’m learning how healthy and well developed she was compared to these children. It’s very hard to deal with 10 crying babies who can’t do anything for themselves and who are so lost, lonely, and deprived of love. I’ve realized it’s impossible to calm 5 crying babies with only 2 arms. Amazingly enough, I’ve broken out my old vocal chords and started singing any song I could think of and I’m getting over my fear of singing in public J However, please pray for the strength to care for these children day in and day out. In one week the mamas are getting a break and going to a conference and so I will be in charge of the baby 1 room. This responsibility is a little overwhelming and I’m not sure how I’m going to change all the diapers, feed them, bath them, and love them. In fact today, one baby poured all his porridge on his face while another baby was peeing straight up out of his diaper and another was hitting his friend with his most prized weapon, “the rattle”. Hahaha so please pray that I find humor, grace, mercy, love and forgiveness to pour on each one of this little pumpkins.
Also, sorry but one last thought… there were 2 black mamba snakes in our yard and if you get bit by one you die, so please pray that we find them and kill them fast before anyone gets hurt walking through the yard at night. Hahaha that sounds like such a minor little prayer request, when I find myself writing it, but really that is a huge thing if one of us would die so maybe you should add that one to the top of your list. J
One last funny story before I go. The other day, Chelsea and I were helping the mamas get the 25 toddlers to bath and get into their pajamas. However, someone started taking off the childrens clothes before the mama had the bath water made and so there were 25 naked children running around the yard, chasing chickens, boys wearing the girls dress up shoes, and peeing all over. When Chelsea and I thought of how we were going to get them all back into their rooms and settled into bed we decided that first it might do our nerves good to help chase the chickens and let out our frustration and let me tell you what, that is one of the best stress relievers I have found. So when you find yourself over-swamped with work or problems, just go out and chase the chickens J
Thank you again everyone for your support and emails! When I come to the Internet café after a long day the emails make me smile and give me the encouragement I need.
I love you all so much!
XOXO
Hillary
P.S. The other night at a campfire I played the African drums with a man named Moses. He was pretty good and so he made up the lyrics as I banged on the instrument and we laughed so hard because we both had our hands in the air and we were making terrible music, but it sure was fun to learn about him and his culture.
Every once in awhile, you have the chance to be friends with someone who truly is an inspiration and who can make you feel better about your day, no matter how blue you feel. When I was in kindergarten (yep–a long time ago!), I met Hillary, and we stayed friends all through school. The picture to the left is from high school chemistry class (woah, we’re young!). Hillary is on the right, with the green container. What I remember most is that if someone was having a bad day, Hillary would try to make them laugh, even if it required doing something silly or embarrassing. She is the type of person that just lit up a room.
Who knew coffee could create such a stir in the religious community? According to 
I am a junior in high school who has been a Christian since the age of six and a regular church-goer. I was even raised in a nice Christian home where my parents would read bible stories to us at night when I was younger. This being said, I was very unaware and naive of what middle school, even high school, would be like for me. I could truthfully say that I thought that other people who I would come in contact with would not use profane language and they would be Christians. 
