My room, instead of 9 people crammed in there, we only
have 5! We took out 1 of the bunk beds
to make more room and HOLY COW. The room
is SOO much roomier! I can actually walk
around in there without tripping over a suitcase! :)
In our living room, we made, out of the extra beds that
we now have, two couches! Woot! No more hard chairs or useless sitting
cushions!
Me, Daphine, and Julia
This week has been a great week. I worked on People with Disabilities mainly
all week. It was so great. :) I have
learned a lot and have decided something big about my life. I will tell you later though in my updates.
Whitney sawing the wood for Sam's chair
We are still trying to meet with Dr. Kigula and Mehta
Hospital. :/ They are being frustrating!
We really want to partner with them because we think we would be able to
provide a lot and be a good partner for them.
I talked with Dr. Kigula yesterday but he said it would not be possible
to meet…we are trying to fix that. We
have 800 glasses and more on the way. We
can provide doctors for the eye surgeries and screenings and also dentists for
dental stuff. We can help logistically
and I think they should let us partner with them. It would be good. Hopefully I can work that out. I will keep ya updated.
Elaine working on the chair
PEOPLE WITH
DISABILITIES:
What a GREAT week I had on this project. :) I absolutely
adore these children and I am so glad I am working with them!! :)
Working on Sam's chair with Moses
Tuesday we started the construction of Sam’s chair. We bought nails. Good start, eh? We also met the carpenter, Joseph, who was to
help us. We bought the wood on Wednesday
and for two hours straight worked on the chair.
We cut the wood, smoothed it, and put the chair frame together! That was it for the day.
1st day's work
Thursday we met again and worked on
the rest of the chair –the seat and the bottom of the chair. We started sanding it a little bit, but after
two hours, it was time to go because it was starting to get dark.
2nd Day's work
So Friday, we finally finished the
construction of the chair! It looks
great! We got it sanded and then we mixed
the stain powder with water and started staining the wood (painting).
Liz painting the chair!
It looks very very nice. We had to do 3 coats of stain. The 3rd one we had to do because
there was sanding that we had to do again and the rain had ruined it a little
bit. But after re-staining it, I let it
dry for the night. This morning I got up
and worked on the chair again. I put the
white gloss stuff on the chair and I will soon put the first coat of varnish
on!
Working on the chair! :)
Before we can deliver the chair, we need to do both coats
of varnish, and sew our cushions together.
The cushion is a bag that will be filled with wood shavings…hopefully it
will work okay. It was Moses’s idea.
The chair so far - without varnish
Also on Tuesday after we had bought the nails and met
with Joseph we went to Mukono and met Daphine and her family. Daphine is a 10 year old girl who was
severely burned when she was 3 months old by a witch lady who was trying to
sacrifice to her to demons.
Picture of when she was burned - 3 months old
She and her
family were at a hostile and her mother wasn’t around when the witch came and
got hold of Daphine. 3 children were
previously sacrificed prior to the attempt on sacrificing Daphine. She has no left arm and has bad scars all on
the left side of her body. Because of
the fire, it damaged her brain and so she can’t talk. It was really sad to hear about. And also, the other kids won’t play with her
and call her names because of her deformity. :( It makes my heart ache. She is the cutest and sweetest girl
ever. I love her so much. :)
Daphine's family
We went to Kampala on Thursday with Daphine and her mom
to get her a prosthetic hand. They ended
up just getting measurements of her arm, but while we were doing that, Daphine
and I became good friends. :) Ah, she is the best :)
Next Thursday we are going back to Kampala to pick up the
prosthetic hand for Daphine! I am so
excited and she is SUPER excited! :) I
can’t wait.
Moses, Me, and Daphine - I love this girl :)
So I have made a life decision. I am still planning on majoring in Exercise
Science so I can be a Physical Therapist, but I am going to specialize in
working with children with disabilities as a Physical Therapist. I am so excited. :) For a while now, I’ve been thinking that I might have to change my
whole major because I really really really want to work with children with
disabilities, but now I am just going to be a Physical Therapist and specialize
in working with disabled children!! I
feel like that is what I really would like to do. :)
Me, Daphine, and Julia :)
I’ve always
known that I absolutely LOVE working with individuals with disabilities, but it
has grown so much over the past 6 weeks. I am in love with these children
here and I can definitely see myself working with these children for the rest
of my life. They bring so much joy to my life and make life so much more
meaningful. I am so grateful I was able to grow up with a sister who has
Down syndrome because I don’t know if, without that experience, I would be
drawn to these children as much as I am now. It is my passion and I am so
happy working with them here. :)
Sanding the chair!
Wow. Stew and
Becca just made us cookie dough. It
tasted great…for Africa! They left out
the eggs and vanilla and it takes like bread dough kind of but with chocolate
chips. I ate about 10 spoonfuls and now
I am on a sugar overload. I haven’t had
that much sugar in almost two months!
Boy oh boy. I feel a tad bit sick
now…
WORTH IT
MOMENTS
- Daphine patting part of the seat, motioning me to sit down next to her.
- Daphine holding my hand almost the entire day while we were working on the measurements for her prosthetic hand.
- Daphine running into my arms instead of her mother’s when she got scared from the doctor.
Me and Daphine :) - Probably my most favorite picture :)
- Sam’s smile as we continue visiting him and then when we set him in the chair for some measurements. He is very excited to receive his chair!
- Cookie dough; even though I wouldn’t eat this in the US, it is heavenly here. :) It’s worth the sugar heart-attack.
- The friends I have made here – both the natives and the volunteers. They are practically family now and I am so grateful to have friends to talk to when I am struggling with things that are on my mind.
- Having sporadic electricity and water supply; it makes me appreciate living in the US so much more.
Sam!! :) Love this boy
My Favorite
Foods so far:
Chapatti, Rolex, Irish Potatoes, Packing Peanuts (they
look and have the texture of packing peanuts, but they taste good!) :), Nice
Biscuits (cookies…kinda), Eve and Rosette’s Chips (French Fries!),
PINEAPPLE!!!!!, Beans, Bananas, and Green Beans! :)
We don’t have very exotic foods here, but I’m grateful
for that because of my pickiness. I
usually don’t eat the meat or fish here.
Most definitely not the fish.
Ew. But occasionally I will eat
the beef, chicken or pork.
Sam's chair
Well, I can’t think of anything else to
write………………………………………………soo tootles! :)
Waiting for the prosthetic hand :)
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