Dear reader of our blog,

How are you? You can respond with: I’m fine, how are yóu? Or, you can also say: Yes please. When we’ll return to Holland, I think we’ll miss this welcoming attitude of every complete stranger we encounter here.

Our first nutrition class at Wakisa was about ‘why can you get sick from food?’ which was mostly about hygiene. Yesterday we had our second class about the 3 main nutrients; protein, fat and carbohydrates. ‘What are healthy sources?’ Next time up the girls take an exam. We figured that they really love drawing, so we gave them the ‘schijf van 5’ to color. The translation into Luganda helps a lot, not only for the 3 girls who cannot speak English, but also to keep them awake. Respect for all teachers!

In these two weeks that we have spent at our project, we’ve discovered that even at our project, which has a real tight and organized schedule, there are lots of changes possible in schedule. For example, this week we are in charge on Tuesday and Wednesday because the staff is at a conference. And Thursday is liberation day, a public holiday. So this will be a short but intense week. I’m looking forward to it, since we can put into practice all the nice ideas we wanted to do with the girls. One idea is that we will have a ‘Liberation day tournament’ which consists of all kinds of Dutch games, like ‘stick the donkey tail’, or a Ugandan style race with water bottles on ones heads. We’ll take pictures ;).

Last weekend we’ve seen a bit more of the nice surroundings of Kampala. We went mountainbiking with all 8 Doingoood volunteers and our 2 coordinators. We had a brilliant guide, James, that could fix all our bikes at any moment of the tour. Despite the fact that we rented the bikes from Dutch guys, of which you probably expect to have good quality bikes, we were dependent on James’s expertise to fix them on the way. The impressive rain during our lunch break and the encounter with the people living in this beautiful jungle surrounded by the Victoria lake, were worth the journey.

Sometimes being here feels like a dream. We can do all things we like to do, at our project and at home. The sun is shining all the time (in January!), we meet a lot of nice people and our beds are great. Another reason why I sometimes think I’m dreaming is because of the weird combination of situations that we are in during a day. The things that we encounter are sometimes so contradicting. After we leave our project we can have a nice shower and go to a nice restaurant or theatre, whereas the girls might go to the state hospital to deliver, or the boys at the drop in centre sleep at the street. This makes me think that it is impossible that this is really happening. And yes, the nice ice skating pictures from Holland don’t help a lot in assuring ourselves that this summer in which it gets dark at 7 o’clock, is real ;).

But it is real. Uganda is a beautiful country. People don’t do life alone. People struggle. People need hope. The children need to be taught about their value, about the equality of men and women, about honesty and accountability. Well, as far as we can see that after 2 weeks being here.

Will you pray for us, that we can process the things we encounter. That we will trust Jesus. That we may remember the great things that the Lord does and will do in our lives and in the lives of others.

Greetings Hannah & Ieke