Baby's Home and King's Palace

Friday, January 16, 2009

This morning I woke up, had devos, and ate the typical breakfast…scrambled eggs, sweet sweet pineapple, mmm…and coffee. We got the bus at 8. Today we only had one class with Peter…class with Susan was cancelled due to a conference she had to attend. So only 1 ½ hour class today, yay! Class was very interesting today…we learned about Uganda and the many nations/tribes within the country, clans, and family. Very interesting….next week we go on some fun field trips. After class was over, it was around 11 or so, Roanna, Jordan, Mitch, Tessa, Jenny, Mindy, Suzy, and I went to the babies home close by. It was awesome! For the first hour or so, we played with the little kids on their trucks and toys. I played with a boy who was bouncing on a large, squishy toy cow…I think? I pretended to steer him left and right as well as bump him up and down…he was laughing and smiling…so was I. All of the children were fun…there were so many! I noticed that numerous kids had warts or tumors on their bodies…sad to see children having to cope with such things. After play time, we had to gather all the kids for lunch…this was a task. I had 2 babies hand in hand, placed them behind a stroller to push as well as had 2 babies in the stroller. I helped steer…this was quite the challenge as other kids continued to run into the stroller and fit through doorways. We helped serve and feed the kids lunch…mashed up potatoes, beans, and rice mixture. I sat beside an adorable little girl named Flores…such a good baby…just sat there and ate. My pants got very dirty which mashed up food and slobber… After lunch the babies were to go potty and then we cleaned and dressed them for nap time. Two babies got in an argument and started to through the their toilet training seats filled with urine at each other…I was kind of grossed out but also felt for them in my heart. These children have no families to go back to, many had bodily malfunctions and were not receiving the nutrients necessary. The women working there are strong and I admire their love and care for so many children…I hope to visit again, sometime soon.

After the baby house, we got lunch at a close by restaurant/bar…I ate posho, which is mashed corn meal-very bland and sticky, and beans…you dip the posho in with the beans. It is pretty good, I must say. Then we traveled to the other side of town to the King’s Palace. We got a tour of everything surrounding his palace but were not allowed inside, that is just for the royal family. Our tour guide was very kind and told us the history behind the palace. Apparently, a man named Amin? killed all of the Ugandan kings and gained superiority. He took over the country, Buganda, and killed thousands of Bugandans out of jealousy for their fast developing community. Bugandans were taken from their homes and placed in a tunnel close to the palace…there, mostly men and some women and children, suffered and died from starvation. The tunnel had rooms in which people were placed…crammed. Down below was electrical water…if people went out of the room, they would fall into the water and die. No one survived that they know of…very sad story, very sad history. Uganda is a country of much death and sadness in the past. However, right now it is in the best condition of all its years.

Our guide walked with us down to where we caught a mutatu and, once again, we went through the typical…finding the taxi park, weaving our way around the crowd for a VERY long time, and finally catching a mutatu going to Muyenga, our home town…I’m sure we’ll get it faster as we practice more. Okay, gotta go but I will write down my next exploration experiences….soon to come!