January Happenings

January has been a busy month, and I’ve actually spent most of it in Kampala. I have had a lot of interaction with the students of Children of Hope in Lugogo. December and January are their summer vacation months, which means they are around a lot more. It has been great getting to know them better. Here are some of the things we did:

Breakaway/US Team:
This is a holiday club that met twice a week. During this Breakaway we studied about the life of Joseph in the Bible, and we also played some games, did crafts, and sang songs. For part of Breakaway, a team from the US was here. They had a blast with the kids.











Coaching:
I began a coaching (tutoring) program for the kids during the month of January. We met twice a week for 2 hours each time to study math. There were a steady group of about 6-8 secondary students and 8-10 primary students attending. Two other people volunteered to help with the coaching. I enjoyed this interaction with the students.


Saturday Club:
Every Saturday the kids come to the church for a Saturday program. We serve the kids both breakfast and lunch, and in between there is Bible Study, Karate class, crochet class, and a puppet class.












Puppets:
A little over a week ago, I had the privilege of taking a puppet team to perform at an event called Celebrate Kids. The puppet team is made up of Children of Hope students as well as some youth from Lugogo Baptist Church. They performed a song and a skit, and they highly entertained all the kids there.













Zoo:
We took a field trip to the zoo last week. It was a fun trip. Almost 60 kids came along. Many of the students had never been before. When we arrived we took a tour of the grounds, seeing white rhinos, zebras, chimpanzees, a lion, ostriches, hyenas, water buffalos, wart hogs, and more. Our tour guide was informative and engaging. After lunch, the kids had a choice of whether to go on a boat ride or donkey ride. They had a blast on them.













Back to school preparations:
*Shoes: Each student gets a pair of new school shoes at the beginning of the school year. All last week we took different groups of students to a shoe store called Bata to get them shoes.













*Letter writing: Students write their sponsors at least three times a year—once at the beginning of each term. First, the kids write a rough copy of their letter. This is looked over by one of the Children of Hope staff to correct spelling/grammatical errors, and then the student writes their final copy. As a reward for their hard work, the students get to enjoy a pop and biscuits.












*School Supplies: After their letters are written, students are given their school supplies. This usually consists of pens, pencils, drawing book, graphing paper, a ream of printer paper (to be given to the teacher on the first day of school), and some booklets.

*Haircuts: All the schools require the students (boys and girls) to have their hair cut short at the beginning of the term. On Saturday we brought in a barber to cut the kids’ hair. I think he got more than he bargained for as over 40 kids were there to receive a haircut!