Amani is Amazing! (by: Alyssa)

Hello!!

Finally, I am getting a few minutes to write a blog. Still, I don't have a lot of time because we have to be back at the orphanage soon to take some of the kids on an outing! :) (I am in town, at the internet cafe. There is no computer at Amani (it's broken) but some girls have laptops so I may get a chance to use one of those later on. Em's also writing a post at the same time, so there may be lots of repetition!

Wow, how do I begin to describe what it's like here! There is so much to say!

Today, we floated around in the morning, helping with whatever age group there was a need. We were with Baby A, B, and C at different times, which are all different age groups of the kids. There are also toddlers and preschoolers but we didn't work with them. Em and I both got to hold a little girl who is just over a month old and SOOOO tiny! Awww!!

Tomorrow, the new schedule will start, and Em and I will both be with the preschoolers, which I'm really looking forward to! :) We havent gotten a chance to interact with those kids much yet.

For lunch, we went out to a restaurant downtown with some of the other volunteers.. I had a wrap with chicken and avocado, but discovered that I don't really like avocado! It seems to be pretty tasteless with a weird texture, haha, but that is one of the first foods i've tried here that I haven't really liked. Everything else has been pretty good so far! And so far, I haven't gotten sick either, which is definitely a blessing, although I've been told that it's almost guaranteed to happen soon.

We have seen lots of strange things here - like Em said, goats on the street, and chickens, and lots of signs with funny english. Uganda is a BEAUTIFUL country though, with so much lush vegetation, and wonderful people who are so friendly :) From our room in the orphanage guest house, you can see Lake Victoria, which is probably about a 5 minute walk down the road.

We are sleeping very comfortably too!! It cools down a bit at night which is nice (it's QUITE hot during the day - probably like 30 degrees!) and i love the sound of the crickets outside the window.

We bought our first souvenirs today too! - Aprons for 10,000 shillings each! Which is only 5 dollars american :P

I don't have too much more time, so I think that's all I'll say for now :) More when I get another chance! It may not be every day, but hopefully every few days, we'll get a chance to come here and write something.

Much love!!

Alyssa