At BVI, the Children of Peace come every Saturday and Wednesday. When they arrived today they came in trucks. After everyone was off the truck they lined up outside of the school. We introduced ourselves. We spoke about why we came to Uganda and told them a little about ourselves. They couldn’t believe that I was 17 years old. After this, they sang their national anthem and then the school anthem. Next it was time to break up into classes. I was helping in the music class. I brought down the box of recorders, along with the colored recorders that I brought. They loved the color ones. They got into arguments about who would get them since I only brought 5. The music class was under an open shed. On the dirt floor were handmade xylophones and African drums the children were playing. They sang three songs and played songs on all of the instruments. After teaching them a recorder song it was time for break. After break was the younger music class. They sang and acted out a song about herding cattle. At the end of this song, they kept repeating the chorus and calling out people’s names. The people they called then had to go to the front of the class and start dancing to the song. They called my name. I moved to the front of the class and showed them a few tricks I had up my sleeve. They loved it and laughed hysterically, but I’m sure they were just jealous they couldn’t move like me. Andrew and I then taught them “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” A simple song that was easy for them to learn. After classes, we handed out new uniforms and then went to lunch. At lunch, we made our plates of cabbage, beans, rice, and avocado, and began eating with our hands (they don’t use silverware here). After lunch it started to pour (it’s rainy season now). Classes were over and the kids ran and started piling in to the back of the truck. They used their new blue uniforms as umbrellas!
“Are you ready?” Mrs. Wybar asked.
“For what?”
We were making a house visit and were going to travel in the truck. Andrew and I stood in the back of the truck with all of the students in the rain. It was the real deal. People were hanging off of the back of the truck because it was so packed. When we got off, we went with Ivan to his house. On their cement walls were newspapers, used as wallpaper. The houses here have walls and a metal roof (no ceilings). Inside the house, there were newspapers instead of wallpaper or paint on the walls along with a broken clock. There were many kids who wanted their picture taken. When we came home, I taught Allan (one of the local boy’s) how to play some chords on the guitar. He invited me and Andrew to a local football (soccer) game. At the game, all of the kids in town were lined up along the edges of the field. The field wasn’t a normal soccer field. It wasn’t flat, the goal’s were made out of three large branches, there were no white lines marking where the sidelines and boundaries were. There was also a cow at one end, and during the game a goat ran across a small piece of the field twice. It was a good game that ended in a 1-1 tie. We came home and listened to my iPod. Allan loves rap and hip-hop. He knows some American artists like: Nelly, Shaggy, Ne-yo, Lil Wayne, Riahanna, and Bob Marley. Dan came up a little bit later and also listened to music with us. They weren’t going to be having dinner that night so I gave them each a nutrition bar.
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