uganda, day 4

on the drive to village of hope, we stopped so rose could buy some chickens. that woman was in command! they loaded several live chickens into a box and put the box on the roof of the van. and we toted those chickens to the village to be used for dinner.

finally, we make it to the village. finally here.

the kids are in school when we arrive so we get into our huts, get a brief tour of the grounds and have lunch. the children walked through the camp on the way up to their houses. we shook hands and smiled.

they changed out of their uniforms and we joined them on the playing field. most boys played football. most girls blew bubbles we brought.

eventually we started a game of ball - when we threw it to someone we had to say their name. a great way to learn their names... repetition!

brenda picked up on our names right away!

then a game of football started and we had to move to the side. a bunch of us just sat in the grass beyond one of the goals. all the other gals on my team have wonderfully braidable hair. so while they were undergoing their salon styling, i sat looking on. until finally i heard this gentle whisper voice. "oom"

little nancy had settled beside me and decided to start teaching me acholi. i was left unbraided, but pelted with acholi words. and i loved it!

they would laugh at me saying the word for neck. it wasn't until the very last day when i finally received the nod indicating i'd said it right.

vicky knew a lot of english.

it grew dark and we shook hands to say goodnight. the kids went up to their houses and we gathered around a campfire for dinner and to share stories.

later the kids began to tromp down again to the schoolhouse for evening prayer. cindy let us go with them.

in the classroom, we helped them read english, they taught us acholi. then they prayed. or sang. or both. it's the same thing!!

"i will no more suffer"

we got to introduce ourselves and point to our state on the U.S. map. they blessed us and welcomed us.

then we sang. it was a song we would sing at the end of every prayer time together, "we are one family, we are one family, we are one family, in Jesus' name."

this time we got some hugs instead of just handshakes. we walked back to the camp singing that song. i am pretty sure i fell asleep with a smile on my face.