5:00 a.m. Wake up.
I put on some comfortable and warm clothes and heat water for the first of my
two morning cups of tea.
5:30 I take my
sleeping bag, cup of tea, headlamp, and devotional stuff outside and set up
camp on my front step. Yes, I could do TAG (Time Alone with God… a camp term)
inside my room where I have a desk and a light, but I love being outside to see
the morning start and spend time with God in His creation. Plus, once the
monkeys emerge for breakfast they add some entertainment.
6:00 I interrupt
TAG to get my computer and Skype with my parents. Because of the time
difference, we usually Skype early in the morning for me, when it is the night
before for them. It is still dark out but I get the best internet outside so I
stay on my front step.
7:00 We say
good-bye and I stay outside to finish TAG before the real day starts.
8:00 I head down
to the primary school for the weekly assembly. On Fridays, the New Zealand missionary
couple Uncle Warwick and Auntie Marilyn lead part of this assembly, and I have
been helping them. The assembly starts with half an hour of praise and worship
led by one of the classes. After that, Warwick, Marilyn and I give a ten-minute
talk on a certain topic or Bible story, followed by a song or two and a prayer.
Then there is a time for presentations, where individual students or groups can
come up front and perform a song for the rest of the students. The assembly
closes with some remarks from the headmaster reminding students not to swim in
puddles and build houses out of piles of bricks on the compound and things like
that.
9:10 I take one of my reading students out of class
to work one-on-one with her in the library. Unfortunately, she didn’t practice
her spelling words, and since my rule is that if they don’t put in time I won’t
either, I have her go back to class and send me another student who is more
prepared to learn.
10:00 I make the
short walk to the primary school office to make copies of worksheets for my
readers and then head back to the library to prepare what I will do with them
next week. During the school day, the library is my home base.
10:30 I practice
slingshoting paper balls against the library blackboard with my very
official-looking paisley bandana slingshot. We are acting out the story of
David and Goliath at the nursery school assembly and I want to look my part.
11:00 Time for the
nursery school assembly! This one is awesome to watch the praise and worship
because the kids are so darned cute in their little school uniforms. Even with
half an hour of focused slingshot practice, I come nowhere near hitting Goliath
with my paper stone. (The next week, my part of the story includes no weapons
or targets.)
11:30 The assembly
ends and I make a quick trip up the hill and back to my room to drop off my
stack of books.
12:20 BACK down to
the library to meet with Sharon, one of my other readers. My day revolves
around when certain students are in which classes and when other classes are
using the library. Some days I can manage to fit in all seven of my reading
students, and some days I strike out with every attempt and don’t see anyone. I
prepare everything I am planning to do with Sharon, and then go to her class to
get her… but the room is empty. Apparently the P6 students are working in the
garden today.
12:30 I walk back
up the hill AGAIN to do some reading and prepare for the teenage Bible class on
Sunday. We are going through the book of Romans chapter by chapter and as one
of three leaders, my job each week is to prepare some questions on the chapter
and come up with an activity to do with the students to reinforce what we are
learning.
1:30 Lunchtime!
Guacamole on toast… it is my standard lunch and it hasn’t gotten old yet.
2:40 I go back to
the library for the final time to read with another student. I get things
ready, tell the student to get his things and come back, and fifteen minutes
later he still hasn’t shown up. When I check the classroom to remind him, it looks
like they’re taking a test, so I don’t pull him out. Meanwhile, all the P7
students are outside cleaning their desks before their primary leaving exams and
Joanita, who works in the main office, is using the library for last-minute Christmas
photos with students, so there’s not much of a chance any of the kids will
focus even if I do get them to the library.
3:00 Back to my
room. I do some more reading and Bible class prep, then grab a coloring book
and crayons and leave again.
3:45 I find my
friend Blessing playing on the toys at the primary school. I push her on the
swing until she falls off and cries. And people say I’m good with kids.
4:00 This is an
awesome part of the day where I get to walk Blessing home along with five other
girls who live down the road. They talk my ears off. In a good way, of course.
4:45 Blessing’s
house is the farthest, so by the time she gets home I am the only one with her.
I drop her off at home and walk a bit farther to visit Christine and Kevin, two
of the girls I met on my long walk several weeks ago. Christine is making
supper and the three of us talk and sing together a little bit, while students
from all the nearby schools walk home and stare at me sitting by their fire
because people living this far down the road have seen very few mzungus in
their lives. Christine’s little sister loves the coloring book.
5:20 We depart
from their house so I can get back to Noah’s Ark in time for supper. I say “we”
because four of them decide to walk me back, so it is rather slow going.
6:10 The girls
turn around when I am halfway home ad I make my way back to the compound just
in time to grab supper from the kitchen and take it back to my room. Sometimes
I eat in the home with the children, but right now I need to go to the
bathroom, wash my hands after being out so long, and think.
7:30 Friday movie night with the teenagers! I take
partly partially to spend time with them and partially because I enjoy seeing a
movie every week. That is, when the sound isn’t dubbed over with Lugandan
commentary that everyone can understand except me.
10:00 When the
movie ends, I go back to my room, spend some time journaling (I have filled
three journals since I came here), and go to bed. Just a normal Friday.
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