Uganda Day 2

Most of the group slept a little last night. Our bodies are so out of sync! Since we are in the bush every sound in mother nature sounds amplified. There are birds singing songs all night and many people are struggling to sleep. Add to that the 100's of cows mooing that sound like they right next to our rooms. Many people have earplugs and that helps! Our morning started off with me and Brinlee who had been awake since 2 exploring a little on the village. We met a few girls who were pumping water to carry back to their dorms. We offered to help and walked back with them to school. One girl put a giant Jerry can that I could not even light on her head! Amazing that in order to bathed and wash clothes they are required to go to so much effort. These girls were lucky. The pump was only about 100 yards away. In many places in Uganda there are no pumps or you have to walk several miles. We saw one young man carrying 8 cans on a bike he jerryrigged with wood sticks to hold the water. The rest of the group was awake when we got back and we started out day with bacon and and egg scramble! It was delicious. Then we were off to church. It was supposed to stay at 9 but people didn't really start coming in until 10. At first it appeared it may not be very exciting, but as the morning wore on the worship for louder and bigger! Amber made friends with a little girl and had her first experience of being peed on. Brinlee and Hannah snuck up to the balcony where they enjoyed dancing with other teenagers. A highlight was Kara being asked to sing how great thou art. The people were stunned and went crazy when she sung the last note which was so high it sounded like the glass would shatter. Overall it was incredible. After church we had a lovely lunch of pizza and pineapple. We are ask going crazy over the pineapple that grows in abundance here. After lunch we gathered with the AHI staff for trainings on health, reproduction, and hygeine as well as to train the young ladies on how to use their new Days For Girls kits. We started with some ice breaker games that really allowed people to get comfortable. Ugandan girls are often shy around Mzungus. It was a perfect way to start because by the time we were done everyone was laughing. The training was a great chance for us to practice as a team what we will be teaching in schools. The girls had lots of questions and the APE team were experts! Amber did a great job teaching about the reproductive system and, Stacie who was really nervous did a great job teaching about the female cycle. I know for Becky who was instrumental in both sewing and gathering kits this was momentous. Steve and Alex taught a separate class to the young men and the feedback was excellent. We then had some time off on the afternoon. Five of the girls took bikes out to the village and came back in a rainstorm. Everything is so safe and the locals treat you like family. After the rain subsided we had a lovely dinner of kabobs and finished with a team meeting. Alex, a Ugandan that is a good friend of APF's composed a song about unity that was very moving. He shared it with the group and passed out prayer copies be had written for us to sing.