Kayunga

Today started with a classic slapstick movie moment. I purposely set my phone across the room so that when the alarm went off at 8:30 a.m., I would have to get out of bed. The two beds in our room are side by side, only about eight inches apart, but with footboards wider than the beds. When the alarm went off, I quickly sprang out bed into the space between the two beds, took two quick steps in the dark and BAM! I slammed my left shin into those footboards and propelled myself forward and down at high velocity face first into the floor. I had to laugh at my own stunt. Nice start to the day!

After breakfast, which included Gonja (a steamed sort of plaintain), fish cakes, oat porridge, samosa’s (a fried pastry with grilled vegetables in the center), and wonderfully fresh pineapple, we load in the van to the Kayunga Child Development Center. The town of Kayunga is on the plains where many adults are unemployed or work as sustenance farmers, earing the equivalent of $20 per month. Compassion International’s work here covers a lot of territory, from health to literacy to skills training, not only for the children but for parents, especially mothers, as well. One of most exciting new programs, just five years old, is a program aimed at infant survival and enrichment. Too many children under the age of five here die from preventable causes, nearly seven times the rate as in the USA.

Upon our arrival, we are met by children in peach-orange school uniforms lined up on both sides of the walk to the church singing us a welcome song. We learn throughout the day about all of the projects here, walking through the surrounding fields seeing pig and cow projects, banana trees, coffee beans, cabbages, and even getting to plant pine trees with the local people. They serve us a very special lunch outdoors that includes matooke (a mashed plaintain dish wrapped and steamed in banana leaves), chicken that includes all of the parts inside and out in a soup, groundnut sauce (kind of like peanuts, ground up into a sauce – tasty) for the matooke, rice, noodles, and more of the refreshing watermelon, pineapples, and bananas.

Our greeters

Babies in the infant program

Helping us prepare for lunch with water and soap for hand washing.

Community lunch

One of our new friends

These three show us their dancing moves.

Our next stop is a home visit about one kilometer away. We visit a family of a man and his wife and their six children. They live in a wood and mud home about eleven feet wide by ten feet deep. It is seperated into two spaces by a partial mud wall in the middle. We have a very personal, friendly visit with them and learn several things about their lives. We are honored to be there and they express the same in having us. We leave them a bag of gifts. They in turn have prepared gifts for us of pineapples, sugar canes, and bananas - an extremely generous gesture.

A sweet group of kids on our way to the home visit.

Interested neighbor children line up outside the home we are visiting.

The father with his youngest child. It is quite dark in here with the only light coming from the open door. There is no electricity or running water in the house:

The mother shows us how the mosquito nets have helped her children avoid getting malaria again.

Interested onlookers peeking at us through the front door.

It was a privilege to meet this loving family.

Parting gifts of pineapple and sugar cane.

After a brief stop back at the community where the mothers sing and dance for us, we drive the hour plus back to Kampala. After a delicious dinner with beef, chicken, boiled goat, and many of the other stapes that we had at lunch, it is time to call it a night. Tomorrow we start early.

If you’re interested in learning more about Compassion International, click http://www.compassion.com/.

The mothers weave baskets, mats, and other goods to help their income.

Singing and dancing songs of appreciation.

Melissa says goodbye to new friends.

The family we visited in their home came to the community center. Mother and their youngest.