Adventures in Africa: Part 5 - YOUNG and OLD

YOUNG and OLD

One of the best things about coming to Uganda is the honor of visiting schoolchildren and elderly in the nearby village of Bbira. Thanks to donations from many of my friends and family back home (and my own money, also) I've been able to bring to a very bare school:

* 300 ink pens and 100 pencils

* enough writing notebooks for all 100 children to last a year

* children's reading books
* 20 boxes of crayons and a few boxes of colored pencils

* enough chalk for the teachers to last a year (yes, they have old blackboards)

* textbooks in English, Math, Science,and Social Studies for all 7 grade levels
* science and alphabet wall charts
* 2 pencil sharpeners to replace the bare razor blade they have been using

* 4 playground balls, 7 jump ropes, 1 baseball kit, 2 long jump ropes
* one "new" piece of used clothing for each child

This school is extremely poor. They had only one old borrowed ball -- that was their entire list of playground equipment! They had no textbooks. They have no desks, and not enough benches for the children, so the children rotate classes to have benches. They had never heard of crayons. They ALL need clothing so badly -- the shoes they wear are deplorable. More holes than shoe. A couple boys simply wear threadbare socks, and many just go barefoot.

I'll soon be giving the owner of the school big sacks of maize flour, rice, and beans which she'll use to cook their school lunches.

Some elderly persons in need have opened their homes and their hearts to me. I brought each one a warm blanket, soap, washtub, sugar, salt, and rice. I gave one woman a pair of Dollar Store glasses. The look on her face when she put them on and could see for the first time in years, was priceless! She could finally see well enough to read the newspaper again. These people live with such dignity. On each visit, they have honored me with a traditional lunch. Two of the women have given me mats which they have woven themselves. I will treasure these gifts.