Week 3: Uganda

I had already typed this up last week, I just couldn't get the computer to post it, so this is late, sorry!

Hello again everyone! Time is just flying by here! I can't believe we have already been here for 20 days and have 8 left. As far as what this past week has looked like: I'll start with saying it has been the most challenging week so far, but in a good way.
I started the week in the afternoon Sunday with some awful pains in my lower left side. Like so bad that I couldn't walk up and down the stairs. I had taken all kinds of meds and nothing helped.
Monday I woke up and my pains were not any better and I knew I had a project I needed to go to. I also was super struggling beccause I found out Miss Shandee had the beautiful Ella late Sunday night. So I will be honest, on Monday I was super homesick and bummed out. I went to the Thread of Life base though and just kind of took it easy, because of my side.
Tuesday I went to the school to teach the 2nd half of the alphabet to the 5th grade class. The class was way more excited that time than the first so it was cool. After school, we hung out with the kids. This little boy Paul, he is a 7 year old boy with aids, looked so upset after school. I pointed it out and no one seemed too concerned. He went and sat by this girl Hannah and she felt his head and he had a burning fever. They all assumed that he had malaria. Long story short, I was super frustrated because no one seemed to be worrying about him. I went back to the house that day really down and worried about Paul.
Wednesday we left to head back to the village, Kaliro, that we stayed at the first few days. We were there for 4 nights and got back this afternoon. On the drive out we stopped at an agriculture festival in a town, Jinja, because Farming God's Way was there. It was very cool to see the similarities and differences between an African festival and an American festival.
Thursday we started the day cleaning and painting the compound in the village. Then, in the afternoon we went to a school nearby and did an arts and crafts project with the kiddos. That night when all of us were sitting around we were told that Paul was in the hospital and that no one knew the severity of it. Let me tell you, hearing that rocked my world. I thought I was frustrated Tuesday seeing the way his fever was handled, but then to hear he was obviously extremely sick was really hard for me. We were told he has pneumonia and meningitis and is going to be in the hospital for 2 weeks. It really just made everything so real for me. I realized how invested my heart is here and really showed the injustices of this place and how casual everyone was about a sick 7 year old boy with aids. They do believe he is going to be ok, they just want to monitor him.
Friday we did a village outreach in the morning and did some home visits to let people know about the med clinic we were doing on Saturday. It is crazy how excited everyone was to see us and openly welcomed 15 people into their property. Something I think would be very different if it happened in the states. Friday afternoon the mzungus played the locals in a soccer game. I wanted to play, but with my side knew it wasn't a good idea. So I ended up being the coach. :). We lost to the locals 2-4. These guys are sooo good at soccer.
Saturday we had our med clinic, it was really good to get to help the kids that we had gotten so attached to. That was in the morning, so in the afternoon we did more home visits.
Sunday we went to the church in the village. It was so cool to see a true African church service. There is so much joy. They do a lot of worship and dancing and then a message. The whole service went for 3 and a half hours, which was a little long, but all part of the whole experience. Then, we went to the River Nile. That was so amazing-who knew a river would be so huge. We all dunked our heads in it and even had someone fall in. It was very scary, but everyone got out safely and had a good laugh about it. We had dinner by the river, it was so delicious. Got back to the compund late last night.
We only have 8 days left here, which are going to be so busy. My whole heart is in this last week and can't wait to share more with everyone! Know that God is good and is doing some amazing work in me. He even took my side pains away for this last week! Miss you and love you all.