Friday morning another family will be joining us and Andrew their son has been on gap year and has been teaching in Uganda for the past four months. Very touching he has not seen his family in 4 months so he has gotten up early to meet them at the airport. They join us at breakfast and it is a flurry of excitement with all 18 of us.
Off to the school to arrive by 8:30 for the next round of painting. Four extra hands and it makes the work load much easier. Wilburd, is a contractor, who is helping with the project overseeing the construction. He is a perfectionist which is good keeping up us all on our toes and ensuring that everything looks really good, which we all want as the students are very excited about getting back. In addition to painting, we wash all the windows and begin to repair the their beds, all the students stay on campus sleeping in the dorm on bunk beds. We were very lucky to have enough money to get new mattresses for most of the students and repair those they could be repaired. In addition, Nigel and Judith organized a new water system to be put in that allows for running water rather than using the taps – essentially pumped water outside that is filled in buckets and used for the toilets and bathrooms. In addition to the water, the electricity is being repaired and will be back on, we hope by Sunday evening.
During out tea break, we have a special guest, Debra who has been in Tanzania for the past 4 years supporting the efforts of Judith and Nigel with on the ground help and working closely with the students to better understand what they are looking for in terms of improvements. Their priorities are water, new beds and shelves for their clothes, as they currently store them in their suitcases under the bed. She reviews some statistics of the country which are rather staggering, particularly in ensuring that children are enrolled in school and that disabled children are given the opportunity to have a specialized school that will allow them to succeed rather than struggle at basic primary and secondary schools. Since starting Burgurini has just under 300 deaf students who are being taught and cared for, most of which would not have been given the opportunity for an education if the school did not exist. Amazing when we think of all the resources we have. When you meet the students, they are smart, caring and extremely observant, wanting to share as much with you as possible and wanting to know as much as they can about you. As I mentioned, they are extremely patient in teaching us sign and do their best to communicate either by writing in the sand on the ground or on small pieces of paper. Their English is exquisite. We swap stories and they make sure that all of us are walked back to and from the convent everyday. It is amazing what little we can give can stretch across so many students here and have the impact to change a life.
Following our guest speaker, the students are eager to help us so we put them to work on the cleaning mosquito nets, mattresses and the rooms where we have finished painting. They are terrific in helping and laugh alongside all of us. Another great day and it seems as if we are making progress.
We walk back to the convent through the small village that is bustling with people cooking cassava chips, chapattis, selling half cakes and oranges. The children run up to screaming “jambo” and are enjoying a game of football, using rolled up ball of newspaper with tape around it. They are friendly and welcoming.
We are all exhausted when we get back to the convent, so it is a relative quick dinner with everyone heading to bed. However, before we do, it had been Nigel’s birthday the week before, so we sing a joyous happy birthday and celebrate with brownies that we brought with us and big fresh pieces of papaya.
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