uganda: day two

Today's entry is written by Melissa:

“Today we all hit the ground running with our various projects. The children greeted our van at the gate with guarded curiosity, but by the end of the day, a mass of children escorted our van to the gates with large smiles and promises of more activities tomorrow.

One of the goals for Ann and me while at St. Mary Kevin’s is to facilitate a training for teachers and administration on the effects of trauma on daily functioning and relationship-building of the children. We walked into the training as visitors and left as friends, as teachers experienced the silliness of games and the pleasure of physical nurturing. They are a truly giving, gifted group of teachers dedicated to developing the future generation of Uganda!

The kids had similar reactions to the activities that Ann and I prepared. Not only were these games creating laughter and silliness amongst even the most serious-looking of children, we were creating connections with the children and engaging them in teamwork and mutual nurturing. Fun introductions to the kids included a High Five, pinky handshake, and the Hokey Pokey.

After group was over, I brought out some playground equipment (donated by Operation Breakthrough). Typically kids here create balls by taking plastic bags squeezed tightly into an outside of layer of banana leaves held together by twine. However, today we socialized around jumping rope, bouncing the basketball, kicking the soccer ball, throwing a Frisbee, playing jacks, and trying to figure out a yo-yo. Even the simplest item or success brought profound joy to these faces.

Lastly, to facilitate more exposure to nurturing touches, scented lotions were introduced. No child had ever experienced the pleasant scent of lotions (today’s choices were Gingerbread and Candy Cane). From the appearances of extremely dry skin, regular lotioning does not fit in the reality of the day. The children’s eyes delighted equally in the sweet smells of the lotion and the warm touch of someone caring for them. After all, don’t we all deserve and/or desire at least that much?


I left St. Mary Kevin’s today with dozens of pinky handshakes from my new friends, promises for more jacks games tomorrow, and the certainty that when I leave Uganda, a piece of my heart will remain at St. Mary Kevin’s with an extraordinary ‘family’.”