Well this last week has been so incredibly full I am emotionally and physically exhausted, but in the best way. I have learned that here in Uganda Valentines is not just a one day thing but a whole week affair, and being in the spirit of things we international students began the week with a wonderful treat. Natalie, Thomas and Jack spent all day last Monday in whispering conferences and announced to us all that we had to be ready for supper at 5:45 dressed up and  wearing red, pink, or white.  The rest of us girls were pleasantly surprised when we found waiting for us a valentine’s picnic out on the front lawn.  Thomas had cut all the watermelon into our initials sculpted it to say “house of love” only the house was not words but an actual house. We had spaghetti and heart shaped garlic bread, the chocolate peanut butter covered Oreos. Not the healthiest thing I know but it was sooooo….. good!  I love being outside at dusk and doing so for a picnic with my wonderful God ordained family was the best. I cannot think of a better valentine’s day. 

                Tuesday we spent the afternoon in our district groups  out on ministry. When I found out that my group was being sent to Bulrushes Baby Home I could not help but scream in delight.  Imagine my disappointment when I got there and found that it was nap time and after having a tour we would be cleaning.  There was one little girl still slightly awake and I could not help but stand staring at her and having my heart melt. In the end though when I thought about it I felt so incredibly blessed by being able to serve, not in the way I wanted, but in a way that got me out of my own way and allowed others to relax with the children. God has given me a strong, fully functioning body and I do not stop to appreciate that face nearly enough. I ended up scrubbing the floor of the babies outside play area with Brian and as I was not allowed to scrub and ended up holding the hose we both ended up with very wet feet and pant legs.  When we got back to the church later that afternoon we all found out from Mamma Shirley that we had been volunteered as a class to help at the churches red carpet Valentines Banquet.  The class went nuts; we were so excited (mostly) it took quite a while to calm us all down again.  It was only when we found out that we all needed a red, black or white dress that some of us girls started to freak out. In the end though, all was fine and we were given Wednesday afternoon to go shopping with a few of our Ugandan class mates. That was quite an experience. 9 girls trekking around down town, 6 of them white and all looking for the same thing, black dresses. At first it was overwhelming and stressful but once I found my dress I began to really enjoy it all. Being a white woman down town always ensures that it will be an experience but a few of us have now decided that we really want to go back. After it all Friday night was a success! We had twenty-eight young women in a room all with forty-five minutes to get dressed to our finest, it was a bit of a mad house but we all did it. I had thought that I would be over dressed but I quickly learned that when African women dress up they really dress up! I ended up feeling like I was under dressed if anything, though I know I was most definitely not. We were all split up with different jobs and I ended up at the guest table checking tickets against names and though it was at times boring I did have fun. In one slow moment when I got up to visit I ended up dancing under the stars which was super fun, especially given the fact that I don’t dance, or rather compared to all my class mates I CAN’T dance.  After all that had happened during the week (we had also gone out for a full day of ministry on Thursday that resulted in a lot of walking) all our leaders felt we deserved a break so they gave us Saturday off. It was such a blessing!!! We were so tired and being able to relax rather than go to the villages was a nice treat.

                Yesterday was, like every Sunday, our day of church ministry.  I have come to love Sundays, we rotate through various jobs such as children’s church, cell table, ushering, security and a few others. Well the one that I have been avoiding for the last month is parking. I did not want to do it! For some reason or another yesterday Saul decided to volunteer me to help in parking, I was not impressed. However as the day progressed I truly did have fun. I ended up sent out to the road to act as traffic warden and though at times there were people who just made me shake my head it ended up going so much better than I had envisioned.  Brian (not from my 360 class but from the pioneer class of 2009) kept telling me that I did a good job; people seemed to listen to me better than him. His only complaint was that people stopped watching their driving to instead stare at the white, muzungu, girl standing in the middle of the road! My favorite part was when kids would wave to me as they drove by, sometimes this presented a problem though as the parents would drive more slowly and back up traffic a little to let the kids all wave !  Though I did have fun I have decided fair is fair and next week Saul will be working children’s church with me, he really doesn't want to, poor guy he doesn't know what he has started.  After the final service had started Thomas, Hakim, Brian ( from my 360) and I went for a “walk” up the “mountain” ( Thomas says it was a baby hill, I say it was steep and there was nothing ‘baby’ about it) to visit one of their living hope clients.  There I met four of his grandchildren, they were also very cute! When we left we decided it would be fun to run as fast as we could down the “mountain”. It was super fun, I have gone full out running like that for a long time. I was only sad when my shoes ( not runners) began to fall off and I had to slow down. Needless to say though I pulled a muscle in my foot I would not have changed  anything about Sunday. The best part was when we got back and I made another new friend. She was sooooo…. cute and we had a ton of fun beeping each other’s noses  during the final prayer. Oops maybe not the best idea of my life but that’s ok it wasn't my worst either.

This last week has gone by so fast I cannot even really remember what we have done.  I think that is due to the fact that Wednesday was a public holiday and therefore we got an extra day off.  We had planned to head downtown to the craft market and spend a day out together, I was pumped! The seven of us had gone the day Jack arrived and we were all looking forward to going back and showing him around this time. When we woke up in the morning however it was raining, and when it rains in Uganda it is generally not just a little rain like at home, it pours so that start thinking it is time to find some high ground where you won’t be caught if it floods.  Well maybe it is not quite that bad, but pretty close. We were not to be dissuaded however and after making two trips in a slightly sketchy hired car we all made it to the mall. From there we headed out with me in the lead. I know it is hard to believe but I was the only one with a head for the directions to the market!  I am sure that for the few Ugandans who were out and about it was quite a sight to see eight internationals running across the road in the rain, shrieking in fear that we would be hit ( it was our first unaccompanied trip down town and  therefore we had no one to help us cross the street).  However none of us died, though Danielle came close, and we made it safely to the market. It was such a slow day thanks to the rain and I loved being there, I found two beautiful (and cheap) paintings and very much look forward to our next trip there. After we met our “mamma and papa” at Javas for cell, and had a lovely time sitting on the patio having some treats that reminded us of home.

The rest of the week was not as positive, Friday night while all the guys in our class were at a mens conference Brian received a call from Rashidah. She was in the hospital having her baby. Needless to say he jumped on a boda boda ( motercycle taxi) and headed to be with her.  From all he has told me, and each time we talk I learn new bits of the story, there was nothing about this birth that went right or easy. Rashidah had not had anything to eat the previous day and was very weak, she should have had a c-section but did not. By the sound of it she was ready to have the baby whens he got to the hospital however as others came in and paid she kept getting bumped back. Brian has told me that there were many women there in the same room giving birth and the doctors ( I believe there were two ) and nurses would just move from one woman to another as quickly as they could.  Both Rashidah and the baby were very weak and when she was born ( it was a girl), she did not even cry. There was something wrong with one of the tubes in her neck that effected her breathing so she was immediately put on oxygen. However our beautiful little girl died shortly after, as the  hospital did not have the proper equiptment to save her. Rashidah was released from the hospital that afternoon, which made me quite upset, and when we went to visit her she was very weak. For her to sit up and talk with us took much of her energy and she admitted to us that she was very dizzy.

                 Needless to say it has been a very hard couple of days. I was told by Esther when she Jack and Thomas came home on Firday night. I can only recall one other time in all my life when I have cried with such bone wrenching sobbs. Though it may not make sense to all at home I felt like I had lost my own child. I know that I only met Rashidah and learned of her baby a two weeks ago but I had spent those weeks praying for them and imagining this little girl. What she would look like as a baby, how she would grow in the months that I am here and even what she would look like in the future.  I loved her with all my heart, I cannot even imagine how Rashidah feels. At home when something this tramatic happens there are counsilors , family and a whole host of other people to help deal with such an event. Here there is just us, and we are not to steady on our feet at the moment either. Brian saw many things at the hospital that no one, least of all an young unmarried man, should have to see and I am worried about how he is coping. I know that given time we will all be ok and the pain will fade but for now it is fresh and has hit us hard. All I can do at this point is listen as the story comes out in bits and pieces and offer support whilst also leaning heavily on my “ family” here at home, and praying. I do not understand why God has allowed this to happen, and to be frank I have had a few moments of yelling at him, but reguradless I do believe that we have all been brought together for a purpose and that God is in controle. Who knows but that we have been brought to this position for such a time as this. I will covet everyones prayers from home, I know the healing process will be long, especially for Rashidah and Brian, and I am ill equipped to help but where two or more are gathered there Christ is also, so I beg for your prayers. They are what will carry us through.

                On a lighter note, today is the last day of the penny and though it may not seem like a big deal to those at home, we Canadians in Uganda know better. Therefore we have done our best to honour our fallen friend who has served us so well for longer than any of us has lived. This morining we had a brief, but meaningful, burrial service for the penny. Emily prepared a beautiful eulogy that she read  as Danielle and I stood by and once our dear friend, the penny, had been placed in it’s shallow grave in our back yard we stood by for the singing of our national anthem. May he rest in peace for all his long years of service to our country Canada.