Day 5: Dad I dug a hole!

​Dear avid followers (aka Mum,)
 
This morning the house was full of moans and complaints as we woke up feeling like “crispy fried chicken” (in Chloe’s words), burnt, blistered, tight, ‘crispy’, and ridiculously sore from yesterdays work. 

​We rolled out of bed just in time for our 7:30 breakfast ‘start time’ which we have now learnt doesn’t really mean 7:30. The Ugandans are much more relaxed on time here, Our chef Juliet calls it ‘Africa time’ meaning ‘whenever they are ready/when the food is ready/when they get there etc.. she says ‘Mizungu time’ or ‘white person time’, is too strict.
 
So, in wake of the food delay Isaac enlightened us with a devotion from mark 4 (who would have guessed) challenging us to address the storms and challenges in our lives and encouraging us to have faith and remain fixed on God throughout.
 
After devotions and breakfast we slip, slop, slapped and headed off to the YSU grounds to continue our trench digging. Embracing our second wind with some help of the local boys and some killer tunes, we knuckled down and got this art of a job done ahead of schedule. Whilst the adventurous few concluded in a celebratory mud fight (Kendall, Kasey and I) the majority watched on and enjoyed our victory quietly. Little did we know, muddy people weren’t allowed in the bus on the way home so we got to cram onto the back of a ute as we drove through the bumpy back roads of Jinja (YESSS!!). 

Our homecoming was warmly welcomed by Juliet’s daily batch of freshly baked bread rolls and a special treat of some of the best avocado you’ll ever lay your eyes on, let alone eat!
 
As lunch concluded, we showered up and enjoyed each others company. In an exciting discovery that Juliett can both sing and play guitar, I spent the the next hour or so in the kitchen, listening to her melodic voice and chatting to her about her dreams, family, and life in general.
 
At 2oclock we headed off with some students from the village to check out Hope Community High School. We were warmly welcomed into an assembly with the S5 students (year 11) in which we got the chance to introduce ourselves and chat about school in Aus. Finishing the assembly with an honouring round of applause for the man behind it all, we celebrated Johan and all his work in helping Hope Community to be what it is today.
 
As assembly concluded, we parted ways as some headed for the grass to warm up for the intense soccer game which awaited and others embarked on a guided tour of the school grounds. I have to admit, I was too engrossed in our neighbouring volleyball match to watch what I hear was a great game of soccer, so I cant really comment on it, but what I can tell you is that our schoolies team broke history as we defeated them with a whopping 8-3 win!
 
As the soccer match wrapped up, what was once a playfull, unscored volleyball game, hit an intensity I’ve never seen as the ‘serious’ sporty kids joined us on the court. However as both teams consisted of a mixture of both schoolies and Ugandan students, we cannot claim victory on the volleyball court. As we finished up the match, we walked alongside the village students as we began the short journey home.
 
Nothing says home like the crisp sound of Soda bottles being cracked open. Yep. I cringed the first time too. Soda. Sounds so wrong but it tastes so right.
Sitting around, drinking our sodas on the roof and engaging in an exotic game of ‘would you rather’ we learnt things about each other that I never thought 3 weeks could bring out in a person… and its only day 4!
 
Dinner snuck up on us as the smell of Juliet’s famous lasagne wafted through the building. When I say famous, I mean.. wow. This stuff gives that cheap but somehow remarkably delicious Coles lasagne a run for its money!
 
Beyond satisfied and remarkably energetic, as dinner finished we decided to play sardines. For those uneducated ones reading along at home, sardines is basically reverse hide and seek. In this game, only one person hides and the rest search for them independently. When you find the person, you secretly hide with them and the loser is the last one to spot the unusually large clump of people crammed into a far too small location. So yeah, we played that.
 
And now I’m gonna leave you cause the girls are all up on the roof watching the stars and I’m down here spending my evening with you lot! So Jumbo! Catcha later, sleep well and Ill see ya in 2 and a bit weeks!
 
-Tia :)