I returned to Vancouver College Elementary School ( a private boys school ) a couple weeks after our fun phone call to Uganda to spend the day visiting each class, answering their questions about the children at ACIO Child Care Center in Uganda.
As I sat on a little stool in the corner of the wee ones “kindy” classroom, the morning class of around a dozen children sat in front of me on the floor. I smiled to remember visiting a classroom of similar aged children in Uganda where 150 children under the care of one teacher enthusiastically performed “Two little birdies sitting on a wall…” for me! I still marvel at this woman’s huge smile and exceptionally patient and warm ways with the children and me! I was visiting the class to honor 2 little orphaned girls from a family of 5 who I had supported with school uniforms and supplies… you can see Lydia, below, in all her JOY beaming out from within her new bright yellow duds!
“What do they eat?” asked one of the children. “Usually corn, except they call it maize, and they dry the maize and then grind it and cook it into a porridge. Sometimes they eat beans and rice, and tomatoes with cabbage. “Do they eat that every day?” “Yes, the children usually eat the same food every day. They very seldom eat meat because meat is a very special treat and, they never go out to a restaurant or through a drive thru.” Whew…
“Where do they sleep?” “Sometimes, they place floor mats made of grass on the dirt floor and sleep on top of them, and now that they have the mattresses and mosquito nets that you have helped them to have through raising money for them, they sleep on the mattresses and under the nets, and they cover themselves with the blankets you have also helped us to be able to buy for them.” “Do you mean they sleep right on the dirt floor, not in beds?” “Yes.” Hmmm…
I wanted to know what the children had done to collect “loonies” ( Cdn $1’s ) for the kids in Uganda and much to my amazement I learned that these little darlings had polished the shoes of the older boys at the school. These children, with their tiny little hands in constant movement in front of me, had collectively, along with the afternoon students, polished 100 pairs of shoes over a number of weeks and in turn raised $100 for the children at ACIO! With so much pride and joy they received my gratitude quite matter of factly and then, it was time for them to clean their work stations and go home! BYYYYEEEE! See you next time!
Blessings upon each and everyone of these Beloved’s! Thank you so very much to them, their parents, teachers and all the older boys who offered forth their time, shoes and loonies to support all the children, here and in Uganda! Miracles among us!
Next class… the Grade 1’s!
In Love,
Catherine