So we were half an hour late getting to church. The place was full of kids again, singing, laughing, happy kids. We photographed a few of the kids who had been sick when we visited their schools, but mostly, we just enjoyed being with this bunch.
Around 11:30, everyone left for the soccer game. Brainerd Presbyterian had donated a dozen balls and these kids could hardly wait to try one out! We didn’t appear to lose anyone between the church and the school. The boys split into a young and an older team and they were soon charging around the field in a tightly contested battle. The older boys let the younger have three extra people on their team, which seem to add to the amount of running. Angie and Danielle took the younger kids and soon had them involved in some sort of game. There was a small group of cheerleaders, but I never figured out exactly who or what they were cheering about.
After about 30 minutes, Vincent said it was time to go, so everyone went to the van for the zoo trip. This was an unusual group. We had Bukirwa Priscilla (Dick and Cheryl) and Muwanika Joan (Jay) two young girls both of whom stay at Vincent’s house. There was also Claire (Steed and Ellen) who has gone from among the lowest in her class to tops in Math and Okiria Moses (Barbara and James) who is doing very well in S4. Two others had been invited, but both were in boarding schools and neither had been allowed to leave on this weekend. So instead, we invited Nakagiri Justine (Dan and Lisa), our soon to be university graduate, and John Bosco (Pam and Sandy) who is also at university.
It was a quick ride to Garden City. I expected that our younger kids might have never seen the zoo, but we learned that only one of the bunch, Priscilla, had been to Garden City and only Justine had been to the zoo when she was in Primary School. When I asked he group about Garden City, tiny Priscilla caught my eye. Her look begged me not to mention her other trip to the mall. It came on Christmas Day 2006. Vincent and I took her there to shop for a Christmas dress and to buy her some lunch after her mother severely beat her.
I tried to organize the chaos a bit by keeping the food hawkers away until the kids had a chance to think about what they might want. Most wanted fried chicken or sausages (Priscilla wanted both!) but there was one pizza and some Chinese pork. Everyone seemed to enjoy their food, but they were ready to get moving. The zoo waited! Pricilla, by the way, remembered that Vincent took home a doggy bag during her other visit to Garden City. She took all her chicken and most of her chips in a doggy bag!
We had a bit of rain as we drove to the zoo, but it didn’t rain on us at all while we were there. These kids loved the zoo, from the young ones to our university students and project workers! There was a large group of monkeys passing through the zoo and they were as much fun as any of the exhibits. They were all but tame. A mother monkey even stretched out to nurse her baby within a few feet of our path.
When we were through, Angie bought sodas for everyone at the zoo restaurant. Everyone was talking at once, as excited about reliving their day as they had been anticipating it!
Everyone but poor Vincent napped on the way back to
There was a bit of excitement at the end of the meal. All at once, people shrieked. It started behind the bar and spread through the restaurant. I didn’t get a good look at the creature that ran out of the kitchen, past a lot of tables, and into the night, but I was assured it was a rodent, whether mouse or rat remained a topic of debate as we rode back to the Guesthouse.
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