Nantale's Place

Yesterday was just simply a great day. I forgot how much fun it is to just hang out and be with kids. I really do love being around kids and playing games and laughing and having a good time. I usually don't get to do much of that because we are always so busy and my job is usually the moms. Since my mom is here and we have a lot of time to be back at most of the orphanages, the past week and a half have been all about getting to know the people we are helping. 

This morning we gathered a bunch of things together such as coloring books, games, and some shoes that one of the moms wanted. Then we stopped at a copy place to get copies of coloring pages and activity books so the kids would have things to do during the holiday. Ana said that they get bored and they need things to keep them busy. We met up with our friend Godfrey, who is the one that introduced us to the orphanage in the first place. He helped us pick out some balls and writing notebooks which the kids would normally use. Then we went to a big market to get food. Thanks to JB and Godfrey, we were able to get everything we needed really quickly. We filled the trunk with Matoke, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pineapple, and mangoes. For just about $40 we were able to get more food than we could carry! It's awesome to be able to buy so much for so little and know that it will be appreciated!

When we got to Nantale's, the kids were super excited. They came running out to help us carry all the food in. We stayed for a few hours playing soccer, basketball, and learning how to throw an American football. Ana, the house mom, insisted on feeding us. She was going to give us food from the things that we bought her, but we insisted on her giving us whatever they were already cooking for the kids. That was, Posho and beans. It really is tasty and quite healthy, but the kids probably eat this three times a day, so I'm guessing it isn't that delicious after so many times of eating it! In addition, the servings are huge! I almost always get to a point where I can't possibly eat anymore. Thankfully we had pineapple to balance out the meal. In addition we had boiled water.....it is safe to drink, but tastes like the charcoal used to boil it! 

There were also a few things that we needed to get that we hadn't gotten from the market. They use charcoal to cook everything and they were out so we helped by buying a bag. For 55,000 shillings, we got this huge bag (oh, yeah, it was 1,000 to have it delivered using the bike). The bag will probably last about a month, so we hope that it will be a good purchase!

At night, we met up with my mom's new friends that she met during her stopover in Kigali. They are really great. They are researching deforestation effects on the people. It was really interesting to hear about the work they are doing and the projects they have created. The next few days we are going to do some of the same stuff. We are going to start with Little Angels, and provide a good dinner for them and have a bit of a party! I'm hoping it works out well!