Carol's In Uganda: A DAY AT THE BEACH ON: 03/14/2013

One of the many things the kids look forward to is a day at the beach, hosted by Fr Raymond. It is usually biannual and is a much looked forward to event that includes....lots of snacks, a picnic lunch, sodas, ice cream and lots of playing in the water.

The Brothers and the boys!
I am the red dot in the water with one of the first boys
I cajoled to go in!

All of the children have gone this winter save for the disabled boys. This was due to multiple schedule changes and other life events. The boys kept asking Father, "when are we going to go?". It broke his heart, so he made a decision to get it set up before Easter. Ya...that meant in 3 days.

It is more of a challenge to get 50 disabled boys into 5 vans along with their wheelchairs and accoutrements. How he manages to coordinate all this is beyond me. I was a bit nervous as I would be the only PT going, along with Douglass the medical officer and a few matrons. We also had a hand full of Novice Brothers. There were about 8 or so able bodied boys that had been missed in prior trips going as well.

Vincent and Noah happy to be at
the beach!

Somehow, we managed to cram them all in the vans and head out before 9 AM (an amazing feat of skill, coordination and a lot of running around especially for Africa). The only hold up was our van being stopped and ticketed by the police for carrying items other than passengers in the van". We had most of the wheelchairs in our van....Ya....lets call it what is really is...can you say B R I B E?

It was overcast and cool...had been raining all night and into the AM that day. The kids didn't care. They were literally bouncing out of their seats with excitement. We managed to get most of them to the pavilion for sodas and biscuits (sweet bread cookies). Then we hauled them all and their stuff to the water's edge.

One of the Brothers introducing
Alex to the water

The able bodied kids didn't waste one moment and jumped right in! The water was actually warmer than the air and was really nice...the matrons started dangling the disabled boys' feet in the water...."NO WAAY!" These kids were going in!!!! Not many African's know how to or are comfortable swimming....it took me about 20 min to convince one the older boys who was a paraplegic, to "try it out!"

Nicholas (the gate guard) bringing me tea and biscuits
after a swim with the boys.

Phillip and I.
Phillip is an aspiring musician...ahh the sunglasses
all the kids had a turn at wearing them as they were most popular despite a missing piece!

I forgot how much a teenage boy can weigh...these kids are all muscle! I hauled him on my back and he was laughing like a little kid! Everyone was pensively holding their breath at the water's edge wondering if the Muzungu was going to drown the kids...one by one.

FINALLY...when they all saw the fun they were missing (they had never gone IN the water on prior beach trips...how BORING)..they all clamored for a turn. It didn't take long for the brothers or the medical officer to follow suit. Soon we had a huge water fight with at least 10 kids in the water at a time. Douglass and the Brothers were each carrying in 2-3 at a time. Later, they had a nice motor boat ride around the lake and even saw a live camel!

The Brothers and Boys posing by Barack and family
OK...not sure why this statue is there, but hey!

Lunch time! CHICKEN and CHIPS! YUM!

The boat ride and lots of smiles

Brian, the man who has stolen my heart!

The fun part of the trip was trying to teach Pius how to eat an ice cream cone. He had never eaten one and kept pushing it away shaking his head. He had been trying to bit it and it was much too cold for his teeth...with some coaching and miming from myself and the brothers, he managed to figure it out! Now, whenever Pius sees me, he mimics eating a cone and puts his hand out with a smile and pleading eyes!