Tuesday Adventures in Downtown Arua

Miengoni. Today we got to experience life in Arua. This morning we went on a scavenger hunt. We had two teams and were competing to finish 10 random Arua experiences. We were given a general downtown map and 10,000 shillings (roughly $4). I was on Jon and Jeri’s team. It was such fun. We decided that we would try to get as many of the tasks completed, but we basically just wanted to have fun going around downtown.

So, we decided we loved riding bodas all around town. It was our favorite (well maybe just me and Jer..i don’t know about Jon). We especially loved it in the rain. Bodas are motorcycle taxis (which I was informed tonight that next week I will have my own personal Boda driver J it’ll be grand). The drivers usually are known for driving a little like maniacs, so we told them that it was our first time and we feared them; they went very slow for us. We spent 9,000 shillings on bodas—basically all our money. Jon was a good sport.

We did manage to accomplish 7 out of 10 tasks. We went to the marketplace and purchased some tomatoes and sim-sim paste. We all tried the sim-sim (sesame seed) paste at lunch. I didn’t care for it very much (kind of like sandy sesame seed/peanut butter consistency).

Day 2 at the boys home was just as lovely as Day 1. We met David and 2 of the girls he had just taken in (Stella and Florence)—both had been rescued from very disturbing circumstances and finally finding a safe place to call home. We met with many of the same children from yesterday. Jeri told the story of the widow’s mite and we sang lots of fun songs.

Fortunate found me right away today (I thought she had said her name was Madeleine yesterday haha) and she held onto me for almost the whole time we were playing games. She would hold me so tight and tell me that she wanted me to come on Sunday and take me with her. In the middle of this, one of the older girls kept coming up to her and teasing her and saying that I wasn’t her real mother etc.  I didn’t really know what to do in that situation. So I just held her and told her I couldn’t come on Sunday, but we would be coming the next two days.

It’s getting late and I should go to bed—please be thinking of our team tomorrow. Each day it is getting harder to say goodbye to the children.

Blessings,
Mer