Sunday 23rd December 2007

Today I was lazing in bed for a while, when I suddenly remembered that Michael, Prudence and Junior were going to spend the day with their grandmother, so I quickly got ready, skipping breakfast, and headed out to collect all the people required.  I thought I was running late, but when I arrived to pick up Judith to go with them, she was not ready.  Then when we arrived to collect the children, they were not ready.  Which was ok by me as I got to play with the children a little, and the excitement about yesterday’s gifts was very high.   Children were running around everywhere trying to show us this or that.  When we finally set off, and nearing the children’s grandmother’s home, Michael started saying this and that (not that I had a clue what he was saying) in an excited tone.  When we got there he almost ran off leaving the others behind.  I take it that they were happy to be seeing their grandmother and friends.

 In the afternoon when I went to pick them up again the grandmother had come out to the road to meet us, and she would not stop saying how grateful she was for us bringing the children to visit and for having them in Akanyijuka.  I don’t know how she managed to get her old bones moving so much, but she was dancing and singing in appreciation.  The three children said that they had a good time, but did not want to stay, they definitely wanted to come back to Akanyijuka.  Over the next few days I noticed that Junior especially had changed after the visit, he was the happiest I had ever seen him.  I know all children are different, but it really reinforced our plans to take children back to where they came from to visit their families.  On arriving back at Akanyijuka all the children were still raving about their presents, that a few simple toys can mean so much is awesome when you think of how fussy we can be in the west.