Home Life at RG

On the flight home from Uganda, I made a list of blog topics so I would remember to write about different aspects of our trip and what we experienced there. I don’t know what exactly I intended to write about “home life” but I suppose I can fill you in on the living situation for the orphans there. This may be redundant from earlier, so I apologize if it is.

Restoration Gateway is currently home to 71 orphans (or at least that was the count while we were there in June). The homes are arranged in “pods” of 7 houses laid out like an octagon with an opening where the 8th house should sit. The first pod constructed is “Pod 1” and it is at full capacity with 7 mamas and 56 kiddos… And let me tell ya, Pod 1 is lively! Any given afternoon, you’ll see at least one child on each porch working on dinner, one in front of each house washing crocs, and the other 42 jumping rope, washing clothes, kicking a soccer ball around or gathering up produce from the big pile that appears seemingly out of nowhere. At least three times during my stay, some invisible signal went out and several kids started walking in the same direction. In my curiosity, I followed them. As it turned out each time, a pile of tomatoes or onions or cabbage had appeared and they were going to collect their share. I never did figure out what the signal was that told them it was time to go.

Pod 2 is home to 15 orphans and 2 mamas, 2 missionary families, the guest quarters, the reverend and his family, and the school headmaster’s family. Pod 2 has most of the younger kids, since it was the second phase, and the newest ones had only been there for 2 weeks when we were visiting. They are the only group that doesn’t speak English just yet and would just look at us when we gave them instructions to “hold your ball” and “back up!” Monica, the big sis of that group, had told me that they don’t yet understand English so I was always sticking up for them when the other guys said “these kids don’t listen.” Pod 2 is also lively, with all the visitors learning how to jump rope African-style, and the missionary kids running around collecting interesting bugs and lizards. Those kids love dirt and bugs, and I know they were meant for African living. David and Christopher, the youngest orphans at 5 and 3, are usually walking around Pod 2 making friends with any Mzungu who will pick them up and hold them. They love Mzungus, and we were told the first people to ever hold them were most likely white.

Here is a typical day for the orphans, from what I gathered:

6:30 Sunrise – go outside and sweep the porch with a collection of tall dried grass (or what I like to call a broom without a stick)

7:30 Report to school assembly

10:30 Go home and eat breakfast (Porridge every day except Saturday, which is hot milk)

11:00 Go back to school

1:00 Go home for lunch (most likely rice and beans)

2:00-4:00 either work in the garden or do PE (play futbol) depending on the day

4:00 Play, cook dinner, or do chores depending on your assignment for the day

7:30 Dark – Eat dinner sometime around dark:30, then bathe and clean the floors inside

So basically the day starts and ends with cleaning the floors! On Saturday, it’s not play day it’s work day. The last day we were there was a Saturday and by 7:30 the kids were all in the garden picking beans. They then shell the beans and lay them out to dry on a reed mat in the sun. It’s very interesting to see all the work that goes into a meal there and all the things they do by hand that we would use gadgets for or buy pre-made. It’s also kind of soothing to watch the simple life in action, and the love and joy that these children have in their hearts. They make me glad!