Sunday 9th July

Today was the first morning waking up in our houses in the Kids of Africa compound - Olivia and I were designated house 3 in which we have a 'mother' and seven 'brothers and sisters'. Although filled with apprehension at first, we were immediately met with excitement and love from our mother Josephine and all of the children. Our Sunday was a day of settling and getting to know, not only the families we are living with, but all of the children living in Kids of Africa and the men and women who make it a home for these children. 

After offers of breakfast from Josephene, the group convened in the main dining hall to eat together and make the plan for the day. Exhausted from travelling the evening before, we were relieved to hear that we could get to know our way around the compound and the surrounding areas. The morning was spent mostly playing with the children, their favourite games being football on their large pitch or jumping around on their trampoline. Seeing all of the children who had come from such deprived and poor beginnings have such an amazing time together created a huge sense of family and filled us with joy.

The afternoon consisted of travelling outside of the compound and seeing how those outside lived. It was thrilling to see all of the local children and their faces of excitement once they saw us, all shouting "muzungu" which we found so cute. We walked into the centre of the village to get snacks at a supermarket, but the best part of the day was visiting Bwenga Junior Academy where we had the opportunity to see the work done on the 2015 tour and see what we would be doing for our community project.

Finally, we ate dinner together as a group and split off to our different houses to play with the children. In house 3 we taught the children how to play 'snap' with cards which they absolutely loved. We went to bed with a sense of achievement in getting to know our children and excitement for the day ahead! 

Rosie Glibbery