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Hello everyone, I hope you are all well!
I am really excited, as in just three days I will be meeting Donna, Liz and Rob in Poland, I can't wait to see them! We are interrailing through Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Romania over 3 weeks, I am sure we will have a fabulous time!
I have now finished my teaching work at the school and when I return from Europe, I will be starting work in an orphanage. Nsambya baby home is home to 23 children mainly aged 0 - 3 years old, most of whom have been abandoned at birth. Despite the orphanage being very old and in desperate need of updating, the home has a lovely atmosphere. I can't wait to volunteer there and I feel that out of many of the projects I have visited in the past few weeks, this is the one where I feel I will be of most help.
For the last part of the school holidays, a couple of friends and I went to visit Rwanda which is South West of Uganda. Rwanda is often associated with the horrific genocide that took place in 1994, which cost the lives of 1 million people, however the country has managed to recover well and is extremely beautiful!
After a 10 hour coach ride we arrived in Kigali the capital of Rwanda, where we spent the first few days. We were immediately surprised by how much calmer and cleaner the city was compared to Kampala and it was strange, but lovely to hear people talking in French!
The main focus of out trip to Kigali was to visit some of the genocide memorials. We visited one memorial at a church where 10,000 people were massacred, as a result of trible conflict between the Tutsis and the Hutus. After the massacre apparently all the bodies were left in the church for 2 years before being buried in mass graves, which is terrible to imagine. When we entered the church it was an extremely shocking and moving experience, as on all the pews were piles of clothes from the victims and the communion cloth still had the blood splatter stains on it! We were even allowed to enter the mass graves where there were several coffins and piles of unidentified skulls and bones, which I found abit too much to bare! Whilst I understand that it is important for everyone to remember such atrosities and to remember those who died, it feels wrong that they are not allowed to rest and remain on view to the public!
After another few days of sunbathing and relaxing at the beautiful Lake Kivu, I returned to my host family in Uganda. I entered my bedroom, only to be welcomed by a horrible wriggly fat rat, caught in a trap! Of course I was not very happy and had to get my younger 13 year old host brother Waswa to dispose of it for me, he was so brave! I think that somehow I am going to have to get used to living with these furry friends! However I have read on the internet that rats apparently hate the smell of peppermint. So as soon as I can find some I am going to smother my room in peppermint oil and see if that makes the rats magically disappear, anything is worth a try!!!
Take care everyone, missing you all loads!
Lots of love
Naomi xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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