Amani Baby Cottage

Since I haven't written in quite sometime, I figured I'd just give an overview of my days here and what exactly it is that I do.

Basically, at the beginning of every week, we're given a schedule for places to be throughout the week. The children are divided into five different groups, Baby A (the infants), Baby B (7-14 months), Baby C (14 months - 2 years), Toddlers (2-3 or 4 years), and Preschoolers (3 or 4 years - 5 years). We have a morning shift and an afternoon shift. The morning shift starts at 8 and goes til 1; the afternoon shift starts at 4 and goes to bed time which is around 7:30. From 1-4 the volunteers have a break while the kids are eating and napping. In the morning we're usually in the same place for three out of the five days, and in the afternoon, we're in a different place each night. The preschoolers are taught their colors, numbers, alphabet, shapes, and other basics. The Toddlers on down play with toys, are read stories, and pretty much just hang out. Each morning before lunch, the kids are taken out to the front yard to play and run around and let some energy lose. Lunch is at 12:45-1:00, then the kids are put down for a nap. When the kids wake up from their nap, they are given a snack and then back out to the front yard at 4:00 to play with us volunteers and hang out. At 6:00 the kids are fed dinner, followed by teeth brushing, bathing, susu (pee) time, changing of clothes, and story time before they are hugged and kissed good night and sent to bed.

Every other afternoon, we have one-on-one time with the kids where each volunteer takes out one kid to go swimming, go on a boat ride, go into town for a treat (milkshakes, sodas, or cake), or taken upstairs to the guest house to watch a movie and play with toys. The kids love going out with us and always ask when they get to go next.

On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, we have project or outing days. Projects consist of cleaning the cribs and beds, washing windows, or organizing shelves. For outings, we usually visit other orphanages or do touristy things (horseback riding by the Nile, boat rides, going to the fair, rafting the Nile, etc.)

Saturdays and Sundays are basically free days. Some Saturdays are spent on outings or one-on-one time with the kids. Sundays we go to church at local churches here in Jinja and the rest of the day is free to do whatever. Usually we go into town, play games, watch movies, read, or play with the kids.

And that's pretty much what a normal week consists of.