Snow Day

I woke up early Thursday morning to thunder and the sounds of pounding rain. In Uganda, when it rains, life stops briefly. It's like our snow days- the schools don't have school, the markets and stores close, the shops aren't open and transportation shuts down because they know they will have little passengers. If it continues to rain, Michelle says that we wont be able to travel to the school today which is half awful because I have such a great day of lessons planned for the kids, and half amazing because I need a mental battery recharge asap!
Laurie, the International Development Director of Fount of Mercy.....or, the lady that we are staying with for our first two weeks in Uganda, says that the rain will most likely not last all day, but you would never know that by the vigorous pounding of the drops on our bedroom windows.
Around 9am the rain stopped almost instantly to reveal beautiful sunshine, and so we left the house to head to the school.
Today was our third day with the kids. I cannot describe to you the pride I feel for these children. After only three days, they have learned and, more importantly remembered, the musical lessons I am teaching them. They can each sing 'Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Ti-Do' including dance movements with each syllable to help them remember, and my favorite- when we are finished with the lesson, and the group goes to play, I hear them singing the things I've taught them!
I am so thankful for these children in my life, and with each day, I feel their appreciation for me in every nerve of my body. Yesterday (Wednesday) we decided to do name tags with the kids. I had purchased a big role of masking tape and two magic markers in the states to incorporate some one-on-one connection with the children, and also to assess the kids' individual needs. These children each have unique backgrounds ending in the same orphanage so to be able to connect with them individually is a huge help to both the kids and to me. At first, they are tentative of this foreign object on their clothing, but I write my name on the tape and place it on my shirt first, repeating my name and then asking theirs. Julius helps me to ask them their names, and since we are limited with time, he and the head master of the school, Sarah, each help me spell out the names. By the end of the day, each child has a name tag, and I can begin calling them by their first name which seems to send a shot of pride through their little hearts. I LOVE the personal connection. They are still shy of using my name because they are embarrassed by their english, but I don't push it- the point was to help them to feel like special individuals- and I think we accomplished that.
We also did an acting exercise Wednesday with the oldest group, Primary four and five. I say 'acting exercise' because it is used by almost every acting coach as a way to clear your mind and body of previous thoughts and emotions so that you can 'take on the role that you are to perform' (I can hear Nova Thomas saying it to me now)...but for health purposes, it is an incredibly therapeutic exercise that helps to release tension and to connect the breath with the body.
In the past two days, I've been getting all 'hippy mind and body teacher' on these children. I have been saying 'Your body is yours, and yours alone. You own your body. No one can take that from you. And your breath gives life to your body. It is the first thing you do in this world and the last things that you do in this world. Help your body by giving it strength through breath!' They giggle at first on Wednesday when I say this, but today, when I ask them if they want to do our breathing exercise again, they don't even hesitate- they all said 'yes!' (I melt)
SO I asked them each to lay on the ground with their backs down, and their palms facing the sun. We are in the shade under their mango tree and the breeze is beautiful. I tell them that their spinal chord is the strength of their bodies, holding every part of them together, and I ask them to feel their spinal chord melting into the ground. I tell them to relax their faces and I go around to each child and press on their shoulders to release the tension and gently pull under the base of their heads to elongate their spine. We talked previously about breathing in and out deeply from 'their bellies' not through their shoulders and as they lay on the ground, I can see that they are remembering this!
I had such success with this exercise on Wednesday that I shared it with Michelle, and so today she and the head master, Sarah lay down to be a part of the class (I am thrilled!) I decide to take the exercise a step further and begin to tell them to inhale and meet a thought, whatever thought they are having, and to exhale and release the thought into the sky, into the universe. They giggle at first and I say that I understand it seems silly but I would like them to resist the temptation to giggle. I tell them that our emotions are held so tightly in our bellies and hips, that when we are laying down and breath deeply, we are meeting these emotions. I tell them to exhale all their emotions out into the sky.
I walk around pressing gently on their shoulders to help them relax and I can see the tension melt away from them. It is so powerful. When I reach Sarah, I press lightly on her shoulders and run my hand down her arms to open the tension in her hands. I tell her to relax and breath deeply. As her face starts to shake, I can see the emotion boiling out of her. She places her tongue between her lips to keep from shaking and I tell her 'it's ok' and to 'let it go'.
I cannot tell you how powerful it was to be receiving the energy of a woman who has an entire organization on her shoulders. All the futures of these children lye on her shoulders, and you can see this in her posture. The amount of emotion releasing from her at this time overwhelmed me and I begin to cry as I continue to instruct the class to breath deeply and stay with their breath.
It was simply unbelievable.
After the class, Sarah was like a new woman. Fifteen minutes of deep breathing had this woman lying belly down in the grass next to a student, and then, before lunch, running and jumping with the soccer ball! This is out of the ordinary for her and made my heart fly. She hugged me and thanked me by wrapping her arms under me and puling me into her by my butt ( : Two hands holding my butt and telling me 'Thank you, thank you, may God bless you'.
Incredible.

My time with MOHM is coming to an end as tomorrow (Friday) is my last day.
More soon
love, Carly