Meggan’s Summer Visit to Uganda, Part 1!

~ Natalia Radcliffe ~ 

After a couple of long years, Meggan was finally able to return to Uganda to volunteer with Mercy Childcare. 

The first night was an eventful one. 

to begin with, the time difference between Uganda and the United States is significant. 

And by significant we mean around a 10 hour difference. 

Meggan landed at 2am, and was at the Mercy Childcare village by 8:30 in the morning. She stays with one of the founders of the charity, Pastor Wilfred Blair Rugumba and his wife Vena, who live in the village. 

After some much needed rest in an attempt to at least recover a little from the jet lag, she got up in time to attend a concert that raised money for the church and the orphanage run by Mercy Childcare. There were many Uganda artists who participated, all showing off their music and raising money for a good cause. Pastor Wilson Bugembe, the other founder of Mercy Childcare and a well-known Christian artist in Uganda, was a headliner. His performance was at 1 am. 

Meggan at the concert with some of the people she volunteers with! Photo by Meggan Kimberley

Unfortunately, Meggan was unable to see him perform. The charity had a schedule for her while she was there, and wanted her to get some good sleep so she could tackle the coming days’ tasks with ease.

Understandable. It takes time to adjust to such a contrasting time difference. 

One day, while Meggan was there, she looked after the young children, around the age of kindergarten and younger. 

She threw a bubble party for them! 

children under the care of Mercy Childcare having fun playing with bubbles! Photo by Meggan Kimberley

She made sure to pack a few bubble kits back home in the United States, for the children to play with. They were delighted with it, running around trying to pop the bubbles and giggling, having the time of their lives. After playing with bubbles, Meggan read to them. 

Reading to the kids offers a unique opportunity to experience and learn about their culture, as they will not relate to any book that’s picked up from a store. A good example is books with monsters in them. We all know the story Where the Wild Things are, right? Many of us probably grew up listening to our parents read that story to us. However, children in Uganda will not be able to relate to that story. 

It might even scare them. 

We don’t think twice about the monsters in the story, but to them, monsters are very real, as witchcraft is still practiced. 

We don’t think twice about Max having his own room, as that’s very common in the United States, but not a lot of kids in Uganda have their own rooms.

Picking books to read to them makes you stop and think about the world they live in, and what kinds of topics they can relate to. Meggan brought a couple of Dr. Seuss books for this very reason. Not only are the books fun and whimsical, they are also about fantastical worlds far different from our own, so far from reality that any child can enjoy the stories. 

Make sure to stop by next week for Part 2 on Meggan’s experiences in Uganda this summer! There's more stories to tell. 

Thumbnail: background picture by PublicDomainPictures on Pixabay.com.