The Tina-terns (Life of an Intern)

This summer I was chosen to be an intern for H.E.A.L. Ministries. In other words I am a Tina-tern. (Intern for Tina, the founder of H.E.A.L. Ministries). There are four other interns; Sam, Haley and I all came together and Clair and Kayleigh came together a couple of weeks after us.

A typical week day for me starts at 7:00 a.m. I journal and check my email and Facebook. Breakfast is around 8:00 a.m. I say around 8:00 because it generally fluctuates around that time depending on the menu and who is cooking.
After breakfast is preschool. So far Haley, Claire, Kayleigh and I have 3 students: twins, Babirye and Nukato and their younger brother, Joshua. The child care workers, Jackie and Jennifer also join to translate until the girls understand English better.

At 10:30 a.m. or when the students are tired of learning (as Nukato puts it) we go outside for activities. By this time the women are arriving for English class, Business class or Work projects. They drop their child off at child care then go to class. The interns and I play with the kids, hold crying babies, learn about Uganda and the language from Jackie and Jennifer and chase the shade all morning.
Lunch is at 1:00 p.m. and is served at the outdoor kitchen. During the lunch break the staff will start a game of volleyball. It's always fun playing a game with the staff because they're really good and there's really no rules whatsoever.
After lunch there are different things we do depending on the day. Tuesdays and Thursdays we can go to Amani Baby Cottage (http://amanibabycottage.org/). Wednesdays and Fridays we help with work projects or child care.
For dinner we make our own meal unless we go out to eat or Tina makes dinner. There is usually a meeting or a movie or both after dinner.
Mondays are off days until we have the option to go to Masese in the afternoon.

 
Saturdays the interns are off until Kids' Club. At 2:00p.m. over 300 (or almost 450) children come to The James' Place for fun, Bible Study and snack. It's sometimes crazy but always fun.
Sundays we can go to church then Canaan Children's Home (http://www.canaanchildrenshome.org/) where we do a Bible Study with the young women.

So this is the typical week for a Tina-tern. There's other variations to this especially when a team is here. The first team, "The Mom Team," just left this week. They were an amazing group of five ladies who held a Women's Conference here in Jinja. Kayleigh, Claire, Haley and I were able to be small group leaders. A woman was saved on the second during my small group! It was an amazing experience!

Irene, my translator for the Women's Conference

In five days I will leave Uganda and return to the States on June 19, 2013. It's bittersweet. Bitter because I'm going to miss the people I have met and re-met while here. Sweet because I am really looking forward to not having to hand wash my underclothes.