In the morning almost all of the babies were given the flu shot out on the patio by the Sanyu nurse. Being Friday, a class day, this was done by pulling a half dozen of the toddlers at time out on to the patio, where one by one their name was called and they were dragged by a mama to the nurse, and pinned down as their little arms were given the vaccination. Meanwhile the other five with their eyes glued on their screaming, crying, forcibly held-down sibling, stood in complete silence, which almost never happens at Sanyu (silence). I was sitting behind Myrian on the patio bench when her name was called out. She had unconsciously backed up until she was leaning against my shins, sucking her thumb, and stood with her feet planted, nervously shaking her head "no." Mama swiftly moved across the circular deck and pulled Myrian by her thumb-sucking arm to face the nurse; Myrian screaming all the while. This assembly-line fashion of flue shot administrating was carried out until nurse called out all the names on her list. In a sad way it was almost comical! They were all fine after a few seconds, it was mainly just the build-up that set all the kids off.
Last winter pneumonia broke out at Sanyu Babies Home and it took four of the babies lives. It's very expensive for Sanyu to afford at least 50 doses of vaccinations at a time, and they were very thankful to able to administer flu shots this year. They are working on administering pneumonia shots for all of their babies as well, but for children under 6 months they require 3 doses; 7-24 month olds require 2 doses; and children 2 and older only need one dose, but this more than doubles the vaccine's expenses since most of Sanyu's children will require multiple doses of the medicine.
This medical process took up a majority of the morning.
I couldn't tell exactly what was going on in the afternoon, but boxes and boxes and boxes of donations were being opened and sorted. It appeared to me that anything that could not be used by Sanyu was up for grabs for the mamas, and it was up to the mamas to sort what was there. They had a field day with this! The entire hillside behind Sanyu was spread out with clothes and blankets and sheets, and it occupied every one of them all afternoon. As Judy and Grace were both sick in bed that meant for the rest of the day, Denise, Hannah and I were the *only* adults left to supervise Sanyu's 50 babies. Before the last mama left for the hillside she herded all of the toddlers into the TV room and flipped it on, shutting all the doors behind her. What would normally be outside time was now a long drawn-out TV time. It was a very odd day.
The older toddlers- the three, four, and five year olds escorted themselves to their bedroom which is connected to the TV room, and played as typical children their age play, engaging in random make-believe games.
The rest of them sat on their butts and fussed. Thank God Denise stayed back with the rest so I didn't have to! I snuck out with the older ones and we played ring-around-the-rosey, and other more engaging sorts of games that are only possible with the few older children who are able to participate and communicate with myself and one another. Games where I'm a monster and chase them around the room; those sorts of things. It was insanely fun to spend so much focused time with only the five-six oldest kids and them not having to fight off the 20 or 30 younger ones they're usually grouped with for my attention. It was the most fun I've had in Uganda so far. I just want so badly for all of them to be adopted ASAP! Because of my concern for the older ones not getting enough attention in the babies home, I tend to gravitate towards them, and by now they all know my name and engage with me when I talk to them! All I can do when I leave in 10 days is have faith that they'll be okay.
The toddlers' bedroom
part of the middle groups' bedroom
connected to the toddlers bedroom- the changing room
Through that door ahead is the hallway that leads to the classrooms
To the left are the showers and kiddie toilets
I think David reacted negatively to his flu shot because by late afternoon he broke out in a terrible fever and was crying in pain for hours. I tried to take him to a mama or a nurse but they were all busy on the hillside and told me to put him in bed. I held him for a long time until he calmed down, and then put him to bed. No less than 20 minutes later I heard him howling in his crib. When I went to check on him I saw that some of the other toddlers had broken free of the TV room and were banging their plastic cups against the bars of his crib right by his face. Never a moment of peace and quiet for a sick or timid child at Sanyu! I kicked the others out and apologized to David as I left his bedside. He vomited excessively after dinner that evening.
Hannah will be here for the next six months and she promised that if David get's adopted to write me the second its confirmed.
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