Hey ya’ll, yoga noi! (that means hello in Ateso).  Today was our first full work day at Koreng Primary School and spending a substantial amount of time with the kids.  AS soon as we pulled up the bus was swarmed by 600 children. Kids were running up from all sides, and some even started chasing the bus about a mile back.  Never in my life have I received such a warm and genuine welcome.  The kids were singing and waving and jumping up and down.  When we got out of the bus they were all trying to touch our hands, our face, anything.  That was probably the coolest part of the day.  I was initially a bit nervous that a bunch of Muzungus (foreigners) would be looked at negatively; however, all of that subsided immediately after seeing the kids.  They were curious, and excited and as eager to get to know us as we were them.  Once we got settled we began playing with the kids.  Although the younger ones have a limited understanding of English, we were able to establish a sort of unspoken relationship through games such as tag, tickling etc. The welcome also demonstrated to me how strong the partnership is between the school, the Embrace Uganda local team, and the Embrace Uganda USA team. There is a true love for the village of Koreng and an effort to empower its citizens.   There is good work going on here, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of our week has in store!

Lydia