Again I have no excuse for not keeping on up on daily basis! We have had some pretty low key days, but I have just not done any writing. Saturday was mom's first real day here, so we took it easy in the morning and pretty much the afternoon, too! Since I thought the the Silent Voices play was so great, I wanted my mom to see it. Angella, Hope and Maryam also wanted to see it so we made arrangements to go to the show at 5:30. We also wanted to try to at least visit one orphanage on Saturday. The problem is, we think we have so much time because the trip is over two weeks long but the calendar quickly fills up and we end up having a lot to do! Since we had a late morning, we also had a really late lunch. Thanks to Maryam, we had a delicious array of meats, some cooked vegetables, and beans with rice. I do like Ugandan food, but it gets a little bland after awhile. Since Maryam cooked, she spiced up the meats a lot, which was much appreciated! We didn't leave the house until after 3 pm, which didn't give much time to visit Little Angels and get back for the play. In fact, we didn't even make it half way to Little Angels! The jam was horrible for some reason. It took over an hour to make it to a halfway point and I made an executive decision to not go. We had to drop off a couple of people and getting to their house and back took almost an hour as well. Sometimes I'm not sure if it is better to take a shortcut or to just wait out jam. I have been stuck in jam before without moving more than a few feet every 10 minutes or so, which I guess means a detour is a good thing. The problem is, the detours seem to go on forever and the roads that made them up are covered in potholes and man-made humps which are meant to slow people down. Unfortunately, the are so big that the car normally scrapes on the top of the hump as you go over them and it makes for an uncomfortable ride!!


We finally made it to the National Theatre for the play, but found a sign that said that all of the tickets were handed out. Apparently more people wanted to see it than I expected. Since my mom and I were the only ones there, we decided to go to the craft market while we waited. When Maryam arrived, she apparently knew people at the National Theatre and asked them to get us in. The show had just started and we walked right into a whole row of empty seats. There were still at least a couple dozen open seats, even by the end of the performance. I think that "sold out" has a different meaning here than it does at home. Just like the Mtatu ride last week, there is always room for ONE MORE! The show was amazing again. I think they did some minor changes since the first show and the acting got even better. We stayed at the end for a discussion about the conflict in Northern Uganda. It still surprises me that so many Ugandans who knew were alive and old enough to understand, had no idea they were going on at the time. If you didn't live in the North, you just assumed there were isolated incidents and not a lot of real problems. Even Angella said she didn't really understand the horrible things that were going on until she was a doctor and treating numerous patients with effects from the fighting. It is amazing how much can be covered, forgotten, or rationalized away from the spotlight based on what the media wants you to hear. The title of the play, Silent Voices, is so fitting because many of the victims have kept silent because they felt ashamed. One of the lines in the play says, "mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, what will become of us?". When soldiers came in, they destroyed homes, stole anything of value, killed, and even worse performed mass rape of men, women, and children alike. Nobody was safe from the war and nobody had the means to fight back. I am so glad that we stayed for the discussion and got to hear real people talking about their experiences and their feelings about how to make a change. One guy in the balcony made a great point in saying that we have lost our humanity. People are able to hurt each other, government officials steal from the people without a second thought, and nobody thinks about how it hurts people. If we start to think about the effects of our actions with humanity and compassion, we would make much different decisions. It was a powerful discussion session. I hope that this play spreads to other areas that have been affected by fighting so they can have a forum to discuss the issues.

Sunday was a pretty normal day. We went to Watoto church in the morning. We are really great at being late. Again, we took a shortcut (which I didn't understand because there is never jam on Sunday). We arrived 10 minutes after the service started and ended up sitting in the overflow area watching the service on a big screen. Although it was not as direct of an experience, I actually appreciated it a lot! We got to sit in individual plastic lawn chairs instead of long wooden benches. It was much more comfortable and as opposed to the benches, when you have your own chair, there is never room for one more! (except if you are a family and they ask you to share a chair with your child)

At night, Angella decided to invite people over for a party to celebrate her friend George's birthday. George's sister, Gloria, is a friend of Angella's and has become a friend of mine. Currently she is in Belgium studying, so George didn't have a lot of family to celebrate with. We bought pizzas and a cake that was in the shape of a race car (probably meant for a kid, but it was my favorite from the store!). We also got to meet one of Angella's friends that I have met through our many Skype chats. We had a rousing game of darts (unfortunately the boys beat the girls in an amazing comeback). George was super grateful. My mom even gave him a green watch. He said it was the only birthday present he got. It was really fun to have a reason to have a party and know that we made his day special with just a cake, some pizza, a watch, and a lot of laughs!!

Monday we finally got started on our work. We went to the Watoto office to get passes to see the Woolies. It took a pretty long time. Now, since we are official sponsors of the kids, we have to go with a Watoto guide rather than just showing up, which is kind of unfortunate, but at least we still get to see them! We are also working on planning a day out with them in the city. It sounds like there is a place called DiDi's world which is the equivalent of an amusement park. We are hoping it will work out!

We also went to some more craft shops and to do some shopping. It's amazing how much I still end up purchasing, even though I have been here so many times. I always collect a bunch of stuff to bring back and give away. Plus, I get a lot of fun jewelry for myself to wear at a really great price (okay, if you consider the plane ticket, it's really expensive, but since it is incidental, the cost is still really cheap!). If anybody knows of something they want me to bring back, let me know! My mom and I love to shop around!

The most frustrating part of the day was going back to Little Angels. The kids and Judith are great, but every time we start talking about Max I get mad. We brought peanut butter and jelly, bread, and juice a few days ago. It turns out Max took the peanut butter and the expensive juice to take to his home and left the rest. He apparently never steals everything, but always takes the best for him first! I just want to scream when I think of people who use kids and take the things that are meant for them! Even JB commented that he noticed how well dressed Max's kids were and how they were treated so well, but the orphanage kids looked so horrible compared to the others. I have a hard time reconciling it in my head. I think about all the gadgets I have. I carry an iPad, a computer, a nice phone, a camera, an iPod, and even a Kindle with me on this trip!!! I live in a great house. I wear really nice clothes. I eat whatever I want. I waste money on all kinds of crap. Should I give up all of those things to give everything to the children that I know? Am I willing to give up all the comforts that I "worked for" and "deserve" or even that I "need"? I guess I expect Max to not have all kinds of fancy cars and nice houses if he should be caring for the kids. I feel like I need to be careful of my judgement of Max, because he shouldn't be expected to live with nothing, but he also shouldn't STEAL what is given to the orphanage. If what Judith says is true, and I think it is, Max is horrible for asking donors for money, not paying for school fees, and taking things from the orphanage that he claims to love. There is something off about the situation and we really need to be discerning in our actions!

The real reason for us going was that we needed to get the sizes of shoes for all of the kids. I finally can name all of the kids and pick them out in my mind without having to see them first. That means we really have gotten to know them. It's a dangerous place to be because now I feel like I love them all a lot! That makes me a lot more defensive and protective of their well-being. I started out getting all the kids to bring their shoes, but it turns out most of the sizes have worn off of the bottom and the inside of their shoes. Instead, we reverted back to my favorite method, having the kids step on a piece of paper and drawing lines. Market day will be Friday, so we need to pray to get the right sizes at a good price so we can provide good things for the kids! We have a long list and we are hoping it will all work out! The Flea Market is always an experience to remember and I can't wait for the craziness!