Day 21 - July 26

Today was our day to be tourists. I think it’s necessary on every trip to do at least one day that you aren’t doing a lot of work and that you have some time to relax. Unfortunately, the way it works out for us, all of our relaxing days are at the beginning and then we have some really busy days from tomorrow until Saturday. I think it will be a lot of long days ahead, but hopefully we can manage.

We decided that we should be able to manage to use public transport to get to Jinja and then find a special taxi to get to the horseback riding place. Since Jozeph was our driver and we had to fit 5 people into his car, he didn’t want to travel all the way to the downtown taxi park because he didn’t want to get stopped by the traffic police. I would hate to be the reason that Jozeph was in trouble for anything, so I was fine doing whatever he asked. We went to a smaller taxi park near where we live. The only problem with the smaller parks is that taxis fill up much slower. We found an EMPTY mtatu that was the only one labeled for Jinja. Angella and I decided to look around and see if we could find any others that were going that direction. Sometimes you have to ask the drivers specifically where they are going in order to find out their destination. The park is pretty much mass chaos, with mtatu’s parked in all different directions and guys yelling where they are going. I’m actually kind of glad we didn’t go to the downtown park because it is ten times as chaotic and probably would have been a bit overwhelming for the group of us.

Since we couldn’t find another taxi and we were still the only ones in the mtatu, we were getting doubtful that we would make it to Jinja in time to go riding. After 30 minutes, I decided we had to make a deal. I told Angella that we should offer to pay for the empty seats in the mtatu if they would promise us to not stop and pick up more people and take us to our final destination. I sometimes feel like we are taking advantage of Angella because she is always our interpreter. For the drivers and shop-owners, they see a Ugandan woman with a bunch of Mzungus and they expect her to help them out by giving them business at a high price. We want Angella to help us get a fair price. It ends up putting her in a sticky situation where she feels like she is being pulled from both sides. If only I spoke Luganda! I would gladly try to negotiate prices with people, but there is just too much of a language barrier to make that possible sometimes. The driver was receptive to our offer, but charged us 7000 per seat even though the going rate is probably only 5000. We had to pay for a total of 14 seats, making the final price 98,000 shillings. Even though it seemed like a lot, it was much better than the price we would have paid for a special hire and it was the best way to ensure we got there in time. The ride was actually quite pleasant. We could spread out in all the seats, open all the windows without people in front of us closing them, and we got to go straight to the location.

When we got to Jinja, we had to call for directions. The woman on the phone was so nice and didn’t mind that we might be a little late. Sometimes I forget that being late is almost always expected, but when I had called to plan the trip, the man on the phone insisted that we were ten minutes early. I would rather be early and have to wait around than late, even though most people would expect lateness. Angella is the exception to most Ugandans. She is almost always on time or early and she likes it when other people are too.

We had to turn down a narrow dirt road to get to the horses. We are lucky we even saw the little yellow sign pointing us in the right direction. None of the boda drivers or local workers we asked knew exactly what we were talking about, so we just had to keep our eyes open and hope we could find our way. Apparently Jinja had gotten much more rain that we did in Kampala yesterday because the road was a pile of mud. The driver did not want to go, but Angella insisted they take us where they said they would. We were pretty much sliding out of control the entire way. At one point, we slid to within a few inches of a matooke tree. At least we weren’t really going fast so we probably wouldn’t hit anything too hard. Ahead of us, we saw a big white truck just stopped and parked across the road. We realized it was completely stuck in the mud. I called the woman at the horse place and she said she knew about the truck and her husband was on his way to pick us up with the jeep. We saw him right away coming up behind the truck. The mtatu driver started to ask for more money, but I had already counted out the exact amount and he had already overcharged us. I’ve learned that if you have exact change, there is no opportunity for people to say they don’t have change so they won’t be able to keep more money. It doesn’t happen with every driver, but there are quite a few that it seems to be the case and I’d rather err on the side of caution!

We had to stand up in the back of the truck because it was wet and full of red dirt. There was no warning about all of the trees so we were just hanging on to a big pole and trying to duck as much as we could. At one point, Angella and Pamela, who were slightly in front of Nick, ducked without warning while he was looking the other way and he turned around just in time to run into the branches. It couldn’t have been timed better!

The view from the ranch was amazing! They are on top of a hill overlooking the River Nile as it wraps around a couple of islands. Everything is green and beautiful around it with the sound of the rushing water to calm you down. The people that own the horses are a couple from the Pacific. She is from New Zealand and he is from Australia. They moved to the country 10 years ago because he had visited and loved the country. They’ve been living on the river for over 6 years and are able to keep the horses and rent out land to make money. Some of the most interesting people I have met have been from Australia or New Zealand. It seems that they are much more likely to be adventurous or live in interesting places than people from the U.S.

The horses were a great way to do something different. Angella had never ridden one and she had mentioned it was on her “bucket list” of things to do in life. We really wanted to help her out with her list and I thought it would be pretty fun to see her riding a horse, so we offered to gift her the trip. I’m so happy she decided to accept! My horse was named Sam Bucca. The only reason I recognized that he was named after alcohol was that when we studied in Australia, a woman invited us to her house and she got really excited about opening her bottle of Sam Bucca and sharing it with us. Apparently it was some sort of special liquor or the bottle was special to her. Now every time I’ve heard that name, all I can think about is the trip to Margaret River with the sweet little woman who fed us and entertained us for an evening.

Sam Bucca the horse was great, except for the fact that all he wanted to do was eat! I felt bad depriving him, so I often just let him stop and munch on some leaves. If I really wanted him to go, all I had to do was give him a tug and a kick and he would be obedient. It was just hard to deny him food when I knew he was doing all the work and I was just sitting back letting him struggle on the slippery roads. The horses were having a bit of a tough time after the rain. The guides didn’t really want to go to fast to ensure that the horses were not sliding around too much. I was okay with that. It takes a lot of energy to stay on the saddle when you are trotting and I preferred a relaxing ride. There was a little girl named Naomi who was also on the ride with us and she really wanted to trot. She was probably only 9 or 10 but she really loves to ride horses. I think we figured out that she is the daughter of some Mzungu that runs a resort in Jinja.

Overall, the horses were great, except that Angella’s slipped and made her scream at least a few times. Nick had some issues keeping his on the trail. Naomi’s horse started bucking and going crazy at one point. My mom, being the trooper that she is, stayed on the horse and kept a smile most of the time, but I think she was having trouble getting her horse to do what she wanted. It’s funny because no matter where we go, people call her mom. The guides kept going back to help “mom” with her horse. The ride itself was through a local village in Jinja on some of the trails through the fields. The last part of the ride was gorgeous! We got to go to a clearing overlooking some of the rapids. I recognized them from when we went whitewater rafting because they were right next to the rest camp where we get to eat dinner. The guides led my horse right next to the edge facing the clearing so he could take a picture. It was fine until he lined up Angella and Pamela next to me. They took the picture but then Pamela’s horse decided that it was a good idea to back up into mine. Sam Bucca was not a fan and started to freak out. I quickly got him to move forward and away from the edge. The last thing I needed was to tumble down to the Nile with a horse on top of me!

We got done with the ride and took some pictures overlooking the Nile. Angella loved a huge great Dane that was on the riverside so she had a mini photo shoot with him. Hopefully I’ll get one of my favorites posted! We got a ride back to town and the owner set up a taxi to take us to Jinja.

Jinja is not as small as I expected. It actually felt quite large once we started driving through the busy streets. It’s a better size than Kampala, which is so big and crowded that at most times it can be very unpleasant. I think if I had to choose, I would appreciate the pace and attitude of the people in Jinja. They tend to be much more helpful and less worried about taking advantage of money from tourists. We ate lunch at a small restaurant and internet café and then stopped to look at some of the shops. We were able to buy a lot of beautiful things and they were much cheaper than they are in Kampala. One of the shop owners was so happy that he gave Angella 4 pairs of earrings for free. I don’t know if he thought she was a guide or if he just was generous, but it was really nice of him!

On the way into Jinja, we almost got into big trouble. Pamela had her camera in her hand and had lifted it to take a picture of the Nile. As we were crossing, a guard started yelling at her to stop. She never took any pictures and put it away, so we thought that was it. However, when we got to the other side, an officer pulled over the car and started talking to the driver in Luganda. I could tell right away he wanted to know about pictures. We had to take out our cameras and prove that we hadn’t taken any pictures. I was shocked at how strict they were about the rule. It’s the first time that we’ve actually been questioned about what we are doing. I’m so happy that Pamela never took any pictures and we didn’t get ourselves into trouble. Clearly there is something to hide near the bridge. It makes me really want to know what it is! I guess it will be a secret that Uganda will hold without sharing it with us!

We decided to check out the Bugagali Falls, which is a 15 minute job out of Jinja. The cab driver that brought us to town offered to bring us there. It was good to be able to take some pictures close to the river and for Angella and Nick to be able to see something they haven’t before. We also paid a guy 3,000 shillings to float down the rapids tied to one of the plastic cans that people carry water in. I’m sure he does it all the time, but it’s still kind of fun to watch. For $1.50, I think it was a good short entertainment for the afternoon.

On the way home, we decided to take a bus. It was much bigger than the Mtatu, but it was still crammed with people. We sat with all 5 of us across the last seat. Unfortunately the woman in front of me kept shutting the window and the window next to me didn’t open. It make for a really long hot and tiring ride. It’s crazy how the buses stop here. There are rest places where people dressed in blue coats come up to the windows selling fried bananas, water, juice, meat on a stick and all kinds of random things. You can pretty much get anything that you want without leaving your seat. By the time we stopped, I would have rather just kept going and get to Kampala sooner, but you get what you pay for! Instead of 98,000, we paid a total of 20,000 for all 5 of us. I was a fan!

We had to walk back to town because the mtatu we got stopped early and we were on a really odd road. I was so ready to be home! We stopped at Quality Supermarket to pick up some random food to eat for dinner. We got Jozeph 2 to take us home because Jozeph was unavailable. I didn’t really care how we got home at that point as long as we got there! I took a shower and got ready to sleep early! The next few days are going to be really busy and I don’t want to be tired!

Day 20 - July 25

Sundays are always good, but when you put the Woolies on a Sunday, they are even more amazing! We had to go to the earliest service at 8:00 in order to have enough time to walk to Garden City to meet with the Woolies. The woman who spoke at the service is a children’s pastor, which I really appreciated. When you talk to little kids a lot, you have to find ways to keep their short attention spans interested for a long time. She used stories and visual aids over and over again so there was always something to keep you alert and awake, which was good because I was tired from the late night and early morning. The sermon was about letting your light shine. Sometimes it’s hard to be the light and show love to people when you are worn out or when the things of the world start to wear on you. It’s so important to be aware of our light because so many people may never have somebody being that positive influence in their lives. If we aren’t, who will do the job?

She ended with a story about Luther the Lighthouse, who lights the way for all the ships coming in. After many days of never being thanked for leading the ships with soldiers coming home from war to the harbor, he decided to sleep one night instead of shining his light. Two ships came at the same time from opposite directions and he didn’t wake up until they had crashed into each other, killing on the soldiers. He had given up because he was frustrated and he didn’t realize how important his job was until something bad had happened. The pastor then explained that we are shining for people’s lives every day in a different way. It’s such an important responsibility. I think we really need to rely on God to help us shine our light. We are not the source of any light, but a vessel that He uses to spread the light. If we can focus on him as the source and not rely on our own strength, it becomes much easier to let your light shine. When people see that we live our lives differently and we are loving people in practical ways, they see a different way to live life. It’s hard to be here and not get bitter or worn out of all the poverty and sadness. People see Mzungu and expect us to give them everything they need. It is tiring to not be able to do everything and frustrating to be expected to do so much. I know that the only way that we are able to do as much as we have is through what God has allowed us to do.

After church, we walked through the craft market to just see what was around on our way to Garden City. Not too many of the shops were open, so we only spent a short time looking and buying a few random things. We were still a little early by the time we arrived, so we decided to get an early lunch at Javas. I have eaten there so much and I generally get the same two things – Tuna melt or Avocado and cheese sandwich, but I haven’t gotten sick of them yet! I decided I wanted to eat before we get to Garden City because I had a feeling it would be hard to keep track of the kids eating while if we were trying to eat ourselves.

When we arrived at Garden City, it wasn’t hard to find the kids! Rose and Bridget had dressed all of them in nice clothes and shoes and then were waiting inside the entrance. They were so excited to see us and came running up to greet us. We walked them all up to the second level where there is a little play area with a slide and some stuff for them to climb on. There weren’t too many other children around, so it was good for them to be able to run around and be crazy without disturbing other kids. I always worry because they don’t really have any boundaries at Watoto. They can’t get out of the gates, so they can basically run wherever they want and be safe. Garden City is a different story. At one point, Peter climbed on top of the flower bed and started walking towards the edge. I ran as fast I could to grab him off so he didn’t take too many steps and fall two stories down onto the pavement of the parking lot. My mom had taken the two moms shopping for shoes and some things they wanted at the grocery store, so it was up to Nick, Pamela, Angella, Kate and I to watch all 15 of them. The ratio was not in our favor, but we somehow managed. Pamela and Angella sat outside by the fountain to catch the ones that came out of the play area and Nick, Kate and I patrolled to make sure none of them got to close to the edges or started to walk back to the stores. At one point I pulled Kenneth and a few of the kids that remember Ross aside. It’s become tradition that we wake up somebody back home to the sound of the Woolies saying hello. It was only 4:30 in the morning, but I figured Ross wouldn’t mind. Kenneth was excited to hear him talking. I’m not sure what Ross was saying, but I don’t think Kenneth understood everything. Trevor, Peter, and Irene also said hello. I can’t wait to show Ross the video of them taking. They were so smiley and happy to be on the phone! After the phone calls, I could tell they were starting to get bored, so I walked over to the toy store and bought a couple of balls. They worked well until one fell over the edge and a security guard picked it up and took it. At least they had one more to play with.

The balls didn’t distract them for too long, so I decided to go and search for my mom and the two moms from Watoto to see about eating. I tried to sneak away, but Ruth and Trevor kept following me, so I let them come only if they promised to hold my hand and stay by me. I think Ruth had heard me say something about food so she wanted to stay close. As we started down the ramp, I noticed Kirabo and John coming behind me. I let them stay, but had to keep telling them to come closer and not run away. We were able to find the three moms in the grocery store and they said we could go ahead and order food and they would come upstairs later.

Once we got upstairs, we had the task of gathering all 15 kids to the food court and set them down on tables and chairs all in a row. Every restaurant sent menus over for us to choose from. Nick said he was confused because he assumed it was like food courts at home where you choose what you want. Here, all the restaurants try to make their place look the most appealing so they want to get their menus in your face the fastest. We knew chicken and fries would be the best. We ordered 14 plates, one for each kid except Joy and Abby, who were so little that they could just share. The place that sold the chicken didn’t have any soda so we had to get them from one of the other stores. At that point, we didn’t really know who we were ordering from, but I’m sure they kept track of the money we owed pretty carefully.

By the time the food started to come, Abby was completely asleep and Pamela’s lap. We tried to get her to wake up, but she just kept closing her eyes. When you’re tired, you just have to sleep. Lucky girl! I could have fallen asleep at that point too! Joy kept me busy. She needed help with her chicken and chips. She also has a great way of drinking Fanta with a straw. She hasn’t quite learned that you don’t have to tip the bottle, so every now and then if I wasn’t paying attention, I would end up with Fanta all over my skirt and covering Joy’s dress. She didn’t seem to mind, and my brown skirt could cover the wet spots. Ruth was the last one left eating. She savors every bite and always cleans her plate. All of the other kids had gone back to play but she wanted to stay and finish. It’s always good entertainment when Ruth is at the dinner table! Her face is completely focused on the food and she is aware of every place that the food goes. Once she was finished, we finally got all the kids back to the play area to run around for a bit. They had been out since 11 and it was nearly 3:30. We could tell they were starting to get a little crazy, and they were harder to contain.

As we were trying to get them down the stairs, Bridget stopped to talk to two women. My mom was with them and they kept talking for a while. Finally I told them we needed to go. My mom said that the woman was the doctor for the kids. As we were continuing to gather the troops I looked back. The American doctor did not look pleased as she surveyed the scene and talked to her friend. I don’t know if she didn’t approve of the kids being out or if she was just having a bad day. I really hope that it doesn’t cause a problem for the kids or the mothers. We had gotten approval to go out to Garden City, but I never really feel like I know the rules at Watoto. Every time we are told something, there always seems to be a way around it. I don’t want to go outside of the boundaries of the organization, but I also think it’s important to let the kids see life outside of where they live. They are basically in a compound that they never have to leave because their home, school, church, and doctor are all within the same fence. If they don’t get out, they won’t understand how the rest of the world works and it will be a much harder adjustment when they leave. I just don’t know what the right things to do in the situation are. It’s an all around crappy situation to have no parents, but Watoto does a good job of trying to give the kids a good experience. There are just so many children to take care of and none of them really gets the attention that they would if they were being brought up in a home with their mom and dad. It is quite heartbreaking when I think of how much love and attention I got growing up versus how much these kids get to be pampered one on one with their house mother.trying to look after all of them.

We decided to walk by one of the markets on our way to the mtatu stand. Angella and Kate went home to take a nap. The market wasn’t too busy, so it was good to be able to just walk around. Pamela found some bags and things for her sisters and my mom found some jewelry that she really liked. Nick found a piece of grass that he could lay down on. We only had a few minutes to shop once we were done, we walked down the street to the taxi stand. A nearly empty Mtatu pulled up and we got it. I should have known better! Empty mtatu’s usually mean that you will be waiting a long time for them to fill up. It was fine until we got to Wandegeya. It was raining so there weren’t that many people outside anymore. There were dozens of mtatu’s waiting to fill up. We had to inch our way into a parking spot. It was the first time in a long time that we had to wait a long time. It took almost a half hour for us to get filled up and start moving again. At least it was only kind of hot and there was a bit of a breeze. We were going to be late for the 6:00 culture show that is near Ntinda, but it didn’t matter too much. People will always let you pay the admission!

We met up with Angella around 6:15 on the street corner and then walked down to get on a different Mtatu. It was only a few minutes to get to the show. Even though we were 45 minutes late by the time we walked in, there were still many open tables and the introduction had not happened yet. The host is an energetic man in his 50’s who loves to dance and tell jokes. He kept us entertained, even though we were exhausted.

The dances are very different in every region of the country. Angella is great to sit next to because she explains the meaning of every dance and tells stories about the people that live in that area. My favorite things is to watch her reaction when they host tells jokes. I’m pretty sure that she laughs harder, longer, and louder than anybody else in the audience!

Halfway through, it started to sprinkle, so we decided to move the show inside. We all had to pick up our chairs and go to the small auditorium. Everybody managed to fit in the small space, with chairs crammed as close as possible to one another. When Pamela went to sit down, the feet of the chair must have been crooked, because the back leg just snapped! Fortunately she was able to keep her balance and not completely fall down, but she had to sit on the cement step for the remainder of the show. Just about the same time, Angella managed to spill coffee all over the front of her jacket. We clearly were having issues tonight! On top of that, we had tried to text Jozeph about picking us up, but he misread the text and showed up an hour early and then got upset with us. I don’t want our favorite cab driver to be upset with us! We convinced him to come back later, but he was not happy to have to leave and then return. My mom went out to talk to him and he realized that he had misread the text and the misunderstanding was his fault. He was much less upset and apologized to us.

Tomorrow is going to be another early morning because we are going to Jinja to ride horses and see the Nile. We arranged for Jozeph to bring us to the taxi park early in the morning. We’ll have to squeeze all of us into his car, but hopefully we’ll be able to sneak past any traffic cops along the way. It was another exhausting day, but totally entertaining and fun!

Day 19 - July 24

I love the days we see the Woolies! They are so fun to be around, but they have a way of wearing you out! We left home at around 8:30 with Jozeph 2. Angella’s sister Kate, was able to come with this time. We were going to also pick up Ssali to go and visit them, but he never showed up. We had called him numerous times and he kept saying he was on his way, but could never describe where he was. He had plenty of warning time about it since we told him about it over a week ago. We waited on the side of the road for over a half hour and by 9:00 we decided it was too long. It’s hard to have to say no, but there comes a time when you just have to show him that he needs to follow through and not have excuses. I think Angella gets more frustrated because she’s had a long relationship with him and he continues to do things to disappoint her expectations. I’ve only been around him a few times over the past 3 years, but in that time he’s been the source of frustration more than once because he doesn’t follow through on what he says. Hopefully some day he will figure it out before he runs out of people who try to help him.

We stopped for some Chapatti on the way so Pamela and Nick could try my mom’s favorite treat and we could get Angella some breakfast! When we got to Watoto, they recognized Angella and let us in without a problem, even though Nick and Pamela were not on the pass to get in. As we pulled up to the house, we saw there was a delivery of charcoal and the kids were all coming out to carry the big bags to their house. There are usually two children that carry one bag that probably could fit at least 8 kids in it! That’s usually how it goes at Watoto. A truck comes with Matooke, Charcoal, rice, or whatever supplies they are given, and the kids just have the task of going to get it. Some of the kids were still cleaning up their beds and washing the floors. We must have come just as the morning chores were finishing up.

We spent the whole morning playing with balloons, whoopee cushions, and handing out candy. I don’t know how the two moms handle a total of 16 children every day. It’s hard enough for me to keep track of them for a few hours! They mother’s loved all of the clothes that we had brought for them. Kenneth was sad for a while because he had fallen down at school and scraped his face. I finally found him hiding after he did his chores and I showed him the video from Joshua. He really liked it and seemed to perk up a bit afterwards. He got even more excited later on when my mom gave him a Minnesota Gophers basketball jersey from Ross. After he got the jersey, he was nothing but smiles. I showed him how to play Barrel O’ Monkeys that I had randomly picked up at Target on the way home one day. He was pretty awesome once he got the hang of it. I think he got up to ten monkeys. I got 4…..I think I need more practice.

Ruth was her usual self, looking for more sweeties all the time. Irene was hanging around me more, even though I wasn’t taking pictures with the camera. I really can’t believe how outgoing she has become! She used to stand off to the side and just watch everyone else, now she will jump in and be the center of attention. Peter was pouting every time he didn’t get what he wanted. It didn’t matter if he wanted a balloon, he wanted to be picked up, or he wanted a piece of candy. I think he has learned the system quite well. If he wants something, he can cry and look cute and he’ll get it. It’s probably not a good thing, but I don’t know if anybody tried to stop it. Simon really liked hanging close to Nick. He always seemed to be running towards him or hanging on to his hand. Diana loved the dresses we had found for her. I think she tried on all 4 of them during the time we were there. Joy and Abby are so cute and little! They just love to sit on people’s laps and cuddle. It’s fun to have all age groups here. The youngest of the original Woolies is probably Irene and she is 5 or 6. The oldest is a teenager named Martin. It seems to be a pretty good family since the older kids take care of the younger ones and the mother’s take care of all of them. I can’t believe how all of the kids’ personalities are starting to really show up. The only problem is most of them don’t speak English and the ones that do don’t speak it well. At home, the mother’s speak Luganda, so the kids only have a few hours of English each day. I think it would probably help if the kids started to speak English at home. I can’t wait to some day be able to communicate with them for real! I will either have to learn Luganda or they will have to get better at English! Hopefully they will learn English because Luganda is hard and nobody knows how to teach it back home! The best Rosetta Stone has to offer is Swahili and none of it has actually helped me yet!

The kids kept asking if they could come with us to the zoo again because they had so much fun. We knew it wasn’t possible to go that far, but Bridget said that she can take the kids out if she asks the house manager. Apparently it’s much easier to take care of the kids and get in to see them if you know the mother’s rather than going through the Watoto office. The manager was really nice when Angella and I went to talk with him. However, he has his concerns. He said that it is hard for the kids when they get a lot of visitors that come often and take them out a lot. They start to get confused as to where they belong, especially as they get older. I can understand where it gets confusing. These kids were in one home for the majority of their childhood and then they got moved here. They have two other mothers that took care of them that they called mom and many visitors that they knew and recognized. Now they have to get used to a whole new environment and they have to forget what they used to know. I am praying that they are able to finally get adjusted and eventually end up as well-adjusted teens and adults.

After the Woolies, we got home and took a nap! I was only able to sleep for 20 minutes because we had to get ready for Gloria and Frank’s wedding. Pamela and Nick stayed back and got to sleep and relax for the rest of the night. We managed to get ourselves together on time, but Jozeph 2 was more than a half our late! On top of that, it started raining as soon as we made it up the hill. Angella and Kate had to use an umbrella to get into the car. Angella and Kate both said the venue for the reception was near. Clearly our definitions of near and far are not the same because it took almost 45 minutes to get there! I would totally call that FAR. Even Angella and Kate agreed by the time we arrived that it was farther than they thought. The rain combined with totally uneven roads made travel interesting. There were huge puddles of reddish-brown water with literal piles of garbage floating in them. I don’t’ know if it’s a good thing that the garbage is getting washed away or bad because it’s just being moved from one place to another.

Apparently it’s okay to be late. We were told to be there by 5, but we didn’t get there until nearly 6. There was only an address on the reception map and invitation, so we had a hard time finding it. I was pretty sure we weren’t looking for a place called “venue”, but the cab driver kept asking people where “venue” was. As we drove by a gate, we caught a glimpse of a pink sign with “Frank and Gloria” written on it. Thank goodness because none of the plot numbers were in order, so I don’t know if we would have found it simply by looking for the numbers. There were lots of people there already, but there were at least 15 completely empty tables. It was decorated much like it would have been at home. There were beautiful bouquets of pink roses on the tables and purple clothes draping on all of the tents. Gloria was wearing a dress made by Alfred Angelo which a sister in law had brought from the states.

As we walked in there were guys with stacks of pictures, holding them out to us as we walked. I’ve been here long enough to know that people don’t give you things for free. My mom has not learned that yet. She grabbed a picture and kept walking. She showed it to us and said how great it was that they give you pictures of the wedding. All three of us laughed and we turned around to find the picture guy chasing her down the pathway. My mom gave the picture back. It’s that way pretty much everywhere you go. Everything has a price. People will even try to give you advice or directions and then after the fact they will expect some sort of payment. It’s quite ridiculous when you think about it. I didn’t ask for advice, I refused directions and kept walking, but since a guy followed me the whole way, he claims that he needs payment for his work. I have gotten the hang of saying no and refusing to pay so it’s not so overwhelming anymore. It’s just an entertaining distraction when you walk!

We got to eat lots of traditional foods at the buffet. There were a couple of kinds of meat that I didn’t eat. I’m pretty sure in addition to chicken there was goat and some sort of beef. Chapatti, rice, matooke, and beans were my main dish. In addition there were some vegetable sauces and this clump of stuff called millet. It’s a flour mixture that ends up as a sticky clump of brown slime. It reminded me of that stuff, Gak, that we could play with as kids, only it was probably a little thicker. I probably could have thrown it at the wall and it would have stuck. It just didn’t have any taste. Kate said that it usually isn’t that tasteless, but it wasn’t bad when I mixed it with some vegetable greens.

Gloria and Frank came around to serve the cake to every table. There were two live singers providing the background music and they were actually really good! Gloria was so happy to be married and to celebrate with all of her family. She finally could prove to us that Frank was real, since we kept telling her she might be making him up because every time we were supposed to meet him, he wasn’t able to come. They were having a ton of fun dancing around and celebrating their wedding. The cake looked really similar to what you would normally expect at a wedding…..5 tiers with flowers cascading from top to bottom. It didn’t taste the same! For some reason, ginger is way too popular here! The flavor was so overpowering, that I just wanted to eat something else to get the taste out of my mouth. The only option I had left was a fermented porridge that was still on the table. It was good for a few sips when we initially got it, but by then, it was separated with an oily mixture on top and the specks of ground spices and whatever else in a brown liquid in the rest of the glass. I decided the cake taste was better than drinking more of that.
The way Gloria had talked about the dance, I expected a ton of people on a dance floor. I was mistaken. There was one dance that the bridal party had a choreographed dance to a song called “Step in the name of Love”. It looked a lot like the electric slide. It was good, but then it went on for 20 minutes! At least they were having lots of fun with it. After that, things went downhill. It turns out that everybody gets to talk at weddings! It probably wouldn’t have been as hard to handle if there was more English or Luganda! At least with Luganda, Angella could have interpreted. Many people were speaking the local language from Gloria’s home. People would switch from English to the local language in the middle of a sentence! Everybody got a chance to speak….parents, aunts, uncles, sisters, cousins….. It was kind of a good idea to include so many people, but they ended up saying the same things over and over again. At one point I think Gloria even was bored. I watched as Frank started his speech and she was really happy, and slowly her smile got less enthusiastic, she stopped holding his arm tightly, and she started looking around instead of paying attention.

We decided that around 9:30 that we should leave. We called Jozeph 2 and he said he would be there soon. Soon must be similar in meaning to near. We waiting for 20 minutes inside and then decided it would be a good time to be outside. We ended up standing outside the garden for another half hour or so. At least he showed up! He got us home in one piece and he avoided any place that might have had a jam. It was another long day and we’re going to have a big day tomorrow, too! I think we will finally get a bit of a break on Tuesday, but who knows what will come up between now and then!

Day 18 - July 23

Today was the day for Pamela and Nick to arrive! We had a lot of random preparations to do before they got here, but I think we got it under control pretty well. It was our last night sleeping in our own beds so I’m glad I got a good night’s sleep! After Susan woke up, we brought the single bed that I was sleeping in to her room for Nick to sleep in and we moved the full size mattress onto the floor in our room. I will probably sleep in the same bed as mom and Pamela will have the mattress on the floor. It should be a good set-up, but it is much smaller than sleeping with somebody on a queen bed like mine at home. Some days I really miss my pillow top! What we have here is better than a lot of places we could be sleeping in this country, so I will be thankful for whatever we end up with!

We also had to sort through all of the clothes, books, and games we had for donating to the orphanages. I really don’t like the fact that I am the one that decides the fate of who gets what. I don’t feel worthy to determine that some kids will get more books and others won’t get any. When you can see first hand what each of these kids live with on a daily basis, it’s hard to deny them anything because they have so little to begin with. The problem is there are always limited resources. There is limited money, limited clothes, limited books. We just personally don’t have a billion dollars so we can’t buy everything for everybody. Even if I did have a lot of money, spending it at these places would not fix any problem. It would just temporarily stave off hunger and improve their ability to learn at home for a short time. Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach him how to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime. The problem is, I don’t know how to teach anything useful yet and we don’t have the time or money to set up something to big. What we can do is look for ways to get these orphanages connected to the big organizations that can help them get housing, food, and school support for the children. It was interesting to see the most recent orphanage and how they had gotten funding for their basic needs. I hope that we can look for ways to connect places without these basic provisions to the organizations that can help them. For now, we need to focus on the medicine because that is the purpose of the trip!

We had to go back to the flea market because we had promised Little Angel that we would buy them shoes. The mothers told us so many sad stories about how the money had run out and Max is having a hard time paying them. I know we don’t have the money and it would set up for a really sticky situation if we started to pay them anything. I think a lot of places see us coming in and want us to provide more than the medicine we are offering. This trip we have some extra money from people at home who wanted to give to our projects, so we’ve been able to get food and dishes and shoes. It’s hard to provide these things without setting some sort of precedent for future trips. Troy does a really good job of focusing on the mission all the time. I need to take more tips from him! He’s been working with people in this country for many years and he’s seen so many projects come and go. He’s learned what works and what doesn’t. I’m still learning, and I’m sure I’ll get burned along the way, but at least I can say that I’ve tried all sorts of things!

At the market, it was much less busy, and since the weather was not as hot, it was much more bearable to be standing around looking at things. We decided shoes were our main goal and we should really focus on getting them taken care of before anything else. We found a good pile of them about halfway down the market. The woman originally said 25,000 per pair ($12.50 or so). We weren’t going to pay any more than 10 so we decided to pick out the quantity we would need and then negotiate later. All we had to go on was a piece of paper with lines drawn for each of the 14 kids feet. We dug through at least a hundred shoes and finally found one shoe from each set. I’m pretty sure that all of the shoes had been painted and it’s likely that some of them weren’t black to start with. There were some Nike shoes and other athletic shoes that were definitely not meant to be black! I assumed that there would be another pile with the partners to our shoes, but unfortunately I was wrong. The matches were somewhere in the pile! You had to use any landmark you possible could on each shoe. It might be the laces or a pattern on the toe. Sometimes you just had to check out the bottom and look for a pattern. It was like playing a giant game of matching only you don’t have cards neatly arranged and you have no idea what part of the pile you’ve looked at. We were able to find all of them after about ten minutes of searching! Yay us! It turns out it takes 4 people to do the job, but we got it done! The woman was pleased that we were buying so many so she decided to give us a fair price of 10,000 per shoe! Now we just have to hope that all of them will fit somebody when we return to Little Angel. Even if they don’t, we will be providing something that they didn’t have.

I needed a pair of dressy shoes for the wedding. It was one time I decided that my Chacos just wouldn’t cut it. There were some women’s shoes on a tarp a few steps away so I decided to check them out. Thank goodness I’m in Uganda and not some place where people have little feet! Even Angella, who is much shorter than I am, has nearly the same size feet as me. Since more people have bigger feet, that means that there are generally bigger shoes! I was able to find a pair of gold heels within a few minutes. The man insisted on helping me put them on. In addition to always uncomfortable with people touching my feet, I realized they were covered in mud from walking around and they are dried out from all the sun and sand! He didn’t seem to mind, so he tied the strap and made them look cute. He wanted 25,000 for them, so I just pulled out a 20,000 and he said okay. I probably should have tried for less, but I didn’t want a hassle and he seemed to understand my need so he took the 20 and gave me my new shoes!

We still had a random list of underwear, buckets, trays, oil, cups, toilet paper, and a few other random things. We had to stop at a few other places on the way out. In the meantime, our cab driver, Jozeph arrived and had to wait in the parking lot of a gas station. I ran over and dropped off the shoes. A security guard claimed I needed to buy him a soda in order for him to allow Jozeph to park. I told him I would return and get it. I ran off to help Angella and my mom carry more things and buy the rest. When I came back again, I offered to get the soda and he said he would take the money instead. I laughed and said no way. I know that it really doesn’t cost anything to park there and he knew I knew that, but he still tried!

We got our stuff home just in time for our new cab driver, Jozeph 2, to come and pick us up. Since Jozeph’s car isn’t big enough, he gave us the number for his friend to come and help us get Pamela and Nick from the airport. I just don’t know how we always end up knowing two people with identical names. It’s kind of like finding the shoes in the stack. It seems impossible, but you always find another one! His car sits 7, but the back still doesn’t have a trunk. I didn’t think we’d be able to make it work, but I decided to let it play out once we got to the airport.

On the way out of town, we quickly decided that the jam was worse than usual. We were stopped more than we were moving and there were times we would not move for more than 5 minutes. My mom was able to buy some alphabet and number charts from a guy on the side of the road. It’s a whole new way to window shop. We finally figured out that the African Union Summit was the cause of our problems. We kept seeing convoys of 6 or seven motorcycles, 5 big cars with huge stickers on the windows with different nation’s flags, and always an ambulance near the end. Everybody would have to stop to let them pass. I’m pretty sure that between Kampala and Entebbe we saw al least a dozen, some going to the airport and others to the city.

Once we got to Entebbe, we found a boda driver that gave us an idea of where to get some fish and chips. We were coming early so we could meet Joshua, a boy that used to live at Need for All Orphanage but now lives with his father and stepmother in Entebbe. Last year, we went with him to his last chemotherapy appointment at Mulago. We are hoping he is now cancer-free, but we were hopeful just knowing he was still alive! Since the ride took over two hours instead of just one, he had been waiting with his family’s maid for over 2 hours! We got to town and as we walked down the sidewalk, we saw Joshua peek around the corner and as soon as he recognized us, he came running as fast as he could. He was grinning ear to ear and grabbed my hand immediately as we starting walking back down the road. We ordered some food at a local bar and just talked with the maid and with Joshua. We had bought him school books, reading books, two drawing pads, pencils, colored pencils, and crayons. We also had a beanie baby that is a snake that I made sure to set aside for him. I remembered that when we went to the zoo, he was more excited to see the snakes than any other animal! He loved the gifts. He is a great artist and he said the kids at school always ask him to draw things for him. We recorded a video to show Kenneth back at Watoto. It broke my heart when he said that he wanted to see Kenneth, but his mom said that he couldn’t come! I wish there was a way to make it work. I have a hope that some day they’ll be able to at least hang out again together. We went back to sit down and Joshua decided to color a picture for Wooly Bully. He sat down and drew an amazing picture of Spiderman, complete with all the details! I’m sure Ross can add it to his collection of great pictures from special kids that he gets. It was sad to have to leave Joshua again. His dad wasn’t able to come and join us like he planned, so we still don’t know is medical status. He looks good and told us he just takes daily medicine, which are possibly supplements, but it didn’t sound like he still goes to the hospital. Joshua is in a good school because his dad is a sergeant in the army and he is seeming to like where he lives. I know he misses the other children, but I think he’s very fortunate to be able to have at least one parent to grow up with.

I got worried we wouldn’t make it to the airport in time for the plane that arrived with Pamela and Nick at 8:19. We got to security at 8:25 and we had to get out of the car to go through a check which Jozeph 2 drove the car and got searched. He picked us up and we droved the rest of the way to the parking lot. It looked the people were just coming through customs, so we made it just in time! As I walked up to the doors, I saw Pamela and Nick walking through the main doors. It was perfect timing! After exchanging money and introducing everybody, we headed to the car. We managed to get all the luggage in the furthest seat, which meant we had to squeeze 4 people in the middle seat. Fortunately it is one of the better roads in the country and it’s a cooler time of day. For an hour and half, my mom, Angella, Pamela and I got really cozy as we drove home. It was great to finally have them here and the trip will take on a different tone as we work on showing them what Uganda has to offer and finish up the work for Medicine for Sick Children. Hopefully all of the work that Angella and my mom and I have done will make it a worthwhile experience. Once we got home and situated everything, it was nearly 11. We got to bed as soon as we could since we have an early morning tomorrow to go and see the Woolies at Watoto!

Day 17 - July 22

Sometimes I forget the color of my skin. I only look in the mirror once or twice a day with I’m brushing my teeth or my hair in the morning and then I don’t usually glance again until I go to sleep. The rest of the day I’m walking around with my mom and Angella or looking at the crowds of Ugandans going about their daily lives. I think in my mind I just assume that I look like everybody else. It turns out, I don’t! I’m clearly very white and most people are very black. I find myself wishing I could just blend in with them and become a normal citizen of the country. It’s taken two and a half weeks, but I think I’ve come to a point that I feel like I am one of the locals! I don’t really fit in that well, but I like to think I can navigate my way around the country. I’ve done it without Angella’s help and although I ALWAYS miss her when she’s not around, I know I could survive at least a little while without her constant guidance!

This morning we went to the craft market at the National Theatre. Although there are a few unique things, most of it is the same old stuff but the prices are higher and the people are not as friendly as they are at the market near Watoto church. It was pretty cool out today. Probably only got to around 70, but you would have thought it was 20 degrees! Everywhere we went, people were in winter coats and scarves. I was comfortable in a skirt and t-shirt. It was a perfect day to be walking around the markets because the temperature was not hot so you weren’t sweating and feeling the suffocating heat of a normal day.

After the market, we walked to Garden City to get lunch. Security has gotten TIGHT! There are not airport style metal detectors to walk through and security guards on every floor, pacing back and forth. I think that some of the added security has to do with the bombs, but even more because of the African Union summit that has been going on in Kampala all week. Any time that the presidents of these countries are in an area, the security gets more serious. Hopefully since it is ending tomorrow, things will go back to a somewhat normal state.

Despite looking at all of the other menus in the food court, we again settled on the Wok Chinese food. Luckily, our server was slightly more attentive this time. We actually got our drinks right away and he explained that our spring rolls would be a little later than our fried noodles. Nobody took away our sauces without asking. It must have just been the guy who served us the last time, who, by the way, was just sitting in his uniform at the table next to us almost the entire time!

My mom wanted to check out the gift shop in the shopping center. Banana Boat is nice, but most of the stuff is something I’ve seen before and usually at a higher, fixed price. I usually don’t mind it and in fact, every year I’ve purchased at least something there. Today I wanted to get out! There were Mzungus completely infiltrating the place! There must have been 30 people from the same group. They all had name tags on. Two Ugandan guys with matching shirts were their tour leaders. Most of them were wearing their backpacks in the front, which is great if you don’t want stuff stolen in the flea market, but seriously, in the mall? It’s probably the safest place you could go! I think I was just so used to not being around that many white people, that I was overwhelmed by it. It was like I was in the wrong place. I didn’t want to be in there, so I just walked out and sat on a bench to wait. It’s going to be totally weird when I end up back in the states in northern Minnesota surrounded my only Mzungus!

We ended up having to wait for Jozeph for nearly an hour because he was stuck in a jam and security does a really thorough check of the car, making every person get out to be checked and then looking in every compartment of the vehicle. At least we really didn’t have anything important to do! On the way home, Jozeph found some great ways to avoid the jam by taking side roads. I love that he knows his way around the area so well. There have been many times on previous trips that our drivers really have no clue where they are going. It’s been a blessing to have a caring cab driver who seems to like his job and does a really great job at it!

We decided to have a game night today, so Angella invited over Gloria and we told Susan and Gloria to come over. We had a bottle of wine, a bottle of Fanta, an assortment of chocolate, some cheese and crackers, and Doritoes! What a classy mix of treats! We spent a long time just chatting about life and how blessed we have been, especially on this trip. Angella has a really great core group of friends that have their hearts set on Jesus. It makes a huge difference when you can connect with people on such a deep level. I consider these people to all be my friends. They have helped me out so much on this trip and I enjoy their company immensely. The rest of the night was devoted to Uno, Phase 10, and a short-lived interest in spoons.

After everyone left, we watched a another crappy movie. We need to not let this get to be a pattern. This one was about a random group of travelers on a Greyhound that accidentally killed a biker gang member who was strung out on meth. Then the rest of the meth-addicted bikers chased them into a junkyard and they had to defend themselves against even more gangs guys that showed up. It was horrible acting, a unbelievable plot, and super violent. I can’t believe we even watched it, but I think I needed to stay awake and watch the end just so I could find out who was going to live at the end! No more of those movies for me. I will stick to happy ones!

Pictures! Not an Easy task!