Day 16 - July 21

Wow! A great day!

I like when I can say that and really truly mean it in every aspect! We started out a little slow, but we ended with a bang! I wanted to walk to town because we hadn’t walked a long distance in a while and I really like it when I can feel like I got a lot of exercise in for the day. It was much warmer than it was the last time we walked, so I think my mom didn’t really enjoy the walk. I pretty much expect that every walk will be hot and I will be sweating almost the whole time, but I think my mom hasn’t quite gotten to that acceptance yet! We stopped at the supermarket to buy some water and a soccer ball for the orphanage we were going to visit. Then we tried to get money from an ATM again. The one near the supermarket was broken so we had to walk a little further to a gas station. The one there was working, but both times I tried, it said the transaction was cancelled. I had called yesterday, and Wells Fargo said I was over my limit for a single day, which I didn’t think was true, but I waited 24 hours just in case. Since I had tried 3 different ATMs in 24 hours, I decided I better call again. The woman on the other line said that 3 minutes ago I had made two withdrawals for $300 each! Clearly I had not! All I had to show after putting in my card twice were two pieces of paper denying me any money! We went through the whole process of filing a claim and after 10 minutes, she said that the withdrawals were reversed and my money was back. Unfortunately, that still didn’t help me access any money. I was down to a mere $20US and I knew that wouldn’t last very long. I still had some cash back at home so I wasn’t too worried. The Wells Fargo lady suggested I pay with credit cards at the places I go. Clearly she’s never been to Africa! Sure you can use a credit card at the fancy places that Mzungu’s go. But I could probably count those on less than two hands and two feet! Besides, those places are way out of my price range! I explained that we shop at markets and street stores that accept only cold hard Ugandan cash! We decided to just wait and see if we could get money directly from a bank.

We kept walking to meet Angella for lunch at a local place that we went to last weekend. It’s nice to go to an easy place with decent food at a “local” price. I think we should frequent “Taste Budz” more often. Once we were full of food, we were already late to meet Godfrey. We decided to just walk to meet him rather than go to the bank first. On the way, Angella suggested I try one more ATM. Thank you Stanbic Bank! Your Automated Teller Machine liked my card and gave me my money! I will have to remember that for the future! Now we are for sure able to access the money we had set aside to buy stuff for the orphanages. I was only slightly worried, but it was still a huge relief to know we wouldn’t have to run around to all kinds of banks to figure out our cash situation!

The school that Godfrey teaches at is an international school that was completely funded for a new building two years ago by a wealthy Indian man. Mostly rich Ugandans and international families enroll their kids there. I know it’s for sure a nicer facility than my hometown school and probably has just as much to offer as any school would in Minnesota. It was good for my mom to see a school, but I almost wish we could have seen a local one without millions of dollars invested in it. While we were waiting in the library, I opened up the newspaper to find a picture of children at their school. They were sitting on long wooden benches with one long thin table in front of them. The schoolroom had dirt floors and the kids’ uniforms were dirty and some were torn. I’m sure they don’t have many books and probably don’t have a really great teaching staff. That is what I usually picture in my head as a Ugandan school. It just goes to show again what money can get you. There is always a big gap between the haves and the have-nots, not matter what country you live in.

We still had some time to kill even after the tour, so we walked back up to the main street in the area for a drink and so Godfrey could grab a bite to eat. We all ordered different drinks. Coke, Sprite, Fanta, and Stoney. It looked like a typical table when Angella eats with us. Stoney is a Coke product that I am not sad about not being able to get at home. When I was in high school we took a trip to the Coca-Cola factory in Atlanta. You can taste Coke products from all around the world. I am almost positive that Stoney was one of the choices and that I had to drink 5 glasses of regular Coke to get the taste out of my mouth! Stoney has a super strong ginger flavor. It’s just too overwhelming for my taste, but Angella loves it! I will let her drink it as much as she wants as long as it means I don’t have to!

We decided over drinks that we should bring some food down to the orphanage. I thought it would be cool to get a huge bunch of Matooke. It comes on a really big branch that is about two feet long and covered with bananas. The only problem was the logistics of getting it down the hill. We decided we could hire a boda to get it down the hill. Since we were already getting some matooke, we figured we could get some other things as well. For $75 we got 24 liters of milk, two bunches of matooke, 10 kilos of rice, 10 kilos of beans, 5 kilos of sugar, 25 cups, 25 plates, a bucket, stirring spoons, 2 small balls, and a soccer ball. Tell me a place you could do that back home and I’ll be really surprised! Godfrey, my mom and I had gone to get the rice and beans inside the main market area. My mom was fascinated by the market. There were people scaling fresh fish, butchers hanging entire goat carcasses, vegetables, fruit, and whatever you could possibly need to survive all in a little place. It’s a place full of a lot of energy. Luckily Godfrey was able to guide us through and to help get us fair prices because he knew a lot of the vendors. By the time we met up with Angell with all of the stuff, we realized that we needed a better way down the hill. A boda guy had already strapped the two bunches of matooke to his boda. The best thing we decided would be to each get a boda and carry a load. My poor mom! She had kept saying she didn’t want to ride one, but she no longer had a choice. Before she knew it, a boda was in front of her and she was instructed to hop on! I had made sure to tell the boda driver that she was a first-timer and I inspected to make sure she had one with two good foot rests. We became a line of 5 bodas – 4 with people and one with bunches of matooke and a bucket of dishes! We all made it safely to the orphanage with a huge load! My mom even enjoyed the ride! Who knows, she may decide bodas are the way to go!

We were greeted at the gate by tons of smiling faces! The mother, Hilda, was so happy to see us with all the food. She was jumping up and down. The kids were yelling and screaming in excitement. It’s truly amazing to see what joy they have! Once we were all safely inside and the bodas had been paid, we gave lots of hugs and got lots of thank-yous from everyone. There is an older woman who was also there who is a neighbor that comes to help out. We pulled out the soccer ball and immediately the kids ran around to play with it. We ended up playing a giant game of pig in the middle with a big circle and about 5 kids in the middle. Hilda even got in on the action! The kids were laughing and having a great time. Occasionally I saw the faces of neighbor kids climbing up a tree to look over the wall and see what all the commotion was about. The smaller kids were running around with the two smaller balls we bought. We eventually stopped the keep-away game and played some soccer. It’s not my sport, but I tried pretty hard. Unfortunately I probably kicked every one of the kids at least twice, but I was full of bruises myself! When it started to get dark, the kids lined up and sang us songs. It was a blast to be around all the kids and be able to laugh and have a wonderful night. At the very end of the soccer game, Angella kicked the ball and it landed on the spikes of the metal doors and popped it! I guess we’ll have to replace that when we go back with Pamela and Nick. At least they got one night of fun with it!

As we were getting ready to leave, we gathered in a group, and Hilda wanted to pray for us! It was wonderful! We were able to use what we had to bless them and in return they are blessing us with their prayers for safety and guidance from the Lord! I know that God put us in touch with this orphanage through his plan. Our goal is to provide medicine to them, but we can reach out and help them in small practical ways when we can!

It was dark when we left and we were clearly in the ghetto. Angella suggested we walk like we belong. She had quite a strut. When we turned around, we saw my mom had a strut of her own. Actually, it looked more like a dance. We all decided to do the “mama Margie strut” on and off the whole way home. We must have been quite a site, walking through town, dancing and laughing and having a good time. Along the way we stopped for some pineapple and bananas at a roadside stand. We got a local fruit for free. The man didn’t even have a name for it, but Godfrey assured us it was okay to eat. It looked like a red chili, but it peeled away to reveal insides kind of like a passion fruit. It was tasty, but unlike anything I’ve really tasted before. It was a combination of something sweet and something spicy all at once. It did leave an odd aftertaste, so I was glad when we stopped and got some fresh chapatti.

Angella and Godfrey gave us a “push”. I really love this tradition! People will generally walk people past their driveways or to a good stopping place. They will carry your load until you part ways. Thanks to Godfrey, I didn’t have to carry our big bag of fruit! We stopped at Quality supermarket and got some of the essentials and some treats! I haven’t had Nutella in ages and it makes Digestives taste so much better! It was worth the $4.50 for a whole jar! I think it was cheaper than the peanut butter! If you’ve never had this hazelnut-cocoa delight, you should really go pick some up! It’s a great way to get your chocolate fix! We also got some chocolate bars and cheese and crackers. Tomorrow night Angella and some friends are coming over for wine treats and games! These are some of my favorite things! (although usually wine is substituted for soda of some sort….it can be a rare treat!). Before bed we watched a Van-Dam movie called “In Hell”. It was awful, but we kept watching just to see the outcome. It’s a 2003 action movie about a guy who was sentenced to life imprisonment in Russia after he killed the man who brutally raped and murdered his wife. It was extremely disturbing to see the violence and corruption! I was happy for it to end. However, it was much more entertaining than the crazy Nigerian movies that Susan loves so dearly!