Day 4 = Progress!

Today we finally got going on some projects! It’s still a work in progress, but at least we have developed a plan. Angella went to the Watoto office to try another time to get a pass to see the Woolies. She had to wait for nearly two hours, but she finally got in to see a social worker and she convinced them that she has known the kids for a very long time. I think that the Shutterfly book that I made her with 3 years worth of pictures helped a little bit. Watoto is very organized but quite controlling at the same time. It’s very difficult to get past the gates and they keep track of every person and thing that goes in and out of the gates. It’s one of the most secure places I’ve seen in Uganda. They don’t issue passes for less than two weeks apart, so we are limited in the number of times that we can see the Woolies. Since we are going tomorrow, we were also able to get a pass for two weeks from tomorrow. It will be the day after Pamela and Nick arrive so hopefully they won’t be too tired to come! They wouldn’t want to miss out on our amazing kids!

When Angella arrived at the house, we discussed a plan for visiting the different orphanages and some other activities. It sounds like her friend, Gloria, who I brought a computer for, is going to let me come in to Mulago and see the HIV clinic where she works for a couple of days. It will be good to see something other than the pediatric ward and to be able to get in to Mulago without Ross and Rachel. We also went through all of Angella’s pictures and the ones on my computer and printed off 250 to bring to the Woolies tomorrow. We decided we need a picture album to put them in or else they will get bent, dirty, and torn within a couple minutes of the Woolies getting their hands on them. It took most of the morning and into the afternoon to get all of them printed, so we decided we better start heading into town soon.

My mom wanted to buy fabric from Uganda, and se we decided the best place is at a fabric area of the busy marketplace in Kampala. We had to mentally and physically prepare her for the journey, but I don’t think that helped. We arranged her purse so that her money was easy to find and she doesn’t have to dig around too much while we are down there. Even though she said she was going to be fine, we knew she had NO IDEA what it was going to be like!

We took our trusty cab friend, Jozeph down to the right area. We got out and immediately were surrounded by tons of people and loads of traffic. We walked up and down the streets to find the right place. At the first shop, there were lots of people in a tiny area and they were all asking her questions. Half of the time Angella or I had to translate what they were meaning to tell her. She finally found some Batik’s that she liked. I didn’t understand why she wanted Batik’s since you can buy them at home too, but she’s a woman who knows what she wants! Once we got to the second shop, she was ready to be done. She said there was a lot of pressure and she felt rushed. As we were walking away, we explained that she can take as much time as she needs and people will wait. By the next two stops, I think she finally felt better and was able to buy what she wanted and not fell rushed. I found a man named James who had a beautiful pink fabric that I bought to hopefully use for a project at home some time. He was very excited to meet me because I am from American and he likes Obama. He even showed my his USA tattoo on his arm. I took a picture with James and told him it was so I could remember him. He was too funny to forget.

After we left the market, we strolled around the busy streets to look for other things we needed. We saw a sign for the post office and decided to get stamps taken care of for my dad. For those of you who don’t know, my dad is an avid stamp collector and he LOVES getting them from other countries. He even once tried to buy them in Hawaii because he thought they would have special ones that the continuous 48 states don’t have…..he was wrong. The woman at the post office must have though we were crazy because we just kept taking more out of the box. My dad will be thoroughly pleased with the collection. Most of them were only a dollar or two for a set, but one was $6!!! I’m not going to spoil the surprise until we get home dad, so for anybody else who’s reading, you’ll just have to ask me later, or maybe take a guess at something Ugandan’s really like!

We also stopped to get a photo album at a little book store. They had tons of games and toys and books so we might have to go back there if there is anything else we want to by for the Woolies or other kids. We found a perfect colorful photo album that had room for all the pictures. We just weren’t sure if they were the right size. My mom just ran around the store without telling us where she was going. A few minutes later she emerged with a ruler held above her head as if she had won a prize. It was in metric, so we did some conversions in our head to figure out that our 4x6 prints should fit. It’s not easy to do and clearly it would be better if we all had the same system of measurement.

We then had to meet with Troy at Café Pap to also meet with Deo, a man who has an orphanage in a village that we want to use in our study of orphanages and medicine. He didn’t show up until we were almost done with dinner, but at least we were able to get a hold of him and come up with a plan to visit next Saturday. His English is not that great, but he is very friendly and wants to have us come and help the village. We will see more when Angella comes out. I’m hoping that the village fits the criteria that we have for the project.

When we left, we had to navigate back through the city to get to a Mtatu stand. There was one point where my mom stopped crossing the street and didn’t want to keep going because she thought she was going to get hit. She practically ripped my arm off when she grabbed and tried to pull me back. Luckily I’m stronger and won the tug-of-war to pull her across. She has not yet learned that once you start on the street, you need to keep walking. Some day she’ll get it, but for now, I might have to start holding her hand!

Angella had to get off before us but we were able to find our stop and properly yell “parking” to get the Mtatu driver to stop. When we called our trusty cab driver, we found he was at the airport and unavailable for transport. We had to walk around before finding a cab in the dark. We found a guy who knew our area. Once we got in and I started trying to talk to him, I realized he didn’t understand a word of English. I didn’t want him to come down our hill with all the potholes because I couldn’t explain the huge hole that has gotten every one of our cabs stuck so far. I asked my mom if she could walk and she said yes. Once the cab driver left, I realized that by “yes” she meant “no”. She was NOT happy about walking down the hill, but we couldn’t turn back. I had scoped out the neighborhood and thought it must be safe based on the community and the people around. Luckily, we didn’t meet anybody on the road and we made it home safely, but I think it is not a decision I will make again. Next time I will just let the cab driver discover the hole for himself.

I spent the rest of the night putting the pictures together. About 15 minutes was in the dark because the power went out. I’m surprised that it didn’t happen sooner, but I’m sure it will happen again while we are here. It is a very common occurrence. I can’t wait for tomorrow because it is Wooly Day! It’s been a long time since we’ve seen the kids and by the looks of Angella’s pictures, they have all grown quite a bit!