I came along, I wrote a song for you, and all the things you do...

Yesterday was a pretty busy day for me...Randy took Adam and I all around town to places that are connected to our project called Epoh (the bags, not the necklaces) and showed us where we could buy the supplies that the tailors need on a regular basis...he showed us these things because he is going home this month and Rachel is going to need to help keeping up with it all. I think I got it all down. haha

On the way home I stopped at Midvani after running into Rachel on Magwa...it's this tiny little market closest to our home and I buy juice from this man there. I don't know his name, but he's really sweet and all he does all day is sell his juice in this little stand in the middle of this cramped, little, dirty market. He knows our faces...his juice is possibly the best you will ever have in your entire life. I'm going to crave it once I'm home-home. He mixes five different fruits, adds a little water and puts it in old water-bottles that he's cleaned out. He has one little refrigerator in his little blue stand, and he keeps them in the freezer. Sounds a little sketchy, yeah? Yeah. I was kind of worried when I first had some, but now I drink it all the time and I'm not dead yet. haha

We had dance yesterday, also. We meet up with the women of Suubi on Mondays at three and they do their traditional, tribal-type dancing and it's basically fantastic, let me tell you. We have drums and gourd shells that we play and whoever is leading the dance blows a whistle. Oh, so much fun.

Afterward, Becca, Alex and I went to visit Emily, one of the women from Suubi. She didn't live far from where we were dancing in Walukuba. Emily is married to a Mzungu, named Stanley, from the UK. They're older and live in this little two room house, just like everyone else. It kind of surprised me since her husband is white...but who knows! Emily is actually the daughter of a Head Chief of this tribe, that I can't remember the name of. So Stanley calls her a princess, which I guess technically she is. And she's the last one. She came from Gulu during the war. And none in her family are left because of the genocide. This is reminding me of some romance novel, the more I think about their story. It would be a good book, not gonna lie here. Anyways, he has bought her this thing called a washing machine (we all know what that is, but everyone here is amazed when I tell them I don't wash my clothes by hand back home in America)...and here that's like, as good as it gets. So she doesn't have to do all the laundry by hand. They have a television, and a DVD player...and they watch music videos from the 70's and 80's all the time, especially ABBA. and basically they are just content to be together in their little house with all the furniture cramped so close together you can barely move...I love it.

Becca and I took a boda home from Walukuba, and as I walked in the gate, Adam was heading to the boys home and asked if I wanted to go. I hadn't been in over a week so I ran in and changed and off we went. Possibly one of my favorite times there...I wore jeans instead of a skirt so that I could actually play with them and the dogs in the mud...and they were so happy, and they said, "Auntie! You play! You always sit!"...haha So we ran around playing tag in the dark with a whole bunch of little boys that were pretty much camouflaged and the dogs and they would all grab my hand and tell me which way to run and yell, "Auntie, Auntie!" and whenever I got tagged one of them would "sacrifice" himself so that I didn't have to be "it". I'm assuming it's because I'm a girl. And I'm white. haha Later on when we were all still running around some of the older boys brought out empty Jerry Cans and started playing them like drums...and the younger ones started dancing and then they told us to make a "big, big 'sarncle' (circle)" and we started playing this game that neither Adam or I could ever figure out, until we decided to go home because we were hungry for dinner and didn't really want to eat there...so the dogs walked us home in the dark, and knew exactly where we lived and once we were inside the gate, they walked back to the boys. One of the dogs is so familiar with me now, Max, the white one I love so much, that every time I come over and sit on a stool and talk with Mama Grace, he just sits at my feet and won't let the other dogs near me.

On kind of a side note...I did talk with Mama Grace last night, when I wasn't playing with the boys and she told me some of her story. Grace came from a village in the North, down here to Jinja to work at the boys home, so that should would have a steady job, and left two of her three daughters with her mother-in-law, who is now sick and cannot care for them anymore. Their names are Vicky and Brenda. And I believe they are 11 and 9....I knew she had three, so I asked where the third was and she told me that she was living with the father in Kampala. This confused me because I did not understand why Grace wasn't living with him, and then she mentioned that she was separated from him because he is an alcoholic who would cane her. He's abusive. And he has this little six year old girl named Gloria, and he beats her and does who knows what else and won't let Grace have her. She can't even visit her. And not only is Gloria living with her abusive father, but also Grace's two brothers...who are the same way I guess. This frustrated me so much, but I know there's nothing I can do about it. Grace has gone to the Police several times but every time they tell her she is crazy and sick and needs to see a doctor...because she is a woman. Basically last night I wanted to kick some Ugandan man-booty. I'm still really frustrated...but I realize that this is happening all around me, in probably most of the homes I walk by everyday, and I can't do anything...and it happens all the time in America, too.

So once we got home, we watched the Corpse Bride and made the necklaces for next month's "Flavour of The Month"...I can't say what it is, but they take awhile to make, and I think they're brilliant and I'm definitely buying an extra one. haha Later on Adam came in and asked if I wanted to try a "hopper" since I had said I wanted to try one earlier...I guess Sharon had fried him up like, four and he had eaten them. So I went out back to Betty's place with Kymbie and Adam and Sharon, and just sat and talked in the dark, and Betty fed us tea and beans and hoppers (which was my second dinner, because I had already eaten casava fries and chipote bread, I went to bed full, let me tell you)...which I didn't end up eating, 'cause I chickened out after holding it and looking at it in detail before it went into the fryer. Plus Rachel came out for a bit and said I was also eating it's poop. I'll do it eventually. For sure. We talked about how Betty misses all the volunteers that come in and out, and she would rather be away from the house when they leave, because she said to her it is like she is burying them, because she knows she will most likely never see them again. I'm going to miss Betty.

She asked how old I was for the first time last night and so I told her and she had this look of pure shock on her face and looked at Adam and goes, "She is a baby! A baby in Uganda!"...I know you guys don't know Betty, but she is super bubbly and crazy and fun. Kymbie slipped and hit his mouth on the door frame and she was holding him while he cried and she began smacking the door frame and saying, "Why do you hurt baby? I beat you!" and Kymbie smiled.


Sometimes it is hard to be here, and sometimes it's easy to be here. Sometimes I think to myself that I never want to come back to this wretched place, and other times I think of how much I want to live in this beautiful place. Uganda brings on a whole new mix of emotions and feelings...but I really do love it here. And who knows what will happen during the rest of my time here? God I'm sure has more in store than I can imagine...He's already revealed Himself in a million ways. Even if I have been blind to most of them...


Psalm 33: 11 But the Lord's plans stand firm forever, his intentions can never be shaken...