Parties and Laundry and Goats, Oh my!

Sunday

Masaka Town and TASO

On Sunday we went to Masaka, which is to Kitengeesa as Vancouver is to North Van on a MUCH MUCH MUCH smaller scale. Anyways, to go there we got on a boda-boda. At first Heather was squealing and screaming, because she had never been on a boda-boda before and her mother had always told her it was a death trap, but she calmed down quickly, and within a couple of minutes she was saying how fun it was, and that she thought it was relaxing, too. Then she was taking photos and videos. So, in case you were wondering, yes, it is safe, and it costs less than a dollar a trip (2,000 Sh). 

Halfway there we decided that we ought to visit Lydia and Julie at their TASO (The Aids Support Organization) placement. However, when we arrived and let our boda-boda guy leave we soon realized that it wasn’t the greatest idea. It was Sunday, after all. Despite this, we walked all of the way into the hospital (which is wide and flat and huge, a couple of acres) to the TASO building at the end, took some pictures, saw that it was totally closed, and walked back. 

When we got out they saw some mzungus and the boda-bodas swarmed us. For some reason we decided to walk, so we tried to do that. Fail. 3/4 of the way there we changed our minds and got a boda-boda. (P.S. On the road some random guy just decided to show us that he could put his leg behind his head while standing… uh… what??)

In case you were wondering, it is very squishy to fit 3 people and a driver on a motorcycle.

When we did get into town we spent our time wandering looking for birthday presents for the girls. Eventually, after ages and ferrying between stores, we landed up, all of us feeling a bit hot and grumpy, buying two very pretty fancy dresses (one of which eventually had to be exchanged because it was too small…) We also bought ourselves some groceries and water.

We had some problems getting a reasonably priced taxi back to town, so it took us two drivers to get home, and we ended up paying how much the first guy asked for… It was tiring and by the time we got back everyone was ready to relax/sleep.

The Slaughter of the Goat

On Sunday a goat was killed for Elizabeth and Monica’s joint birthday party. Elizabeth is turning 10 on February 2nd, and Monica turned 8 on January 7th, and because they’re going back to school on the 29th and all of Dan’s children board but for Flora, they decided to have a joint party. Anyhow, we meant to watch it get killed for educational purposes (although Leila grew up on a farm which raised animals for meat and so doesn’t need to be educated on this), but we were in Masaka getting things. Later on in the day, though, Roman grilled the meat on the barbeque during Amelia’s cooking lesson. 

We ate it for dinner that night at the party - it was fantastic. They skinned the goat, too. Its skin was lying in a heap next to the kitchen (which is a separate building).

Amelia’s Cooking Lessons

BUT Amelia was hosting a cooking lesson for some of the women in the community. What would she be teaching, you may wonder. Well, she taught the women how to make her miracle cure for coughs and colds (garlic, ginger, honey, onion, + ______)  as well as about making salads and the nutritional benefits of raw vegetables etc. 

Anyways, we watched the lesson and it was a lot of fun. Also, Dan drew some really cute pictures.

The Party

Before the party the three of us made the girls a Happy Birthday sign.

This took a while, so we were a bit late for the actual party. Everyone was already sitting in chairs on the grass eating grilled goat and matoke (cooked unripened plantain) while having a beer. The kids were half running around and half helping with the chores and serving people. 

Everything was beautiful, and it looked naturally how people at home will pay money to make a party look like, with ‘tiki’ lamps lit by candles against the backdrop of the sheet of stars, bright stars. 

To protect ourselves against mosquitos, everyone used Citronella. BAD idea for me… I am extremely allergic, as it turns out… More on this later. 

Something cut that happened was that Dan began suddenly to dance and he didn’t stop for hours. He was all alone, just dancing madly. Leila figured it was the pop. Later, he just completely passed out on someone’s leg. It was adorable. 

Among the attendants was a priest - apparently it takes 12 years to become ordained! - a young priest, and some more friends. It was a good night.

Monday

Sickies

All three of us are sick. It’s kind of pathetic. Leila has been having an upset stomach. Heather was having trouble swallowing food because her throat hurt. It turned out she had an infection. Then, I thought I had malaria (although I was actually just dehydrated -- I bought an 18.8 L jug in Masaka, so that won’t be a problem any longer) because I felt really hot and my eyesight was weird, and then after the party I woke up with hives/an intense rash and puffy eyelids. At the party everyone used Citronella to ward off the mosquitos. It turns out that I’m allergic. Yay. I look like an alien. 

Drawing

On Monday morning Dan and Amelia and then later Elizabeth came into our kitchen-esque area (although we have nothing which which to cook, simply an eating table and a cupboard and a sink) and drew pictures with crayons and paper. After, we put their pictures on the wall. Dan especially seemed to pleased to have his work displayed. Elizabeth drew a lovely photo of her and Monica underneath the HAPPY BIRTHDAY sign we cut out onto a chain hanging by the window of their house.

TV/Movie Watching

We’ve been watching movies some nights. The first few nights I tried to show Leila and Heather Being Human, the UK version. Although they really enjoyed the first episode, it has since become, apparently, too scary, and although they like it, they’d rather watch it in the day.

We also watched Bridesmaids together. Instead of watching it in the living room on the couch, which is slightly uncomfortable for everyone, we have made a nest in the room Tiffany and Kara stayed in on the first few nights before they left for Busolwe. To do so we moved a mattress from one bed and put it against the wall on top of the other mattress so that there is a mattress on the bedframe for one’s bum and one on the wall for one’s back. Then we piled blankets and cushions on the bed, and put a chair in front of the bed on which to place our laptops. When we watch movies we even put the mosquito net over the chair so that we can be safe from mosquitos and still be able to see the screen. 

Anyhow, I fell asleep a quarter of the way through because I have already seen the movie. Leila has about 7 movies on her computer, Heather brought two, and I have a bunch of TV (because I prefer them to movies). 

By myself I’ve been watching Downton Abbey, a British show which is actually REALLY addictive and good, and I’ve even been able to download some episodes of Once Upon a Time and Pretty Little Liars on iTunes with the internet. Other than that, we may get some movies in Masaka next time we go at the book store which also apparently has movies.

Tuesday

My Picture Wall

Tuesday morning I put up a bunch of photos I’d printed in Canada of friends and family.

Fair Trade and Coffee

We were talking about something interesting at the library on Tuesday. Apparently something a lot of people do here is sell coffee beans to earn a living. 1 tree usually makes about 20-30 kilos, and each kilo currently sells for about 4,000 shillings. That’s CAD $1.71 per kilo. 

Starbucks sells the coffee for between CAD $10-15+. While there are production and shipping costs involved, the profit on those beens is actually sick, and it makes me never want to drink coffee again. However, if I ever do I plan to just drink fair trade…

But… Even Fair Trade isn’t really that fair. All Fair Trade means is a fair price in that person’s market, versus cheating people. Which is good, but for me, that’s not good enough. The profit margin should be less, and the people producing the goods should be getting more money for their work, especially when said work is being sold for so much. This is magnified when you consider the cost of 1 cup of coffee at Starbucks. 

Basically, it’s sick, but it’s better than nothing, and for many people here it is the difference between paying school fees and not.***

***For many families, sending their children to school is the absolute top priority. However, school is not free like it is in Canada, so many families sacrifice everything to send their children to school. Dan said that many parents would sacrifice food even to send their kids to school. ~*~

~*~ Which is a prime example of why foreigners shouldn’t be directing aid. We, as foreigners, don’t know what locals want. A foreigner may assume that hungry people need food, where instead said hungry people may really want an education so that they can learn to feed themselves. 

The Computer Theft

So, something just happened that shocked everyone. At about 4 PM we got back from visiting AfriPads, and when we came into the library we found that someone stole one of the computers. I am just so horrified - those computers are expensive, and they are new. Anyone who would steal one, much less from a library, is horrible beyond words. I am just so furious. We don’t know when it happened, but we have some suspects and are investigating. It’s just so frustrating… And it was one of the good computers, too.

This may have somewhat destroyed my faith in humanity.

The Women’s Group - Computer Lessons

This was our first meeting with the women’s group. There are two groups of about 15 women, and these women are truly remarkable. They work together and have a microfinancing organization together. Together they work to support each other in their business and agricultural goals as well as in learning English (for business purposes) and learning to type and use computers.

I mostly worked with a 15 year old girl and a young woman, and showed them both how to use the computer. Having grown up with the computer it was strange to see things like clicking and opening folders and stuff being strange and difficult. But it was. 

In the future we will be meeting this group at 4 PM on Tuesdays to teach an hour of English and an hour of computers.

Wednesday

The Other Women’s Group

This group was small; only four women arrived even though there are usually 14. They had largely been working on their typing and mostly used their AlphaSmarts keyboards. Bernadette, one of the women, finished very quickly, though, so I showed her some basic computer stuff. There’s a lot to learn, but she learned fast. Apparently she’s a teacher at a Primary school a way’s away. She has a garden, some pigs, chickens, and a cow, as well as three children at home! So busy. None of the other women went to the computers, however. They stayed on the AlphaSmarts for today.

*! (Alphasmart Keyboard)

In the future we will be meeting this group at around 4 PM on Mondays and Fridays to teach English on one day and computers on the other, focusing each on practical activities that will incorporate computers and English.

The Destruction of My Picture Wall, and Picture Wall #2

On Tuesday there were a couple of strange occurrences which creeped us out. First Heather’s shoes had been moved. Next, the door to the spare room was closed and locked. Neither of us had done those things. Then, I noticed that my blue dry erase board was no longer on the floor, but in my suitcase. Weird, I thought, but oh well. Maybe I put it there, maybe we did that, we thought. But then when I woke up and there was light in my room I saw that someone had scribbled all over my pictures. They had also scribbled on a water bottle and on the wall and left the cap off of my whiteboard/dry erase board marker. It was all low however, so we suspected that it was one of the kids. Dan figured it was Amelia when we told him later. Luckily we were able to get the ink off of the walls because it was a whiteboard marker, but the ink wouldn’t come off of my photos. :( 

So, I refitted my picture wall and I now have a new one… :( Oh well. 

Thursday, Jan.26

We did laundry... FINALLY!! We all felt really gimpy at doing it by hand, but Flora showed us the way!