October 13, 2011 Money, Phone, Shoes, and No Power…

As I sit to write this for the second night in a row we are without power. Had power all day long while it was light outside but now that it’s dark – well, what can I say? The day started early – the action starts about 6 around here though I refused to get vertical until at least 8! And then I was only moving as far as the shower only to find we had no hot water. Just gotta love God's sense of humor!! Once we got ourselves moving we headed to the market place to exchange some money (the wire transfer that we started almost two weeks ago has not yet arrived) so we could get a sim card for a phone I brought with me and begin buying the shoes for the kids. Now here is where expectation and reality really differed. For starters I thought the money exchange would take place in a respectable place of business…something similar to a bank! I could not have been more wrong! As we drove down the street Susan suddenly stopped the car. There was nothing close to us remotely resembling a building. Open market yes. Buildings…No! Needless to say, I was a little confused. With that she asked me for my money just as a man walked up to the car with a wad of shillings in his hand. He took my dollars and I got his shillings. Not quite what I was expecting when I mentioned I wanted to exchange my money but then I failed to ask specifics. Little by little I am learning the Ugandan way. Mostly I am learning ignorance is bliss! Next adventure Sim card.

Again, she stopped the car (there are no parking spaces, but then there don’t seem to be any real roads either) and said she would handle it. So off she went and came back with the card, and 20,000 shillings worth of time. Now I was cooking in Crisco. I could phone home! And so I did. I called Steve and said howdy just because I could.

We then went to the kid’s home. Jack, the fence around the house looks really nice, but then you know that from previous pictures. I didn’t really get a chance to look around the grounds because it poured last night and this morning and the grounds were super muddy. We took five boys first to the market to buy shoes. Once again my idea and perception were greatly different than reality. We did not have the opportunity to walk to the market. Susan went with us and because of her recent pregnancy and illnesses she is not able to make that walk. So we drove. The second shocker was that the shoes we were buying were not new – they were used! Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would be doing that! But according to Phil and Susan the new shoes are not made as well and they are way to expensive to purchase. I have to say the kids enjoyed the process and they were really appreciative of the shoes. Jen, whereas most of the children found their shoes within minutes, Moses must have looked and re-looked several times before he finally made a decision! We had to trek through the mud to get there but no one really seemed to mind. When we got back to the house the kids all thanked us. We made sure they all understood the shoes were from their sponsors or from family and friends of mine. So thanks again everyone who participated for your hearts. You did indeed make their day.

We then took a group of five girls. Four of the girls picked out black school shoes. The fifth picked out tennis shoes. I have to say she stole my heart. I was so proud of her for not following the crowd. Besides for those of you who know me well, you have to know I love anyone who chooses tennis shoes over dress shoes any day of the week!

We then came back to the house for a while until Susan announced that Keith was crying and she had to go feed him (she is still nursing). So off we went to Scovias. While Susan nursed we sat and watched Scovia make a mat. What an experience. She was telling us it takes her about two weeks to make one from start to finish. She was sitting outside on the ground doing this while cooking dinner in the pots next to her. We then went to the market place again to actually do some shopping. I must say, I am again so thankful for HEB! I hate shopping there, I can only imagine how much I would hate shopping here. The market place extends way behind the street. We traipsed deep into the market which was filled with lots of vegetable stands, potato, onions, meats, etc. The meat stands were filled with raw meat covered with flies. As you told the individual what you wanted they would cut your order right there – flies beware! Again, thankful for HEB! And everywhere you looked there were children. The ground was nothing but mud (we are currently in rainy season as evidenced by the pouring rain outside) and so we attempted to avoid the puddles as we walked through. I took my camera (duh) and took a lot of pictures though I was warned by Liz not to take pictures of anyone holding a knife (thus no pictures of the meat stands) and definitely no pictures of police. It seems both of those frown upon being recorded for posterity. Liz was a little grumpy about this and even said she would claim she’d never seen me before if I defied her wishes (a little hard to do being as we are the only two white women in the whole town).

When we got back to the house Phiona came in. Phiona, for those of you who don’t know, is in the process of being adopted by a couple who came to Uganda in July, Jacque and Mike. So we decided to call them and let her speak to them. She is the cutest little thing and she was so excited to hear their voices. She just grinned the whole time. They sent her a photo album with pictures of the three of them and while sitting on my lap she must have looked through the book at least five times. She kept identifying them and then pointing at herself and telling me that was her. She was so excited to have the pictures. She just lit up hearing their voices. And in the meantime while waiting for the adoption to be finalized she just loves Liz. She is like her third appendage.

We then had a chance to talk with all the kids and tell them why we are here. The one question they asked was if all their sponsors would be coming to Africa to see them. We tried to explain that most would be unable to do so but that did not mean you all did not care for them and think about them often. They were upset that not more sponsors could come but were so happy to know they were in your thoughts. They were excited we would be here for a whole month and that we hoped to spend a lot of time with them. So now as my computer is about to die (only 10% more power) I will let bid you all goodnight. Thanks again for your support. Who knows what tomorrow will bring but we are praying for power!

The power came back on - Hallelujah! Phil and Liz were playing Skip-Bo (Liz won!) and I was reading my Kindle by flashlight. We tried to make the Instant Ice Tea I brought and the overall consensus is that the stuff is awful. We are all sticking to water. I offered to leave it with Phil and he even assured me it would still be here next year! Though the tea was awful we did have some really good laughs over how bad it was! So all was not lost.

It's now 11:45 and we are headed to bed. We really are becoming Lucy and Ethel. That might be the theme of this trip...

Love you all.