Dinner at Wandegaya…I wish I had pictures because I’m finding it impossible to describe Wandegaya! Maybe it’s like a fair or carnival; there are people everywhere and food vendors everywhere, lots of “chicken guys”. This is some guy who has a grill and is making chicken and chapatti and cabbage and a whole assortment of other things. There are so many of them though I don’t know how they possibly all make a living off it. Thankfully on this day I went to Wandegaya for dinner with an expert; Sophia. She’s with the German Red Cross and has lived in Kampala since last fall. Julie (another AIMer) and Sophia’s sister Johanna were there as well. We inched our way through the area looking for Neon, the chicken guy Sophia knows. He was so happy to see us and got us a table right away. Really he just serves food but he was happy to go get drinks for us from another guy. We all got some soda and ordered chapatti with gravy and chicken and cabbage. The chapatti with gravy came first and it was delicious! The chicken with cabbage was great too but I always prefer chapatti! Before we started eating Neon brought around a basin and hot water so we could all wash our hands (I think this is so funny because it makes it sound like a fancy place and really it’s the furthest thing from fancy you can imagine!!). While we were eating the chicken we all put the bones right on the table when we were done with them…it looked kind of gross but it was fun to just be messy and not have it matter at all! After dinner we washed our hands again, thanked Neon for the spectacular dinner (which cost each of us about two dollars!) and headed off to Jam Session at the National Theater! =]
July 19th:
Nando’s is a popular restaurant downtown that’s comparable to something between fast food and pizza hut. On Tuesday nights the pizza is buy one get one free so of course Britta, Sophia, Johanna, Julie and I decided to go! The place was packed, apparently that’s where everyone in Kampala eats on Tuesdays, but we got a nice table outside. Germans like their pizza a little different from what I’m used to (tuna and corn on a pizza??) but we managed to get something everyone liked! After dinner we walked up to the National Theater for Percussion Discussion. Every Tuesday at National Theater a percussion group performs from 8-10 for only 5,000 shillings. We met some of our Ugandan friends there and completely enjoyed the show. The group is the same one that performs in the movie The Last King of Scotland (which I still really want to see because people here talk about it all the time!!). I was lucky because this particular night they had a group of about ten dancers visiting who performed for a while. They were so good! It is absolutely crazy how fast these people can move their hips! Towards the end of the show they tell the audience to feel free to dance…ha! I’m way too shy for that but eventually I did because Ugandans can be very convincing! Most of the friends we’ve made here are part of one of the dance groups Tabu Flo or Keiga. They’re the ones who lead the dancing at the end so of course they insisted we all join! Once I was up there I had a blast…we all got an old beat up tea kettle or tin can or some other metal object and a stick so we were all making lots of noise and dancing and enjoying ourselves.
July 20th:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAROLYN!!! =]
We celebrated Carolyn and Rachel’s birthdays (both AIM girls) at Steer’s with a bunch of Carolyn’s friends from Dwelling Places where she works. Julie and I were lucky enough to sit by two of the funniest Ugandan’s I’ve met. Also, we had ice cream and French fries for dinner so it was truly a great celebration!
After dinner Julie called Michael, one of our favorite boda drivers and I called Derrick. It can be really difficult to explain where you are sometimes so when Michael got there before Derrick I asked him to call Derrick to make sure he had understood me. Michael and Derrick definitely know each other because we all use them so much and Michael always jokes about how Derrick is such a slow driver (which is kind of true but I’d rather go slow than get in an accident so I never mind!). So anyways, Michael was on the phone with Derrick, speaking Lugandan of course, and Julie and I couldn’t help but laugh because the one Lugandan word we understood was “hurry up!” and he just kept saying it over and over. Michael is such a nice guy though because he insisted on waiting with me until Derrick was there!
Another random highlight of this day was that a newbie to Kampala was there and he had REAL gum with him!!! The gum here tastes good but it lasts about two minutes so it was such a treat to have gum from back home!
July 21st:
This was about the third day in a row that we had no power so my cell phone was completely dead…not a huge problem but I decided to head into town to find a place to charge it. I ended up at Garden City (surprise surprise) at a Starbucks look-alike called Bancafe. I ordered an avocado smoothie (delicious!) and settled into the big comfy chair to catch up on my journaling. It was such a great evening!! I decided to buy dinner for one of the mothers sitting on the street with her child (sausage rolls and a huge piece of cake for dessert!) and it was seriously one of the highlights of my entire trip here to give it to them. I sat down and talked for a minute then asked if it was ok to give them some dinner. As I was walking away I had tears streaming down my face. I can’t really explain it but I felt like I was made for that moment in time. I’m not saying I did anything special, I’ve seen plenty of other people give food to the people sitting there, I guess it was just something I’ll never forget.
A bit later I was walking along the sidewalk and was completely shocked to see someone from Spring Arbor walking along in the other direction. I had known Pilgrim was in Uganda but he’s been staying up in Gulu so I never expected to see him in Kampala. He was with some friends from Gulu so we all hung out for the evening; it was such a good time!! We were at a cute little restaurant called Boda Boda for a while and they had a fabulous live band! They played covers of all sorts of great songs. It was really fun to hang out with someone from home and this upcoming weekend I’m headed to Gulu for a few days so we’ll get to hang out again!
July 23rd:
Not quite happy birthday Sophia…but this was the day of her birthday party. She had it at a friend’s house and the party was complete with a Rolex stand (eggs, tomatoes, cabbage, onion, and green pepper all rolled up in a chapatti), chicken, chips, and lots of friends! I went to the party with the girls from the guesthouse (Marie, Britta, and Sophie) but our boda driver ran out of gas before reaching the place. Thankfully we were within walking distance so it wasn’t a problem!
July 24th:
Crazy things happened at church on this day! We were about 45 minutes into the service and were about to sing a song when the projector way up on the ceiling started sparking. It was really like someone had lit about ten sparklers on it. All the people sitting directly under it jumped up and were trying to move to the sides. Then the sparking stopped and the thing just caught on fire! The band was still playing but I don’t think a single person was singing! We were all just sitting there waiting for something to happen when all of a sudden the entire projector started shaking and moving. People really freaked out at that point and were trying to get out the doors (way too many people and not enough doors lead to a bit of chaos though!) but it turns out there was someone in the ceiling above the projector who had pulled it upwards so they could use a fire extinguisher on it. It was like it was snowing in church for a minute because of all the fire extinguisher stuff falling. Once the fire was out the projector was lowered to the ground where they were able to detach it and take it out of the sanctuary. Of course everyone cheered and once the seats were cleaned up the service went on as usual with a few extra (funny!) references to fire and hell…
July 25th:
Cristiana, this one’s for you!
ETHIOPIAN FOOD! =]
Julie, Amanda, Sophia and I went to The Space for dinner. The tables are all outside and surrounded by candles! I love the outdoor restaurants here! Julie and I ordered from the Ethiopian menu and it was delicious! I had enjera which is like bread but is different in so many ways! First of all, it looks like a blanket! It’s flat and spongy and tastes a little bit like sourdough bread. I had some sort of lentil sauce that I dipped it in, very tasty. I decided that sometime this year Cristiana and I either need to find an Ethiopian restaurant near Spring Arbor or attempt to make some Ethiopian food ourselves!
July 28th:
This wasn’t technically my last day at Mukisa but it was the last day the kids were there. The whole week it was hard knowing that it was my last week but it all came together when I was saying goodbye at the end of the day. Each day at Mukisa there’s a different group of kids, some are there once or twice a week and a couple are there every day. I was in the music therapy room which is the nap room in the afternoons saying goodbye to each of the kids and I couldn’t take it. I mean think about it, the chances are huge that I’ll never see these kids again. I think it made it even harder that they’re kids…they can’t say goodbye back.
I guess I just feel so incredibly blessed that I got to spend the time with them that I did. I wish it was longer but I’ll take what I’ve been given! Something I’ve learned here is that even though they’re kids and even though most of them don’t have a lot of communication they all still have huge personalities and have so much to offer the world!
Some of the guys from Tabu Flo dance group came to Mukisa for a dance party with the kids. It was really cool of them to come and the kids loved it!
Badru loved dancing with Antonio!
This is Cedric wearing Antonio's shoes..so funny!
Marie and Britta have been teaching some of the mother's English so during the final week they had cake and soda for them to celebrate all they had learned!
This is me working with Faridah (a therapist) and Halima.
This was during a birthday party for Meddy, Halima, and Jovia! We all got cake and each of them got a present from Mukisa! =]
July 29th:
This was the last official day at Mukisa. It was just staff members and volunteers though, no moms and no kids. We had a meeting in the morning then lunch. All of us volunteers decided we wanted to do something to say thank you to the staff at Mukisa so we hired a catering service to come for lunch. We all ate way more than necessary and enjoyed our final lunch together. After lunch we had another meeting of sorts but really it was to say our goodbyes. There were five of us volunteers who were at Mukisa every day, one who worked at a sister project to Mukisa, and one staff member who was leaving as well. The tradition at Mukisa is that on someone’s last day they choose their favorite song and everyone sings it for them while they dance. How embarrassing! We all got lucky though because they let the six volunteers dance together! We stood in the middle and each picked a different and actually had a lot of fun dancing and singing! Most of us picked a song from music therapy and I couldn’t’ decide which my favorite was. I ended up choosing Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes because Britta and Sophie and I always love it when they play it during therapy. They always make the school kids stand up for the song and they get the first head and shoulders right but after that they never know what to do so they usually just go back and forth from head to shoulders with an occasional toe touch thrown in. We always just find it so hilarious and adorable so when I chose that song we dedicated it to them and danced just like they do! The staff got quite a kick out of it!
After the dancing we each got a Mukisa certificate and a handmade gift made by the moms. We said our goodbyes to the staff then headed home. There were lots of tears but it was a happy goodbye, I’ve learned so much from the staff members at Mukisa and I’ll never forget them!
I couldn’t bear sitting at home after such an emotional day so I decided to wander though Kampala. I headed into town on a taxi and walked through the endless shops surrounding the taxi park. I eventually ended up at Green Shops, my favorite thrift store here. After that I went to a craft market to buy more souvenirs for friends and family back home. It sounds like a simple thing to do but there are so many choices of things to buy I usually end up standing there staring at everything!
Faridah and Idah the physiotherapists
James and Sulaiti the Occupational Therapists
Anne and Grace the teachers
July 30th:
I was up early because Carolyn and I had made plans to go to Jinja for the day. We met at Shoprite (a grocery store) at nine and got a coaster bus to Jinja. I was excited because I was able to sleep almost the whole way there! Sleeping makes long bus rides so much more bearable! =]
Once we arrived in Jinja we headed right for the source of the Nile. We both thought it was so cool to actually be at the source of the Nile River! We took our tourist pictures and went to a restaurant right on the river for lunch. I thought about ordering fish because...well I mean we were at the Nile! But they serve fish with the heads still on here so I played it safe and had chicken. We walked back to town after lunch and met another AIM girl who works outside of Jinja. She works at Good Sheppard’s Fold Orphanage and has been here about eight months. We had the coolest boda ride out to the orphanage! We fit all three of us on the boda which is pretty cool in itself but it was also just really fun to ride a boda through the country when I’m so used to riding around downtown Kampala! We had to get off and walk for a bit because we took the old bridge over the Nile and bodas aren’t allowed to drive over it anymore. Once we crossed the river it seemed like we were just surrounded by sugar cane for miles…very pretty!
I was so glad we got to visit the orphanage, it was pretty incredible. GSF has about 77 children living there. Not all are “true orphans” but they all have some reason for being there. The compound is huge and really feels like its own village. The kids were scattered around the compound either playing volleyball or soccer or studying or really doing whatever they felt like doing on a Saturday afternoon! The kids live about eight to a house with one house mom. We got to meet most of the house moms and I was blown away with how great they were. I think it must take a really special person to do what they do. Unfortunately we didn’t get to spend much time at the orphanage because we wanted to be back in Kampala before dark but like I said before, I’m so glad I got to visit!
This obviously doesn’t catch me up to present day but on the 31st I left for “holiday” in Rwanda so that will all be in a separate post!
