Still Sweating

When I woke up this morning the sun was out at it was blistering hot already. When I walked outside I swear I could hear my skin sizzle. Even the African’s were saying how hot it was. I'm starting to get used to having constant body odour and a dripping face.

I had a chat with Leslie this morning about other projects she supports and what they might need. On Thursday we are going to see the PACE project and to talk to Betty about what she needs for her small school. There is another project in a village that needs help so we will probably go out there to check it out as well. That will be next week.

Nansubuga and I went into Kampala today to buy new text books for the school. It was my first time being in a Mutatu since returning to Uganda. It was a pretty good ride considering how they were last time. I think the country must be cracking down on how many people you are allowed to have in there. This time we had only 14 people. Not bad. The driving is still crazy and the traffic has definitely increased. We live on the main road that goes through Uganda to Kenya and there are a lot of big trucks and just a lot of traffic in general on it. The exhaust can be overwhelming at times.

By the time we reached Kampala my throat hurt so bad from the exhaust. I was covered in a thin layer of dirt and black from the exhaust. Gross! Nansubuga is older (73 I found out) so I wanted to treat her to an ice cream because we were both hot and tired from walking through town. She was so excited and ordered up a double Gelatto. After eating she told me that she had never had Gelatto and will have to go back and tell everyone how great it was. I was happy to treat her to something so small that made her so happy.

After Kampala we returned to Mukono just in time for school to end. I spent a bit of time with the kids then they walked me home just like last time. They all want to come up but I told them they are not allowed. It’s so cute because some of them don’t even live in the same direction as me but still want to walk me home.

I asked Jimmy to stay behind so that I could talk to him a bit more. I asked him if he knew how his parents died and he said he didn’t. I asked if he thought it might be AIDS and he said he thought so but that no one had ever told him. I asked him about being sick last year and about being beaten by the teacher and he told me that he was not being beaten by the teacher but rather being beaten at home by his uncle. That is why he had the sore on his head which everyone else was saying was due to AIDS. When I asked if he was ok living there he told me that he liked it, which surprised me. He told me that they had taken him to be tested before but that no one has ever told him the results. I asked him to talk to his guardians tonight and see if they would be ok with me taking him to be tested. He told me that he would go ask them about everything, his parents, his sickness etc. and let me know tomorrow.

I met the new volunteer from Belgium tonight. She is very nice and we are sharing a room. She is here not as a volunteer but for research. She is researching the Buganda Kingdom for her masters thesis.

I had given most of my kids my phone number and address, and in the middle of the night I received a phone call from one of them. I didn’t bother to answer because it was late and I was sleeping. I fear the parents will start calling me all the time and asking me for things.

In the middle of the night I woke up sooooo hot. The wind had died down and it was unbelievably hot. I went searching through my suitcases for a fan just so I could fall back asleep. I really hope this weather breaks soon.

That’s it for now. I’ll have lot’s more to report tomorrow. Jimmy’s aunt is coming to school.

Jenn