| Saturday
- August 20, 2005 (Day 9) Building day 5 |
"Everyday, people stop us on the streets and ask when Habitat will come fix their house - I only wish I knew." |
 The house as it stood on Saturday morning. |
It
was raining so hard this morning that we couldn't go to the work site
until
11am - sleeping in felt so good. Mind you that in Bululu,
'sleeping
in' means laying in your bed and praying that every crowing rooster
gets
gonorrhea and dies. My sore throat is slightly better, but the
air
today is full of smoke from the brick-baking, which does not
help.
When we got to the work site, we climbed right onto the roof and began
to
help nail down the tin panels. The day passed quickly as we had
to
leave at 3:30pm to make it back to our house for a performance from a
local
band.
Towards the end of the workday, we broke for tea and it began to rain. Seeing as half the roof was up, we went into one of the covered rooms in the house and had our tea there. Today, for the first time, we convinced Okware and Etoke to come and have their tea with us. This was my favorite part of the trip yet - Dave, myself, Etoke and Okware chatting using the dozen or so words we could both understand. Believe it or not, the conversation flowed nicely. We
weren't discussing anything
complex
- just how much we appreciated each other and how much friendship we
felt
towards each other after just a short time. The most important
word
I've learned here so far is 'Mukwanowange' - 'friend.'
Conversation
can be had without words - in fact, sometimes it's much clearer that
way.
At the end of the day, our teammates at the other site walked to our site and we waited for Farouk to come with our pickup truck. While we were waiting, Dixon - the foreman and one of the more sexist people I have ever met - called the six men over for a meeting. He huddled us up and began to lecture us. The following is an approximate script of the conversation which ensued. I say approximate because I have put some of what Dixon said into more proper english - I was so upset, I remember exactly what I said.
I started to fire scripture back at him but quickly stopped. We are guests in this country - it's not proper for me to come in here and insult all that they believe. I was so hot, I had to walk away and cool off for a few minutes. Jesus, even in Uganda I can't escape from discussions like this!
On our way home, we stopped
by
the saturday market. Keep in mind that by market, I don't mean
booths
and chairs - I mean blankets spread on the ground with the goods placed
on
them and the sellers sitting on the ground next to them. At the
market,
and old man stopped me and waved another man over the translate for
him.
He told me that his house is "trying to kill him" as it crumbles and
that
he wants me to come and fix it. Everyday, people stop us on the
streets
and ask when Habitat will come fix their house - I only wish I knew.
We arrived back at the house just in time for the beginning of the performance. The band had singers, dancers and musicians - they were incredible! They played music for about an hour and a half and it was very entertaining! I took lots of video clips, but they don't have
sound to show how good the
singing
was. During the performance, we were sitting in plastic chairs
and
all the children were standing behind us. They kept feeling the
hair
on the back of my head. It was a bit un-nerving at first to have
children come up and touch you without saying a thing, but we have
become quite accustomed
to it.
Tonight, I shaved and showered by the light of the moon. Showering here involves filling a bag up with water, hanging it on a nail and using the spout at the bottom as a shower head. The water is freezing, but ultimately refreshing. To shave, I put water in a cup and sit on my rock, looking up at the moon the whole time. It is so wonderful to be outdoors.............there is definitely a mouse in my room. Still great to be outdo...ok, the damn thing is squeaking now. Can't find it - hope they can't get through mosquito nets!
Towards the end of the workday, we broke for tea and it began to rain. Seeing as half the roof was up, we went into one of the covered rooms in the house and had our tea there. Today, for the first time, we convinced Okware and Etoke to come and have their tea with us. This was my favorite part of the trip yet - Dave, myself, Etoke and Okware chatting using the dozen or so words we could both understand. Believe it or not, the conversation flowed nicely. We
 This man asked me when Habitat would come and fix his house. |
At the end of the day, our teammates at the other site walked to our site and we waited for Farouk to come with our pickup truck. While we were waiting, Dixon - the foreman and one of the more sexist people I have ever met - called the six men over for a meeting. He huddled us up and began to lecture us. The following is an approximate script of the conversation which ensued. I say approximate because I have put some of what Dixon said into more proper english - I was so upset, I remember exactly what I said.
I started to fire scripture back at him but quickly stopped. We are guests in this country - it's not proper for me to come in here and insult all that they believe. I was so hot, I had to walk away and cool off for a few minutes. Jesus, even in Uganda I can't escape from discussions like this!
|
Lusoga
lesson
Emesa (Ay-meh-sah): tableEntupa (En-two-pah): bottle Entebe (En-te-BEH): chair Entebbe (En-TE-beh): a town outside of Kampala |
We arrived back at the house just in time for the beginning of the performance. The band had singers, dancers and musicians - they were incredible! They played music for about an hour and a half and it was very entertaining! I took lots of video clips, but they don't have
Featured Videos: African dance
Saturday evening was a
real
treat - an African band came and performed for us. Unfortunately,
my
camera can't record sound, but the dancing alone is impressive
enough!
Click on each picture to see an example of traditional African dance.
|
Tonight, I shaved and showered by the light of the moon. Showering here involves filling a bag up with water, hanging it on a nail and using the spout at the bottom as a shower head. The water is freezing, but ultimately refreshing. To shave, I put water in a cup and sit on my rock, looking up at the moon the whole time. It is so wonderful to be outdoors.............there is definitely a mouse in my room. Still great to be outdo...ok, the damn thing is squeaking now. Can't find it - hope they can't get through mosquito nets!