week one

Monday again in Jinja Town. We just returned from the market. I love the market at night. The vendors have small kerosene lamps made of old tins. From far off, they are orange globes surrounded by colorful fruits and vegetables. The main market area is closed off at dark, so the goods are moved to blankets and tables on the sidewalk and street. There is always a festive, salubrious atmosphere. The vendors try to sell as much as possible before they put their wares in wicker baskets covered with banana leaves for the night. The prices are very good. Somehow, Andrea got it in her head that night meat was better than day meat. So we sauntered over to the meat tables. We have an affinity for goat, so after passing the beef tables, we initiated a negotiation with a man standing in front of a whole skinned side of goat and some random chunks of legs? ribs? We agreed on 6000 for one kilo. He sharpened his 3 foot long machete in his right hand against the 3 foot long machete in his left hand and gently sliced off a strip of leg meat and flipped it onto the scale. Then he raised his hand, made eye contact with all of us, and brought it down across the bone and tossed it in. A boy came up and sold us a cavera (black plastic bag) and we put the meat in. We put that cavera into our bigger bag of tomatoes, onions, peppers, cabbage, beans, bread and cassava and I practiced my African head carrying skills back to the car.

The past week was full and busy. I had extensive conversations with Andrea and Marayah about where they want to go with their aspects of the program: epoh bags and volunteers respectively, and how they see the mission of LGH fitting into their lives. How do we empower Africans? How to we motivate Americans to live with hope? I'm envisioning a big group juggle of hope and empowerment. We'll toss around hope and empowerment to each other like bean bags and rubber chickens, each holding one idea long enough to acknowledge it's existence in our lives despite our inability to possess or control it and realize our amazing ability to share it with others.

I went to English class and a Suubi meeting and made speeches like I was the boss. I purchased, washed, and shipped 461 necklaces with lots of help and support. I met with the boys I taught last year and watched popeye cartoons while eating pineapple on saturday morning. I did a lot of shopping for water tubs and sitting mats and notebooks and pens and chalk. I wrote many emails about the landlord (big meeting 9am tomorrow) and night guard (repaying loans) and exactly how much money to pay for everything (tailor's salaries, walkie talkies, a safe, fixing the brakes in the van)

I did not get bitten by a snake while eating fried eggplant and cucumber sandwiches in tall grass near the river. I did not get sunburned while sitting in the sun by the pool for 5 hours. I did not get stressed out when the money was off by 40,000, the van was not starting, and the shipping boxes were not this town.

I want to figure out if we will have to move, so I can caulk the showers and toilets and reorganize the kitchen and get the fastest internet East Africa has to offer. I want to buy a boat and go out on the Lake. I want to delegate responsibilities, set reasonable time frames, and see productivity and progress. And I think right now I want to go to bed.

I'll leave you with a photo of the bajaj motorbike that Andrea and I want to purchase for the low, low price of just over 6 million shillings. They're not even legal in Uganda yet, we're going to be so freaking trendy.