yesterday i officially made water boil using the sun. i built a solar oven out of cardboard and aluminum foil. i put a dark wine bottle full of water in a clear plastic bag (that originally held 36 rolls of toilet paper) and set it on the solar cooker. Within an hour, the water boiled! So today I'm going to try rice. I want to build solar cookers with all of the suubi ladies and tailors so they can save money (and time and the atmosphere and their health) by sterilizing their water and cooking food without using charcoal or wood. there are a million reasons why solar cookers are great, but this is my number one. hopefully, we can get these going soon. I'm going to acquire some WAPIs so we know when the water has reached a high enough temperature to kill most of the bacteria and viruses.

We've had a bunch of visitors recently, more are coming today. I find it challenging to take people out for a day and give them the right amount of information. In a day, people want to hear what we do, details about the past, present and future regarding: who we work with, what products we make, how we sell them in america, what we hope to actually accomplish. I am working on summarizing and figuring out how to tailor my spiel to the audience. Its hard to not just start spewing about every detail of everything. I want to be intentional about telling the truth in a way that people can get a realistic picture of who we are, not just get stuck in the details of what we're doing right now. I guess I need to take my own advice and focus more on the big picture and not just get stuck in the details of right now.

Well, off to solar cooking, tours, breakfast club, english class, and fun!

i'm reading an article at cnn about "voluntourism," the idea that people want to do good works in a foreign place in addition to traditional holiday activities. they say that women take volunteer holidays more than men because they want cultural immersion in a safe place, camaraderie with fellow travelers, and want to reduce the "guilt" of vacationing. mom and dad and family are visiting in October for a little bit of voluntouring. mom and the aunties are going to do some sort of "clinic." (or at least look all the suubi ladies in the eye while they take their blood pressure and heart rate) We're going to install dad in the Suubi building with beading and macrame and tie-dye.

right now i'm drinking ugandan wine. its made here in jinja from hibiscus flowers and sold commercially from the winery where it is made across the river in njeru. the bottle says it has an "elegant taste" which my untrained palate finds as intensely sweet at the first followed by astringent then ending on something like old, leather boat shoes. i've almost finished my first glass.

its 7:30 pm and its officially dark. i have to get up and turn ... never mind, the power is out. Good night.