We had two specific goals for the day. First, we wanted to distribute shoes to the children of Mpigi on Wednesday so we needed to buy shoes. Based on our budget projections, we felt sure we could afford 75 pairs for Mpigi, so it was crucial to buy the shoes on Monday since we would be in Mpigi on both Tuesday and Wednesday. We also wanted to see as many children as possible. Jon was disappointed that he had missed the first 15 kids on Sunday, so he was anxious to get underway now that he was feeling better.
We began the day at 9:00 when the van arrived. It was already very hot, and the temperature soared as the day moved on. It was the hottest day I can remember in
We returned about twenty five minutes later, but the others were still inside the mall. We went in for a bit, then began the process of crossing downtown
As we neared the market, we found the sidewalks even more crowded than the streets. There were people flowing in both directions on every sidewalk. In the market itself, everyone was so tightly packed together that it didn’t appear that there was room for anyone else at all. No one was pushing or fighting, yet the crush was unrelenting. Jon kept trying to get pictures, but the commotion was so overwhelming it was impossible to decide what to shoot!
We finally pulled up to a gate. The guard didn’t want to let us in because we weren’t planning to part, but in the end, he let us pass. This area was almost a total parking lot! There were parked cars standing in the street everywhere. The confusion was made worse by the meandering hordes of Christmas shoppers. As Vincent wound through the parked vehicles, we talked about our strategy for buying shoes. We decided that if any of the Mazungu went into the shop, the price for the shoes would soar. So we decided to leave Michael and Joseph to negotiate the their best non-Mazungu price. We dropped them outside a line of shoe stores, then we continued to another gate where a guard let us back out into the bumper to bumper streets.
Grace assured me that she had put the children we would visit in order on a list. We stopped at a house where the list showed one child, and we saw one. The next house had one listed and we saw eight! The other seven had come there to wait for us when they heard we were around. I looked at Grace’s list and she was dutifully checking off the kids we saw, but she wasn’t keeping them in any order so that I could match them up once I got back to the states.
We continued through the narrow, rutted, red dirt tracks that are used as roads by the residents of Kiwatule. Several times, it appeared that the track ahead was impassable, but Vincent plowed on and through! We went to visit Mugishu Moses, who I had seen on Saturday for the first time in two years. Moses was found at the dump very soon after birth by a woman who took him in as her own. He has grown from a lap child to an elementary student. He’s still smaller than the other kids and he still moves more slowly than a snail, but his smile never fades and he seemed to remember me.
While we were waiting, Jim started a game of catch with the kids that surrounded us. Jon soon joined in and the nerf ball buzzed through the crowd. The best arm in the bunch was a young girl of around 10 who was absolutely dead on accurate with each and every throw. Jim soon became bored with the ball game. He suddenly grabbed the trunk of a huge tree and yelled, “Okay, who wants to climb a tree?” Jim is a pretty big guy, about six feet tall and over 200, so I watched in absolute terror as he pulled himself up. He missed the second branch and settled back to earth, but immediately he tried again and this time, he made it. He continued up the not very impressive tree as twenty kids shrieked and giggled. The legend of Jim the huge white man who climbed far up into that very tree, will live in that small neighborhood for a generation at least!
About noon, Joseph called to tell us that they had the shoes. We stopped for another group of kids, then drove back through the madness of downtown, into the market, and through the gate (after the same guard once again gave us a hard time). While Vincent was arguing with the guard, I looked up to see the man who we’d bought shoes from two years ago peering into the van. He had sold us good shoes, but he ripped us off on socks. I had explained to him last year that we wouldn’t be dealing with him again, and when he saw me inside the van, he turned away.
The guys had the shoes in two very large bags that were plastic but woven like burlap. They hoisted them into the van and we drove away. It was well after noon, so we decided to eat lunch. We wanted something quick, so we decided on the Hot Loaf, a bakery we have visited many times. The crowded room is a bit disconcerting at first. There is a long glassed in counter displaying all kinds of cakes and muffins (as well as pigs in a blanket). At the end is another case filled with all kinds of meat pies. Jon and Jim had a look and instantly declared themselves not hungry. They wanted only water. I had two delicious vegetable samosas. I hope they will overcome their concerns and try this place before they leave!
After lunch, we hit the road again. We drove down an incredibly steep track with ruts deep enough to lose a Volkswagon and met a huge number of kids, but only three of them were sponsored. We climbed back up the hill at a crawl and there was a loud crunch followed by a scraping sound. The spare tire, mounted under the back of the van, had fallen down from the constant scraping against the dirt roadway. The guys repaired the problem quickly and we continued on to a row of houses. Vincent stopped, and we walked up a drainage ditch between concrete house walls. About half way up the steep track, Vincent turned into an opening and we stepped into a tiny courtyard where two cows were grazing on almost nonexistent grass. The courtyard was surrounded by rows of connected mud brick homes. Jon’s sponsored son lived in one of the houses. His mother came out and greeted us and insisted that we go inside. There were no lights in the tiny sitting room. There was a couch and two chairs. She invited us to sit down and visit for a while. The woman is a widow with a house full of children. In addition to Jon’s son, we sponsor two other children in her house, including a young woman who has just finished high school. We started her sponsorship about three years ago, and now she is a high school graduate! She has done very well and hopes to become a nurse someday. We are looking for sponsors who would be willing to share the cost of allowing this girl to continue with her dream!
It was almost time for Jon to speak at church, but that didn’t slow us down at all. We visited another house where a boisterous mom thanked us for our help. Jim, once again, became a local legend when he waved at a huge group of kids surrounding the van and yelled “BBBBBBBYE!” They thought this was the funniest thing they had ever heard and they screamed back a stuttered farewell to Jim. This continued until the van pulled around the corner.
As we started toward the church, we met a group of kids. They had been to the neighborhood well and all were all carrying huge yellow containers full of water. We had five sponsored children in the group, including Patricia, a precious little girl that I hadn’t seen in nearly three years. She was filthy and terribly skinny, and when I reached to shake her hand, I grabbed an oozing sore on the back of her hand. She had somehow pinched herself in a piece of machinery and both of the resulting sores were infected.
We finally took Jon to church only an hour late. We dropped him at the church and Jim and I remained in the van with Vincent and Joseph. Vincent took us through the Kiwatule community then up a steep hill to a recreation area and through there to a rural area, the very edge of
This piece of property was only about ½ acre. It was also reasonably flat and there appeared to be no standing water on it. It was in a residential area at the intersection of two dirt tracks, one of which appeared to be a major route for residents of the area. It was located very near the current church, so it would be possible to move without too great a disruption in the congregation. But the price for the ½ acre was nearly $65,000! These prices seem absurd in the Ugandan economy until one realizes that almost every square foot of buildable land in
These were the only two sites Joseph knew, so we went back to church. Jon was still going strong, but his amplified voice was completely drowned out by the commotion around him. Behind the church, a new mosque was sending out the call for evening prayers. The speaker mounted on one of the minarets seemed to be focused directly at the church and the unearthly whine droned over the church structure.
But this was not the worst of the church’s problems. Next door, a bar has opened. The owner has an outstanding sound system and he has turned his gigantic speakers out away from his bar and directly into the side of the church. Hip hop literally vibrated the metal walls of the church, and Joseph said the owner of the bar was telling everyone he would drive these Christians out. Apparently, the mosque had increased its decibels as a way to compete with bar, so of course our church has cranked things up so that those worshiping inside can hear. All in all, it was mass confusion! Joseph had been telling me it was growing critical for the church to move. Between the building in the courtyard that had taken up every available square inch of space and this ridiculous noise situation, he is certainly right!!
We finally tore Jon away from his admiring listeners and the van completely filled up with our team and a few others. John Bosco rode with us again. He wouldn’t answer any questions about where he was going or where he was living. We dropped him at the same place as the day before, and he quickly blended into the crowd.
When we got to the guesthouse, Joseph and Michael followed me upstairs. They had a lot of questions about the presbytery meeting the next morning, and we talked for well over an hour. That put us near 7:00 going down to eat. Although we had to wait for a very long time for our food, it was quite good yet again!
Back in my room, I took a quick shower and realized the bit of color on my arm and nose were, in fact, sunburn. My arm, from sitting next to the open window all day and climbing in and out of the van, was particularly burned to the point of mild pain. I worked on the blog for a few minutes, but I was exhausted, so when the power failed, I turned the light off and went to bed. But it was a terrible night. It was incredibly hot without the fan and with no breeze stirring at all. The small thermometer on my alarm clock showed 80.5. Outside, the hounds from hell were particularly argumentative all night long. When dawn finally arrived, the mixture of roosters crowing and African birds was amazing. Some of the birds had beautiful songs, songs I would like to record to listen to at home to remind me of
With a very long day ahead, I got almost no sleep at all!!
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