Fair and handsome is the name of the face cream Ugandan Emma gave me to use. .. So generous except… It’s for men to lighten their skin color here. Clearly something I cannot benefit from. Sally and I sat on our bunk beds with white cream dotted on our face to experiment. We figured it may help our skin, turn us into glowing beauties or not make us fair NOR handsome… either way, the laughs were worth the gamble. Fair and handsome also can be used to describe my week.
Sunday, most of the volunteers and I grabbed a matatu and headed to Jinja. We did some shopping, hung out at the Nile river and then went to the pool! I have developed some pretty intense tan lines on my feet and shoulders and the fair skin in other places were happy to see the light of day! I’m back in Jinja today to grab some internet and a hamburger to celebrate my American holiday!
The power was out a couple of times this week. I actually really enjoy it when it happens. Sally and I ended a volunteer meeting with our headlamps on strobe light mode dancing around the 20 people in our living room. It was epic. I’m really enjoying reading and am currently in “Redeeming Love” meaning I jump under my mosquito net and turn on my head lamp to read fairly early in the evening.
This week paint arrived in mass quantities so we have been busy painting away bright green, baby blue, purple, and other shades of greatness on the two large classroom buildings and the administration building. Ansley, a really amazing volunteer at the beginning of June used her project money to help make Musana more beautiful and while the paint supplies took a while to actually get to Musana, the project is going to look great!
With the paint this week, we needed brushes and other supplies so Emma (girl –volunteer- Emma) and I went to the market and bargained our way around. I was pretty excited about my bargaining skills, getting 4,000 shillings knocked off the original price of roller brushes, yay! Emma and I loaded 14 paint brushes, 6 long wooden poles, 20 kilos of paint, 8 kilos of kerosene, and some pineapple (Uganda has the sweetest in the world) on a boda with 3 people riding on it. Crazy Mzungus.
While I have a really great daily routine here and I feel like I have exasperated my explanations about how much I love Uganda, it has actually been a pretty tough week. I spent my week continually thinking about my youth group girls and how badly I wanted to experience their last summer camp with them. I was talking with Andrea and she mentioned that when you live here in larger chunks of time you start to realize and become aware of events that you miss at home. This week I felt a lot of those. I wouldn’t describe it as homesick because Musana is home this summer for me. Its just hard knowing that I can’t be a part of 2 very different lives and that God is going to take care of every situation and event that I am missing at home.
The afternoon storms have continued this week in what the Ugandans are saying is actually the dry season. There have been over 20 incidents of people getting killed by lightening in these storms which is SCARY! In preparation, the kids have learned that when they hear thunder they should get close to the ground. I was walking to watch the kids practice football while holding 2 kids. LOUD thunder hit and the 2 kids jumped off me and simultaneously hit the ground with every other Musana student. I busted out laughing and was told that I should remain standing because I am tall and could be used a lightening rod. Golly gee, thanks kids.
The rain brought on my –not-so-handsome moment this week. Our boys had their first legit football match on Friday. I made the trek hand in hand with the kids through town. I gave one of the girls 600 shillings (about 30 cents) to grab some sugar cane to chew on. Instead of a small one she came back with a full shaft of sugar cane that could have been shared between all of Iganga.
The other team never showed and we were in a crazy rain storm for over an hour. Because of the forfeit our boys wanted to celebrate so they started joking and dancing around the field. Naturally, I joined. This turned in to a parade. We RAN (probably over 2 miles) back to Musana through huge mud puddles and piles of trash screaming and yelling like Musana Children’s Home had just won the World Cup. It was not a light jog but rather a full blown run, while yelling and shouting. The kids kept asking if I was tired. I was carrying a back pack and holding 2 kids but I could not let on that I wanted to pass out and my shirt wasn’t wet because of the rain… it was sweat. I smiled the whole way. These kids made me look like a sweaty, dirty, crazy blond girl running through East Africa and I LOVED it. It was one of those moments where I had to catch my breath because it was so wonderful (ok, ok it was a hard work out too.)
I was invited to be a part of 2 situations this week that helped me gain perspective into the country I am living in. I visited one of our kid’s homes as well as a village pretty far down the road from Musana . The conditions and people astonished me. I was heartbroken, saddened, and brought to tears when I was asked to pray over a family of 6, 4 of the boys were orphaned in February because of HIV. I prayed in English fervently to then hear prayers being echoed in Lusoga in what sounded like pure worship. The village I was in presented a series of songs and traditional Ugandan dance. The drums and instruments created a heartbeat in the village that was brought alive by the people and not the material things they possessed. There was obviously a lot of emotion in this week but not surprisingly, once again, I feel humbled.
The dynamic of our house is changing again! We have 6 people leaving Tuesday. I feel so blessed to get to know each of them and I know the kids loved having them here!
Next weekend I am most likely going to take a little break from Iganga and head to a hotel with Sally in Jinja by the Nile. Of course, this is after we celebrate good ol’ ‘Merica. My plans include making the most American food I can with the most un-American ingredients. Hello corn on the cob and “potato salad.” It’s going to be amazing. And Sally and I will look Fair and Handsome while cooking. BONUS. Happy Birthday America!
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