Sunday, June 22

Welcome to the world Olivia Rose - Greg managed to call me in the midst of the rush yesterday....seems strange to have a new granddaughter halfway around the world!! Reading my Bible this a.m. (do my 2 pages a day) and read Psalm 128 - "may you live to see your children's children"...what a nice blessing!

Am at the bakery - power is on, weather is clear and computer is free!!! Life is good! Hopefully I make it to the end. I know I don't like asking for things (or maybe I do)...am still hoping to get some fabric for the tailoring class...for use by the ones who have already had the first year, and get some craft supplies for the kids to use on days like today when there's not much to do. I bring my coloring supplies when I'm here for the younger ones, but the older ones really love crafts. If you'd like you can send supplies (yarn, latch hook, crochet hooks, etc.) but postage can be hard - cash donations are good too! I get angry when the Ugandans "beg" and here I am!!! Also, if anyone has any old Junior books (3-6th grades) I'd love to start a lending library here - also little kids books. Corky is checking on better postal rates. Also, any unsed tailoring supplies - good scissors, other tools, patterns, etc. Thanks for whatever you can send, and if you can't, thanks for your thoughts and prayers! Commercial message done.

Last Saturday I went digging with the kids int he "garden" with the new bananna trees. That's work! Hoes are heavy! The hoe bottom is about 8" x 8" of solid iron and you weild it over your head like an axe - then cut off a chunk of soil and repeat...I lasted about an hour!! Weeds grow fast during the rainy season and the soil is a mix of red clay - but very fertile. Digging was better than the other job tho'...the ones not digging were dragging out bags or wheelbarrows of chicken manure! Some girls carried the bags on their heads.

It was the feast day of St. Anthony so Sister and I went to a special mass at St. Anthony School for girls on the convent grounds. Then Sister Juliet and I took two girls (and some others) to a retreat center past Kampala. The two girls have been displaying behavior that Father thinks indicates demonic possession so the hope is that the constant prayers at the center for a week will help. We stayed for their evening Mass which was very "charismatic"...lots of chanting, hand waving, yelling, people falling, etc. I realize there are services like that in the U.S. but I've never been to one - used to my quiet little Lutheran Church!! This was a Catholic Mass in an outdoor pavillion - lots of people, many w. disabilities, or with children with problems. The faith of the people there seemed asolute. The girls come back today (stayed a week - Sister J stayed a few days and then one of the parents stayed with them). It was an unusual experience...I really felt like an outsider, but think I would have at a service like that in the U.S.

Sunday I started laundry - lots of it (sheet day)....takes a long time to do by hand - my hands were sore when I was done wringing. I was on my "veranda" and the kids went by to the 8 a.m. Mass at the Sister's chapel and I said I was going later - I was actually going to skip but felt guilty and went to the 9:30 English service at the parish church. Glad I did - about 400 people - most under 25! They have a new recorded music system (and no African drums - darn) but did play "It Is Well With My Soul"...think I was the only one who knew it - and I cried!!

Went down to PH to color with the girls, but they were playing their version of Pig in the Middle - you can throw the ball over or whomp the girl in the middle - looks painful. Took some children's books Corky had sent and read with the littler kids - they really enjoyed it! Nice walk at dusk - just beautiful. Unfortunately, there are few old trees in this area of Uganda - cut for charcoal or firewood used for cooking. Really no other alternatives - don't have electricity and kerosine or gasoline are expensive. Sad that they're not replanting, tho.

Monday's English class wnet well - using some new ideas from Anne but tried to go past 1 hour w/o a break and lost them...lesson learned by the teacher. Classes are two hours but rarely last that long unless we break. I get tired! Sat in on the tailoring class - he uses the traditional method of writing (in English) long pieces ont he board, the kids copy them and then they do a written "Exercise" re-writing what he wrote...would like to see them do more hands on - measuring each other, making paper patterns, etc. Did get some old U.S. patterns from St. Peters Secondary School library - donated a year ago by a lady from America - just to see how the direction go and what the patterns look like. Tailors here just measure and maybe make a paper pattern but usually not.

Nice walk to the market and then a walk in the country all w. Holly. I really appreciate the ability to talk to Holly and Shari - puts things in perspective. Quick supper of chipati w. Peanut Butter and Bannana - warmed in pan...great but a cholesterol buster!!

Tuesday Sr. Juliet and I took the matatu to Katelemwa Orthopedic Hospital past Kampala to talk to Dr. Antonio (his organization used to pay for PH and CBR referrals but ran out of $). Very optomistic meeting - he's going to Italy in July and is going to fund raise and will resume sponsoring us in the fall - YEA! Also, said he'd try to start clinics here every other month and will train us in screening patients so he only sees orthopedic clients (in the past everyone comes - blind, deaf, epileptic - and he really can't help them...they just know he's a doctor and it's so hard to turn people away - but you have to!). Now to get the CBR volunteers out to talk about disabilities and what can be done and ot identify the children in the villages - they say there are many disabled children we never see who are neglected or not helped. Want to try soliciting for transportation money from a couple of big corproations that are in the area - sugar company, brewery and bottled water company - a suggestion from the hospital director. It's slow with the computer access we have and my limited knowledge of how things work here, but it's worth a try.

Funny aside on the matatu - they never put in more than 6000 shillings worth of petrol in at a time - don't know if they think the van will expire before more is used! (it's about 2 litres - 2 nalgene bottles!). Newsweek trivia - only 3 countries don't use metric - Liberia, Myramar and the U.S.!

Got a Nairobi paper on the way back just for fun - good opinion piece about the food crisis in Africa - started well - about the many gains that have been made in Africa in the past 10 years in the standard of living, education, health care, etc. but that their agricultureal productivity is the lowest in the world. Africa has the lowest use of fertilizers in the world also and the average grain yeild is less than 1 ton/hectare equivalent to 1/4 the global average! "African agricultural yields have stagnated since the 60s"..the writer promoted increasing productivity, improving infastructure to deliver products, water management, diversity of crops - things that Africans need to do, but then got into the G8 Summit and how they need to GIVE AFrica more - that's maybe O.K. but Africa needs to address the productivity issue and accountability (in my humble opinion). 'Course I've become a begger too so who am I to criticize!!

Sister in the elderly wing of the convent died yesterday - the sisters hold an all nite vigil with the body in the chapel and since I'm only about 100 feet from the chapel I could hear them singing all night - it was just beautiful (angelic is probably the best word).

Weds. I sat in on Holly's Public Health class - talked about nutrition and did a great job. Then I cleaned the Resource Room - where the OT has the kids. Has some resources but very disorganized and dirty...washed the floor two times! You can do floors here every day - dirty feet, cement floors, dust...never really look clean! Now I have an idea of what's there and what he needs. The room gives the severely disabled, who don't leave during the day for school, a place to hang out and play - too many to do too much teaching w. them, but they have fun being there!

Finished the book The Reader by Berhard Schlink - didn't like the 1st part (teen angst) but it got good! Good quote about is it ever too late to do something you want to do or is "late" better than "never"...he said "I don't know". Good thing we older people have "later"...

Am starting to enjoy teaching and really like just hanging out w. the kids - they are so starved for attention. They are getting more willing to use their English with me - they know it, but it's hard to use when you don't know it well....like my Lugandan!

Thursday was cool in the a.m. - put on socks when I got up! BBC said that President Bush is going for offshore drilling and drilling in Alaska again - hope the expensive gas won't push that through!

Had the English class write a little story about themselves - with a fill in the blank format. They have a hard time thinking of what they'd like to do someday in a big perspective - e.g. travel. Their exposure is limited and so is their concept of what they could do. But they are trying to think bigger - an impressive bunch. The tailoring teacher complained to Sister J about my insisting he comes on time (he was two hours last Weds. and didn't come on Thursday!)....the kids deserve better.

Good news! Sister Juliet and Sister Veronica are going on a 2 1/2 mo. retreat the end of June (that's not the good news) - Sr. V convinced the powers that be to let Sr. Geretti come back for 6 mos. to help out. She was here for two years and then went to a 6 month training and was going to be re-assigned to Kampala. Sr. V convinced them that they should divert her here while they are gone - I feel so much better as do Sr. Benna and Sr. Melody (who would have run the bakery and PH by themselves for that time!!). She used to teach tailoring and I'm going to ask if she could work w. the advanced students and do some actual sewing...

Friday got a message from my friend Maria that she was coming to PH from Kabale..got a ride to Kampala and was going to brave the trip to Nkokonjeru! I went to the market to get some food, but got stuck in the rain (I should know better)...stood in an empty stall for about 45 minutes w. a mother chicken and her chicks and a few ducks till I decided to go for it - I was the only person on the street! I stopped at the little grocery and they had the door closed and four people huddled inside...the owner said to me "It's raining"...well I guess so - I was soaked! Bet they had some good muzungu laughs that day!

Had some company in the afternoon - a family from Milwaukee - their youngest daughter is going to be helping at Stella Maris (the really nice boarding school up the hill) and they came to see where she'd be - very nice group. Maria got here about 5 and we went to Holly's for dinner - bean burgers. Two other PCVs are visiting here so it was lots of fun and lots of talking!!! Maria brought some great cheese that's made by a Belgium man in Kbale - had cheese and crackers to start!!

Saturday a.m. I took her on a tour of the convent and PH - then went with her as far as Mukono and had lunch. She was going to stay in Kampala overnite, but instead shopped, went to a movie and caught the 1 a.m. bus to Rwanda that stops in Kbale - got home at 7 a.m. today (Sunday)...it's a LONG trip and I really appreciated her coming! Next time she said she'd stay longer since she has the return figured out, but I need to go out there before that...it was really fun to see her. I was going to stay in Mukono to do the blog, but visitors came again - unfortunately, I got back after they had left anyway. A group of older girls from all over Uganda that go around to see different ways of life...they had written Sr. J but never confirmed by phone and were 1 1/2 hours late so I left w. Maria...then they showed. Guess they really did a great job interacting w. the kids and Sr. got a lunch for 30 prepared!!

This a.m. I went to the Sister's Chapel for 8 a.m. Mass - getting to feel comfortable there. Did some wash and here I am again - ready to color when I get this done.

Hope you are all well - Congratulations again to Greg, Jessica and Dylan - guess they were at the hospital only one hour!!! Can't imagine Greg in the car knowing the contractions were 3 minutes apart!!! Glad it all went well!