Monday, 7-21-08 - back at the bakery

Wanted to write this long story about travel on the matatu (wrote it Sat. nite when I got home), but need to do an update first.

It is really nice to be back at PH (Providence Home)....so glad to see the kids and they seem happy to see me, too. So much went on while I was gone. A Ugandan priest who is at a church in Florida came last week and his church has donated money for 5 big water tanks and really nice, custom made gutters for the entire vocational building...a really nice gift. Plus, they are paying for electricity hook up in the building. They decided to get really nice things and concentrate on one building rather than do a half a.. job on several buildings...good idea! A couple from the church will be here Weds.

Bad news, the brick stoves in the kitchen finally collapsed....been expecting it for awhile, but inconvenient. And no shoes sold yet...but expect people to be looking before the new school term (starts Sept. 8)...they guy said some people asked about bigger sizes, but I wonder if they were just talking to back out gracefully!

My wardrobe is DONE!!! Saw it today - it's pretty rough, but dimensions and shelves/pole are correct. Will be delivered tomorrow. AND, the police got my all my money back from the original carpenter...never thought I'd see any of it!!! So now I can obsess about something else. Sr. Goretti got a taste of the tailoring teacher while I was gone and she agrees he's lazy!

Have to get ready for end of term - design some report cards and make up tests - will keep them pretty simple. Also, Sr. Juliet wanted me to contact a lady about having a craft making class...will need to buy materials but have some donation money I can work with.

Tailoring class is still making model shirts/skirts....not using the real fabric yet till Sr. Goretti is satisfied with their ability to do a nice job! Good plan!

Language training was fun but all that socializing exhausted me...I prefer the quiet (crazy) life here. Got back Saturday about 5:00, organized, cleaned, got wash ready to do and went to bed! Sunday I washed clothes, went to Sister's Mass (late), then to Kisoga (about 1/2 hour ride on the matatu) to visiting day at a secondary school - St. Balikudembe's. That's not his "real" name..Josephine thought he was white. Balikudembe means "we who are at peace". Josephine had asked me to come...she's from PH but boards there - she's a real sweetie and last visitng day she had no visitors. Sunday, the sisters came and her brother who she didn't expect - really neat to see her face light up! She's in a wheel chair but very determined...has a beautiful singing voice. Just a really nice girl. Big school that is highly ranked..but I was the only muzungu among about 1,000 guests!!

Got home and did some class preparation for English and then went to dinner at Stella Maris - the boarding school UP the hill (v. nice school) which was a goodbye for Jean, the lady who's here from Milwaukee getting pictures for sponsorships. Also, the 18 year old girl from Milwaukee who is staying at Stella Maris was there - she's going home next week. She played the violin for us!! Here we are in Uganda, eating a good meal, followed by a violin concert. I'm really not suffering!

Will let you know how the language test went when I hear...did as well as I could. Ven (our teacher) also tested me and she stuck to the questions she'd scripted for me...if I didn't pass I never will!!!

That's the update...now on to my matatu dissertation!! I so miss hopping into my car and driving to where I want to go, KTIS on the radio, AC, and having a car to take things home in - tho' I don't miss the gas pump!!

There are getting to be more and more private vehicles - and traffic in and near Kampala is awful! most roads are full of pot holes and boda bodas (motorbikes that take passengers) dart around everyone (and frequently tip and crash). Most people depend on the matatu or van taxi (like an econoline van w. windows and four rows of seats). They are supposed to hold 14 passengers, a driver and a conductor (who opens the sliding door and takes $ and yells the destination), but out of Kampala they hold a LOT more. I leave Nkokonjeru when the van is "full" - 16 or 17 - and we pick up more people along the road, usually w. bags of produce and some chickens. Everyone has a bag of something(I have a backpack). The vans are pretty beat up, and rattle at lot, and the shocks are shot. If you sit in the back seat you often hit your head on the ceiling!! Thre's a little folding seat on the sliding door side of each row that they use for an aisle...and invariably the first one who wants to get out is sitting in the far back, so everyone on the fold up seats has to get out to let them through.

You can get off anywhere - you yell "conductor" or tell him ahead - cost varies w. distance. Conductors have remaarkable memories! In Kampala you can get out (I usually get out and walk to one of the two malls on the east side where we come in), or you can go downtown to either the "old" or "new" taxi park...Nkokonjeru taxis go to the old park. They are both about the size of the floor of the Metrodome and PACKED with several hundred vans and LOTS of people. To walk through there you have to squeeze between parked and moving vans - there are not rows or walkways - it's scary! Both are ringed by stalls of anything you ever wanted or needed and vendors run around yelling in the van windows selling everything from water to watches! The ones selling herbal medicines are really long winded! There are signposts for most destinations scattered in the park so there's SOME order but when the taxis are full and move out there's so litle room to move it's chaos - lots of yelling! The old park has mainly destinations east and NE. New park has destinations west and NW - includes the "suburbs". It's about 1/3 mile between them but it's crowded and the streets are full of cars, bodas and people...noisy, smelly, polluted. Sidewalks are full of vendors and the buildings are full of shops...also, a great area for pickpockets (hence my phone theft). I really dread the walk between the two parks. The "kids" love the area. I'm a small town girl and I like some space between me and the next guy!

Saturday I got back from Mityana at the New Park, took a "local" to the Garden City Mall stop, walked up to the Mall, got some bagels, and walked back down (w. heavy backpack) to Jinja road and then it's easy to catch a van w. room going to Mukono (thus avoiding the walk between the taxi parks). It's a crazy system.

Each town has it's own taxi park - size varies with the size of the town. The taxi lets me off in Mukono by the P.O. and "supermarket" (another story), if I remember to tell the conductor, and it's a short walk from there to the Mukono taxi park. Get onto the Nkokonjeru/Kisoga taxi and when it fills up we're off! Trip from Nkokonjeru to Mukono is 3500 shillings ($2), Mukono to Kampala is 1500 Sh. ($.90), if you go direct it's 4500 sh. ($2.80) each way so it's a good deal - unless you make less than $1.00 a day which most here do. The distance from Nkokonjeru to Kampala is about 50 kilometere (30 miles) and takes 2 hours moving time (add about 2 hours for traffic in Kampala and filling up in Nkokonjeru or Mukono).

You really have to see it and ride it to experience it but maybe this explains some....we compare the matatu ride to a REALLY BAD amusement park ride!!!

Well, that's that. Just got a call from my police "friend" who said I didn't pay the carpenter, but I was sure I did - it never ends! Oh, well, I never thought I'd see my re-payment so I'm still ahead. He's a nice kid (I think)...my "tuition expense" is still being paid! I should have asked for a receipt....will I never learn?

Hope all are well and things are going better in Montgomery - it's been a tough year for many. At least here you expect things to be crazy and money to be tight! Have fun on Kolacky Day if I don't write again before the weekend.