The average age for Ugandans living out in the huts and beyond... is 40....mortality rate is high.
Many of my students last week looked older than they were. 3 were handicapped with leg problems and one was deaf. Emma - short for Emmanuel had one good leg & one leg that just doesnt do anything. He gets around with a long 2 1/2 inch thick 5 ' stick or a "wheel chair' that is peddaled by his hands. He was 28 but looked much older until he smiled. Miriam has no use of her legs and scootches backwards around on the floor with her arms pulling her weight around. Erina has one leg that works but she uses one arm to pull the right leg forward (therefore being bent in half) and drags the other leg behind her. Her upper body strength is amazing. Both women use a machine that has to be cranked by hand. We taught Emma how to use an electric.. but his shop has no electricity so he has a treadle machine he uses. We printed Certificates of training that the students can hang in their area to show people they have skills. They were surprised. Life is good, they laugh, make jokes, love their children and families and hope for a better life and more money - sounds like most Americans to me.
We have decided my shelf life here (being that i am over the dreaded age of 40) has gone way beyond expired and its a good thing i am coming home. lol...
Ugandans will not tell you to leave... ever.
Last night i was going for a walk to a local restaurant. Every Hotel here has a guard shack at the gate. Cars have been "wanded" because of the summit... but the Guards know me... how can they not? I am the blondest woman around with green eyes......i stand out a bit here..... and i talk to everyone every morning and evening. So, i need a little direction because i KNOW the ones in the book are backwards so i just need a simple "left or right" answer. The three stooges a the gate all argue as to where the place is i want to go. One offers to walk me there... one gives me directions i KNOW are wrong.... the other offers to tie a string to me so i dont get lost.
At dinner we were 11 women and Jamie. Poor guy! 2 of the women are nurses teaching sex ed to the ugandan girls and women. Some of the questions they had received from the women were just to hard to comprehend actually coming out of a womans mouth in this day and age. Its almost as hard to believe as the fact that poeple mar their children because there are some cultures that still believe in "virgin child sacrifices". Yup, you read that right.
did you know - the better educated the women are - the better the economy is in an area?
i was talking to a guy building some houses here. He said the Ugandans dont tell everyone their business. He had a man working for him whose 2 children came down with Malaria....he didnt have enough money to take both to the Drs.. so he took the child who was worse to the Dr. While he was gone the other child died. The man who was building the houses was shocked. He said if he had known he would have lent him the money , it was probably only 10 - 20 dollars ....but he didnt even know about it and it was to late. Heartbreaking all around.
this morning i get a Boda boda driver who has driven me a few times back and forth to the center where i teach. He wants to know what i am going to leave him as a rememberance.... !!! i said "like what?" his answer was ....i dont know, your shoes, maybe your camera.... anything! lol... how do they find me???
it rained last night.... floods of ARC proportions i thought sure the hotel was going to be sailing down the nile at one point. Thankfully i was wrong.... but when i heard the gregorian-like chanting this morning coming from the Servitude Fathers... i wasnt so sure i didnt go to heaven.
Even so, it is a nice way to wake up.... picture an all male chorus chanting softly......"it is time to get your sweet butt out of bed...its 630 am" better than an alarm clock that screams at you , i say! i hurt everywhere from teh rain though. I guess it doesnt matter where you live ... when it rains the abused joints hurt - i dont think its got anything to do with rapids down the nile, 5000 miles of travel over huge bumpy roads or the ATVing, do you?? First thing i want to buy when i get home is an inversion chair so my spine will uncompress( is that even a word?). lol
i miss my 30 + games of scrabble on Facebook....while it will let me update status i cant load scrabble games!!! WITHDRRRAAAWWWLLLLLLL... all to be rectified soon. Be patient my pretties!
Going to get dinner now....its 816 pm.....i should have my dinner by 1030! no joke!
later, loves! B
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