SA FAR(I) AWAY - third installment

yesterday we went ATVing as i told you ... but we rode about 2 hours along the Bujagali Falls and surrounding "towns". Riding through rutted streets which were more like large pathways. Everywhere we passed children, they ran to see us. After the first ten minutes i wasn't sure i wanted to continue.... not so much because of the bumpy rides but more because i kept thinking about ..... well, just all of it. One thing running through my head was the fact that i was spending $70.. to ride two hours through peoples backyards and crop grounds. They dont make that much in a year some of them. Another part of me thought - "well, the ATV people, Peter and Sharae(sp)?, are employing many Ugandans as guides, repair people, servers and giving back to the schools in the area...so i WAS technically helping stimulate their economy." Yet, still another side of me thought -" i feel like a freak show". I didnt know which of us was more on display for the other. We ride by seeing their homes and hard way of life. Children follow us, yelling to us, like the munchkins wishing Drothy a safe Journey back to OZ. What do the Ugandans think of us riding all over - zipping by "gracing" them with a wave? I wished there was a hole in my pockets letting coins drop out of my pockets ... but that doesnt sustain them forever it just replenishes the fact that we are "rich" Americans who have money to give away. (They dont understand that in America... I am the poor white people! lol.... I live modestly....save money when i do work... and can get by on very little. Yet, i donate regularly, write to 40 servicemen and women weekly and do some form of volunteer thing that is more involved, not quite like this and not so far away, at least once a year. I am not wealthy monetarily... but rich in other ways.)

Lusoga has no word for LOVE. So our teacher tells us. If a man wants to see you he says so. If you like him you agree to "date" and see where it goes from there. if you like each other he marries you, supports you and has children with you! end of story! hummmmmm.

Last night Lindsay had another of her frights....lol.. i told her i was going to write about this episode! She saw "something" in her room... convinced it was a scorpion or some thing in her room. She has gone to have the front desk take care of it! So we wait.... then i go with her to her room to check and see if they have removed the horrific offender......IT was waiting ..lurking....under her bags.......a baby gecko or other type lizard about an inch and a half long. I scootched it along the floor with my finger telling it it needed to vacate her premises. I then carried it down the stairs to the ground floor and the gardens. I took a picture of it next to my glasses.... the poor thing isnt even the length of a lense.....now of course its mother COULD be a Kimodo Dragon for all i know... and will come to eat me tomorrow..... but i saved the baby anyway.

I always go on and on about Lindsay, who ends her stay here Monday. i will have to tell you more about the others - i wouldnt want them to feel neglected.

Polly and Jamie come as a couple and when they say opposites attract, it appears to happen more than you think. They have been together off and on a long time. Now currently on for the last year or two and live in NY. Jamie is 28 ish and used to do gymnastic type basketball shots for the Celtics, worked doing film work, is a photographer and all around techno whiz who never ceases to try to get me to understand computer crap - but when i dont, he does it for me without complaining. ok... maybe he complains a little.... but we have the same weird sense of humor and photography background... so I indulge him. He also thinks i can do ANYTHING else but computers. Flattery will get him alot, including today's haircut.... lol ... and he now teaches math to 8th graders in DABronx. Ack! His significant other is Polly or is he hers? She is .....26 ish and they both came very prepared for the trip. They read up about Uganda , learned a bit of language - usual stuff most people would do before a trip like this, except me! Polly also does draping and tailoring in my union. I didnt know her before this trip but she is very talented. Not that being a perfectionist is a bad thing mind you ..... its good... but i think it was a bit disappointing to her that the women and men didnt quite get how important straight seams are and the attention to details is what gets them the higher prices for their work. Polly is creative , like me.... and Jamie keeps trying to help organize her. My motto is "creative minds are rarely neat" and "if you come to see me, come anytime - if you come to see my house.... stay home." (This last statement will have to be amended a bit once the Gingerbread transformation happens to the outside - because i am sure it will draw alot of attention..but that will be another blog.)

Rebecca aka Becky, Tara's good friend, was the first of the group to leave last Friday. She teaches English as her regular job and wrote a really great poem about the handicapped children. i am going to include it - i hope Becky doesnt mind. She is a true southern peach type of woman. Tall, slender, beautiful inside as well as out with a smile that melted the hearts of many Ugandan, and not so Ugandan, men. While i didnt actually work with her all day, our paths did cross often at dinners or after work. I am so glad we had the chance to meet.


The beauty you cannot see
I see very clearly in you
While your eyes may not focus
The picture I view is more true

What matters in this world
Is not defined by one's sight
But whether or not one has vision
That centers on what is right

Your vision sees no color
Does not distinguish between age
Gives no regard to one's size
For my looks you can't gauge

It simply because I AM
That you smile at me
Standing there beside you
All I have to do is BE.

-Inspired by and written for the blind children of HODASSU
Rebecca Maier (Becky) 16 July 2010

Tara is our leader...lol.. and helped coordinate all the stuff to get us here. Also a union member that i didnt know before this trip. Bubbly and energetic about all the work here, she has been coming to Jinja for 4 or 5 years now. She may never get rid of me .... not that i am thinking about returning anytime soon.... but i can, MAYBE, help do things stateside.