Apparently everyone leaves work here (district office) at 5pm on the dot...at 6:45pm I got up to leave and found myself locked in! The doors lock from the inside!! There are no lights here either...ooops. I think it's time to pack up and find an exit somewhere. There is always the roof!

Been thinking of these lines by James Agee:

In every child who is born,
under no matter what circumstances,
and of no matter what parents,
the potentiality of the human race
is born again.

Happy weekend to all! I'm heading to Kampala on Monday...12 hours in a fifteen-seat bus (usually packed with 20 or 25 people).

Sugarcane: every child's favorite snack

Sugarcane! The kids love this stuff.

A few more pics: M.A. bartering for green bananas, Esther between the trees, the massive "African meal" described in previous post, and more pics of the children.

Mama Africa's Orphanage

These are the children at Mama Africa’s orphanage. As part of an expressive therapy technique, I asked them to draw something that made them happy. Well, at first I asked them to draw something that represented themselves, but that went over Esther’s head (she’s the one teacher who speaks some English). I expected them to start drawing in frenzy, fighting over the colored pencils, but many just sat there dumfounded. About five or six of them had never drawn before, much less seen clean paper and bright pencils. I should have thought to get clipboards to put the paper on, but they seemed content using the ground. For the children who didn’t know how to draw, I drew a cluster of green bananas on a tree, which they recognized. Slowly, a few of them began to draw. The activity took about three hours, and the end result was awesome (most popular drawing were flowers, football, and bananas). The kids presented their drawings to each other and then I hung them up around their sleeping quarters.

The owner, Mama Africa – she won’t reveal her given name – always insists on feeding me when I come. Yesterday she prepared a HUGE “African meal”, consisting of matoke, yams, Irish potoates, beans, fatty beef, pumpkin, mazie (a kind of dough you use to scoop up the beans), and spinach. I expected her to invite the two teachers to eat, but it was just me and Esther (the one teacher that speaks a little English). M.A. sat there while we ate, all smiles, and of course I couldn’t eat more than a plate or two of all those carbs, so I suggested we give some to the other teacher or to the children. She said the children had already eaten, and I wanted to protest but thought better of it. She even insisted I take take home the leftover yams, which felt so so wrong. The children eat a small bowl of oatmeal for breakfast and a huge bowl of matoke for dinner. And whatever snacks I bring them that day. The children – mostly around 5 or 6 yrs of age -- don’t speak a word of English yet (they are in P1 and P2; children here don’t learn English till P4), but they always seem happy to see me. On Tue I went out in the fields with M.A, a two hour walk on a narrow trail studded with cows and goats. We had tea with a very old lady who lived in a small mud hut, very neatly decorated. They asked me questions (through Esther) about marriage in America, Obama (of course), and family. Everything I said seemed hilarious to them. Anyway, so M.A. bartered with the old lady for a month’s worth of green bananas, which I bought for her. We walked through the fields while she pointed at different clusters. They all looked the same to me, but she has a discerning eye. So the kids are set while I’m in Kampala this month, which is something, but hardly sustainable. They do have a few chickens…I’m thinking maybe I can buy them a bunch of chickens and have someone make a coop; they can raise the chickens for eggs, sell them, and use the money to feed/school the children, also an activity the children themselves can partake in. We'll see...


Here is Felix modeling the football the kids popped in pineapple patch! He’s so adorable!!

What I'd like for my 30th birthday

Chocolate Kahlua Cupcakes

Quick Update!

Busy week at the orphanage. I'm taking the children and Mama Africa into town today to get some food (green bananas), books, and clothes. This should see them through the next month or so. There are 16 kids at the orphanage (mostly from northern Uganda), all in Primary 1 and Primary 2(ages 5-8). The orphanage is basically one long mud hut with two rooms for classes/sleeping area. There is an outdoor charcoal pit for cooking, an outdoor toilet area, and a field where the kids play. Mama Africa has owned the place for fifteen years or so, and she has two full-time teachers/caretakers. One, Esther, speaks English. The rest - including the children - speak the local language. One child, Talent, doesn't speak at all, and the other Joaiane, is partially blind. The other seem somewhat adjusted, although the lack of school materials mean they are only learning 1-2 hours a day. The rest of the time they sit in huddles. Yesterday I taught them how to play freeze tag and duck-duck goose, a big hit. We also played football and they somehow managed to pop two balls by kicking them into a pineapple patch. I think today I may try some kind of expressive art therapy.

Mama Africa makes her own hand creme (more like perfumed lard) which she hopes to eventually sell in town. I'm looking for small glass containers and sticky labels (to wrap around the jars). If you have any thing like this, please send my way (or if you are in DC give to Elizabeth before August 24). Letters seem to take forever (or maybe the post girl is holding them hostage because I refused to pay $1 for a single postcard!) but packages arrive in a timely fashion (6-8 weeks). Also...I would LOVE a novel or two!! Particularly Ron Carlson's "The Signal" or Andrew Rice's "The Teeth May Smile but the Heart Does Not Forget: Murder and Memory in Uganda".

My address:
Katie Wagner
Silent Voices
PO BOX 170
Bushenyi, Uganda
East Africa

So, yesterday I was running and a very old man grabbed my boob! I've become good at shaking hands and not breaking stride, because everyone here wants to shake hands and it is rude not to. Anyway, so I'm running on a logging road in the mountains (gorgeous scenery) and I see this ancient man ahead, all wrinkles and bags with bloodshot eyes, leaning heavily on a walking stick. He had his hand out so I slowed down to shake it, and then he swiped at me! Ha! I left him in the dust, of course. Harmless man, but funny. Then I went to get my first African dress, although I daresay it was made in Japan and I paid a fortune, the Mzungu price of $11 after bartering for twenty minutes and insisting the man sew the torn belt loop. I'm wearing it right now, and feel rather matronly; it is an XL (!!) and a little big, but covers my shoulders and knees, which is a must for women here. Will send pictures soon.

A funny post later about my contentious co-worker. If anything, she makes for good stories!

In other words, I'm craving a cinnamon scone and double tall nonfat cinnamon latte. Will someone drink one for me today?!

Kigarama Drama Group

These photos are from the Kigarama Deaf School drama group performed at the local church last Sunday. We made the Silent Voices banner! Edwin (the boy in the red shirt) is teaching sign to the parents as churchgoers look on. Took about two hours to get there and then I had to sit in a three hour church service before we could start the play. No one speaks English, so everything I said to the church was translated. The only word they understood was "Obama", haha!

My first attempt at doing laundry by hand. Let's just say the adventure took two hours and I finished covered in dirty water and soap! I looked up to find three old ladies across the street laughing at me. One finally showed me a better way to scrub, using my sheet as an example. She did this for about ten minutes, and then handed me the sheet. I thought she was done so I went to rinse it in the bucket, and she said, "Not clean! Not clean! You scrub more!!" Haha! The bathing water is very questionable here (no rain in four months)...thank god for perfume!