WEEK 5

Friday - February 10

Now that we have water I spent the morning cleaning. It feels really good to once again have chased the dust away.

I went to Smile Africa in the afternoon. I had five people in the English class write their names on my white board. Now there are only 35 to go. Hopefully, they will all have accomplished this task by the time I leave. Actually, that class is a bit of a challenge as I have in tyhe class who were in the class the last time I was here, so there is a lot of repetition for them and I am sure they are a bit bored, BUT there are many new ones for whom is is all new. Unfortunately, I have not the time to divide them up.

Judging from the homework done by my writing class I did not make myself clear or explain well the concept of an adjective, so I went over all of that again. Plus, I had new people joining my class - always a bit of a struggle, but I can't keep starting over each class meeting to accommodate the new joiners.

I must say, I was exhausted by the time I got home at 5:30. I was glad I just had to warm up my dinner as it was waiting for me in the fridge. Fell asleep about 9 and slept soundly until 7.

Saturday - February 11

A rather slow day - I took care of household duties and went to Juba in the afternoon. There are a group of neighborhood people 2 or 3 women and twice as many men, who occasionally sit just ouside the gate of our compound under a lovely oleander-like tree who socialize and drink alcohol to the point of drunkeness. This disturbs Pastor Peter greatly. Today he said he wanted to talk to the supervisor of this area (politician?) to get these people to stop. My fear is if he complains they may take it out on us - harrass us. I left it to his judgement but let him know my concerns.

Classes went well. One was bigger, one was smaller but both went well and were fun.

Sunday - February 12

We have our first rain including some lovely thunder. It is just a gentle little rain, but nevertheless, it is rain.

We went with Alex (cabbie) to his church this morning, Sacred Heart Catholic Church. It was so nice to participate in a liturgy with responses, creed and prayers that were familiar. The second reader when finished, announced the gospel as "Let us welcome the gospel". I really liked that. When the offering was brought forward it was not only money but food as well, including a live chicken. It was brought forth with ceremony, singing and dancing.

We received a call from Peter this afternoon that one of the "elders" of his church in Juba was killed on the rad last night by a semi. So Peter's night was a difficult one, arranging transport of the body, finding $100 for the post-mortem, finding funds for and purchasing a coffin. The burial will be tomorrow. They have to get them in the ground as soon as possible. He sounded exhasuted.

Well the rain has gotten heavier with much thunder and a lovely wind. It is glorious!!

Monday - February 13

Lawrence picked us up this morning to take us to True Vine before he began his burial/funeral duties. He told us the man who was killed was riding a motorcycle with his sister and his neice. Three women were running across the road, one with a cell phone to her ear, so she was crossing with divided attention. The side mirror of the motorcycle hit her which threw the bike out of control and the 3 riders into the middle of the road in the oncoming path of a semi. People who saw the accident got one of the women off the road, the truck ran over the man, killing him, and the other woman was between the wheels of the truck which passed over her, leaving her with a few bruises from the fall. The man leaves 5 children, the oldest not yet in his teens.

I saw my boy Joseph this morning He was able to beg his way back into school and has begun Senior 2 on probation. We will see how he does. I told him he had better us this chance well.

My Bible study group did not come together this morning. I was saddened, but not surprised. I did see 5 people individually however. Sarah, who is reading "The Book of God" on my kindle brought a young friend whose schooling ended in P2. I worked with her a bit. I think she is quite bright.. Her English isn't good good but she caught on to alphabet sounds and was able to read "Hop on Pop". I found a ride home with Zach of True Vine as I didn't want to bother those at the funeral which was in Maguria, a bit away from Tororo.

Tuesday - February 14

Today is Valentine's Day. I have special projects planned for my classes all week.

I had a surprise this morning. When Peter picked Sue up, he had my girl, Elizabeth, with him who he was taking to True Vine on her way to school in Jinja so I got to see her, give her the gift I had brought plus a little jacket and a skirt and blousem that hopefully, she can use. Sarah seems bigger than Elizabeth who doesn't seem to have grown since the last time I saw her. I hope she does well and finds a good place for herself at school.

Lawrence drove me to Wikus. I had 3 sizes of plain white kid T-shirts with me for all of my classes to draw/design/write on for a child of their choice as a Valentine gift. The people were quite excited about it. Lawrence told me on the way home that he had overheard them talking and they were all pleased and happy about the project, When they had finished with the T-shirts I had a few little heart candies (the kind with sayings printed one) for each of them as their Valentine gifts. It was a good day.

Happy Birthday Don!!!

Wednesday - February 15

Every time I come here, whether it is for 2 weeks or for 3 months, I have a meltdown at some point - an overwhelming feeling of sadness, inadequacy and frustration. I have been staving one off for a few days now, but today came close,

This was my day for Smile Africa. My Reading class was very happy with their T-shirt project. I had my English class make a folded paper Valentine for someone they loved, They drew pictures, made designs and then Anna (my interpreter) and I helped them write a message At the end of the message we had them write their own names. What hit my meltdown button was watching Margret Aketch very carefully, painstakingly with much struggle and time write her name on the card for her grandson.

The other incident today was on my way to the office at Smile Africa with both of my arms full, I saw this small child standing by himself heaving left-over sobs of a really hard cry. I started to walk on but realized I couldn't and turned and just rubbed his back for a few minutes, trying to soothe him. He was filthy, with dried nose mucous smeared all over his face, his clothes in rags and the saddest eyes I have seen in a while.

Many of the children at Smile Africa come during the day from scavanging from the garbage piles in Tororo. They receive at least 1 meal a day, as stab at some small piece of education, and an enclosed safe place to run and play and be kids. Where they sleep at night is anyone's guess, some outside and if lucky, under a tree. Many of these children are tribal Karamajong who are looked down upon by the other tribes and are refugees from the intermittent fighting in the north They flee from The Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group that raids villagesm captures women to use as slaves and makes "boy soldiers" of the children.

Thursday - February 16

Today, my Roy would have been 73. This has been a really strange day. Peter's car broke down taking Sue to True Vine, so he called and canceled my trip to Busowa,