A Day In Uganda
The sun rises pretty much at 7am everyday. The birds usually start squawking at 6:30. I wake up. Thankfully, today the power is on, so I flip the switch to turn on the water heater for the bathroom and then again in the kitchen for the sink. I hear Phillip, the night guard unlocking the two padlocks on the big front gate. I open the curtains and see him stretching and jogging in place to loosen up after sitting all night. The big German Shepherd, Zamu, looks my way. I unlock the wooden door, and then unlock the padlock on the iron bar gate. I’ll start coffee on the vintage gas stove. The ants have invaded again. Ugandan ants are relentless. They find every crumb and crevice. Water doesn’t stop them, bleach spray knocks them out long enough to rinse them down the drain. Coffee’s done. Check the mugs, make sure they are dry, any water droplet can harbor typhoid or amoebas. Get the milk out of the fridge. Give it the sniff test to make sure it hasn’t gone bad, which it can and often does regardless of expiration date. Set the table, check for ants and water on all the dishes and silverware. Toast bread on the grill section of the stove. Feed everyone toast with peanut paste, like peanut butter but kind of gritty, still pretty good. Dishes go into the sink, no dishwasher. I get lunch ready for Raoul, two bottles of filtered water and a sandwich. Check, make sure he still has some toilet paper in his backpack, because most public restrooms don’t have any. Dorecah, my house help 3 days a week, will arrive at 9:30, she will wash, dry and put away the dishes. Foreigners, who are culturally sensitive, hire local people to help them during the day with housework, gardening and guarding. Dorecah earns about 7,000 Ugandan schillings, which is about 3 US dollars a day. If it rains she will arrive after the rain stops, because she, like most Ugandans, has no car and walks where ever she needs to go. If the day is Tuesday, she will go to the Tuesday market. She will buy fresh fruits and vegetables for the week. Since she doesn’t drive, and neither do I, I can’t drive a left handed stick shift on the left side of the road, she will take a taxi. A taxi is not a big comfortable Yellow Cab, a taxi is a mini van which seats 11 but will FIT 17. Then from the taxi station she will ride as a passenger on a boda, that is a motorcycle. She will need about two hours to do all this. She will come back with two fully laden shopping bags: Cabbage, eggplant, carrots, potatoes, a pineapple, green beans, navy beans, mangos, zucchini and a pawpaw. Fruits and veggies have to be washed in a bleach solution to avoid tuberculosis. Forget Salad! Thankfully, the city water is working and our tank is full, so we have water. I’ve started laundry in the washer, (a real one) but since there is no dryer, it goes out on the line to dry, if it doesn’t rain. There is no such thing as a quick load of laundry, because the water pressure is pretty low going to the machine, it can take half an hour to fill. If I’m in a big hurry, I’ll top fill it with buckets of water. Beans are cooked, rice is cooked, and the cabbage is cooked, time for lunch. Benji smothers everything in ketchup and mayo. If the laundry really dries then Dorecah will iron it tomorrow so that it is not so stiff. Socks are stiff as a board and actually make a noise when they are folded. Clean up lunch, Dishes into the sink, wash dishes, dry dishes, bleach ants. Dorecah sweeps the house with a broom and a dust pan, amazing how much red dirt travels in. She will mop. But not with a mop. Most Ugandans use a towel. All the floors are tile. Some have grout missing, because the ants come and take it. I’m not kidding. The floors are gleaming when she is done. At four o’clock she starts walking home. Every bit of her pay will go to pay her son’s school fees. She wants something better for him than the government schools, so she pays for a private school. Dinner happens somewhere in here. Chicken sausages, potatoes, fresh cucumber. I bring the night guard something to eat and a hot tea. The laundry is still damp. I’ll hang it out again tomorrow if it doesn’t rain. I start shutting windows and doors at around 6:30 or 7:00pm because the mosquitoes are coming out and they can be malaria carriers. I get all the kids ready for bed, making sure they use the filtered water to brush their teeth. Put the kids into bed. Tuck in the mosquito nets, say prayers and turn out the lights. Go back into the kitchen, bleach spray all the counter tops. Sweep the floor for crumbs. Empty the trash. Make sure no dog food is out. Padlock the iron gate. Lock the wooden door. Turn off the water heater. Pull the curtains, turn on the outside security lights. Read my devotions on my Kindle. Tuck in the mosquito net. Hear the beach bar music until I fall asleep.
Now, I am not complaining. Many Ugandan women have no indoor plumbing and cook over a charcoal fire on the ground. They may or may not have access to a city water source. If they don’t, they have to get water from Lake Victoria, which is loaded with parasites. They take big yellow jerry cans which hold a lot of water and are heavy. Laundry is frequently hand washed and rinsed and laid out on the grass to dry. I am blessed to have real doors and screens. Some houses have curtains over barred windows and a curtain for a front door.
Now our personal update. Ingrid here to give you on the latest in Entebbe, Uganda. Holiday Greetings, Christmas wishes, and a Happy New Year! I’m not quite sure where we left off last month’s letter, but I’m hoping we had our heads together enough to wish you a blessed Thanksgiving.
December has been a full month. We have been invited to many Christmas events from Church, children’s birthday parties, and a caroling sing along event. Calvary Chapel Entebbe performed a Christmas cantata. They sang traditional Christmas carols, some new songs that I did not know, and there was a cameo appearance of Jonathan and Nathanael Linquist as 2 of the 3 wise men and Loren as Mary. The singers were incredibly talented, really professional caliber.
The Calvary Chapel Entebbe Church picnic was fun. It took place in the Botanical Gardens, which were established in 1898. It is worth your time to Google them and check it out. Craig and his boys had prepared 3 hogs from “oink” to fork for lunch. Also served was goat, matooke(steamed green bananas), rice, roasted potatoes, chicken, beans, and fruits such as pineapple and mango. There were games, and the entire staff was introduced.
We recently drove to Kampala as a family, thinking it would be a fun family outing. But traffic was crazy and it got too hot. It didn’t really fit the “family outing” bill! There is a zoo here, but each time we have tried to go, the rain has stopped us.
Personally I am keeping the homeschool fires burning, doing what I did in the States. I am participating in the Ladies Bible Study at Church on Saturdays with Loren Linquist. I also attend a Thursday evening study with ladies from all over the world. We are working our way through the women of the Bible.
Benji charms everyone he meets. The children in his class are getting used to this little blond boy and aren’t trying to constantly touch him, especially his hair. He just turned 4 on January 6th and is already wishing he were 5!
Nathan’s Sunday School class is a huge bunch of kids, 60 or so. They are thrilled to get a crayon, a coloring sheet, and a biscuit, which is what we Americans would call a cookie. Nathan’s biggest worry right now is that he has to wait until October for his birthday.
Hannah’s age group at church is more calm. She usually walks out with a prize for good Bible knowledge. She has made a couple friends on the playground and is getting back to her social self. She is wearing out my Kindle reading Nancy Drews, which thankfully, we can download.
Francesca stays in service with the grown ups. She has made friends with Riley a girl down the road who is originally from Alaska. Her family is with the Africa Inland Mission. Francesca is glad to have the Christmas break from school. I know that she is glad to have her i-pod so that she can e-mail her friends in the States.
Eric celebrated his 15th birthday on January 5th. He has started working on some Boy Scout merit badges as a part of the Lone Scout program. He is diligently plugging along with his school work. Both Eric and Francesca have enjoyed time with the Linquist boys, as they were home from school and university.
From Francesca:
Finally in Africa! I miss all my friends from TO. I have a friend my age here called Riley. We had a Christmas Eve dinner with the Potter’s Field interns. It was a lot of fun! We had a candle catch a bag and a tablecloth on fire!!! We served ham, fish, soup, potatoes, rice and friend zucchini for the dinner. One of the intern girls, Ashley, said that she felt like a princess. The Linquist boys had come back for Christmas break and we had dinner with their family at the beach. I am getting over the stomach flu. I’m glad I don’t have anything serious or amoebas. We are on a break from school right now.
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