Day 11 – Entebbe 2

I might need to have a stern word with big Esther.  Awaken at 0500 with what I assumed was the rapid-fire monotone male droning of call to prayer from the mosque down the road,  Couldn’t imagine it was that loud, but I had left my window open for a change.  Turns out Esther has planted a radio just down the hall from my bedroom door turned up way too loud for that hour.  I make a snarly comment, turned it down, and do some posting.

Joel

little ones await morning bathing

Esther does some laundry

Rebecca is bathed while Auntie speaks with nurse Rose

view out the back window of the little ones' dorm

The morning is cooler and overcast with chance of rain forecast, but by 10AM it is getting very sunny & warm again.  Rose is going on her weekly trek to the older kids’ dorm, so I tag along.  She points out an anthill that has been severed in half.  Apparently the queen aunt is a delicacy when fried, but requires much work at excavating and avoiding bites from the workers defending their queen.  She’s about the size of a small rat, Rose indicates.  The nurse does her inspection of the dorms (surprisingly neat, given the crowding) and also the outdoor toilets used by the kids.  On the return journey some Jehovahs Witness followers invite us to a service three weeks hence.  We pass a vegetable vendor in a pickup truck with loudspeakers blaring a message advertising the wares.  Apparently he is popular because of lower prices and superior freshness compared to many of the little shops.

Alicia

at the quarry, workers will hammer stones into smaller pieces or gravel

typical village neighbourhood

Rose peels bark from a chunk of cassava and enjoys a fresh snack

neighbourhood including a small church

Rose inside the boys' dorm

Matron's baby sleeps in a girl's bunk while matron hoes the cassava plantation outside

neighbour boys ask to pose

vegetable truck

anthills are excavated for a prized snack.  The queen lives at the central base of the abode

 I want to get a few last supplies, so I convince Richard to chaperone me into Entebbe with Alicia in tow.  Find all we want at the little supermarket:  printer paper, a flash drive for Richard’s school project, plastic cups (stored upstairs and covered with dust), some scrub pads for Victoria and hand soap for the clinic.  Now the patients won’t have to share the single plastic bottle for drinks!  Not so lucky at the forex and bank.  This time they will accept the older $100 USD bills, but they charge a premium for those or for bills less than $100 denomination and the premium is about 18%!!  Figure I will not succumb to their highway robbery and try my luck at an ATM, but it doesn’t like my Canadian debit card.  Stores here don’t take credit cards, so cash is king.  I haven’t tried Canadian $ at the forex, but will make sure next time I don’t bring any older Ben Franklin’s or US denominations of less than $100.

Entebbe buildings

a crane the height of a 5 yr-old child wanders on a patch of grass in town

Stop at the hardware store in our little village and pick up ¼ litre of black paint to mark the toe line for vision testing at the clinic (using tape now but that won’t last). 

village carpentry shop

truth in signage

Victoria helps the little ones with homework when they return at noontime.

Rose and I gather up the older kids from the young ones’ dorm and herd them over to the clinic for their vision & hearing screening.  That goes well, apart from Arnold's distractions with his terrible twos behaviour.

Rose leads young patients to the clinic

We message Sue on Facebook while she calls the online travel agency with whom we booked our flights.  She is successful in postponing Alicia’s departure by 10 days at a combined cost of less than $500.  Alicia is loving it here.  I am very satisfied she will be safe and watched closely, and I think it will be a great boost for her sense of independence and maturity.  Victoria and the staff are keen to have her stay, but I probably will have to succumb to the banditry of the forex merchants.

Victoria has taken in three older girls/women in the past couple of days, so the compound around the big house is becoming more crowded, but not uncomfortable.  One of the girls is pregnant and was brought her by Pastor Wilson, being abandoned by her parents and homeless.  An Indian lady was abandoned by her husband (a distant relative of Victoria’s) after 10+ years of marriage and needs some respite.  I don’t know the story of Pauline, the other young woman.

I’m hearing from several folks that they enjoy the photos, so I will continue being quite liberal in the numbers I post.  There don’t seem to be many comments on the blog itself, and I have heard folks have trouble leaving comments.  I think I have fixed the settings now to enable anyone to leave comments, so please try it out.  Special day tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

neighbour kids pose for the "camera man"

Rose cuddles Rebecca

Sanyu

Jovan

Faith

Rebecca

Elijah Obama

Sandra

Rona

Sanyu

Rebecca

Lydia

Sandra

Richard, Rubegga & Wasswa

Obama with Alicia

Victoria & Justine

At play in the compound around the big house

Faith

Obama, Lydia, Olivia