Kampala x 2

Rose has busied herself with taking clinic inventory, so we once again head out for Abacus Pharmacy to restock for the next six months or so. Dan and Scott cannot resist joining us for the adventure, and Rose has brought along 9 months old Angel, much to our delight. An early start avoids the heavier traffic hour, but we are delayed because I need to try four banks before successfully withdrawing from an atm. Most machines here now show only the visa debit symbol, whereas my RBC card has only Plus and Interac logos, and most businesses do not accept credit cards.

Kampala street scene

 

Dan with Angel

The folks at the pharmacy are friendly as always. While waiting for our order to get pulled and packed, we are entertained watching a police crackdown on illicit bodabodas (motorbike taxis) on the busy road outside.

Abacus is licensed both as a wholesale and retail pharmacy

action on the street

Angel is incredibly content and happy, despite the long wait

bodabodas are loaded on trucks and taken away

Returning to BKU and Banana Village, we pack up and await the ladies who purchased a month's worth of food supplies with Victoria. After a quick swim to cool off we set off. 

On our way out of the area we stopped in Kabona, the local trading center, to pick up the iconic Ugandan street food Rolex to eat on the road.  Four dollars feeds us all and we are satisfied.

chapatis (bread) and eggs are fried on a charcoal cooker and rolled together

tomato and onion are added

We head back towards Kampala but pull off into the neighbourhood of Medi's school to accomplish the first of our home visits with Kulikayo children. Brenda is one of the top students from Medi's school brought to BKU for a year to promote ongoing education for gifted kids. Now that she's back home,  we are keen to help support her ongoing education.

Joyce,  Brenda's mom, greets us and welcomes this large flock of mzungus into the two room home which she shares with 8 of her 9 children, Brenda being the middle of the birth order. We are humbled when we are presented with fresh fruit from our host.

serious discussions

Joyce with 7 of her 9 kids, Brenda on the left

Joyce supports her family by doing laundry in the village and making beaded purses to sell. Also the older children work on weekends and school breaks to contribute to the household expenses. Dad is not in the picture but does contribute minimal support. Jackson, the oldest boy at 18, is very protective of his mother and clearly the man of the house.

We learn that the family doesn't have power or water and that it is a 45-minute trip to fetch water from the well. Joyce tells us that she is interested in having a water line installed at the house so that she could have water for the family as well as sell water to the people in the village.  She feels that this would be a profitable endeavor, and we think this is a brilliant first step toward self-sufficiency.

We learn that to have a water line installed you have to first contact the Uganda water Council and request an assessment to be done. Jackie is going to continue working with Joyce to see what the next steps are.

When asking Brenda what she's been doing with her school break she tells us that she has been practicing dancing and that 14 children in the village have formed a hip hop group called Pentium 256. They are eager to show us their moves so we all go outside. The entire Village shows up to watch the show, including some BKU kids who are studying at Medi's school.  We are surprised and delighted to reconnect.

our group poses with Joyce's family in front of their home

 

Brenda rocks it with the other female dancers

the dance performance draws out the entire neighbourhood

Pentium 256 rocks it

After the show we all gathered together to take some photos with the family, for which the village children were also eager to participate in. I pulled out my bluetooth printer and printed off a family photo for Joyce. She was very grateful.

Brenda watches the male dancers

Carly connects with Sara Namiiro, who now attends Medi's school

Jackson is the proud protector of the family

We then proceed to Joggie's recreation centre, a little resort on the outskirts of Kampala. We have rented rooms in little round huts, similar to Banana Village, but with fewer amenities. The rooms are smaller and the mosquito nets do not properly seal the beds, so opening windows is not a wise option. There is a swimming pool, smaller and shallow but refreshing nonetheless.

Pizzas at the restaurant prove interesting (we didn't know margherita had peas and broccoli on it), but the beer is cold, and we finished off the evening discussing plans for the busy day to follow.

We were all exhausted from our first home visit. It was emotionally draining as it was both sad and happy. It was a lot to take in and and we learned a lot. There was much discussion about how we can improve our process in the meetings to come, and about finding a balance between our need for full disclosure from the families while being respectful of their privacy.

Sula Bulungi - good night.