Day 9 - legalese

After the luxury of a warm shower and a delicious breakfast, we head out to visit the final 2 families involved with Kulikayo.  The mid-morning traffic is reasonable, but we're a bit uncertain of the directions to the home of Olivia's grandmother, so we are moving slowly along the bumpy back road when we fortuitously meet Daniel approaching us on foot with a buddy.  He happily directs us to his home as we scoop him up in the van.  All the siblings must have suffered huge trauma after losing their Mom at the hand of their father, but Daniel, in particular, seems to have ongoing problems with anger and foul moods.  We were thrilled this year to see some turnaround.  During the visit to BV he smiled much more and interacted more positively with the other children.  He is still far behind in school performance, but making gains.

Grandma on her porch

Jovan busily sweeping around the chicken coop

matooke being prepared with trimmings for the chickens

Daniel with one of his "cousins"

We find grandmother seated on the small porch cutting matooke for the dinner meal, surrounded by young children.  Jovan is sweeping the front yard area and tidying up around the chicken coop.  We are invited inside and learn that, in addition to the chickens, grandmother leases a garden plot nearby, which helps feed the household and produces a little income.  Olivia & Gloria are in school, and the younger children will join them in a few days.  The matriarch is also caring for another 3 or 4 young children, grand-nieces & nephews, with some financial support from her children.  Overall, she seems to be doing quite well.  We would love to help out with the care of the other children, but we're mindful of our limited resources and the fact we just took on the 4 orphans she took in from Bright Kids.

Davis sits with Grandma

Sue make a point

Jovan listens intently

Jovan poses for the requisite cap photo

fond farewells

Sue has been good natured tolerating the teasing as we call her "mumbejja" which is "princess in Lugandan

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We have been closely monitoring news of the novel coronavirus epidemic with the epicentre in Wuhan, China but now spreading to more countries globally.  Our daughter, Alicia, is terribly worried about us spending 24 hours in close contact with fellow travelers on airplanes and in airports on our trip home.  Apparently there has been a run on N95 face masks in some countries.  Because of all the uncertainty, we call around to several medical supply firms in Kampala.  A few say they normally carry those masks, but are now out of stock.  We finally reach a firm who states they can provide us with 20 masks tomorrow.  We strike a deal just as we are pulling off the old Entebbe-Kampala highway to make the trek to Joyce's home.

pop-up apparel store

chicken coup on wheels

brick factory

Fortunately, someone has made improvements to the back road leading to her home, and we are able to ride most of the way there.  Jackson greets us there, but Brenda is at school, of course.  Joyce says she has been suffering some back and leg pain which sounds suspiciously like a swollen disc causing some nerve pressure.  Sue has lately been plagued with exactly the same condition, and offers advice about stretching and keeping active.  Joyce has been doing a better job keeping books related to income and expenditures from her water business, but income has been down this year since 4 other families in the area have had municipal water outlets installed on their properties.  She also earns income doing some laundry for her neighbours.  Her older children are still helping out to supplement school fees for the younger kids who attend Medi's school nearby.

approaching Joyce's home

we inquire about everyone's health and well-being

Jackson, Joyce and the younger kids

do maribu storks make better lawn ornaments than flamingos?

I hint we need to trim accommodation costs next visit, but Sue will have none of it

good-byes are often tough

We stop at a market in Kampala, and Sue purchases a woven basket while I grab a homemade English/Luganda dictionary.  I would love to understand the local language better.

We arrive a bit early at Mediterraneo, a wonderful Italian restaurant which we discovered last year.  We're sad to see that the nightclub, "DNA", across the road has closed down.  Hasifa arrives after finishing her day at school, and we show her the cloth napkins and describe that we wish her to sew something similar from the material we sourced in Jinja.

Wilbert arrives to join us in time to order our meals.  He is a recent law graduate who is working this year for an established Kampala firm while waiting to be called to the bar.  Davis had sent him a few questions we had regarding starting a school in Uganda, and we are most impressed by the thoroughness with which he has researched and prepared answers.  He confirms that foreigners cannot purchase land in Uganda, and this includes entities such as corporations, companies & NGO's if they have majority control by foreigners.  The option is to negotiate a long-term lease of land.

Wilbert joins us for a working dinner

In order to operate a school, we must be registered in Uganda, either as a foreign NGO, or by creating and registering a Ugandan "child" organization.  The latter step may be a little simpler, but he assures us that either course of action is fairly smooth (in contrast to what I had read on the internet). Operating a school involves obtaining a license, but it seems most schools get themselves up and running before obtaining the license, since a necessary requirement is showing that one has the physical infrastructure, teachers, curricula, etc. all in place before obtaining the license.

During the break from our discussion, we enjoy the delicious meal, although poor Hasifa seems bored to tears by the whole evening.