Tangible Progress
Steering well clear of the baked beans this morning, I had a lovely yet slightly unorthodox breakfast of baked potatoes and red onion. These Africans sure do love their spuds. I am also happy to report this morning’s absence of the metal knife being plunged into the toaster, which was a huge relief.
Maisy, although enjoying her day on the tools yesterday, returned to join me and about 6 others today at the babies’ home. At one stage, when we were both cradling and bottle-feeding ‘our’ adorable, chubby-cheeked little angels, Maisy turned to me and, gesturing around the room, said: ”how could ANYONE choose building over this?!” A few of the babies had nasty coughs today and got a visit from the resident nurse. When they are living in such close quarters – 8 babies to a room – it’s pretty hard to contain a sickness.
We broke the ice a bit more with the shy women whose job it is to look after the 1-2 year-olds. The fact we had made a return visit brightened their day and they were much more talkative. I’d brought some little bottles of bubbles from home but realised as soon as I’d pulled them out of the packet that the kids would probably be more likely to drink the bubble mixture than anything else. Instead of testing this theory, we adults grabbed a bottle each and blew bubbles – or should I say, attempted to blow bubbles. We had a few obstacles to overcome, the first of which was a metallic seal on the top of the bottle that was near impossible to budge. The kids had gathered around the group of us, bursting with anticipation and clawing at the enticing little yellow bubble bottles we were trying to open. After much stabbing and prodding and palming off of eager children, we eventually broke the seals, only to find that the bubble wands inside were absolutely minuscule. How on earth was anyone to blow a bubble through that teeny tiny hole? With a show of huffing and puffing that would have made the Big Bad Wolf proud, the best we could get was an intermittent single bubble about the size of a pea. It was hardly the bubble-filled wonderland I’d envisaged.
As I have mentioned previously, these children are incredibly well-behaved. When you think about it, they are virtually all raised by the same parents so they are all on the same page. All of them sit and stand when they’re told, wash their hands obediently, hold their hands up for prayer, sit quietly on their potties (for a whole fifteen minutes!) and generally tow the line. All that is, except one. There’s one in every crowd. Ivan is a bit of a renegade. His individuality and determination to rise above the crowd will serve him well later in life but right now, they are just earning the poor guy a bad rep. At one point today he staged an escape and almost triggered a rebellion. Luckily, the carers were able to quell the disturbance and Ivan got away with a warning…this time.
Elizabeth and Maisy loved this age group and had a ball with the kids. Mary, twin sister to Joseph, took quite a shine to my youngest offspring as soon as she walked in the room, clinging to her as if her life depended on it. Maisy was chuffed.
Again today we forged close bonds with Brenda in the newborn room. I casually asked her what she liked to do in her spare time when she wasn’t kid wrangling. I was astonished when she said: “I’m a farmer” and explained that her meagre income is not enough to support her so she grows rice, maize and vegetables which she sells at the market in the village to subsidise her income. The other carer, Alice, that we met for the first time today, was a single mother of four kids; very unusual in Uganda. Rising before the sun each day, she walks “a long way” to get to the baby home. These women are doing it tough but their joy is palpable. They are so dedicated to the little ones in their care. Alice was showcasing her considerable skill set today, by feeding 3 babies at the one time. We were suitably impressed but she shrugged it off saying feeding 10 babies at once was her record! Octomum eat your heart out.
On a sad note, we were told that all the eight beautiful babies in the newborn room had mothers that had died in childbirth. Living in remote rural villages makes access to health services very difficult and they often go into labour on the long journey to a city hospital. I know I sound like a broken record but what a lot we take for granted.
The building team, including 2/3 of my family, made incredible progress today. The poles all cemented in, they were able to start erecting the roof trusses for the greenhouse. Sam remarked just how rewarding it was to see such tangible progress. The Ugandan builders displayed dare-devil tactics while on the work site today, scaling the 5.5 metre high poles and balancing precariously while fixing the frames into place; not a harness or rope in sight. A collective sigh of relief was heard when the task was complete. We had taken a detour this morning to include a stop at the hardware store, using some of our fundraising dollars to buy new shovels, wheelbarrows and hoes that will not only help our team to complete the job but will also replace the dilapidated equipment the Ugandans have been using. Molly and a few others managed to start and finish painting the water tower, coming home this afternoon covered in brown paint and red dust. On first glance, I thought they’d contacted some rare equatorial disease.
Tobes had a great chance today to get to know one of the Ugandan builders named Maurice and they really hit it off. Maurice’s boots looked a bit worse for wear so Toby promised to leave his own boots behind when he leaves, donating them to his new friend. Maurice explained that even just one boot would cost him a whole week’s wages, which Toby worked out was about $20 AUD. It was a sobering thought for Tobes that the boys had just spent virtually the same amount of money on afternoon snacks at the servo, without a second thought. Maurice was so touched he gave Toby a spontaneous hug. The builders struck up a game of soccer with their Ugandan colleagues and the camaraderie was so thick you could carve it.
Delwyn mentioned this morning how nice a ‘real’ coffee would be. Ahhh yes. It seemed out of the question though all the way up here in Gulu. Besides, we are on a fairly tight schedule. Our guide, Stephen, had caught wind of this and arranged for our trusty driver Antonio to make a secret stop in town on our way to the Neighbourhood project. We pulled up at the “Iron Donkey” and the aroma of coffee beans was sublime. It struck me that apart from the staff, every single person in the cafe was white. It was bizarre. We placed our orders and began to salivate at the prospect of a cappuccino, latte or flat white but we’d forgotten that no one is in a hurry in Africa. It took almost an hour to receive our coffees, in dribs and drabs, but it really didn’t matter in the scheme of things. We all agreed that had we been home, we would definitely have complained by now. We’d have been tense and cranky and probably have vowed never to return. It’s amazing how the little irritations disappear here. Expectations are different and in general there’s a much kinder attitude that prevails. The cafe staff was delightful and the lengthy wait for our drinks meant Julianne had time to strike up friendships with a couple of the ladies, one of whom was named Kevin!
Back at the Neighbourhood, we continued to get our showbags of rice, sugar, oil, beans and soap ready. As we worked, Kathy fired up her little speaker and we sang some songs together. A couple of the ladies from the project came over to join in the singing. It was awesome to be able to sing together and realise that despite seeming so different from one another, we really aren’t that different at all. It was great teamwork and before we knew it we had the job done and were ready to call it a day. We’ll all sleep without rocking tonight.
