There are some things that still catch me off guard living by myself in the village... one is the sound of rushing water and the other is a group of people yelling and screaming. Well both happened today and this just again showed me that I may have my to do list for the day but God has already ordered my steps.
The morning started with one of my staff showing up on my door step needing to register her sister which is actually her cousin that was brought to live with her aunt when her parents died... following that? Ok... well I find it amusing that they walk up the hill... I hear them coming... I see their shadows from my bedroom window... but the just stand outside my door without saying anything... expecting me to know when they are there. Find it comical that many of my staff will do this and if I don't come to the door .... they walk away and say... I came and did not find you there! Anyway I went to the window to see what was needed and told them I would walk down in 15 minutes.
Registered two new children today both without a translator I might add (victory in learning a new language!)... assisted my teachers with scheme books and keys to get in their classrooms to write lesson plans and prep for term 2 that starts Monday... got Irene our seamstress set up to finish the boys uniform shorts only to walk down near noon to find her reading a book...when I asked if she was done she said no the machine broke so I am just waiting...waiting...waiting. I calmly asked her why she didn't come get me and let me know of the problem... she looked at me like that thought didn't even cross her mind. Grrr! Paid her for the uniforms she had finished and sent her on her way.
I get back up to the houae where I am getting papers ready for tomorrows skype in grad class and I hear one of our workers yelling in my window... Mamma Angela turn off the pump... we have a problem. And a big problem we did have... lots of water spewing from a cracked fitting on the pipe leading to the water pump in the house. Several inches of standing water had to be cleaned up after all the water was turned off. Thankfully the workers jumped into action... turned off the water from the upper tank as well as the main valve leading into the house... and then called Mulongo so that by the time I got around the house to unlock the door there was no longer a geyser of water. The fittings were found (or jerry rigged) and by early evening I had running water in the house again! In all of this craziness... I run out the door to find one of the clinic staff just waiting for me...again never did she knock or call my name... just waiting! She needed reagents that are stored in my icebox so ultimately she had to wait for a few more minutes!
So I gave Mulongo a walky talky so that I could continue to get paperwork done in the house and got back rolling on it when Nakafero, Maggie, Regina, and Nagawa came up wanting me to teach them how to make a cake... which I had promised when we were finishing my mat. Since I made cupcakes yesterday... I let them each eat one and then told them I was going to make oatmeal cookies today if they wanted to help me with that...of course they did. So while they were baking I taught them how to make simple little bracelets and then we sat eating our 'biscuits' and chatting.
As they were leaving... I heard a lot of screaming and yelling coming from a group of people up the mountain... above the new teacher housing... I asked if someone was playing futbol and they said...no they are hunting... Hunting? What are they hunting?... oh you know...The usual cobra, wild goats, wild pigs. I started laughing and said when we go hunting we are quiet... we want to sneak up on the animal to shoot them. Cultural lesson for the day... Ugandan's hunt with dogs and spears. The yelling is to send the dogs to surround the animal and then the 'hunters' spear the animal. it is a team effort!
So as I am watching Nakafero and her sisters walk down the hill...Mulongo and a couple of my girls are walking up. Mulongo comes up saying my assistance in needed with a child that is waiting in Mamma V's kitchen... I eventually understand that they want to register the child so I take care of that and spend some time Sandra, Catherine, and Alvin. (Sandra wanted tonshow me the bracelets she had been working on and to tell me that Regina was sick and couldn't come over!)
As I am walking home... Seche comes running up... Mamma Angela...do you want to see the baby goat? So I followed him to the new goat pin to find mamma goat and her new baby boy. That explains all the goat noises last night!
Well as the sun goes down on this day... I am really praying for a non-eventful laat day in the village tomorrow!
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