April 29 –May 4th 2009
Today was our first full day here. The night before Ms. Wybar told us that we could sleep in the next day. I woke up at 11:15. Flying into Entebbe, is completely different from flying into Philadelphia there are big green rolling hills and mountains. We flew in over Lake Victoria and landed on the runway. When we arrived yesterday we walked off of the airplane onto the tarmac. From there we took a shuttle bus to customs where we bought our visas, picked up our luggage, and met Ms. Wybar. We loaded into a small Toyota, and headed straight for Bududa Vocational Institute. We drove through the outskirts of Kampala which, like Rome, is built on seven hills. Driving, people weave in and out of traffic. There are virtually no traffic laws. The people here use motorcycles as taxi’s to get around. Driving to Bududa, it is clear how poor the country is. Shops along the roads are literally built from four wooden walls and metal thrown on top for a roof. I tried keeping myself awake during the drive to Bududa but this was impossible because I didn’t sleep at all on the eight hour plane ride from Heathrow to Entebbe. We stopped in Mbale to pick up some things at the supermarket, and meet Mary. Mary is the maid here. She does all of the work and Andrew and I help her whenever we can. After meeting Mary, we ate lunch and the waitress wouldn’t give Ms. Wybar the correct change. In Mbale, we went to the actual market. Shops lined up next to each other selling fruit and vegetables and meat. It was almost like a flea market but more crammed together. I tried to bring my video camera into the market but they didn’t like being filmed. This is weird because everyone in Bududa loves getting their picture taken. From Mbale, we drove to Bududa. We took the back road, and every bump and rock we drove over scraped the bottom of the car. This was a beautiful drive, we drove looking up at mountains, and up and down steep parts. One part of the road was so steep that we had to get out and walk down. All of the roads here are dirt, with the exception of the streets in the city which are pavement. This isn’t much better because there are potholes everywhere. Driving into Bududa, we would wave to everyone and their faces would light up as they waved back and said “How are you?!?” When we arrived all of the kids helped us carry our bags up to the guest house. The guest house is on top of a small hill in front of a mountain, surrounded by gardens of maze and other vegetables. Anywhere you look from the guest house, there is a beautiful view of mountains. This night, I sat outside with the local kids and played the guitar, I was teaching them how to play when I went inside for a minute to get my tuner. When I came out one of the strings was broken.
When I woke up today I went down from the guest house to the school to charge my camera. After charging my camera we went into town. Ms. Wybar and I rode on the back of a motorcycle, and barley fit. When we got to the market, it looked like something completely out of a movie. It was a massive market along a dirt road in the middle of many mountains. All of the Africans were staring at us because we were the only white people there. One girl grabbed my arm and was just holding onto me because I am a “muzungu.” This means white guy or white person, and they say it a lot. After shopping in the market, we sat down and had a drink and a piece of fried dough. On the ride home I rode along on a motorcycle, and when we got back to the school the guy tried to charge me more then he said in the first place. We walked up the dirt path to the guest house, and hung out for a little bit. I tried playing the guitar without an E string. Later on, we walked down the street to get eggs, and when we got home I showed Mary some American music. She really likes lil’ wayne. I helped her prepare dinner by slicing up tomatoes, sweet peppers and cheese for a pizza that she made. Before bed I showered outside under a shower bag, and went to the bathroom in a hole the size of a brick in the ground.
Last night I got no sleep at all, I couldn’t fall asleep. All night I listened to the crickets and the chickens and roosters. In the morning I heard Mary up, so I decided to get out of bed. When I opened my door the floor was wet because she was cleaning the floor. My job for the morning was to clean the dirt off of the shoes so I did that. After cleaning the shoes and boots, I helped Ms. Wybar plant tomatoes in the garden right outside of the guesthouse. While we were working the field, we met Ms. Wybar’s friend Grace. After planting, we made a house visit to Olivia and Simon. These are two children with a drunk as a dad. They are in a bad living situation, so a man wrote a poem for both of them, so we brought it to the two children. Next we walked to Ellena’s house and gave some gifts to her family. Her grandfather was blind, so we gave him a radio to listen to. Her grandmother is paralyzed on one side, and we gave her food. This is such a bad situation, and these little gestures of kindness really brought up their spirits. When we got back to the house, I took a shower. While showering, I watch the sunset behind the mountains. After showering, I went down and played soccer with all of the local kids and Andrew (my team won 7 to 3). In the soccer field, there were cow pies, rocks, little bumps, and a small building. After this, we ate dinner and went to bed.
