So this is the last 24 hours before I leave for home. This past week has been very busy and so has flown by. I went in to Kampala to do various last-minute things but did find time to eat fried grasshoppers. They sort-of remind me of pumpkin seeds you cook yourself after your clean out the inside of the Halloween jack-o-lantern. Not bad at all really. I was looking for bird fabric and found some in one of the first places I went, so then had time to eat insects and chinese food. Some of you may know that I love birds, well, I had been hoping to find some fabric while I was here and so I did.
Baby Amy was three weeks old on Thursday and is growing like a weed. She takes 2 – 4 ounces of formula at a time and usually wakes three times during the night. I have gotten a pretty good system going so that I can feed and burp her without her waking up too much, most times she easily falls back to sleep. Thank the Maker. The director has said she will email me after her 6 week check-up as I am very interested in how much she has grown. I have been having some of the older girls feed her and carry her around during the day so she will get used to other people. Hark, I can hear her crying now.
I took two of the children in to Kampala to have lunch at a restaurant a few days ago. Twaha, the child I sponsor, and Leticia, a lovely 14 year-old girl who Twaha had chosen to go with him. It is so enjoyable to take Twaha places, because he doesn’t have the opportunity to do a lot outside the area of school and the home. He is amazed by what I think are simple things, the elevator, fountains, the restaurant menu. I finally had to make a lunch choice for him because the menu offered so many choices he could not make up his mind!
The twins are doing better and better every day. They have been getting liquid vitamins for almost two months now and their general health is improving. They still do not talk in words that make sense to me, but chatter at each other a good bit, especially when sitting on the baby potties. Babirye has no trouble walking around and she and her sister follow the older children everywhere. Sometimes, when she has slowed down to walk over a rough, uneven patch, Nakato (her sister) stops to make sure she is still coming along, or even goes back and takes her hand.
Today is Easter and the church service was very joyful, lots of music. We have church here at the home now, under a tent. The pastor comes to us, makes it much easier than walking the mile or so to church as we were doing last year. Easter lunch was a giant feast of which I only ate a small portion as it was so much. Chicken, and when I say chicken I mean they were alive last night, beef (not alive last night) matooke, rice, chapatti, greens, cabbage, hard-boiled egg, pineapple and soda. The amount of food that can be consumed by an African child is absolutely amazing. They kept saying, “Auntie Macy, my stomach is paining me, but I like the food”.
The director wanted me to show her how to make cookies, so I found a basic sugar cookie recipe on-line and we collected the ingredients and did that today. As there is no oven here at the home we went to a home that had a small, gas-powered oven to bake them. There were no temperature numbers on the dial so I guessed at 400 degrees. Not only that, but there were no measuring spoons or cups, so I guesstimated those amounts as well. Low and behold, the cookies came out pretty well! Amazing what you can do without.
Also today we celebrated the April birthdays. Here in Uganda, birthdays are not notable events. A person might be told “Happy Birthday” on the given day, but not usually. In fact, most of the children below the age of 10 to not know when their birthday is or how old they are. So, here at Another Hope, at the end of each month there is a collective birthday celebration for whom ever had a birthday in that month. Each birthday child receives a bottle of soda and small cake which they cut in half. Half of the cake they share with the group and the other half they keep for themselves. One of the April birthdays was my sponsor child Twaha, who turned 10. I had brought chocolate and sweets with me which I wrapped into individual portions and handed out for the group. And we had the cookies. Then we played games and blew on those honking blowers which shoot out the rolled up paper sleeve. Very festive. The baby is still crying.
If all goes without incident, I should be back on Nantucket on Tuesday evening. I will post pictures when I get home. See some of you soon!
