Colleen didn't sleep well, with the disco music and then the rooster crowing. She looked she had been up at an all night party without any fun. She is funny when she is sleep deprived. The girls fly out Tuesday for home. So they are finishing up last minutes tasks before they pack tomorrow. We will miss them! They are both so outgoing and make everything they do look so easy which I am sure it isn't. But they make it look that way.
So today, Ada and I started the curtain factory in earnest. We have 4 panels in total to make. With one mostly done last night. As I said above...I have to adapt the process for the tools I have (dull rotary cutter and not so sharp scissors and a treadle sewing machine that keeps breaking needle and bobbin threads). And a language issue as Ada doesn't speak much English and my Lugandan is even worse. Lots of hand gestures and a lot of finger pointing. The treadle doesn't belong to the house but to a local tailor who stores it at the house. I gave him 10,000 shillings ($5) for Ada to use it for all 4 panels. He was surprised and seemed very appreciative.
So I left Ada finishing off the curtains to come to the internet cafe. I'm hoping we will get them hung before dark tonight.
Gisele and Colleen arranged for one of the girls, Chenzira to purchase 5 mosquito nets for the girls and the 2 kids at the house. I asked if I could pay for them as my part of my contribution. We brought 2 nets with us from Kampala and our nets we are using here will stay here at the house when we leave. It boggles my mind that the girls don't have nets and they are at high risk for malaria. With Asa sick with it, this is pressing. By the way....Asa went back to Kampala again on the weekend as his meds for malaria were not working. He was back with fever, chills, headache and vomiting. Poor little guy. He seems on the mend.
School kids, including Asa start back to school Monday morning after an extended Christmas break. Maama Asa is heading into the city to take him back to boarding school and she will be back on Tuesday. I will miss her. She is the one I feel the closest too, maybe because she has totally embraced quilting and hand sewing. She is so happy with the biggest smile when she sews; it is beautiful to watch her. And I have something to do with making that possible.
I'm still working through what other role I can have here. Beyond the sewing. I love the children. They seem to be drawn to me. When the little ones cry because they are afraid of the white muzungu lady, I speak softly and slowly that it’s ok and I hold out my hand and talking quietly. Eventually curiosity wins out. They slowly move towards me and often give me their hand. When they do....I know it will be ok. I've made friends with the neighbour kids and most of their names. Still have to get used to their surnames are given first and then their first names. So with a different language, phonetics and they speak so fast....it is such a challenge for me. Samuel is going to Kampala tomorrow with Grace. I've asked him if he would pick up a Luganda-Lnglish dictionary for me. If I can see how the words are spelled it is much easier for me to remember them. I have probably been spelling the words incorrectly as I tend to spell them phonetically the way they sound to me. And please forgive missing words and typos. There just isn't enough internet minutes to proofread and make corrections. So what you see is how I write from my head to the keyboard. Hopefully the blogs are still readable.
I still have at least two trips to Kampala to do. One to buy more fabric for me and for a friend at home, and some jitenzi's or batiks that they use as skirts here. Grace graciously gave us girls each one last night and they are beautiful. I have planned a meeting with the artists who do hand painted batiks for Maama Wakisa designs. Grace brought me some lovely new designs that I'm anxious to show off. And I want to get a few things for the house. One of them...a good sharp kitchen knife. The ones they have are awful. And took forever to dice veggies for the samosas as finely as Deborah wanted them. Deborah will take me whenever I'm ready. Depends on when library arrives.
Anyway my minutes are running out....gotta go....love to everyone...especiallymy brother and sister at home in Canada.
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