When we came to build up the wall, the old fence that was here was removed, and slowly, the posts were dug up by the children and chopped into pieces to use as firewood. The barbed wire was removed and placed in a pile that is impossible to untangle. I have been trying to place it into concrete pours so that it might add a little strength, yet the pile remains. This barbed wire was actually used as clothes line before we removed it, so now that it is gone, the mums and children have been laying out their clothes in the grass to dry. Realizing this, I purchased some thick gauge tie wire and tied it between the poles on the houses to give them a place to hang their clothes. Though this is a nice thing for them, it is still not adequate for all the clothing that they wash on the weekend. I spoke to Henry and asked him for a quote to make me some posts that would support a series of clothes lines. As usual, he brought me the quote and it was way more than I was expecting. The word “Scrap” does not translate, unfortunately. I talked him out of the expensive material, and settled on a price that I could justify. They will come tomorrow so that will be a nice project for me.
I decided to re-draw the model that I had previously drawn to illustrate what is happening here. The model that I drew before was completely from memory, so being here I can actually go and measure to get things close.
Today was a day of rest for me. I felt as if it were a burden for my neck to support my head. I justified sleeping in to 7:30, but it really is impossible to go much past that. There are mums that come into the store and make noise, and children that start clanking on things near my window. around 9:00 I made a decision that I would try to take a nap, so I went and laid down in my room. By 9:00 the sun is still on the other side of the house, so the room remains somewhat cool, despite the neck sweat that comes almost immediately when I lay down. I had a thought to take my shirt off, and from that moment on, it was all I could think about, so removing my shirt, I fell back asleep. I did not sleep long; perhaps 40 minutes. Enough so that the children realize that I am not functioning and start to disappear. The problem is that I left all the doors open, so it tells people outside that I am here, and I get people showing up calling my name. Allan, a worker that Henry removed, seems to come every few days and just talk what sounds like beating around the bush in my ear to get things. He wanted me to give him a contract for work today. I have told him several times that he needs to talk to Henry if he wants to work here, but so far he has not paid attention to that.
After I was awake, one of the girls from Mum Lydia’s house came to get me, the papaya that Henry purchased as a gift for me the other day was needing to be eaten. I swear it was the largest one I have seen yet. It was so ready to be eaten that it was borderline rotten. I had some, and so did the rest of that house.
Dr Peter came tonight and took me to his house, where he was keeping chickens. 3 hens and 2 chicks, which belonged to the orphanage. He wanted to keep them while it was dangerous for them to be at the orphanage, and now that the wall is up, his home has become the more dangerous place to keep the chickens. Ogang Kenneth, Dr. Douglas’s sponsored boy rode with us to his house to pick up the chickens. On our way we discussed the importance of keeping a schedule, and the reasons why Uganda is so poor is because there is no one who knows how to keep time.
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