The Garbage Dilemma

One of the girls here that has been following
me around; just wanting to hold my hand.

There are two things that I really love to do when it comes to work; sweeping, and digging. Both of these tasks produce results that you can see and feel good about immediately after you finish them. Typically while the workers are laying brick and mixing mortar, I will sneak away with a hoe, shovel, and a wheelbarrow do do some digging in another corner of the compound. There is plenty of places that need care around the orphanage. When they excavated for the wall, they left big mounds of dirt that are becoming more compact as it sits. I have been removing what I can from these places and taking the dirt to the retaining wall. I am concerned that if I do not finish backfilling this place that it will remain the way it is. The Mums and the Children don't seem to have very much time or desire to beautify the place in which they live. 

I can clean up garbage, even make it into a fun game, yet it does not catch on. They simply have no trigger in their brain that tells them to throw garbage in the garbage can even though they are standing 10 feet away. The garbage is discarded onto the ground and left for the morning when the Mums all come out of their houses and literally sweep the dirt floor and collect the debris. All the children love to get my empty water bottles. I thought this was great at first. They can have their own water bottle and drink good water when they want it. The only problem is that they either think of it as a toy, or as soon as they set it down another child steals it from them and it then becomes a toy. I find an amazing number of water bottles on the ground and in the bushes. I can not go out into the wetlands and dig without hitting a discarded jug, plastic bag with garbage in it, an old piece of clothing, or a destroyed shoe or sandal. The place in which they live is not a garbage dump; garbage is not supposed to be everywhere. This becomes very frustrating. The problem is not that they have no place to throw their garbage; we provided burn barrels, it is a lack of education. Their mums do not teach them to throw trash in one place, because they don't do it. I used to think they littered because they had no pride in their home, but the more logical conclusion is that its just the way Uganda is. How long ago did the USA begin fining for littering? Uganda does not have the infrastructure to enable garbage collection yet. However, in my head I think, “Is it still possible to make the people living within these walls throw their garbage away? Is it possible to control and monitor 60 children who barely speak my language if their mums don't even do it? They don't care. Garbage is a part of their lives. This is one thing Americans need to understand when they come. Here, garbage isn't a big deal, even though it kills me that they don't care. 

You can see the clothes lines with
poles in the background

I got my satisfaction. Yesterday the mums washed a huge pile of clothes and bed sheets while the children were in school. They placed them all on the clothes lines. The rain came shortly after they placed them on the lines, but I like to think about the short time that the lines were being loved. Pants, Shirts, Sheets; all blowing gracefully in the mild breeze. Picture massive drops of water falling from the sheets onto the thirsty ground. Across the orphanage I could see the pant legs waving in the wind; as though they were on a ride in an amusement park. ...Then the rain came. There was a flurry of panic and chaos as the mums scrambled to rescue the clothing from the attack of the rain clouds. 

Because I have 1 week remaining here, I told Henry I wanted to increase our workers and push the project forward. I told him, whether the project goes 1 week more after I leave, or we hire twice the workers and reduce the duration of the project by one week, I still pay the same for Labor and Materials. I would love to be here for the completion of the project. The workers completed the portion of the wall that stands in front of home 9 and 10 and turned the corner extending into the wetland. The wall that is remaining is waist-high, making the amount of work half of what it would normally be. 

Because there are more workers, more tools are needed. When I take a hoe, shovel, and wheelbarrow, I place strain on the workers; forcing them to use less than what they need. I have been keeping busy with what I can, but my activity during the day has been somewhat reduced. 

We have 1 gate to place, and we have approximately 1000’ of razor wire. I handed over another large portion of cash to Felix for the wire that will be placed on top of the wall. When coiled, it will go 10 meters, which means we need just over 30 rolls. Each roll is 120,000 shillings ($46) bringing the total to 3.6 million shillings ($1400). We have paid for the razor wire, and purchased the remaining brick. Hopefully, this will be enough to complete the wall. 

The Wetlands Wall

Today was productive, I became a mason. We have moved the masons and the workers down to the wetland corner so that tomorrow we can set the old gate into the wall. I say that now, but I feel like I have said something similar before. It is like when Henry tells me that today we will do something, but then when he afternoon comes, he tells me that we will do it tomorrow. Then tomorrow comes and he tells me we will wait until the day after. One example is this moisture barrier called “DPC”. It seems to me that he has told me several times, “we need more DPC”. The last time he told me we were short, and needed to buy two rolls, I asked him, “Are you sure this will be enough? I don’t want to buy any more for the project, so make sure that we get all we need.” He assured me that it was enough. Today, he came to me and told me that we are short again. Not wanting to hold up the project, I purchased more.

Every day many of the workers and mums give me their phone; wanting a fresh charge. I pump water in the morning, and in the evening, supplying the project during the day, and the children during the night. ...except when there is no power. Typically I have seen the power out for some time, but this is my first for the power to be out all day in Lira. I have no clean water for the children to drink, so they have been coming to me asking me to pump water because they are thirsty. I don’t know what to tell them. It is the same as when they come with some feeling of pain, yet no visible wound. I don’t know what to do; I am not a doctor. I have to stand there and listen to them cry and turn them away because there is nothing I can do. Having the power out and children telling me they are thirsty reinforces my desire to see the pump move to solar.