uganda X

"hurry up and wait"

friday, august 22/08

we were supposed to leave today for kampala but there was a lot of "hurry up and wait" because roger still hadn't gathered all his cows.  finally, he did and we were ready to go.  oh, wait!  uncle grace just called and wanted to see lola and congratulate her and roger.  

(there is no land phone system in uganda.  everyone has a cell phone and although you could probably get a contract, everyone i saw bought time cards...10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes.  very cheap.  and the sellers are walking up and down traffic selling at intersections.  there are a few companies but 3 main ones.  the funny thing is they tell people that if they let them put their logo on their shop.  so, in every neighbourhood, ghetto, and village there are the floresent colours for each company...bright pink, deep purple, and sky blue.  everything along side them is shabby and dingy.  it's very funny to see a herder in the middle of the dark continent, far from civilization on his cell phone way out in a pasture.  and electricity for the main house in uncle eric's case comes from solar panels!)

so off we go to uncle grace's place.  the car can't go there so roger, brad and i walk through forest and pastureland about 3 or 4 miles until we come upon a small, neat compound.  to greet us is a mentally handicapped teenage boy who seems quite curious.  remember, brad and i are only the 3rd and 4th mzungu in this area and, according to roger, the first two who have made it to this property.  quite intoxicating for us, actually.  also to greet us are 2 younger children, curious as well, but welcoming and smiling shyly, and one of the most beautiful women i've ever seen.  giggling with glee and not taking "no" for an answer would not let us leave until we entered their humble hut and sat in their prized chairs.  after a few pictures we were on our way.

now, another surprise.  roger said that i was going with grace while he and brad would go back the way they came.  i'm guessing it was because i'm an old man and would probably expire on the trek back to eric's compound.  so, off the two of us go, not able to speak to each other because of language barriers.  the cow paths kept us single file so we didn't need to talk anyway. but he was careful to show me the way so i wouldn't stumble.

suddenly, we happen upon another compound with a wooden gate.  inside were 2 buildings. one looked like a shed.  the other was a long, rectangle building about 50' long and 25' wide.  built on a tree branch frame and covered with the same red dirt that was found on their homes.  it had been lovingly smoothed and decorated with tribal symbols in one line all around the building.  we enter and i see a platform at one end with a podium and a scant number of benches strewn about... and a motorcycle!  this church was built by grace for the people in the area.

upon entering the church grace walked over to one of the walls and began to pray.  it was quite moving watching a man that had such devotion.  mind you we were about to travel on a motorcycle.  maybe i should say a little prayer.

out of the church, out of the compound and off we went through the cow pastures back to uncle eric's place.  another fond farewell and we headed back to kampala on the long, arduous and this time, very dusty road.

my window was open for some relief from the heat but i paid for it.  brad said my hair (at least the side facing the window) had turned red.  red is the colour of the earth in uganda and anything remotely close to any road is covered with red dust.

lola and i got into an argument about something really silly.  we argued like a married couple. brad stayed out of it and roger giggled nervously wondering what was going on.  i knew i had said some insensitive things and realized we were going to have to talk about it.  i was thinking about how families disintegrate because of hurt feelings.  we dealt with it when were left alone for a few minutes at the cafe back in kampala.

i went into the restroom to wash the dirt off my face and out of my hair.  all that happened was that all my hair turned a rusty colour.  i pretended it was my new look and everyone seemed impressed.