hi god, it's me, mulu

June 29^th 2008

 

This morning I woke up to the girls from the convent outside on the compound singing as they walked to church. I have never felt so content in one place before, or more confident working my way through the day without any caffeine. I still have to pinch myself all of the time to remind me that I am here, and that I get to ride around Gulu on a motorcycle all day. I’ve actually been taking better care of myself here than I do at home. I take a multi vitain everyday, and aside from my guilty pleasure (cold fanta) I’ve pretty much been drinking lot of water.

 

This morning Bri, Matt, Jo and I walked through the compound to catch a Boda into town. We were walking to the road as  church was getting out, and I as able to practice saying good morning (ichoo mabey). I like being around the nuns as much as we have. It’s funny because I used to run away from nuns, now I spend most of my time with them. Sister Appelonia calls us her children, and she is always there with a huge bear hug when we need her. Last night she had the nuns boil water for us, and I was able to have a hot shower, a super luxury here.

 

We traveled to Alice so Matt could get measured for the shorts her sister is making him. We got to meet her two sisters and her mother, which was very nice. Afterwards we headed over to the IC house to have a few meetings, one to reflect on some of the speakers we have seen, and another to discuss Confessions of an Economic Hitman. Discussing Confessions was the first tie I felt comfortable speaking up and really putting my opinion into a group conversation here as far as academics is concerned. Some of the people who have been here last year can be, for lack of a better or nicer term, territorial, and I have been shy about what I say or being too outspoken. Confessions, however, is a book that I enjoyed and really gobbled up, so because I’ve been here for a little while now I was able to articulate what I wanted to intelligently and with confidence.

 

John, Jen, Josh, Jo and I went to Mac Café for lunch and I had the avocado vinaigrette, this awesome salad with huge slices of avocados. Again, we ordered food on Ugandan time so we waited about an hour and a half for the food, so we didn’t have time to do much else, as we had to be back at the IC house at 3 to leave for St. Jude’s orphanage.

 

The orphanage is run by a group of Italian NGO’s, who are very active in Uganda. I wasn’t expecting to be as floored as I was, big istake on my part. Five minutes after I got there I met a little girl named Clemontina, and she attached herself to me until I left. She is 7 years old but has the body and development of a three year old. We played a game that she loved where I would hold her in my arms and shake my butt and move up and down while tickling her, and if I stopped she would move her little butt in my arms so I would do it again. I would also put her down and run away about 40 feet and turn around towards her and kneel on the ground and she would run towards me. When she got to me I would grab her an throw her into the air and catch her, and her laughter was the best sound I have ever heard in my life. Little Clemontina was very vehement about sticking with me, and would get pretty angry if I would put her down and play with other children. Leaving was very hard because it was heartbreaking. Adoption in Uganda is almost impossible due to the three-year residence rule, but if it was a little easier I would definitely try. Sarah and I, the two special ed teachers of the group, were talking with some Spanish aid workers that were visiting the site, and they told us they desperately needed help with their students with disabilities. Sarah and I are going to go there on a Tuesday before we leave and see what we can do.

 

Tonight we ate dinner at the IC house and then went over to the Kope Café for movie night. We watched Charlie Wilson’s War with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts and I enjoyed it a lot.