Email 5 From Kampala
Email 5
Kampala, Uganda
March 10, 2008
Hello again!
It seems that we are writing more often than we have in the past, but it also seems that we have lots of things to tell you, so without further adieu, here goes, (remember, you have free will so you don’t have to read everything we write, but we hope you do). We are also sending some “snaps” (photos).
• Work is going well, but we work long hours, much more than we are used to. Hinda is still working on those job descriptions. Seems that our “boss” who is in fact charming has charmed her into doing more than what she intended. His name is Charles and now that he found out he was born in the same year as her oldest son, Seth, he keeps reminding her that he is just like her son and so she should help him out. She falls for it everytime. Peter is beginning to be successful with the problem of no/little internet “mpole mpole” – slowly slowly. Also he is still hard at work with the senior management team in putting together the next strategic plan, and is also doing a lot of computer tutoring/training/mentoring, as well as mentoring the fundraiser. Hinda has thoroughly analyzed the medical clinic and is ready to present a very comprehensive report and recommendations, and both of us, along with other staff have developed a number of operational procedures. (Everyone loves Hinda, and Peter can actually say whole sentences in Luganda and is still playing the drums at morning prayers. Finally, we have arranged for the staff to get free eye exams from the same eye care shop that we got to know 4 years ago, and they are also giving a hefty discount. Lots of people here have bad eyes, since there no one has enough money to purchase glasses.
• Our little rented car’s battery finally died, and it is not easy to get a new battery, especially on a holiday (Saturday was International Women’s Day). Filling stations don’t sell them, although they do sell lots of food and sundries. After 3 tries, a mechanic came on a boda boda (motorbike taxi) carrying a spare battery and in no time got our sick car started and then told us to go immediately and get a new battery. Not so easy. About 3 hours later and being run around by people wanting to charge us twice what we should really pay, we finally got one and also the accompanying photo of the man with the cool shades and no teeth who was hanging out at the battery shop and wanted to trade his sun glasses for our prescription glasses. No way!
• For those of you who are following Jacqueline, she has been kind of forced by the lead counselor to get out of bed and sit outside. Actually, she is a little better, taking her meds, but very very week. We thank those of you who contributed some money for emergency food, but KCCC can use more. There are lots of Jacqueline’s here. Just send a check to our house, and let us know the amount and we will give KCCC the money, and you will help save a life!!
• It is very hot here, and by the time we get home, we don’t feel like cooking. KCCC has a vocational training program which also includes cooking and catering, so we hired them to cook for us 3 evenings a week. For 4,000 Ugandan Shillings a night, ($2.36), we get a dinner in a takeout container usually consisting of several starches and a bit of meat. We have asked that they cut the starches from 3 to 1 and reduce the salt. So, they get another client, and we don’t have to cook.
• The day to day living is hard here, it is hot, the power goes off frequently, the traffic is impossible, the roads are worse, people are ever so poor and work very hard. But there is a bright side, we live in a lovely apartment and there are three people who work in our compound who are delightful. One is a young man, Geoffry, he has a wife and 4 children in a town far from here and sees them only on holidays, he drives and does chores like opening the gate when we come home or go out no matter what time it is. Anne, who is an older woman we all call “JaJa” (grandmother), she does the laundry and although we don’t have anything white anymore, everything is a certain shade of grey, she is always willing to help us and make sure to iron everything including our underwear. And the third is Margaret, who works 7 days a week 24 hours a day as the housekeeper and maid for the people who own the complex and us but always has a pleasant word and she heard I like fresh flowers so every few days we come home to find freshly cut flowers on the living room table from the garden. See the photo.
• We have been looking for a place to go to have a Passover Seder. We were going to go to the Abayudaya – the Ugandan Jewish community, but we could only go for a weekend, and it is too expensive. What to do? We considered flying to Israel for a week or so to visit family and friends, but that is even more expensive. Then, just like it was ordained, we overheard some people speaking Hebrew in a store, and Peter struck up a short conversation with them in Hebrew, and we were told that we would be invited to a Passover Seder with a group of Israeli’s who are here working temporarily in Uganda. You can always find a Jew nearly anyplace in the world.
• The rainy season seems to be upon us, When we say rain, we mean like in Noah’s day. Deluges! But luckily, most of the rain has been at night. It will probably continue until late April or early May.
• One of the ways to describe life here is noise, noise, noise, dust, dust, dust, traffic, traffic, traffic. Here is a photo of what it normally looks like at one of the intersections on the way to work. Cars, motorbikes, bicycles coming and going from every direction despite one way streets, stop signs, etc.
• If you have heard of “African time”, you know that means that time has no meaning. For Peter, that is very difficult. Well, finally, after nearly 70 years, Peter is learning patience from the Africans, and he seems ok with it. Of course there is nothing one can do about it, so why get stressed for nothing.
Let’s end here. Check out the photos.
Sula bulungi, or seeva bulungi, (have a good day, or a good night whatever time it is for you.
Love and hugs,
Katende and Mrs. Katende Peter
Kampala, Uganda
March 10, 2008
Hello again!
It seems that we are writing more often than we have in the past, but it also seems that we have lots of things to tell you, so without further adieu, here goes, (remember, you have free will so you don’t have to read everything we write, but we hope you do). We are also sending some “snaps” (photos).
• Work is going well, but we work long hours, much more than we are used to. Hinda is still working on those job descriptions. Seems that our “boss” who is in fact charming has charmed her into doing more than what she intended. His name is Charles and now that he found out he was born in the same year as her oldest son, Seth, he keeps reminding her that he is just like her son and so she should help him out. She falls for it everytime. Peter is beginning to be successful with the problem of no/little internet “mpole mpole” – slowly slowly. Also he is still hard at work with the senior management team in putting together the next strategic plan, and is also doing a lot of computer tutoring/training/mentoring, as well as mentoring the fundraiser. Hinda has thoroughly analyzed the medical clinic and is ready to present a very comprehensive report and recommendations, and both of us, along with other staff have developed a number of operational procedures. (Everyone loves Hinda, and Peter can actually say whole sentences in Luganda and is still playing the drums at morning prayers. Finally, we have arranged for the staff to get free eye exams from the same eye care shop that we got to know 4 years ago, and they are also giving a hefty discount. Lots of people here have bad eyes, since there no one has enough money to purchase glasses.
• Our little rented car’s battery finally died, and it is not easy to get a new battery, especially on a holiday (Saturday was International Women’s Day). Filling stations don’t sell them, although they do sell lots of food and sundries. After 3 tries, a mechanic came on a boda boda (motorbike taxi) carrying a spare battery and in no time got our sick car started and then told us to go immediately and get a new battery. Not so easy. About 3 hours later and being run around by people wanting to charge us twice what we should really pay, we finally got one and also the accompanying photo of the man with the cool shades and no teeth who was hanging out at the battery shop and wanted to trade his sun glasses for our prescription glasses. No way!
• For those of you who are following Jacqueline, she has been kind of forced by the lead counselor to get out of bed and sit outside. Actually, she is a little better, taking her meds, but very very week. We thank those of you who contributed some money for emergency food, but KCCC can use more. There are lots of Jacqueline’s here. Just send a check to our house, and let us know the amount and we will give KCCC the money, and you will help save a life!!
• It is very hot here, and by the time we get home, we don’t feel like cooking. KCCC has a vocational training program which also includes cooking and catering, so we hired them to cook for us 3 evenings a week. For 4,000 Ugandan Shillings a night, ($2.36), we get a dinner in a takeout container usually consisting of several starches and a bit of meat. We have asked that they cut the starches from 3 to 1 and reduce the salt. So, they get another client, and we don’t have to cook.
• The day to day living is hard here, it is hot, the power goes off frequently, the traffic is impossible, the roads are worse, people are ever so poor and work very hard. But there is a bright side, we live in a lovely apartment and there are three people who work in our compound who are delightful. One is a young man, Geoffry, he has a wife and 4 children in a town far from here and sees them only on holidays, he drives and does chores like opening the gate when we come home or go out no matter what time it is. Anne, who is an older woman we all call “JaJa” (grandmother), she does the laundry and although we don’t have anything white anymore, everything is a certain shade of grey, she is always willing to help us and make sure to iron everything including our underwear. And the third is Margaret, who works 7 days a week 24 hours a day as the housekeeper and maid for the people who own the complex and us but always has a pleasant word and she heard I like fresh flowers so every few days we come home to find freshly cut flowers on the living room table from the garden. See the photo.
• We have been looking for a place to go to have a Passover Seder. We were going to go to the Abayudaya – the Ugandan Jewish community, but we could only go for a weekend, and it is too expensive. What to do? We considered flying to Israel for a week or so to visit family and friends, but that is even more expensive. Then, just like it was ordained, we overheard some people speaking Hebrew in a store, and Peter struck up a short conversation with them in Hebrew, and we were told that we would be invited to a Passover Seder with a group of Israeli’s who are here working temporarily in Uganda. You can always find a Jew nearly anyplace in the world.
• The rainy season seems to be upon us, When we say rain, we mean like in Noah’s day. Deluges! But luckily, most of the rain has been at night. It will probably continue until late April or early May.
• One of the ways to describe life here is noise, noise, noise, dust, dust, dust, traffic, traffic, traffic. Here is a photo of what it normally looks like at one of the intersections on the way to work. Cars, motorbikes, bicycles coming and going from every direction despite one way streets, stop signs, etc.
• If you have heard of “African time”, you know that means that time has no meaning. For Peter, that is very difficult. Well, finally, after nearly 70 years, Peter is learning patience from the Africans, and he seems ok with it. Of course there is nothing one can do about it, so why get stressed for nothing.
Let’s end here. Check out the photos.
Sula bulungi, or seeva bulungi, (have a good day, or a good night whatever time it is for you.
Love and hugs,
Katende and Mrs. Katende Peter
posted by Peter and Hinda Schnurman at 10:53 PM
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