 |
| Some of the ladies sewing |
 |
| The finished Water tank! Stay tuned for the message painted on it! |
Hello everyone!
21 March 2015
Another eventful week has passed and I hope I find you all
healthy, happy and especially grateful for all you’ve accomplished this week! When
you encounter someone digging in the fields here, or carrying some burdensome
load on their head it is customary to greet them with, “Wacozey” (Thank you!).
You thank them for their hard work, for their toil and for their effort, so I’m
passing it on; whether it’s at home, at work, at school, in your workshop,
shed, office, the garden, Thank you for your effort and your hard work!
I’m happy to be back in Kisoro and working with the ladies again.
It has been a steep learning curve for all of us. They have improved greatly in
the details and in understanding what it is that I’m expecting. Sam is my right
hand man, Promise sent him to me and he has been fantastic. He is a Secondary
(High School) teacher, but unemployed and the fact that he has an education
makes him especially competent and capable. He has an eye for detail, he wants
the place to look “smart” (clean, neat and tidy!) and he understands what I’m
looking for and has spent countless afternoons there with the women explaining
exactly how to do it. He’s been cutting fabric for the ladies, ironing for them
and helping me translate every single day. There are now nine women who are
sewing, we have four machines of our own and two women have brought in their
own machines because they want the work! Flavia has been there every day,
sewing, unstitching to remove a pocket, fix a crooked pocket or move a handle
on a bag. She has improved immensely in the week I was away to Kampala. More
than one bag had to be “refurbished” because they used the fabric markers that
I brought to write their names loud and proud across the front of it! Around 4
p.m. Flavia looks at me and says, “My stomach is shouting!” Through the next
painful hour of question and answer and waiting patiently while Didas carries
on another conversation with someone else about the fact that they need another
pair of scissors and an iron and charcoal to heat the iron with. Finally I get
Didas’ attention back, he translates for me and I learn that Flavia can’t make
extra food the night before and carry it with her the next day, like I suggest,
like the school children do, because the food the night before was “too little
and it got finished.” Boy, do I feel like a heel. Everyone has been suggesting
that I provide lunch for the ladies, but I was resisting. Why can’t they bring
their own lunch to work? I didn’t want to commit to the expense but it’s
becoming clear to me that they can’t manage. We are working on a plan of paying
them less for their bags they are making and with the difference providing
lunch every day. Next week we’ll start working on throw pillows, a whole new
challenge with a whole new learning curve!
Baby Elvis cries during the night and I listen to his mother sing
to him. When she is tired and wants to sleep I hear her sternly say, “uh-uh” as
in “no” when he cries. Renting a room of my own is a great way to live like a
local. I hear Elvis cooing early in the morning and his mom and dad laugh and
talk to him. There is a wooden door adjoining our two rooms, it is locked but
it’s almost like we all live in the same room. There are twenty-plus people who
share our little courtyard; we each live in a little, cement room. Some rooms
have an entire family, some have a couple and a few are just one person. Six
doors facing each other that open to our cemented and enclosed courtyard. On
one end are the two toilets (holes in the ground really, but one remains
locked), and two small stalls for bathing and a huge gate that opens to the
alley that is securely locked at night. On the other end are two more rooms
with store fronts in front of them that face Chuho Road. Obviously, the rent is
more expensive for those rooms, my rent is 50,000 ($18.) per month. We had no
power the first three days I moved in because they hadn’t paid their electric
bill, I’m pleased to say everyone must have paid because it is on and my
electric tea kettle is eager to be put to use! Cold showers are o.k. after a
run in the morning but not when it’s cold, dark or raining!
My friends think it’s hilarious that I got a jigger in my toe!
Apparently they think white people can’t get bugs embedded in their feet and when
they do it is really funny!! I stick my foot out for Sam and Didas to confirm
it’s a jigger and they demand a pin, they must get it out now. It so happens
that I also want it out now, so I find
a pin, hold a flame to it, then hand it to Sam. He pinches the pin between his
fingers to wipe off the black soot and begins digging away at the bottom of my
big toe….but didn’t that defeat the purpose Sam?….too late, the pin is probing
around under my skin and when he finally pulls out the jigger and shows me what
he retrieved it is nothing more than a white dot the size of the pin head
itself. Throughout the day, they continue to bring it up and they laugh about
it every single time! I’m just happy my toe has stopped “paining” from the
little bugger burrowing in, and I suppose happy to give them a laugh too!
When Immaculate asked me if I remembered Ellen….I thought for a
second, then said, “No, I don’t know who Ellen is.” Then she tells me that she’s
the woman who works at the house behind hers and she’s always outside doing the
dishes. Or, as they say, “she’s ever
outside doing the dishes”. Well, you can imagine my surprise when Immaculate’s
next question was, “She wants to know if you’ll be a maid in her wedding?” Of
course I had to accept! A bridesmaid in someone’s wedding that I hardly even know;
now this will be interesting. I walked past this woman every morning for ten
months and greeted her briefly every morning and some evenings in the local
language that is the extent of our relationship. Have I mentioned that I find
these weddings extremely boring and kind of a waste of time? After the first
wedding I attended, I vowed never again. A four hour ride squeezed into a car
with at least thirty eight other people, then a whole day of sitting in a
plastic chair, listening to people “rap” and not understand them, being pointed
out and asked to stand more than once as they appreciate my being there. Watching
people parade in and out, it’s all very bizarre to me and it seems like a waste
of money, especially when you don’t have the money and all of your friends and
family are expected to donate to make this three day party happen! Well, now
about twenty-five weddings later I’m going to be one of those maids parading
back and forth in a different dress each time. I’ll be sitting on the grass mat
with other girls when the husband has to come and identify which one is his bride;
I hope he can tell it’s not me! Can’t wait to tell you all about it!
May our adventures continue and our minds continue to expand!
Lots of Love,
Bonnie
"Never underestimate the
impact you have on the lives of others."
- Faith Halverson-Ramos
bonniebzdok.blogspot.com
If you'd like to donate to Resilient Uganda please
choose from one of the following:
For a tax deductible
donation:
Send a check payable to H.E.L.P. (our partner organization) to:
H.E.L.P.
1041 S County Rd 3
Johnstown CO 80534
Please include a note (separate from the check) indicating that
the funds are for Resilient Uganda and then let me know you need a receipt and
the tax i.d. number and I will e-mail it to you!
For a non-taxable donation:
Send a check payable to Bonnie Bzdok to:
Bzdok's
9161 Great River Rd
Little Falls MN 56345
or
Visit our website: https://resilientuganda.webs.com and donate through our paypal account.
Thank you so much, your donation will go directly to improving the
lives of Ugandans and building projects of empowerment.
Wacozey Chaney! (Thank you very much!)
No comments:
Post a Comment