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| Curious Friends! |
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| Children carrying branches |
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| Mt Muhabura looms over the village where the next water tank will be built! |
I hope April finds everyone healthy and energetic for all your spring cleaning and yard work!
We’ve spent the week in the village very near the big mountain, where the gorillas live, (no, we didn’t see any, I wish!) We are about to start building the next water tank there, it’s going to be another BIGGIE, probably a 20,000 liter tank instead of the 10,000 liters we’ve done in the past. The one at Amazing Grace is a 30,000 liter tank and is nearly complete! We’ve identified a compound of about 45 homes to build at. The first day we were there it was around mid-day and no one was cooking lunch again, so I asked, “Why no cooking?” I should know better than to ask this loaded question. They told me they had no water and they didn’t’ even know I was “the tank lady” at that point! They told me, “they usually go into the National Park up the mountain for water, but it’s not there.” We met an elderly woman who had first trekked up the mountain and found no water, so then she went down to a very far trading center where she filled her jerri-can and had been walking for over four hours to find the water!
Surveying for the exact location and the best builder for the job turns out to be a much bigger task than expected...surprise, surprise right?! I made the mistake of being honest and telling one man that I was also considering another builder and that I was going to compare the budgets/quotes they had both prepared and then I would let him know the following day if I would hire him. He proceeded to go directly to the other man, (the only local builder in that village) and tell him that he was the only one who was building the tanks here and he was going to start buying supplies now, which, of course wasn't true. He also told him that he had his own laborers, so he wouldn’t need him or his crew to assist him. When we showed up a couple of hours later to get the budget that we had requested from him, he was angry and didn’t want to show me anything he had written down. I told him it wasn’t true, that this other man had lied to him and we just wanted to compare the two prices, see the previous tanks he’s built and then we would decide which builder would get the job. So, we sat and waited/assisted for the next two hours while he made a proper budget with each individual item and the price listed beside it. Sam, Didas and I spent the rest of the evening talking about the situation, it was explained to me that I made a big mistake by telling the first man that we were considering someone else too. I try in vain to explain, “healthy competition” and that maybe now they’ll both give me a fair price since they know someone else might give me a better price if they don’t. But in the end, nothing is settled; now I have to decide on the first guy who is a little cheaper, wrote a proper list of materials and prices, but was a bully to the village builder. Or go with the village guy who isn’t as business savvy, but can do the work just as well and probably needs the job twice as much. Oh Uganda!
Anson’s foot is looking much better. Unfortunately, he says it’s still “paining” him just as much and these sores seem to keep appearing on his arms and legs. We will check on him again in a few days.
I’m excited to announce that the bags are finally for sale on our website, as well as the biography’s and photos of the four ladies who have been sewing with us since the beginning! Please check it out and shop if you wish at; resilientuganda.webs.com
Wishing each and everyone of you Peace and Happiness,
Bonnie
"Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy."
–Thomas Merton
www.resilientuganda.webs.com
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| This woman walked four hours to find water! |
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| The 35,000 liter tank, almost completed |
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| Lunch in the village with friends |
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| The mountain, shoes drying on the roof, kids, goats...Uganda! |
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| Girls picking bean leaves |
