October 17th – Happy Birthday Dad! – October 20th

Happy Birthday I hope you have a great relaxing day, don’t work too hard. I wish I could have been there I can only imagine the meal mom will cook up for you.
I have been teaching the new Finance Director small and easy ways to keep finance records for Beacon of Hope his name is Warren, another member of Beacon of Hope wanted to tag along to learn as well so I welcomed him and thought it would be a good idea to train two. Warren is a young boy who has done a semester of university learning economics he cannot afford the tuition anymore and is looking for new ways to earn some cash so he can go back to school. I thought teaching him how to keep books and look after financial matters would be a great asset for him that he could take to small businesses or other organizations in hopes to get a job and earn some money, he is very eager to learn. Ronnie was the other individual who tagged along, he is in his mid thirties I believe and had been working for several NGO’s before working with Beacon of Hope. I never really liked finance but it’s nice to know the basics as it is often needed in my field. I was surprised how quick Warren picked it up, I gave them a short exercise and he completed it quickly and had few errors. Ronnie on the other hand struggled; I felt really bad for him and was patient with him throughout the process – Never discourage anyone who makes progress, no matter how slow – he eventually caught on however still needed aid to fill out the balance sheet. At the end of the lesson I gave them some work to try out at home on their own, I figured it would be good for them to practice. They didn’t disappoint both of them brought it back the next day everything perfectly done. Thursday morning I went the carpenter and order three news desks for the school donated by the money from Bec’s funeral. I will send an update with photos later this week of them. These desks are more than just seats for the children at the school, the money used to pay the carpenter is used for his family, to feed his children and pay for their school fees. He is a very hard working young man and deserves the paying work. His shop small and tools few he saws everything by hand and truly helps define the word quality craftsmanship, I couldn’t think of anyone better to build these desks than him.
So as I have talked about before, I am looking for some work. It turns out m sponsor that was supposed to pay for my living expenses while I’m here fell through and Beacon of Hope currently does not have the capacity to sustain me. I am not abandoning them in any way I am looking to work for them part time and on the weekends for free which I think will be much more beneficial for them. I think it will also be good for them to operate on their own with all these new developments I have created within their organization. As a community group they need to learn how to function and sustain themselves, hopefully I have helped them and given them the tools or means to do so. I love what they do and am willing to stick by them for much longer but am unfortunately forced to look for paid work to sustain my stay here. I have had a few nibbles so far with a organizations like CPAR ( Canadian physicians for aid and relief and world vision, I am planning on moving to Kampala for about two weeks soon and do a full out job hunt.
Well a war is being waged against the good ol’ Montgomery Immune system, I went into Kampala Thursday night hoping to relax after a low four days in Mukono. My friend Kevin and I share a passion for Korean food, it’s amazing that’s all I have to say, we found a Korean restaurant her e called Arirang and decided to invade for dinner Thursday night with a few other friends. The restaurant was beautiful, quite large and well maintained. As soon as we got there though I started feeling a little ill however I wanted to eat Korean so much I stayed and thought it might pass. By the time we had got our food on the table I had been and was in the bathroom throwing up, and unfortunately could not eat any of the food that evening. I think I ate some bad coleslaw or water melon in the afternoon. The family I live with turn off their fridge at night to save energy…bad idea? The next few days were uncomfortable I had a really bad fever and had to lay in bed for most of it. Saturday I started feeling a little better and decided to go to the hotel to use the internet. I started to gain my appetite back and not eating for two days I was suddenly extremely hungry. Near the hotel is this amazing place called New York Kitchen, all their meals are extremely salty but resemble everything delicious that comes from North America. Kevin joined me and we halfed a huge lasagna (yes I usually don’t like lasagna, I’m a changed man, it’s actually delicious and I was starving) plus a slice of pizza. After we gorged ourselves we slowly sauntered back home for a much needed nap.
On weds October 23rd I am moving in with Tyler for two weeks!!! His roommate has moved out and the new roommate who is coming from the states is not arriving until November 5th So I get her room until she arrives. That means showers with hot water, toilets, stoves, heaven. During this time I plan to attack the market full time and look for a job I am pretty confident that I will find something while I am down here. I am going today to get my hair cut and possibly shave, I’ve let myself go the last two weeks and am now sporting a handle bar moustache and greasy hair that will not stay down, it’s all over the place. Oddly I am loving it, my stench peculiar but oddly comforting, I have just come to accept that I am pretty much homeless on the weekends while I am in Kampala visiting my friends walking the streets with my bag and guitar. If only I could sit on the street corner and get paid to play, but it would be more like sit on the street corner and get your guitar stolen.
Moving down from Mukono I am starting to realize how much I will miss the kids in the area, they have been so much fun to play with. Jacob greets me every day with a huge hug, he latterly throws whatever he has in his hands down and runs to see me.
Side note – I was at Tyler’s Sunday October 19th we were planning to watch a movie, I had bought this great dvd collection of Harrison ford/Bruce Willis movies for like 3 dollars, Tyler got some mob movie collection and my friend Laura bought the sex and the city movie…guess what we watched. There were three girls to two boys, democracy does not always work out for the best. This had to seem like the longest movie I had ever watched, I swore that Frodo climbed mount doom and destroyed the ring faster.
Being in the city more often you get adjusted to the hoards of people everywhere, you never get adjusted to the hundreds/thousands of children on the streets begging for change. I’m not joking when I say there are children that look no older than three sitting a foot away from the curb with their cupped waiting for someone to drop change into them. Tyler and I were riding boda boda’s down through the city and got stuck in a traffic jam, as soon as these kids see white people they flock to you. Begging, over and over, they will say please sir please sir 100 times if they have too. It’s so hard not to give them everything you have but you must restrain yourself as it is not a good idea to take out money in front of them. Tyler and I were stuck there for several minutes, it was agonizing to hear these children crying for help, we couldn’t take it anymore and had to get off the boda boda and walk past the traffic. These children are mostly Ugandan, from the north, some are from Sudan seeking refuge from the conflict. It’s devastating to see them, their clothes are filthy and often torn and they are visibly malnourished.
Well I think that’s it for now…I will send an email out later this week hopefully with some pictures for you all too see. Have a great week everyone!