June 17th-19th :Wednesday-Friday
Went to the Namalu market on Wednesday which is the traditional market day. Namalu is the largest town nearby and a twenty minute drive. The market runs through the middle of the main, and I think only street, and consists of stalls and little stores. Besides food and supplies they sell blankets, jewelry, clothing, and food. I bought a red, orange, and purple blanket for cold days. Almost everyone in Karamoja has a blanket. The women just drape them over their shoulders generally and the men wrap them around themselves sort of like a toga. The warriors however wrap the blankets around their waists and then roll them around their waists until they are an appropriate mini-skirt length. Then they wear these little crotcheted top hats that generally match their blankets, and wear tank-tops, earrings, and bracelets. Also at the market I had some fried dough balls that were very yummy but artery clogging.
Trucks arrived on Friday to give away free relief food. All the Karamojan have to do to get any food is to sign up and they get bags of rice and beans and cans of cooking oil. Stealing is very common. The young warriors will wait and mug the old ladies on their way home with their fifty pound bag of rice on their heads. Everyone at the mission is very displeased with the relief food mainly because it reinforces the lazy attitude of the Karamojan. That if they ever get in trouble someone will swoop in and save them. Also because there isn’t a drought here now so much of the food is taken and then sold in the market. The Karamojan culture values the opposite of the ten commandments. The more you cheat ,steal, covet, lust, and lie the better you are.
Work these last few days has ment laying bricks for the new banda we are building for the clinic staff. The banda’s are 16 in diameter round buildings made from bricks and covered in a grass roof on a steel frame. By Friday we had layed six layers on the concrete base.
Put out my sunshower for the first time on Thursday. That afternoon I had a hot shower. The water was so hot in fact that I had to add some cold water from the shower to cool it off enough to use. So far this has been the best investment of my trip.
These are really fun! I read all your entries so far and will totally stay caught up. It's fun to hear about your life there. Although the possibility of bugs crawling in my shoes freaks me out and I don't know how you work with an infected hand! But I loved your comment that it's nice to not worry about how dirty or sweaty you are, that sounds fun ;)
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