December 1st-6th:Tuesday-Sunday
Tuesday morning the Wright girls, Rachel, Anna, and Mary, Hannah and I embarked from the compound under a full moon. The girls had wanted to climb the hill behind the clinic in order to watch the sun rise and I was asked to go because they needed a guy escort. As we left their house at 5:00 we discovered that t heir gate was locked so we moved down to the Okken’s compound were we hopped the gate. With the full moon we didn’t need lights. The hill behind the clinic is a couple hundred feet. We positioned ourselves on an outward spur of rock and waited for the sun. Because the sun rose behind Mt. Kadam it was light well before we first glimpsed the sun. Africa is beautiful.
That Thursday I had JB, his friend from Namalu whose name is like Octavias or something of the like, and Moses over for dinner. I had had JB buy a chicken and sweet potatoes in Namalu that day. JB and I took the cock out back along with a knife. JB plucked some of the feathers off its neck and then held its body down with one hand and its head up with the other. Then I beheaded it with a few short strokes of the knife. While JB held down the still moving body I went inside and got some boiling water so JB could pluck it. We gave the head and feet to the dogs who seemed over joyed.
After plucking it JB butchered it. At first he kept out heart, lungs, and spleen and stuff. I asked him what they were and Moses interjects that he didn’t think we ate that so JB saved only one unidentifiable organ and threw the rest to the dogs. Then we peeled and sliced all the sweet potatoes, the must have bought like a kilo of the stuff. I mixed up a flour based seasoning to put on the chicken and then we began frying. Shortly we were eating a delicious chicken dinner. There is nothing quite like eating an animal you killed yourself.
Friday the entire mission was invited to a Christmas party at the Proctors’ in Mbale. Also that night though Simon, one of the local Karamojong was having a huge party to celebrate his graduation from something or other and to make many friends since he wanted to go into politics. What better way to do that then bribe people with food and beer? I was to ride down with the Eldeens along with Leah and Ben. I packed an overnight bag and we left around 10:00.
We arrived in Mbale and dropped our stuff at the Shelburne’s were we would be spending the night . Leah, Ben and I were turned loose for the afternoon. We walked over to the landmark for lunch. Delicious. And then headed into town. Leah needed to stop at a bank to see if her account could be accessed and a post office to buy stamps. As Leah bought stamps at the post office I wondered around reading signs like “No Radioactive Material Allowed in the Mail” and the like. I found a display showing all kinds of Ugandan stamps, crested cranes, animals, flowers, the Nile, Michael Jackson. What?! Yes they had a set of four Michael Jackson, king of pop, stamps all of little cute Michael as a 10 year old. I told Leah she should buy some but when she asked the man behind the counter told her they were out. So we asked if we could purchase the ones in the display which he assented to. All you gotta do is ask.
After that we decided to wander further into Mbale just for fun. almost immediantly we ran into Jamie. He was at his friend Alex’s phone shop buying phones and stuff. We tagged up with him as he went to the Mtn Shop and the Zain shop so he could buy air time to sell. Then we wandered around. We went into a bunch of stores and tried to get free t-shirts and things. A lot of phone company stores and other places give away free t-shirts and posters and things in order to promote their product although sometimes they are reluctant to actually give you anything. Jamie got a dummy phone through his contact in the Warin (a phone company) Shop and then he sweet talked a lady at Orange (another phone company) and got two women’s t-shirts. We also tried to get some Ugandan Telecom T-shirts but the lady said they were out.
Around 4 we started walking back. We met Maria, Josh, and Laurie on the way back and Maria came with us. when we got to the Shelburne’s Jamie and I climbed up their tree house were we split a ginger soda and a candy bar. Then Maria came and she and James through sticks at each other.
Around 5:30 we headed over to the Proctors’ who are just next door. There were a ton of people there. I didn’t meet too many of them. Derrick from Cure was there along with a lot of the members of the OPC church in Mbale. Also there were a bunch of ex-pats there as well. The party was fun. we ate delicious food. The goat was a bit strange. I got to smoke a cigar with Craig, Phil Proctor, and Derrick. I hung out mainly with James and the other kids. That night I slept in the same bed that I slept in the first night I came to Africa. I didn’t use the mosquito net.
The next day while we waited for the Eldeens to come and pick use I watched Bambi with the Tricarico kids. Great movie. Very epic. I did find it odd though that the hunters shot at all the woodland creatures. Even lick little song birds and chipmunks. Like, did they want to kill and stuff those to put over their mantles? More like exterminator than hunters.
After the Eldeens picked us we went to happy where I bought an apple for breakfast and some Chowda (it’s like Indian snack food, like chex mix kinda but way tastier and foreign) just for later. On the ride back we say a couple of antelope like animals along with several ostriches and baboons.
Sunday afternoon there was a soccer game at the main compound so I went over and played. It was really fun although after about a half hour I had to quite because my feet hurt from playing barefoot on all the thorns and hot ground. After that James, Maria, Leah, and Jenny came over and we made smoothies. Jamie decided he needed to make a hibiscus flavored smoothie which turned out ok actually. Having the little bits of ground up hibiscus in you mouth was a bit unpleasant though. That afternoon no Africans came to the bibles study.
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