How much would you be worth in coca cola?

In what was a wonderful riot of colour, we spent Saturday afternoon at the Give Away ceremony for the Bishop's daughter Charity. We were entertained by dancers while we waited and then the bartering began between the two families. Traditionally the bride price was measured in cows, now it's crates of sodas - mainly coca cola. Once the price is agreed the groom's family bring in the crates and put them in front of the bride's family to be approved. Coca Cola would never have imagined their product could one day be a bride bargaining commodity!

 

 

 

The two Doctors, Ruth and Rebecca were also invited. They are here for nearly 4 months and have settled in well. Behind them, Rev Florence wanted to make sure she got into the photo.

Back on site, this lad was reluctant to go home. He had to stay to finish his treatment for typhoid but you would not have known he was ill. From morning to night he was outside on the wooden bike. Whizzing down the ramp from the Omega ward kept him amused for hours. Leonard came to say there was a possible fight brewing between mothers as this lad would not let anyone else have a go. I found a plastic one but no....everybody wanted the wooden one. Once he left, the others lost interest. It was good to see it so well enjoyed.

 

Bridget, our latest Potter's baby, arrived on August 24th. She was born on July 2nd but at 2.2 kg was very undernourished. She has a big appetite and is putting on weight at an amazing rate. We were told her teenage mother had become mentally ill. Winniefred visited the family. The mother is deaf and unable to communicate apart from a few basic signs. Since the birth she has been disruptive and making a lot of noise banging things - though she can't hear that. She has made aggressive gestures towards the baby though not harmed her. She has refused to breastfeed. What can you expect? Who has ever explained sex and birth to her? She must be so confused and frightened.

How do we begin to help in this situation? The girl used to go to a school for the deaf but kept running away so the family was told to keep her at home. They are a very simple family so it is hard to have constructive conversation.

 

 

The girl is Bridget's mum with her mother and brothers. The house is very dirty and they share it with animals. Can we really put Bridget back into this? One good thing is that the girl is on family planning - so long as the mother monitors it carefully.

 

 

 

 

 

For those who gave money for fruit trees last Christmas, Leonard has been grafting two varieties of apples onto one tree. He is having problems with aphids and fungus on many of our vegetables, not helped by all the dry weather. It is a race as to whether the aphids kill the seeding broccoli before the rains come and kill them. He has used so much soap powder on the plants that he fears to use any more. We will have foaming broccoli not sprouting broccoli!

 

 

There is a good crop of tree tomatoes forming, the lemon trees are looking good but the mango trees need to put in a lot more effort. They are going for quality leaves....but 10 good leaves 5cm from the ground cannot be called a tree.

 

Spot the mango tree! It's had to be marked with a small stone so we can find it and not tread on it.

 

Vibrations.

A few nights ago most folk here woke to being shaken a little. I woke thinking how pleasant it was to have a massaging bed. Then I realised it was an earth tremor and what is a pleasant shake to us, can mean disaster elsewhere. Going outside in the morning, I looked at the volcanoes and asked God if they were still dormant. They are. The epicentre was on the other side in the Congo and although not a massive earthquake, it was enough to kill two children and flatten many flimsy dwellings. For those thinking of visiting Kisoro, don't worry, tremors here are rare and no damage was done on this side of the mountain range.

 

Mike and I took off for a weekend of R&R. We traversed the bends to Kabale and stayed at a Hotel looking down over Lake Bunyoni. Photos never do justice to the amazing view. It was very peaceful and pleasant. The food was a bit of a gamble...you couldn't be sure you would get what you ordered but so long as you ordered a couple of hours in advance, it arrived on time...well almost!

Mike's hot chocolate fudge sundae was a definite disappointment. It amounted to a hot baked banana with a minimal drizzle of chocolate sauce from a squeezy bottle. It takes a lot of imagination to regard that as a hot chocolate fudge sundae!

 

Before heading back, we went down to the lakeside for lunch at the Bird's Nest. This is the most expensive Hotel in the region...and you can see why. Here the spectacular view was along the lake. On the left is a jetty area where tourists take canoes or motor boats to stay on some of the further islands. It is also where local fishermen bring in the fresh crayfish for sale. You can take them home live in a plastic bag or if you are prepared to wait quite a while, they will kill and shell them for you. As they look like mini black lobsters with effective pincers, I couldn't help but think they would have worked their way out of the bag in a short while and we would be in horror movie situation with snapping crayfish scuttling around the car. Not what you want to deal with whilst navigating a very bendy road. I failed with walking a live turkey home at Christmas, I also failed with live crayfish as passengers.

It was nice to be away from the noise of babies and Carers for a while but it was also nice to be back. Generous came for a visit and told us about her weekend. It was a bit of a one-sided conversation but she showed her agreement with big gummy smiles and the occasional 'goo'.

 

The latest confusing conversation with Winniefred...

W...The lady who is going to foster M is not a lady.

.....Oh, she's not a lady, she's a man?

.....What? No. She's not a lady yet.

.....If she's not a lady and she's not a man, what is she?

.....she won't be a lady until the 21st.

......Hmm! (Mentally thinking- I didn't think that was permitted in Uganda but obviously it is). So when she's a lady she will take M?

......Yes

Festo emerged from the corridor chuckling. Winniefred was saying 'ready' but transposed the r for l, as they do, and added a vowel in front of the consonant, as they do. It makes a totally different conversation!!