Powerless

Internet was out for two days, but here are the posts I wrote on Microsoft Word:

Vocab

Yalama nui (new-ee quickly)- thank you

Mandasi- doughnuts

Kuminunyeh- 14

6/13

“It was a dark and stormy night”…. Or day

Another relaxing morning.  Turns out there are really good veggie burgers at Delicious Dishes, the Indian place, so that was a great lunch.  When we left I commented that it was the perfect weather to walk, since it was cloudy and pretty cool, though we didn’t have time at that point.  Good thing we had to go back to the casa to pick up the materials though, as right when we stepped inside it started down pouring like we had yet to see here.  We all threw on our raincoats, until Marjani told us there was no way we were going out in that rain.  It surprised me a bit, since near the beginning one of the Child of Hope staff had told the ladies that they needed to be there even if it was raining, so I felt bad that we weren’t going to be on time when they had to be.  Becca also told us that there was no predicting how long the rain would last, which made me anxious to go.

Turns out it luckily didn’t last too long, though it did flood Marjani and Jack’s floor, coming in through their closed balcony door.  It was kind of funny though, all of us just sitting around Chanel and my floor.  And then on the boda ride they had to be extra careful of the potholes so as not to splash us all.  And the clay ground is pretty slippery when wet, so I slipped (but never fell) a few times.  It also really messed with the power, though, and last night, when it rained again, the power went out again.  It’s been making it pretty hard for me to work.

Speaking of work, turns out I’m supposed to be turning in 65 photos a week (as opposed to the 20 I handed in this week… oops).  Now that I know that I’ll have to start being more focused.  I should ideally get at least 10 a day.  Clearly I’ve been taking more than 10 photos a day so far, it’s just that they’re not all part of a single photo essay, so I’ll need to work on that.  That being said though, as I just said it’s tough working with the power so random.  I am not a huge fan of Macs, but I will give them credit where credit is due, their batteries last much longer than PCs.  Last night (Thursday) while my computer lay useless and dead, Chanel managed to get a lot done.

During work Chanel was doing an interview and we learned all about names.  Apparently, their names do not work as ours do, with a chosen first name and a surname passed down.  Instead, they choose a first name, but they also choose a surname.  The surname would be named after someone, like a grandparent, no matter if they are still alive or have passed away.  This way, families do not always share a last name.  They also write their names surname first.  There are exceptions, like if someone important is in the family they will all agree to take and pass on that surname to remember the connection.  Also, similarly to in our culture, when a couple gets married the wife takes on the husband’s surname, even though their children will not get the surname.

At the end of the day, I tried stopping by Elizabeth’s stand again, since I need a few more photos, but she wasn’t there.  Instead, we stopped by her friend, Helen’s stand, and there was this boy who wanted g-nuts so I bought them for him.  Nothing I’ve really written has been so sad so far, and even the women, who have very sad stories, are upbeat and happy, but this next part really broke my heart.  The boy was very dirty, dirt all over his clothes and his face was a mess as well.  I’m not positive if he is well or not, either.  Anyway, we continued on our way, and after about 5 minutes I realized he was walking with us.  Unlike other kids, who walk and hold our hands and eventually turn around and go home, he was really just following us.  Finally, I asked a boda driver to try to tell him that we are going home and he should go to his home, and as the driver was talking to him we walked away, but the kid ran and caught up to us.  We didn’t know what to do, since we couldn’t understand each other and we couldn’t have this boy follow us home, so finally we hopped on bodas and drove off.  The boy just looked after us looking hopeless and defeated.  I still feel guilty but I don’t know what I else I should have done.  This was the first time I really felt heartbroken.  I wish I could have known how to help the boy.

6/14/13

This morning when we woke up, Martha and Esther were at our guesthouse washing the fabric for the scarves and ironing the purses.  They have a cleaning company, so we figured it was best to hire them.  They laughed when I woke up and said that everyone by them is up by 7.  It was nice having them at breakfast with us, and I think they appreciated it.  They also brought some necklaces they’d made outside of what they make for 1000 Shillings, so we looked through and bought some.  It was really fun having them see where we stay.

For breakfast we had madasi, which is like a doughnut sort of but better.  Apparently it’s wheat flower, water, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar cooked in cooking oil.  It’s delicious.  I’m not sure if I mentioned also the different kinds of cow peas we’ve been eating for dinner.  The cooked ones are good, but there are also dry cow peas that they cook that I really enjoy.  It reminds me of an Ethiopian dish that I get at a restaurant at home.  Hopefully they’ll teach us that one.  Last night they also made us this interesting bean dish that had some sort of bitter green vegetable in it.  I think maybe it’s the small green eggplant that I asked about yesterday morning, not realizing that it was at all related to an eggplant.  They call it entura.

Anyway, the power was out all morning so I couldn’t get any work done.  In Namatala we finally met Annette, the last lady from last year who we hadn’t met yet.  I’ve also starting telling the kids that I will only take their picture if they are playing, because having everyone swarm the camera makes it impossible to show how the kids play and take any candid photos.  It’s starting to work better I think.  Apparently there are around 200 kids in the school.  I think it might be nice in the future for them to have some sort of collection, like books or something (maybe shoes?) for the future fellows to bring to the school, since we use their space and interact so much with the kids.  I’m also trying to find a place to print photos so that I can give some of the pictures I’ve taken of the students for the school to hang up.

Palin started filming today, which was interesting to see.  I am trying to help her hold the microphone, but I don’t know much about film.  It’s cool watching though.

On our way home we found those guys again by mistake (the ones who followed us that one day).  They asked why we never called so I said we don’t have a phone (thank goodness we don’t) and he couldn’t believe it but I said we have no reason for one.  I also met one of their dads now and promised them a printed photo, so I’ll need to figure that out.

Anyway it’s just about Shabbat.  Should be an interesting one, as Esther is taking us to her village tomorrow and I don’t want to miss out so I’m figuring out how to go.

Shabbat Shalom!