I played with Kodo Elijah a bit while waiting. He's the little boy (like 3?) who hangs around. He's in baby school there, which is only in the morning, and then chills for the rest of the day. Apparently he was left at baby school one day and so one of the staff adopted him. We became friends because of my camera... but I think deep down he likes me for more ha. Anyway this time I taught him how to use the camera. He wasn't so good at it, didn't get to look where he was taking a photo, but he figured out at least which button to press, so that's progress. And for once he said a few words to me which was fun. I love that kid.
Kodo Elijah
A picture he shot.... he really needs to learn to look through the viewfinder
The ladies finally showed. They are starting to bring extra products they make for us to buy, which is fun, and they take some requests, too. Speaking with Martha, I learned that she apparently was a politician, doing education stuff for 10 years! Apparently, though, they only get an allowance and no salary, so she quit to put her kids through school. It's amazing hearing all about the women and learning more about them every day.
After work, Jessica, Pelin, and I went to Mary's. Sadly, Jessica and I hadn't learned from the day before, and still forgot raincoats, so we covered up with some of the scarves, which need to be washed and ironed anyway. Hopefully I won't forget a raincoat again, because unlike in the beginning when we didn't believe Rebecca that it rained all the time, it has become consistent now.
Max, Mary's husband, was thankfully guarding at the school (have I mentioned he is one of the school security guards?) so he found a girl to take us back to his house so we wouldn't get lost.
Mary wasn't home yet, but her daughters from Child of Hope, who we know well and say hi to at school every day were. It was fun seeing them out of uniform (Merab even wore pants! I was surprised but I guess she's young enough). Their eldest sister, Christine, was also there, in from the village, which was fun getting to know her. A bunch of neighbors also came over to say hi. Slowly more family members trickled in, getting home from school and work. We met six of Mary's seven kids, the seventh living in the village. It was great meeting them all, and we really got to know 4 of them, while one girl was very shy, and the eldest boy disappeared (we met him briefly, left, and then he was gone when we returned).
Jessica and Mary's youngest, Esazalay
Family and neighbors
Mary was later than we expected, we heard two stories, that she had gone to find us, or that her friend was sick (and possibly died?). We're not positive what happened...
When she finally showed we went with her, and Esazalay (the youngest daughter who goes to Child of Hope), Merab (the daughter I have come to know best, at Child of Hope), and Christine (and some neighbors) to the market to buy food for dinner. As we know that it is a strain, dinner was on us for the night, so we let them get some treats they would not usually buy, as well as more quantity than usual. Whenever Mary asked, we just said it was on us. It was our fault they had to do such a big dinner, so we would pay. We got matooke (the green starchy banana things), two kinds of fish (dried that you cook), g-nut paste (to cook the fish in), charcoal to cook with, and pre-made chapati (I think that was a bit weird to them... I'm pretty sure they're used to just buying the ingredients and making it themselves, but since it was already so late we figured we'd prefer not to have one more thing to cook). On our walk we met Mary's best friend, Anna, and also her oldest sister, coincidentally also called Anna, I believe.
Haggling for matooke (we ended up not buying from this lady cuz she was overcharging)
Sidenote, I have noticed that relation terms are hard here.... kids call many adults "aunt" and "uncle", and friends call one another "brother" and "sister", so it's possible we sometimes are mislead on who the family is... usually we can figure it out and eventually sort things out, but there are many times we can be totally wrong. I think this was a real sister though, as Mary asked if we think they resemble each other.
Back at the house, Max, Mary's husband, and Justin and Raquel, Mary's other two children, along with many neighbors, were waiting for us, and we began cooking (by that I mean Mary and Christine began cooking... Pelin helped a bit peeling matooke while I joked with Max, and Jessica helped a bit to keep the fire going, but I just watched and documented).
Pelin peeling matooke
Jessica watching Mary salt the fish
The camera was probably the star of the night. Justin watched me and figured out how to take photos, and asked if he could use my camera and then went around taking and showing photos for all the neighbors, family, and us. With all the flash needed and reviewing each photo, the battery quickly died, so thank goodness for spares.
Christine (Mary's oldest daughter), Aaron (a neighbor), Justin (Mary's youngest son) and me
A neighbor, Jessica, Merab (Mary's daughter), Christine, and Pelin
Dinner smelled AMAZING and Mary served the three of us, saying the rest of them would eat when we were done (no pressure or anything...). Literally the entire family and all of their neighbors sat and watched us eat. We had Mary and her daughters sing a bit for us, too, which was cool. They sang in English, one religious song, and then a song to welcome visitors which was sweet. Esazaloy (the youngest girl) knew the words best and sort of lead. It was the perfect evening, full of great conversation, tons of laughs, and delicious food.
Eating dinner (Jessica holding up her almost finished fish)
Successfully finished
Our feast (probably the worst photo of the evening... taken by me... oops): Fish in g-nut paste, chapati, and millet bread
When we finished, Mary, Christine, and Max escorted us back to the main road (which is only about two minutes from their house). Because it was so dark, they held our hands to be sure we wouldn't fall (they of course could easily see). When we got back to the Casa it turns out the British netball coaches had left! Great day :)
On Saturday, we knew there was an arts festival a few blocks away. We went over around noon to check it out, only to see that they, too, were on Africa time (really puts things into perspective... I thought my family tends to be late to things but by Africa time we're BEYOND early). After that fail we headed back to the casa and I sat in the hall reading and watching the painter paint murals onto the wall. It is beautiful now, really adds character to the place.
Painting the wall (straight on, no canvas)
The whole room downstairs (Pelin, Kelsey, Avery and Stephanie) plus Meredith left for Martha's village. (We were all supposed to go, but realized that even though Martha said it would be nice, it might actually be a real burden, so the rest of us stayed behind, back to the group we had at the beginning before the other girls arrived). We found out last night that the 2 hour ride Martha had promised was in fact 5 hours (essentially the same as going back to the airport), and by the time they planned to leave last night Martha was worried they wouldn't find a car, so they stayed an extra night. Knowing Martha, who is not the type to miss things like this, we've got a feeling she'd planned for them to stay two nights and just didn't tell.
Once they left, Freddy, a Ugandan guy we'd met toward the beginning of our trip who is friends with Rebecca (and all of Mbale) and who works for the radio station (he's the guy who tried to set us up with the newspaper) showed up at the casa and told me we should come to the festival around 4, since there would be cultural music and dancing. I'm not sure why we still haven't learned, but Jessica and I went right at 4.
First of all, the street was now blocked off, and you needed to pay 1000 shillings to get in (about 40 cents so still not bad). We also couldn't tell if there was a line, and waited for a bit, before we noticed that people seemed to be standing in line but lots of others were just going around them, so we finally went around, too. It also was maybe a block long, which we'd expected some huge art event, a bit more like the trade show we went to... We were wrong.
We ended up wandering into the few shops within the area blocked off, and then finally decided to take spots so we'd be able to see once it finally began. This singer, Sydney I think was her name, was doing a sound check. She apparently was one of the main events for later in the night. It was fun being able to see her since we wouldn't be there long. She was great, though I really didn't like her male backup singer. We then saw a rap group which was awesome, also doing their sound check. Finally, around 6, the show began. Now, we'd been standing in the same spot for at least an hour, and had even sat down on the ground, with people seated in chairs behind us. Some girls decided we were their friends, and were explaining to us what was going on. Then, when it was just starting, people came and stood in front of us, so we stood up and the people in chairs behind us got mad, but what do you want? We couldn't see anymore! Despite the frustration of losing our perfect spots, it was a cool performance. Cool singing and dancing, awesome instruments and costumes... it was fun to watch (at least the bits I could see between people's heads). The girls by us explained some of the lyrics (which I now don't remember). It was pretty short though, and we ended up leaving around 6:30.
Despite the frustrations, it was fun going and worth it. It's cool seeing the cultural dances and hearing the singing in person.
Despite the frustrations, it was fun going and worth it. It's cool seeing the cultural dances and hearing the singing in person.
Sunday morning we got up and after a slow start (we were supposed to leave but then the car was in use so we had to wait...), Marjani, Jack, Kaliya (Marjani's sister), Jessica and I got in the car with Becca and headed out to Sisiyi Falls. There's a famous waterfall called Sipi, and this is the one on the way, a bit of an easier hike, but still beautiful so we figured we'd try this one first.
Where we started...
Our guide, named Ronald, and his friend Isaac, showed us the way. First we stopped at a place below the falls, where we could look up at it.
Jessica, Me, and Becca
There were these awesome trees growing on rocks, with the roots hugging the boulders. There are also guest houses there which is cool. We thought we'd begun our hike, but it turns out you can't get to the top that way, so we had to backtrack down and then go back up a different route.
Not actually the hike... next to the cool trees
There were lots of rocks along the way, but it was an easier hike than Mount Wanale (did I mention that what we thought was Mount Elgon was in fact Mount Wanale, and locals think of all these as just foothills of Mount Elgon, which you apparently have to camp out on since it takes so long getting to the top. Also it costs money to climb Mount Elgon...)
Once we got to the top, they were making big vats of local brew up there. The view was beautiful and we could see where the water was falling from. (This one was not the kind of place where you could swim though).
Once we got to the top, they were making big vats of local brew up there. The view was beautiful and we could see where the water was falling from. (This one was not the kind of place where you could swim though).
Jack and Marjani crossing sticks to start the real hike
Local brew
That's where we came from!
Jessica and me
The sky was getting darker and it was clearly prepared to rain. Ronald told us we should be on the move again, and this time the pace was quick. There was no way we'd beat the rain. It started drizzling, sometimes raining, definitely wet, and the way became slippery. Isaac went in front of me to help me and show me where to step. There was one part where we had to climb down a vertical rock... that was a fun one. A few parts I just slid down, and Isaac taught me that the grass was strong, so you could hold a few pieces as you moved to steady yourself if there weren't trees around. If he held on, I knew I'd have to. A few parts I even sat down (I didn't fall, I chose to sit, and no, I'm not lying) despite the mud that ended up on the seat of my pants... Didn't think about that at the time. By the time we reached the bottom, we were all covered in mud, except for Jack. It looked like he didn't even come with us... not sure how he managed that. It was well worth the hike, and I didn't come out with any major injuries this time! (Just a small cut on my finger like a papercut from some of the grass)
My new friend Isaac and me (yes, that's mud on my head... oops)
Finger painting or hiking?
Muddyyyyyyyy
I'm glad Marjani and Jack made this plan, since we've been discussing it since the beginning of our trip and nothing had happened yet. Maybe when some of the other girls do Sisiyi Falls we'll try out Sipi... we'll see.
When we got back the other girls informed us they would have to stay an extra night... now despite their early start, it sounds like they only just got on the bus... not sure what's happening there.
I know I keep talking about potholes, so here's finally a picture:
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