Day in the Life in Uganda

I wake up in the bottom bed of my bunk bed, pick out my clothes and head to the bath tub. the bath tub is a normal size bathtub without a shower, but with a shower head attached to a cord used for washing my hair. We live in one of the nicest houses ive seen in the area, with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths upstairs, 1 bath and 2 bedrooms downstairs including a garage. my bedroom is about 15 by 15 and the entire house is floored with tile. This means, when the housekeeper has mopped (they mop with a bucket and a rag on their hands and knees) the floor i usually end up slipping everytime. The house keeper has seen me do this several times as she looks over and says "Sorry mummy" in the typical Ugandan way. Whenever u hurt yourself or theres an accident, any Ugandan in the room that sees it will automatically say "Sorry"! The Jones family has 3 african dogs living here at their house at the moment. Sally, Sara, and Sophie. Serena is at the UJV now but used to live here as well. They are the guard dogs who usually bark all night. Between the dogs and the disco/party music of neighbors, i am forced to wear earplugs every night in order to sleep. We had 3 kittens and brought 2 to the ujv, so now we are left with one. Every time i come out of my room in the morning, he is right by my door waiting for me, ready to pounce on my ankles as i walk barefooted down the hallway. Usually i kick him aside and he follows me anyway. After getting ready for the day, i usually have breakfast with the girls. I have tea with either toast, muffins, french toast, or eggs. The eggs are usually white because they dont have all the hormones america puts in the chickens. They dont taste as good as American eggs either. We are then off to the UJV. Suzanne and Marike are only going to the UJV twice a week now, so sometimes i get a ride with them down the dirt bumpy potholed roads of lungujja or i get a boda in the kitunzi market. Our part of town is called kitunzi which simply means trading center. The market is a 3 minute walk from the house, and the bodas are there usually waiting for customers. If i take a boda, i like to go with someone that has taken me before and that i trust. Most of them know me in the market now. Usually I'm wearing a skirt so i sit sideways on the bike, holding on to the seat itself. The bodas drive on the side of road bw the curb and the cars. But people are also walking in that area, so its a constant dodging of people, cars, potholes, bicycles carrying God knows what (such as long poles, huge bags of charcoal, wooden boxes, couches, matoke, fish or chickens, or sacks of vegetables), animals (such as cows, goats, or dogs), and the curb. So far, ive been twice on a boda that has hit someone as we were driving, once that ran out of gas, once that tried to squeez between a car and the curb and didnt make it hit so we fell over, once that got ran into head on with a bicycle carrying a huge wooden box of stuff, and once that slightly rearended another car. In spite of all this, I still ride bodas almost everyday, praying for my life as i get on. If i don't take a boda to work, i walk. Its about a 20 minute walk to the ujv from my house. Its a dirt road that i walk on, going straight up hill for half of it, and straight down hill for the other half. I pass many children on the way all shouting "bye mizungu, bye mizungu" until I am out of site. I will also pass the occasional man carrying bags, clothes, shoes or a huge board of jewelry and toys they are selling. Uganda has the highest rate of businesses out of every country in the world because everyone creates their own. There are so many little shops and random people walking all over town selling their items.
Once i get to the UJV, the children greet me. In Ugandan culture, the children kneel down and shake your hand out of respect gretting their elders. The first time a child did this, i made them stand up and give me a hug. I was not used to having anyone kneel down to me, but it is their way of showing honor. I still prefer hugs and will more often than not ignore their extended hand and pull them in for an embrace. The children often greet me in Acholi now. They say "Maria Cho", and i respond "Cho Mabe" which means good morning. In the afternoon they say "Erie" and i respond "Arie mabe". It is also culturally correct to ask "how are you" to greet someone before you ask them anything. The correct response to this, is "I am fine how are you?" So after greeting everyone, i get my things settled in the office and head off to start my work, whatever that day looks like. The office is set up in 3 office rooms. the administration office includes homes, volunteers, and social work. The Accounting office includes accounting, finances, church plants, and Jewelry. The Management office includes Suzanne the overseer, Marike the accounting and admin manager, and Pastor Robert. i generally take my spot in the admin office with liz in the homes department. My day is usually spent making schedules, planning events, preparing for fellowship, leading fellowship, emails, or praying with staff. In between all of this i usually sneak away to talk and play with the children whenever i get a chance. The girls of compound A have two rooms in the back of the compound next to the prayer room and the medical room. On the other side of the medical room are the two rooms for the boys of Compound A. The office is opposite the rooms with a cement courtyard in between. So i usually come out of the office, sneak into the girls room and chat with them for a while. Otherwise ill take the boys for futbol at the field up the street as well. the field is about a 10 minute walk from the ujv.
After work, i come home to the house with suzanne and marike, suzannes boys (theres 3 here at the moment, 1 in canada) and luke (altho hes now in canada for a month). Dinner is usually on the table as Prossy (the housekeeper) has cooked. Dinner usually includes some form of potatoes such as french fries, boiled, or mashed, with either beef or chicken. Sometimes we'll have lasagna or pizza, maybe even the african chapattis beans and cabbage. My personal favorite is the hamburgers. Prossy has been trained well. At the dinner table the Jones always go around the table and ask everybody how was their day and what is their favorite part. I love this family! We talk about the day and then i usually go back to room to wind down, spending time with the Lord, using the internet that works only half the time (the power can go off at anytime and often times the internet is down just because its africa) or watching a movie. Occasionally this down time gets cut short as i have long days at the ujv or am leading fellowship until 7 or 8pm. But it always feels amazing to hit the sheets on my foam mattress at the end of the day.