So Friday brought the arrival of Sam, the new JENGA volunteer from Australia. He’s a bit of a lad. It was a bit of a wild goose chase round Mbale to try and find him Friday night because he had not been dropped off in the right place by the bus so he was trying to give directions to Tiff about a place he had no idea about. We got there in the end – once we knew the sort of area it was easy to pick out the only mzungu in a crowded area at night. Sam, Tiff and I all went for a curry with a bunch of other Mzungus working out here, which was nice. The curry places out here don’t sell baltis though and nowhere in Uganda does lamb, so my usual lamb balti is a no go, pretty gutting.
Then on Sat I took Sam to Saturday morning football with Michael, it was pretty hot and also this time not many turned up so we had to play continuous! I feel like I’m acclimatising pretty well now though so football is becoming easier. We also managed to get the kids some food this week; with the JENGA budget cuts there is no money to get the kids food after they play, which is the main reason that the number seems to be dropping. But we decided this week to buy them Mendazi, which is like a plain doughnut with no sugar on it. To buy enough for 25 was only 9,200 shillings (£2) so this seems like a financially wiser decision than buying a saucepan for porridge and then the porridge supplies every week, the pan alone would be 70,000 shillings (£16), so Michael and I decided Mendazi is the way. I spent the rest of Saturday showing Sam round town with Paul, we went to the market to buy some fruit and veg. I’m growing relationships at the market now and am beginning to know who to trust for the best prices. My favourite guy is Abdullah. He sells us everything very cheaply, has great English and even gives us free stuff to show his appreciation. Lad.
Sunday was standard. Then Monday I got the day off! Properly chilled out, then went out to town to buy supplies for tea that night. I made a beautiful discovery. One of the main supermarkets called Mbale Shoppers now has a new British range. They’ve imported foods from the UK. Very exciting. Got my hands on some Chocolate Digestives, they also have Horlicks, proper pasta sauce, Special K… the works. I decided to grab some passion so Sam and I could make some Passionfruit Juice. So it took us about 1hr and a half to make the stuff, then I had a MARE. I diluted the juice with tap water, absolute shocker. We ended up boiling it and it actually tasted better than when we’ve done it before.
Since Tuesday, me, Sam and the wonderful Ali Ball have been at a Transformation of the heart week which is a lot about talking about the past and how it affects our present. It’s been pretty cool, even though I've been bitten like crazy. Most of the bites are from the Tse Tse fly which look like house flies, but their bites don't feel like it - itching like crazy!!. Our accommodation is on the Nile River. It’s one of the prettiest places I’ve ever been to. Me and Sam went paid off a Fisherman yesteday afternoon to take us on a little tour on the area. We hopped on his little canoe and set off. Sam knows a bit of Ki Swahili which is useful as it’s most locals’ third language. The strength of the current was really evident as they struggled against the flow, this is probably the heaviest their little boat had ever been but these guys really knew their stuff. We wanted to stay on to watch them do some fishing but the older of the two wanted us to get off so he could ‘work’, I don’t think he realised that by keeping us on the boat he was earning way more than if he was just fishing. Never mind, it was great fun anyway. Once in a life time.
I think the coolest thing about this time in Jinja though has been getting to know Sam. We get on really well and I really like him. We went out for beers last night and he said that we’ve probably set the world record for getting to know someone really well in a short space of time. It’s crazy that I’ve only known him 7 days but our accountability is already ridiculously good. I really feel that God has anointed this relationship. He has put me and Sam here in Uganda at the same time for a reason.
I feel like God has really done some stuff in me this week. I feel challenged and renewed. Looking forward to getting back to Mbale tomorrow though.
Beginning to miss a few things about home now, especially Ivy Manchester!
God Bless
Dan
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