Kakira: "Even married people don't spend this much time together."

Hey, I'm back...on the Internet. Becky and I went into Jinja today to get a modem, since I don't have Internet here in Kakira, where I am now living. It is a small village about a half an hour away from Jinja. You take a bodaboda to the main road and then a taxi (here, taxis are basically white vans where they squeeze 20 people into a vehicle built for 7 passengers) if you want to go to Jinja. It takes about half an hour in total.

In Kakira, I am living with Mama Fina, mother of ten and generally awesome lady. She orders Becky and me around, and basically we go with it, since Fina is an unstoppable force of nature. We also live with Fina's oldest daughter Annett, her son William, their cook Farima, Fina's relative James (who is 15), 6 cows, and a few chickens on occasion. Becky and I have our own room with two mosquito-netted beds. We have electricity most of the time, when rain doesn't knock it out, but no running water, though we do have a working toilet. You have to refill the water tank from a jerry can every time you use it (here's a picture of a jerry can: http://www.charitywater.org/events/guide/downloads/assets/jerry_can.jpg). No running water means bucket baths, which basically means standing in the bathtub with a plastic basin and a large cup. You pour hot water in the basin and then take cold, relatively clean (not drinkable clean) water and mix it in until the water is the right temperature. Then you take the cup and pour water on yourself and bathe. Pretty much. I have mostly mastered this; last night I did it by the light of a headlamp and small LED lantern because the electricity was out. Which I personally think is pretty impressive.

We have started at St. Eliza's, which is a clinic, training school for nurses, and general community development organization. Today we met with some people who are participants in an economic program that allows them to get small loans to start small businesses (i.e. a microfinance program) that was introduced by the last intern. They are mostly HIV positive and on retroviral drugs, and all are having trouble making ends meet. By "making ends meet" I mean providing the basic necessities and education for the children that they support. Most support at least 5--some are their own, some are orphans they have taken in. Anyway, their stories are heartbreaking. I wish that I was capable of getting rid of their problems, but I can only do what I can do. And what I can't do is cure HIV, give the orphans back their parents, increase the income of all people in Uganda, and send children to school. Hopefully my team and I can leave something behind that improves their quality of life "a little little", as Fina would say.

Meanwhile, Becky and I not only live together but work together, so we are together always. And I love Becky, but, as Billy said in the quote that titles this blog, "Even married people don't spend this much time together." He is living and working with Robert, so they are in the same situation. Here's hoping that we don't hate each other by the end of this. We'll know each other better than anyone else, so it could go either way.

Thanks for all the supportive comments and for reading this!