Dancing Our Butts Off

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I spent the day in the bakery learning how they make their cereal bars. They recently obtained a contract with the local township to produce cereal bars for the schools. While this required them to purchase more equipment it also allowed them to hire additional staff. They employee women and men with disabilities, both of which have a hard time finding steady work.

They have two shifts a day: 6:00am to 2:00pm and 2:00pm to 10:00pm, 5 days a week. The morning shift has 7 people and the afternoon shift has 4 people. They can produce 8000 bars in the morning and around 6000 in the afternoon. I was able to use my translation earbuds to sit down with the kitchen manager and start to talk to her about what the bakery is currently doing, what they need help with, and their goals for the future.

In the evening, we had a big outing with about 25 people who work at the two Centers and their spouses. We went to a restaurant that has traditional Bolivian music. They were supposed to start at 9:00pm, but didn't get going until close to 11:00am. I guess Uganda time is also Bolivia time! Each band had a different style of music, some with dancers on stage and others just instruments and singing. Fortunately there was a lot of dancing to keep me awake to see them all. I finally called it at 3:00am, but much of group was probably still dancing when the sun came up.

The most common dance is called Cueca Chapaca. It is a dance with a man and woman where both of them wave a white handkerchief in their right hand as they mirror each other's moves. There are also lots of group dances that encompass most of the room. I enjoyed how quick everyone in the room was to get up and dance. There was a lady at least 80 years old still dancing when I finally left.

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