Sand and Dust

---

We got up early, excited to work. Last night, it got pretty cold, but we were nice and bundled in lots of blankets. The walk into town is about 20 minutes. We stopped to meet the woodworker making furniture for the school, and then went to meet the pastor, Pastor John. He took us to the high school where we will be working for the next few days.

We met with the principal and he showed us around the school and told us about their needs. It’s a pretty cool setup, with lots of farmland and some cows so they can sustain themselves. Unfortunately, the materials for our project haven’t arrived yet, so there wasn’t much we could do. Sarah and I walked towards the next town, which is apparently 6 km away. We didn’t make it, but it was nice to walk just for the sake of walking. The road was super dusty, and in some places hard to walk in because it was so soft. It hasn’t rained here in quite some time, so things are very dry.

I was ready for a nap and knew there wasn’t much I could do without one, so I grabbed a couch on Pastor John’s porch while they others were sanding at the woodshop. I sort of dozed, but there were lots of noises, and I got really cold. Concrete houses are amazing for keeping cool inside! Once I woke up, I found my way to the woodshop.

The man at the woodshop is making 45 desks and chairs for the school, so we went to help sand down the edges. We had nice little chats over the chairs and desks. It’s amazing what someone can do with only a table saw, lathe, band saw and planer.

Sarah and I came back to the house to help with dinner, but the ladies had it all taken care of. Instead, we took warm bucket showers. Again, if I had to choose, I’d choose warm water in a basin over cold water from a showerhead any day. Since we were in cleaning mode, we decided to do laundry as well. By dinnertime, though, it was raining pretty steadily. A good extra rinse for our clothes.

On our walk home, we were followed by about a dozen small children. They didn’t talk to us or anything, just followed and giggled to themselves. The kids here are different than the Ugandan kids. In Uganda, they’ll wave and yell “muzngu” and that’s it; here, many of them are scared of us, and the ones who aren’t are not shy about asking for things.

After dinner, we played a bit of Phase 10 before I turned in for the night.

---