Closing July

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Where did July go? Oh yeah, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya…

Sarah got up early to make mandazi. Supposedly she woke me up to help, and I answered her, but I don’t remember at all. When I got to the breakfast table,, there was one lonely mandazi left, so I ate it. Sarah then let the secret go that there were more in the kitchen just for me- shaped like Mickey Mouse even! Once I got those, they others brought out the whole plate of more than a dozen that they had hid from me. Haha. I knew Sarah would take care of me ☺

Today was the last day of school at the school where we’ve been working. They close the school for a few weeks to give everyone a break before starting 3rd term. It was a half-day, and many of the parents came to meet with the teachers and find out grades. The staff all gave speeches and also announced exam scores.

John (see “All Hands on Deck”) came out to talk to me, beaming. “Look, I have these presents here to take to the kids.”
Me: What are they for?
John: Exam scores.
M: How’s they do.
J: Um, they did pretty well, I guess. Shirlene got first in her class, 450 out of 500.
M: Wow! You must be so proud!
J: I am. And, well (pause), the boys each got first in their classes too.
M: Congratulations, dad! I think with teaching like that, it means your wife should be back in the school system.
J: (proud smile.)

I loved his humility in it. He was super proud, but not jumping off the walls. He just sort of casually mentioned that his kids blew the other kids out of the water.

We spent some time saying goodbyes to the teachers and students we had come to know. One of them gave Sarah and me gifts, even. Many of the students went home with their parents, including some of those who live at Mama’s. It was sad to see them go.

After school, we went home and scrounged lunch. There’s no microwave, so it was cold rice with frozen butter. It worked though. Then, Sarah, Irene and I headed to the internet café to do our posting and work and things. I am surely not going to miss having to walk who knows how long to get internet access. At my house, I don’t even have to get out of bed!

The Westerners treated the locals to a real North American meal- spaghetti. I was so excited! We made spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic toast, stew (because having just 2 dishes isn’t enough) and to top it all off, we made oven-less apple pie. Well, it was sort of just apples and cinnamon and sugar, and Irene made some crumb topping, but it was close enough.

As I said, a few of the kids who live at Mama’s went home for a few weeks, but the house filled up and more. Some of the kids who board at the school have nowhere to go during holidays, so Mama lets them stay with her. We added 3 or 4 boys (it’s always hard to tell because everyone is moving) to our ranks tonight. I bet they’ll all be a little happy when we leave, as they won’t be stacked quite so high with our rooms vacant.

We only have 2 more nights here. That means only 2 more nights of bunkbeds! But I’m going to miss these people quite a bit.

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Photos

Friends
Mapenzi and Zawadi's stepmom, and Mary

We Will Miss You!
Esther, Faith, Andrea