We
got a new sign made to put up outside the compound. Big sign, little bike, what
a conundrum…
Things
have been moving along here. I’ll be doing a show at The Keep (the same place
where I sang at Christmas) on May.25th with the help of a friend
named Benji; a very talented singer/guitar player. We’ll be filling up two 45
minute sets, so naturally I’m terrified. I’m looking forward to it, don’t get
me wrong, but the 26th will be a happy stress-free day.
Kelsey
and Caroline left last Tuesday so I’ve had the volunteer room all to myself
and, I’m not going to lie, it’s been so nice. When you’re living with 2-5 other
people for 8 months, you just deal with it, but now having had my own space for
a while, I’ve realized how much I missed it; not competing for the bathroom, playing
my music as loud as I want when I want, having the room tidy…all the time, not
the 5 minutes before and after momma Emma mops the floor. The room will slowly
fill up again over the next couple months, so I’m enjoying it while I can. On
top of having the room to myself, it’s been really nice just having the three
of us in the house. We all agree that we wouldn’t be disappointed if it just
stayed this way…
What
else? One of our new boys, Elijah, had the measles so he was quarantined in my
room for a couple days. The poor guy had a rash that was making his skin itchy
so we kept him lubed up all day, covered in lotion. It wasn’t a chore keeping
an eye on him, by any means. Em H and I spent a whole day watching old movies
and drinking tea (Seven Brides for Seven Brothers? Um, can we say chauvinistic?
My gosh…). He’s doing much better (no more 104.5 fevers) and so far, none of
our other kids have shown any symptoms. A couple of them fall under the “at
risk” category and hadn’t been able to get immunized for various reasons before
this epidemic hit Jinja, so we’ll be very relieved when we’ve passed the
incubation period without anyone else falling ill.
I
spent Friday in Kampala with both Emily’s to take a couple of our boys to an
orthopedic surgeon, including Elijah. He’s only been with us for about 3 weeks
now and it was clear when he came that he’d suffered some significant abuse. He’s
about 3, fully dependant with severe CP and a wrist and ankle that had clearly
been broken and not attended to; both bones have set very badly. The doctor
confirmed that he would need surgery so we will begin fundraising for that
shortly. I almost hoped he’d tell us that Elijah was suffering from brittle
bones so I wouldn’t have to face the truth that the damage was done with force
and intent and the realization that his bones were otherwise healthy brought me
to tears right there in that little curtained enclosure.
It’s
been really relaxed lately. We’d been having some trouble with a few of our
morning mamas; just not doing their jobs, showing disrespect to Seera, the mama
in charge of the morning. It’s been causing a lot of tension and generally negatively
affecting the moral in the house. Em put them on probation and the day after
Kelsey and Caroline left, the day the staff got paid, they initiated their mutiny.
The plan was to just not show up for work the next day (all 3 of them) as a way
of trying to, shall we say, screw us over; but they made a huge mistake. Two of
them came into the volunteer room to give me a tearful goodbye, so naturally I
asked Emily if they’d been fired. She was able to catch one of them before she
walked out the gate. The interaction wasn’t exactly pleasant but they saved us
the trouble of having to fire them and the next day, even though we were shorthanded,
everyone pitched in and the air just felt lighter. It was actually a pretty incredible
change. So, between that and it just being me and both Emily’s in the house, it’s
been so peaceful.
Let’s
hope the phrase, famous last words, doesn’t come into play…
