4 more days in Gulu!!

Hello all –

In exactly one week we will all be boarding a plane and heading back to our separate lives. It is strange to be leaving again this year. I know that I am ready to not be teaching anymore – that two week break at the beginning of summer was not enough of a break! I also know that I’m not ready to leave Gulu and the friends I have made here. This year the parting is even harder, without the culture shock I feel like I got an extra two weeks to enjoy Gulu life and find my place. I will always be a foreigner here, but I this is as home as it can be to me.

I saw Sarah (my teacher from last year) on Sunday… I went at 10 and stayed until 4. I saw baby Jolene, who was terrified of me, and Winsey who walked right up to me and said hi. Such a big difference from last year where she gave me the evil eye for the first two days I spent with her. She is so grown up and talking like crazy though it is in Lwo, which I don’t understand! Baby Jolene is amazingly cute… though I may be a little prejudice. She was ok with me if she stayed two feet away and wasn’t left alone in the same room as me. Right before I left she had warmed up and from the safety of her mother’s arms she high fived and took some pictures with me. She was very curious and interested in everything we were doing. She kept pulling herself up on the table and spilt passion fruit juice all down her dad’s legs. Charles and Sarah just laughed it off and after we were done eating Charles went to shower. My bota came before he could get started so we said our goodbyes and he took some pictures of us girls while he was wearing a long, striped towel. One of the reasons I love this family so much is the way they take everything in stride and love to laugh. I feel a kinship because my family is the same way.

Sarah and Charles moved about a month ago. They used to rent two rooms in a noisy courtyard full of small children and neighbors who all shared the area for cooking, laundry and playing. They had very little space for themselves outside of those two rooms. They also were taking care of two of Charles’ uncle’s kids and had a friend, Leonard staying with them. 7 in two small rooms. Their kitchen was a small charcoal camping-like burner that they pulled out to the courtyard and a small rack of dishes right inside the door.

Their new place is three huts on a plot of Charles’ family’s land just outside of town. The family and one of the uncle’s kids live in one hut, Leonard stays in his own and the third is the kitchen. Their hut is quite large and has three rooms. One small bedroom they sleep in, one storage area and one sitting room. It was a pretty hot day but the hut was nice and cool with a breeze coming through the door. They are so much happier now that they have space. Sarah plans to start a garden soon and there is a foundation for a cement house, three bedrooms, that will be built when the money is there. Charles says he will keep the larger hut as a place for guests to stay in once the house if finished.

It was not easy to leave Sarah’s family on Sunday and I think it will be harder to leave Gulu this year. I’ve had an amazing time this year and am beginning to wrap things up. Last Trivia night, last time at St. Judes, last bota ride to the market, last day at Gulu High, last dinner at the house, last trip to Jinja. I’m really looking forward to the Jinja trip because our whole group will be together again and it’s such a relaxing place. Rafting and Bungee are the perfect way to end another summer in Uganda!

I’ll see you all soon!
Jo