In just 6 weeks Kampala Amateur Drama Society will present Oliver! the Musical, with a cast of 54 people. Since I am helping with costumes, it was time for me to read Oliver Twist. It was amazing, a snap shot of London's values and culture, set in early 1600's. Dickens published it as a newspaper serial, writing it when he was only 24 years old!!
The musical will be great fun, lots of catchy songs that will have people humming for weeks afterwards and the plot has lots of food for thought.
Buy tickets early if you plan to see it. The 8 performances will be sold out fast.
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Seasons
Personnel actions are among the most difficult areas for me. In the past when I have laid a staff person off, it is after much soul searching and once on direct orders from God.
Yesterday I released a staff person that I really like and who is a good man in many, many ways. Yet, as we discussed what had occurred, it seemed as if there was a fork in the road that God had laid out. The decision was mine to take and the employee was gracious, self-contained and seemingly easy with the change that just tossed his life into the unknown. He will likely leave Kampala today or tomorrow with his family and return to the village for a time.
I have to trust God that this was/is the right decision. But it is hard. Prayers and tears don't change it. But God can bring something much better out of this. The jobs I have for guards are boring, not challenging, lots of down time and little to keep the person growing either in faith or skills. If anything, it is so easy as to perhaps lead to loss of skills and maybe even attitude.
Now, there are only 3 employees here and hopefully no changes in the near future.
Yesterday I released a staff person that I really like and who is a good man in many, many ways. Yet, as we discussed what had occurred, it seemed as if there was a fork in the road that God had laid out. The decision was mine to take and the employee was gracious, self-contained and seemingly easy with the change that just tossed his life into the unknown. He will likely leave Kampala today or tomorrow with his family and return to the village for a time.
I have to trust God that this was/is the right decision. But it is hard. Prayers and tears don't change it. But God can bring something much better out of this. The jobs I have for guards are boring, not challenging, lots of down time and little to keep the person growing either in faith or skills. If anything, it is so easy as to perhaps lead to loss of skills and maybe even attitude.
Now, there are only 3 employees here and hopefully no changes in the near future.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
What Next??
Well, I guess I've really put my foot in it...
Last night my dogs were all upset over the whining/crying of puppies in the neighborhood. This morning it continued. When I went with Stephen, who was visiting, to look, we found 6-7 puppies, about 2 weeks old in a deep drainage ditch where they had been tossed. I thought Stephen might take one to his father, but turned out his dad already has one.
We left to go check out Kajanzi, an area that I may move to in a year or two. When we came back home 3 hours later, it was threatening to rain and then big drops began to fall. I sat in the living room, wondering what about those puppies? They would surely drown if the rain was big. There is no County Pound Officer or SPCA to call. Well, there is a Uganda version of SPCA, but they just do fostering, no facilities, especially for babies like those ones.
I don't need or want puppies. I have 3 dogs....I argued with myself. But, unto the least of these...my other self argued. Back and forth for a few minutes. The rain came down harder.
Grabbing my umbrella and a gallon sized pail, I dashed off down the road to find them. Getting into the 2 1/2' ditch required sitting in mud and sliding into the ditch. Even the runt, that looked like it was dying this morning was still alive. I put them all in the pail and started to get out. Then I heard another cry. I looked into the culvert, nothing but a small stream of water coming down. I looked in an empty plastic bag. Still nothing. Finally found another pup tangled in some weeds along the side of the ditch. With all the pups in the pail, I had to climb back out of the ditch. I was more than a muddy mess by the time I started up the hill to home.
Once home, Miriam brought in the baby bath tub we use for washing clothes and a nest of shredded newspaper was the first thing. Then warm water mixed with milk was fed to the pups by small syringes. Florence heard them whining and came to help. She found a bag of cloth scraps and made a big nest in the tub. when all the pups had been fed 3-4 times we put them into the nest. For right now, they are all quiet and asleep.
In an hour or two, there will have to be a bath for each one as they have fleas, of course, a drying off and then feeding again.
Pray for good homes for all these little ones. I am hoping to talk with the bitch's owner on Monday and see if he/she won't spay that mom so we don't go through this again. It isn't right or fair. And please pray that all homeless ones find love and compassion, be it human or animal that gives and receives.
Last night my dogs were all upset over the whining/crying of puppies in the neighborhood. This morning it continued. When I went with Stephen, who was visiting, to look, we found 6-7 puppies, about 2 weeks old in a deep drainage ditch where they had been tossed. I thought Stephen might take one to his father, but turned out his dad already has one.
We left to go check out Kajanzi, an area that I may move to in a year or two. When we came back home 3 hours later, it was threatening to rain and then big drops began to fall. I sat in the living room, wondering what about those puppies? They would surely drown if the rain was big. There is no County Pound Officer or SPCA to call. Well, there is a Uganda version of SPCA, but they just do fostering, no facilities, especially for babies like those ones.
I don't need or want puppies. I have 3 dogs....I argued with myself. But, unto the least of these...my other self argued. Back and forth for a few minutes. The rain came down harder.
Grabbing my umbrella and a gallon sized pail, I dashed off down the road to find them. Getting into the 2 1/2' ditch required sitting in mud and sliding into the ditch. Even the runt, that looked like it was dying this morning was still alive. I put them all in the pail and started to get out. Then I heard another cry. I looked into the culvert, nothing but a small stream of water coming down. I looked in an empty plastic bag. Still nothing. Finally found another pup tangled in some weeds along the side of the ditch. With all the pups in the pail, I had to climb back out of the ditch. I was more than a muddy mess by the time I started up the hill to home.
Once home, Miriam brought in the baby bath tub we use for washing clothes and a nest of shredded newspaper was the first thing. Then warm water mixed with milk was fed to the pups by small syringes. Florence heard them whining and came to help. She found a bag of cloth scraps and made a big nest in the tub. when all the pups had been fed 3-4 times we put them into the nest. For right now, they are all quiet and asleep.
In an hour or two, there will have to be a bath for each one as they have fleas, of course, a drying off and then feeding again.
Pray for good homes for all these little ones. I am hoping to talk with the bitch's owner on Monday and see if he/she won't spay that mom so we don't go through this again. It isn't right or fair. And please pray that all homeless ones find love and compassion, be it human or animal that gives and receives.
Monday, October 3, 2011
A day in the life...
Last evening I joined two sheets to make a room dividing curtain and mended one pair of trousers for one guard, and hemmed 8 cleaning cloths for one of our long term volunteers.
Today was pretty varied. Here is a short list of the things done:
sent resources (Stephen and tools) to open a stuck door for a staff person trapped in their bathroom
Manned/womaned the eMi gate for 45 minutes, while hand pruning some plants and pulling weeds from between the pavers
hunted on line for replacement for the safety valve for the new pressure cooker
boiled ceramic candles and installed them in the water filter tank for one of the interns
counseled with a newly arrived Muzungu who had trusted a guard, only to find he was robbing her and others
reminded the bank to deposit my international transfer (this is a monthly reminder to a different person each time as the computers can't do it)
made withdrawal at the bank and shopped at the new Uchumi supermarket near us
answered questions about route to nearest good butchery and what to do with mal-functioning fridge guard
Quite a varied day for me. I can only wonder what tomorrow will bring! Just one of the reasons why I love being retired.
Today was pretty varied. Here is a short list of the things done:
sent resources (Stephen and tools) to open a stuck door for a staff person trapped in their bathroom
Manned/womaned the eMi gate for 45 minutes, while hand pruning some plants and pulling weeds from between the pavers
hunted on line for replacement for the safety valve for the new pressure cooker
boiled ceramic candles and installed them in the water filter tank for one of the interns
counseled with a newly arrived Muzungu who had trusted a guard, only to find he was robbing her and others
reminded the bank to deposit my international transfer (this is a monthly reminder to a different person each time as the computers can't do it)
made withdrawal at the bank and shopped at the new Uchumi supermarket near us
answered questions about route to nearest good butchery and what to do with mal-functioning fridge guard
Quite a varied day for me. I can only wonder what tomorrow will bring! Just one of the reasons why I love being retired.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Scare
This morning when I got up at 6:30 it looked at first as if Florence had already left for her school. Then I realized the lights were not on in the living room and I hadn't heard her shower this am, part of her usual routine.
I called her, no answer. Went and stood outside her bedroom door and called again, no answer. I opened the door, confirmed she was in bed, called again, no answer. My heart began to beat a little faster, so I called more loudly.... Florence!! Thank God she rolled over and asked what?! I told her that it was going on towards 7. Boy did she move fast to get showered, dressed, coiffed, packed and out the door, just before 6:55.
If we hadn't been talking so much about funerals I don't think I would have been quite so nervous.
I called her, no answer. Went and stood outside her bedroom door and called again, no answer. I opened the door, confirmed she was in bed, called again, no answer. My heart began to beat a little faster, so I called more loudly.... Florence!! Thank God she rolled over and asked what?! I told her that it was going on towards 7. Boy did she move fast to get showered, dressed, coiffed, packed and out the door, just before 6:55.
If we hadn't been talking so much about funerals I don't think I would have been quite so nervous.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Death in Uganda
This last week was a bit more laid back than in the last few months. All the eMi staff have arrived and are with interns out on project trips, both here in Kampala and in Kenya. One new long term volunteer will soon go to Kenya on a different project for 6 weeks. We will really miss her. Rose is a great lot of fun.
My week, the exciting part, involved meeting with administrators at International Hospital Kampala, to attempt to find a food source connection for In Need Home, an NGO, which is in their neighborhood. The administrator was around, but busy, so I get to go back next week. The other visit that same day was to a shipping container company to see if they had 2 old 40' containers to donate to the same NGO. After waiting for an hour (I arrived at the beginning of lunch time), Richard met with me to explain their community service program. They do indeed give containers to be used as classrooms, but have already done it for 2011. When they donate, they transport and situate it on the plot, paint, install wiring, put in furniture and class supplies.
I will go again to see the lady who is in charge of selecting the projects and see if I can persuade her to make the 2012 project In Need Home. The bad news was that any damaged containers that can't be used (which is what I was thinking they might have to give away) are actually repaired and/or recycled at the main shop in Mombasa. So that was good news for the environment.
Yesterday Florence and I had a great conversation - it weirded her daughters out a bit - about what will happen to our bodies when we die. I told Florence that if she died, I'd wrap her in a sheet, get a special hire and take her to her family/village to be buried. She broke out into laughter and wiping the tears from her eyes, said she didn't want me to go to prison for trying to be helpful.
She then explained the procedures here. If someone dies in the home, without having been ill and treated by a doctor, there is always the suspicion of murder! The ones to be suspected would be me and even her daughters, if they were living here, or even had been to visit the day before.
So, the proper sequence of events is this:
Find dead body
Go to nearest police and tell them.
They give a paper that is taken to the nearest big gov't hospital.
Hospital sends an ambulance, does autopsy. When cause of death is determined, and if not murder, then they will call next of kin to pick the body, issuing a death certificate.
The certificate is taken to police to get a letter authorizing the transport of the body.
THEN, the body can be taken to the village for burial. The friends/family will visit the body, in a living room, maybe even sleep in the room that night with the body if the burial is the next day.
Burials are a huge deal. All the available family come. In Florence's case, this could be up to 100 blood kin. In addition, all the friends, neighbors, others in the village, will all come to say good-bye, maybe tell stories, etc. There will be at least one huge meal for all of them (think about slaughtering a bull, plus all the vegetables, matooke, etc) as well as tea available all day and night.
With all that information, my plan still looked best. So I told her what I wanted if she found my body. Wrap me in a sheet, take me to her village, dig a vertical hole, drop me in and plant a tree over my head. Florence again went into peals of laughter. So I revised it a bit, saying if I was dying, we would have time to go to the village, get the hole dug and I could go be near it. When I died, she could just nudge me into it.
Florence asked if I really wanted her to spend the rest of her life in prison. Of course not I replied. Well then, she said we have to do it the right way. I can call your American Embassy and they can fly your body home to your family.
Now I hadn't even considered that the US embassy would even need to know, but it does make sense. So I will ask them what the procedures are. But, I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that the embassy does not pay for the transport.
So, I will still be buried here. However, I still want it to be simple. I couldn't convince Florence to agree to do the burial my way, even with giving written instructions. She said if she was in charge, I'd just have to put up with it, and besides, it would just be the body anyway. Their last chance to do something nice for me.
Anyway, still a conversation in process, but I'm learning a lot more about Ugandan culture. It is telling that murder is the first thought when someone dies unexpectedly. Guess it is to be expected given all the wars these people have lived through in the past 50 years, with the average age of a Ugandan in the mid 20's and 48 years is considered to be old.
Hope you are well and laughed at all the information in this note as much as Florence and I have. BTW I expect to live to be 102, so don't be making any travel plans on my account.
Blessings,
Maggie
My week, the exciting part, involved meeting with administrators at International Hospital Kampala, to attempt to find a food source connection for In Need Home, an NGO, which is in their neighborhood. The administrator was around, but busy, so I get to go back next week. The other visit that same day was to a shipping container company to see if they had 2 old 40' containers to donate to the same NGO. After waiting for an hour (I arrived at the beginning of lunch time), Richard met with me to explain their community service program. They do indeed give containers to be used as classrooms, but have already done it for 2011. When they donate, they transport and situate it on the plot, paint, install wiring, put in furniture and class supplies.
I will go again to see the lady who is in charge of selecting the projects and see if I can persuade her to make the 2012 project In Need Home. The bad news was that any damaged containers that can't be used (which is what I was thinking they might have to give away) are actually repaired and/or recycled at the main shop in Mombasa. So that was good news for the environment.
Yesterday Florence and I had a great conversation - it weirded her daughters out a bit - about what will happen to our bodies when we die. I told Florence that if she died, I'd wrap her in a sheet, get a special hire and take her to her family/village to be buried. She broke out into laughter and wiping the tears from her eyes, said she didn't want me to go to prison for trying to be helpful.
She then explained the procedures here. If someone dies in the home, without having been ill and treated by a doctor, there is always the suspicion of murder! The ones to be suspected would be me and even her daughters, if they were living here, or even had been to visit the day before.
So, the proper sequence of events is this:
Find dead body
Go to nearest police and tell them.
They give a paper that is taken to the nearest big gov't hospital.
Hospital sends an ambulance, does autopsy. When cause of death is determined, and if not murder, then they will call next of kin to pick the body, issuing a death certificate.
The certificate is taken to police to get a letter authorizing the transport of the body.
THEN, the body can be taken to the village for burial. The friends/family will visit the body, in a living room, maybe even sleep in the room that night with the body if the burial is the next day.
Burials are a huge deal. All the available family come. In Florence's case, this could be up to 100 blood kin. In addition, all the friends, neighbors, others in the village, will all come to say good-bye, maybe tell stories, etc. There will be at least one huge meal for all of them (think about slaughtering a bull, plus all the vegetables, matooke, etc) as well as tea available all day and night.
With all that information, my plan still looked best. So I told her what I wanted if she found my body. Wrap me in a sheet, take me to her village, dig a vertical hole, drop me in and plant a tree over my head. Florence again went into peals of laughter. So I revised it a bit, saying if I was dying, we would have time to go to the village, get the hole dug and I could go be near it. When I died, she could just nudge me into it.
Florence asked if I really wanted her to spend the rest of her life in prison. Of course not I replied. Well then, she said we have to do it the right way. I can call your American Embassy and they can fly your body home to your family.
Now I hadn't even considered that the US embassy would even need to know, but it does make sense. So I will ask them what the procedures are. But, I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that the embassy does not pay for the transport.
So, I will still be buried here. However, I still want it to be simple. I couldn't convince Florence to agree to do the burial my way, even with giving written instructions. She said if she was in charge, I'd just have to put up with it, and besides, it would just be the body anyway. Their last chance to do something nice for me.
Anyway, still a conversation in process, but I'm learning a lot more about Ugandan culture. It is telling that murder is the first thought when someone dies unexpectedly. Guess it is to be expected given all the wars these people have lived through in the past 50 years, with the average age of a Ugandan in the mid 20's and 48 years is considered to be old.
Hope you are well and laughed at all the information in this note as much as Florence and I have. BTW I expect to live to be 102, so don't be making any travel plans on my account.
Blessings,
Maggie
Friday, August 12, 2011
What is it worth?
If someone gave you a used T shirt, clean and in good condition, what would be your response?
Florence recently gave 2 such shirts to a man who has been hauling dirt to spread around her school. He came to her the following day, to say thank you again and to tell her that he would level the entire area for free, about the size of a basketball court. She was amazed and asked why.
The man explained that the only shirt he owned was the one he had been wearing, everyday. What little money he earned went to feed his family and provide for them. No one that he had worked for had ever considered him as a human being, he was just a worker. He felt the love and compassion that came from Florence and wanted to be a blessing to her as well.
So...giving things away to the right person at the right time can help others see how much God loves them. What a joy to be a blessing to others.
Just one of the reasons why I love living here in Uganda.
Florence recently gave 2 such shirts to a man who has been hauling dirt to spread around her school. He came to her the following day, to say thank you again and to tell her that he would level the entire area for free, about the size of a basketball court. She was amazed and asked why.
The man explained that the only shirt he owned was the one he had been wearing, everyday. What little money he earned went to feed his family and provide for them. No one that he had worked for had ever considered him as a human being, he was just a worker. He felt the love and compassion that came from Florence and wanted to be a blessing to her as well.
So...giving things away to the right person at the right time can help others see how much God loves them. What a joy to be a blessing to others.
Just one of the reasons why I love living here in Uganda.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)