Road maintenance

When I returned from my weekly trip to teach computer skills in Mugujai, I discovered a new pile of dirt on the dirt road from the heart of town out to Birijaku, my part of town.  The pile had been spread out over the ruts made by the tires of the cars and bodas using the road (and by the rain).  It is a low-cost way to maintain a dirt road, but it ignores the fact that most of the traffic is bodas and tuk tuk’s.  These vehicles are small and light weight, they can not pack the new dirt.  Instead they will just cause those vehicles to lose traction resulting in accidents.  Fortunately, there was enough room to get around the loose dirt, this time.

Car sick passenger

I have been using the public cars to move around in Uganda.  I use them every week to go to Mugujai to teach computer skills, and to return.  In all those trips, I have not seen a person get car sick, until this week.  The passenger was seated next to the window, and it was all the way open.  The driver did not stop to let her throw up in the brush between towns.  Instead he reached into the glove box and pulled out a couple of cavaras (Kakwa word for plastic bags) and gave them to her.  She accepted them and during the trip used two of them.  I have the impression she did not expect the driver to stop, and this solution was all she hoped for.

Meeting

I went to the last “planning” meeting for a wedding of a relative of my friend, Ayume.  The meetings were really to fundraise and to decide how to use the monies raised to best accomplish the needs of the wedding.  I was invited because the clan (think tribe in the sense of the tribes of Israel) see me as part of the community and wanted to be inclusive.  The wedding will be in Lira, not Koboko, because that is where the bride and her clan are from.  That is a half day’s drive from Koboko.  Transporting the wedding guests from the groom’s clan is going to be a large part (nearly half) of the wedding cost.  This last meeting was scheduled for 2 o’clock.  People do not mind time here.  At 4 o’clock the meeting still had not started.  As I left, still others were just arriving.

Family business

I went to Arua to pursue the printer upgrade mentioned to me by my favorite retailer there.  Amin, the retailer, has been a great help for all things solar power related.  He advised me to change printers now that I am producing more copies for the prison ministry and the cost per copy of the old printer is high.  I have been saving a little each month to purchase the new printer.  When I went to the shop in Arua to make the purchase I was met with Amin’s brother.  I knew it was a family business, so I worked with him.  After explaining everything Amin and I had discussed, he wanted to show me another, more expensive printer by Epson.  When I mentioned the model Amin showed is a printer by Canon, he was willing to sell me that instead.  Apparently, my business relationship with Amin is worth something because the brother was quoting a close, but higher price.  When I mentioned the other price, he asked me to wait.  Amin was busy working on something in the office, but he would be out shortly.

This is not the first other family member I have worked with.  Slowly they are all getting to know me.  As they do, they learn they do not have to start with a high price because I do not haggle.  They learn to offer a fair price, fair to the family, fair to me.  I am grateful that Amin makes an effort to know his customers and works with them, not just to find the right product, but to find the right business relationship.

Phone contacts

My phone has been duplicating my contacts.  Somewhere there is a setting that I have not found yet.  That setting is telling it to make a duplicate contact for every application on the phone that has access to my contacts.  I have an MTN sim card (a phone number registered with MTN phone service).  It is the one I use to make calls and when hotspotting the phone to allow internet access.  It has a copy of the contacts.  I added an Airtel sim (for less than a dollar) because MTN’s internet service was becoming poor, and Airtel is the only other option.  It wants a copy of all the contacts, even though they are still stored on the MTN sim.  The Airtel agent also added me to WhatsApp.  It wants a copy of all the contacts. 

I am not sure which other apps are making copies.  However, most of my contacts show up six times.  I tried deleting all but one copy.  The next time I looked at my phone all the contacts I had reduced to one copy were gone, all copies gone.  Apparently it noted the delete activity and synchronized the other apps accordingly.

If anyone reading this has a suggestion, please enter a comment.  The phone’s operating system is Android go.

Prison Ministry

The prisoners are a needy lot.  Not a surprise, they are denied most things and what they can have they do not have the means to obtain (because they are not allowed to take money with them into the prison and they have no opportunity to earn it or to make purchases).  Unlike my experience in the US, we are allowed to take some items into the prison here in Uganda.  Bibles (see previous post) is an example.  Another would be a carpet.  (In Uganda, carpet is the term used for any ground covering, so a tarp to put down on the dirt so they have a place to sit while listening to the word of God is called a carpet.)  The request came from the prisoners, not through the officer in charge.  Still, we want to make coming to hear the word of God an inviting experience, so we approached the officers about the request.  We received permission.

Prison Ministry

The prison ministry is being asked to provide Bibles.  The prisoners and the officers in charge (both the OC and the deputy OC) of Gbukutu (pronounced boo-goo-two) prison have made this request.  The requests started in late 2020, when we were still locked out of the prison.  The ministry (we) provided several English Bibles; however, we were unable to respond to the requests for Kakwa and Lugbara.  They were not available in Koboko.  In the case of Kakwa, the other missionary in Koboko used his contacts and discovered it was sold out throughout Uganda (according to Uganda Bible Society).

In a society where reading is not the norm, I was happy there was interest in the Bible, even in the prison.  It would also be something we could do while we waited to be allowed back in.  Now we are back in, and we are in Lobule (pronounced low-boo-lay) prison where they are also asking for Bibles.  In Lobule’s case we can meet the request, they are only seeking English Bibles.

This week we discovered Kakwa Bibles are available in Koboko again.  I have some on order.  I also found a supplier for Lugbara Bibles and ordered a few of them too.

Scanning

A year ago I needed to scan a document and I did not know where to find that service.  Now I know.  I can go to the printers in town.  Most of them offer scanning too.

With the price increases of 2022, most of the printers have increased their prices.  I used to be able to get a color copy (or print if I took it in digital form) for 200 UGX.  Now most of the printers want 1,000 UGX for printing and 1,500 for copying.  Far above the rate of increase of most products and services. 

My friend, whom I met when visiting Calvary Church, has kept his rates reasonable.  A black and white copy went from 100 UGX to 200 UGX at his shop.  The Bible study outlines have only one line (the heading) of color, so he prints them at the B/W rate. The other printers charge the color rate for the same document. 

I went to him for scanning a document that I have in paper format that I needed to send to my sending agency, CTEN (Commission To Every Nation).  The rate is 500 UGX per page for scanning.  He does not incur paper or ink costs, but it is more expensive.  It does not make sense to me.  Does it make sense to you?

Fundraising in rural Uganda

I was invited to attend the end of year closure of Wednesday prayers for the Nazareth zone Women’s Fellowship.  This end of year closure, and others like it, are fundraisers.  The Nazareth zone is trying to raise funds for a canopy (called a tent here).  I have no idea if they raised enough, but they make a game of the fundraising effort.

This year the parish is getting in on the program.  Usually it is just the different zones, but the parish is trying to find money to roof a structure that has been left un-roofed for years.  The parish level end-of-year closing of Wednesday prayers will be at the end of October.  They hope to raise money so the roofing project can be done by the end of the calendar year.

Esther

I first met Esther when I visited Uganda in 2017.  She was just learning to walk.  One day I held out my hands and she took a few shaky steps to reach my hands.  Later she held up her hands for me to pick her up.  Everyone ran for their cameras.

Charles and Esther in August 2017

It is hard to believe that she is six years old now.  We just had a party for her.

Esther turns 6

I learned what you give a six-year-old in Uganda, Burillos.  They are junk food, like Cheetos, Fritos, and potato chips except they are considered a special treat because in a hand to mouth economy such items are only bought for special occasions.  I gave balloons which were also a hit.