100,450sh

Wake up. Put the clothes on the line in the back to the one in the front to get some sun. Eat breakfast and talk to the nurses. We’re going to Nakaseke today. We’re staying until Saturday morning and then going to Kololo for General Conference. I guess last week they had it in the States and we’re watching it this weekend.

We get to Kampala on the way to Nakaseke and eat a Western restaurant. Wacky Wednesday hamburgers. Delicious.

After lunch, I stop at the place where I exchanged my money exactly a month ago. I have my receipt and decide it won’t hurt to see what can be done about the 100,450 sh that wasn’t given to me.

I get out my notebook and turn to the page that I wrote all the numbers down exactly a month ago when I figured out what had happened. I sat down and explained what happened – how I was suppose to receive 783,000sh but really only got 682,550.

I don’t know if this is the same woman I spoke with a month ago. This time there is a moan behind the glass with her. “That is why I gave you a receipt,” she says, “so you could count the money.”

“I realize I should have counted, but there was so much money that I put it in my bag right away, trusting you that it was the right amount. I live far away and was in my small village when I realized what had happened. This is the first chance I’ve had to come back here.”

“Do you have the money now?” She asks.

“No, I had to pay the place where I stay and have such little left over now.”

She talks in Luganda to the man for a bit – I know there’s no reason I should expect anything. She looks on the receipt and punches 783,000 into the calculator and asks how much I counted when I got home. I tell her and she subtracts from the calculator. As she hits enter I say, “That’s 100,450sh.”

She talks to the man just a bit more and takes out two 50,000 bills and a 500sh coin and slides it under the slot!

I’m disoriented for a second and fumble with my notebook. I thought at best she might give me half and her is the whole thing – in face 50sh more! I try not to look too happy and suppress laughing. I tell her she doesn’t know how much this means. I thank her and tell her I’ll come back here and tell everyone to go here as well. She just raises her eyebrows (a way Ugandans say “yes”).

I go to the sitting area and show Jeff and Kelley. They’re speechless for a second. “That never happens.” We wait to get outside before we really freak out. I feel weak. It’s only $58, but I need it. I can’t believe I would be taken at my word when they would be justified in telling me I had no proof.

Jeff and Kelley can’t believe it. “First your luggage and now this? Did you pray about it, cause we didn’t. We never thought you’d have a chance.”

I just smiled as we walked through traffic to get to the shop where Jeff buys the nets.

“My grandparents pray for me everyday. I think this one is because of them.”

And I smile some more.

(I know more people than my grandparents pray for me and I am so grateful.)

-

Everything goes so smoothly in getting the nets. Each huge bag has 50 nets and weights about 75lbs. one short man puts them both on his head and walks to the taxi park through buildings or “shopping arcades” and our matatu has a rail on top! We get inside right before it starts to rain.

We arrive in Nakaseke trading center and people stare. I help Jeff and the conductor unload the two huge bags from the top of the van. A man meets us to take us to where we are staying. The African’s laugh and are impressed as Jeff and I each take a bag. I carry mine on my head and can’t imagine how that man carried two.

We drop the bags off at the Nakaseke Volset office and go to the house where we will be staying. It has a nice sized living room and dining room, three bedrooms, a bath area, a small kitchen area and a garage. It is not totally finished – no kitchen or latrines outside and no electricity. So the owner has not moved in yet. The ceilings are decorated with large shapes inside each other in plaster. (I forgot to take a photo).

We put up our own mosquito nets and then go to the trading center to relax before our day of work tomorrow. There are three rolex stands. One has a sign that says pizza and we get excited, but they don’t have the ingredients. We go to the guy who has a fancy large umbrella over his stand. He is wearing an apron and has assistants, and a spatula! (instead of a large knife) He even chops up some onion into our eggs – we are so confused.

I say to Jeff as we ate our rolexes across the street (and Kelley eating her two eggs in a plastic bag) staring at the rolex stand, “Maybe he went to business college..”

Dinner is late as usual. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before but Ugandans (or maybe just the Buganda tribe) eat dinner right before they go to bed. 9 – 10 o’ clock at night.

Rebecca, the woman taking care of us from Volset, brings us some hot water and Soya (this coffee substitute made from tropical soy beans, with protein and other vitamins). I bought some last week and didn’t like it – but I realized it was because I was putting way too much in my cup AND that’s news folks!