Cheese and Crackers

I’m at the Volset office just in time for lunch. The nurses, Kate, and Erin are all preparing for the upcoming fishing village trip. Festus is helping them translate into Luganda and Lydia works on some finances in the back room. There is a trip planned for one of the fishing villages on Lake Victoria. We are going to do voluntary HIV testing, and some seminars on HIV, urinary tract infection, STDs, nutrition, and hygiene.

They go to the restaurant for lunch, and I go to get some rolexes and meet them there. The rolex guy isn’t there so I walk back and run into a muzungu. Ntenjeru is no where near large enough for there to be another muzungu that we don’t know about.

Her name is Kim and she’s come with another Ugandan, Carol. They are visiting from further down Katosi Road. She is from Buffalo, NY and I ask her if she knows Joe Tripi. (She knows a Brian Tripi) I take her to the restaurant. She is friendly and talks to us about life in Africa. She’s been here for almost a month. She doesn’t have any other Westerners in her village and I can tell she’s happy to have us to talk to.

The beans today are so good. They are lighter than the regular beans and it tastes like they were cooked in chicken broth. I mention it and right away the nurses say, “Yes! Aren’t they delicious?” We talk about how funny it is that we eat beans everyday so when there is the slightest change, we’re thrilled.


At home later in the afternoon, Kate and I hang out with the nurses in their rooms and talk about how crazy it is here. They serve cheese and crackers. So good. Their place feels like a home.