Had a bit of a frustrating day today. Went up to see how Christine was at about 8.30am and found her in some pain but in good spirits. I waited around for about 45 minutes, expecting a doctor to come and evaluate her but none turned up. I went back to get my gear and do my teeth but when I returned, nothing had changed so I went to Wakisa. I spent some time training the ladies (by the way, that means Patience, the administrator, Suzan, the centre manager & Gloria, the new sponsorship coordinator) on Google calendar & Google drive - I think they will be quite useful to them. I also tried to get Suzan's PC connected to the internet, without success! I was basically waiting for Christine to call to say she was being discharged - a friend on mine had provided some funds to be used at my discretion and so I was going to pay the $200 for her operation. No news by lunchtime so I decided to go to the bank - of course, as soon as I when outside it started to rain. At least this meant that one of the storage tanks was filling up now that we had cleared out the inlet.Vivian also wanted a new cupboard in the outside kitchen area and so I drew up a rough design, and after the bank, moved on to Nsambia where a lot of carpenters work. I tried to find a guy who had done some custom work for me before, but I was told that he had died and his offsider had moved away. So unfortunately, I was working with someone new again - always a risky situation!
As soon as I got back, everyone was waiting for me to pay the hospital bill and collect Christine, which I proceeded to do with Henry, Vivian's driver. By the time we got back it was 5pm and time to finish up.Had dinner with an English guy called Hamish - he was in Uganda working on connecting high schools in the two countries - quite interesting.
Friday morning I slept in! Still made it to the centre by 9am. It was still raining a bit so I checked that the water was now getting into the tank - and it was. After catching up on emails, Henry and I got out the tool box that I left behind at the end of 2010 - it didn't look as if it had had much use and most of the equipment was still there - except a hammer. I then headed off with Henry to the other side of Kampala to meet up with an American guy from Sub-Saharan Drilling to see if he could advise me on what was necessary to upgrade a borehole with a handpump to one with a solar-powered electric pump. He wasn't able to help but gave me two reliable contacts. In trying to find his office, I tried to work out how the lots were numbered? At one stage the numbers on the left went 52, 38, 101, while the property on the other side was 614 - I gave up. This together with the fact that most of the streets have no street signs, means that finding any address is a major challenge!
On the way back, we stopped to pick up a three-pin electrical plug, a hammer, some bolts and a drill. Lunch was really good as it included chapattis! After lunch, Vivian and I sorted out some issues with my visit to Kisoro next week - let me tell you, I will never make a diplomat. I then walked down the road and organised a welder to come and fix the main entrance gate, leaving him in Henry's capable hands. While this was going on, I headed off on a boda to buy a length of 6" x 2" timber. It was only available in 4mt lengths so I had them cut it in half, strap it onto the back of a boda and we headed off home - and before you ask, yes, the timber did hit the road and other things on the way!
Finally, just before 5pm, I walked 200mt up the hill to the Sanyu Babies Home to deliver a donation from Linda, a friend of mine who is just as in love with Africa as I am.
Sorry this is all a bit wordy without any photos. Saturday was a busy day. I was the first one at the bank at 9am to withdraw UGX 3,500,000 - sounds impressive doesn't it but it's really only A$1470. Some of that was to pay part of my bill at Namirembe Guesthouse and part was to pay a deposit on the new cupboard that Shem, the carpenter was going to build (so I had to go to Nsambia again). The rest was for my trip to Kisoro - Miriam started 3 weeks holiday today and as she really had nothing to do I invited to come along. Before we get to Kisoro, we'll be making a diversion, but I'll tell you about that when it happens. I then when to buy our bus tickets to Kihihi at the Jaguar bus terminal but they don't go to there - they directed me to the main bus park in town, a 1km walk away. They then directed me to the Kisenyi bus terminal and suggested a Savana Coach - finally booked our tickets with Joan!
After making a few phone calls to organise things for Sunday, I finally got to Wakisa to do some work. I wanted to put gutters on the leanto roofs in the cooking and laundry areas. To my dismay, the larger one in the cooking area was sloping the wrong direction by more than 6". So I started on the laundry one which needed some 6" x 2" timber nailed and bolted on, to which the fascia could be fixed - this went fairly smoothly. I then attacked the other one and got a long way toward leveling it out but I didn't quite finish before needing to go into town to buy a bit larger backpack for my upcoming trip. I finished the day exhausted.
I'll have some photos for you tomorrow!
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