Thursday, August 11, 2011

Rain, naps, feeding tubes, and walking.

August 11, 2011

Because Christina was not with us this morning, and because we had no eggs, we did not have crepes for breakfast this morning. It was rather sad; but we stocked up on eggs this afternoon so the yummy French dish is back on the menu for tomorrow morning.
As it’s the rainy season, it rained all night and was sprinkling off and on all day today, making the air so cool and clear. When I stand at the doorway and look out into the courtyard, I can hear the raindrops hitting the stone and the birds singing, very faintly, and little breezes that run through the leaves of the banana trees that dot the ground outside the wall surrounding the house.
We took the babies, A.R. and E., to get their first haircuts today. Well, head-shaves more than haircuts. We Mobi-ed up and walked into Jinja along the red-muddy roads with passing boda drivers and other chatting people. I had the chance to carry E. today; she was so cuddly today and so alert and interested in what was going on. Both babies were very good for their haircuts and seemed to like having their hoods pulled up to keep their little heads protected from the drizzle. After the beauty shop (where all the stylists were male, which I thought was an interesting change from normalcy in the US), we walked down the street to a little coffee shop. We had hot chocolate, bottled water, French fries for M., and a pot of tea (for me, of course) on the little placemat-covered tables between the couches. We grabbed bodas for the ride home. Courtney and I, each Mobied to a baby, rode one boda together. We felt thou thoroughly boda-and-baby-proficient.
We had lunch at home and then waited for the rain to stop so we could head out to Ekisa, an orphanage for kids under five with special needs. Courtney and I both took good naps after lunch, which for both of is very uncharacteristic. It was awesome; I have SO been missing out for the past 21 years. We made the 30 minute walk to Ekisa and it was wonderful to see the kids there. As soon as we opened the gate, the ones who were playing outside jumped up with huge smiles on their faces and lunged at us for hugs and hand-shakes. They are so loving and genuine. One of the little girls there had recently had a feeding tube put in, and when we saw her, Mandie and Courtney realized the dressing needed desperately to be changed. We grabbed gloves, gauze, saline, alcohol swabs and tape and I assisted Mandie in a dressing change on a porch in Africa, in my sock feet (because we had to take off our shoes when entering the house), surrounded by preciously-noisy special needs children and nosy pet dogs, for a six year old that was the size, if not the length, of a 1 year old.
We hailed bodas for the ride back. Happily, a little while after we got home, the power came back on, which is a blessing. We weren’t sure when (or if) it would come back in the near future. Dinner tonight is matoke and g-nut sauce, a high-protein, super filling dish of savory mashed bananas with a sauce made of peanuts. We added in cut up avocado for more nutrition and variety. It was interesting. Not bad, but just different.
We had another jam session tonight after dinner. Christina bought a drum for M. and she added in an entirely new level of awesomeness to our music-making this evening. Corresponding, blogging, and technology communication are the order of the evening after this long but quiet African day.

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