Thursday, January 15, 2009
Today upbeat Peter came by to visit. He is the one who picked me up at the airport. Odin was happy to see him; he calls Odin mukulu, which means “big man” like a politician. He calls me “Mommie.” He talked about his mother who has leukemia. She had chemotherapy for a little while, but it only made her weaker, so now she uses the herbal medicine, and eight years into it she is good, walking long distances to the markets, etc. He said they use the herbal medicine when the children get malaria. It is 5000 Uganda shillings, about $2.75, for a tiny bottle, which is a lot for him, and they use three drops at a time. But it works. And pregnant women and children can use it. He is a boxer, and drives taxi for livelihood. Read More!

Kyeyune and Sabiti came this afternoon. Kyeyune brought two clay animals he had made, a lion and a cheetah, with clay he dug up. He used my paints to paint them. He has a great eye. I printed the last stage of the snail woodcut while they were here, then they each got to print the block, and paint in the print. They each took a piece of wood home, and a notebook and a pencil. We’ll see what they come back with tomorrow. They mowed the lawn with the new push mower.

I bought green rubber sandals at the market today, for 3500 Uganda shillings. I could buy 50 pairs for what I paid for my handmade sandals from San Antonio. Yep, that’s $2.00. I didn’t bargain her down.