Mukiibi
One day while I was coming home from work, I ran into Jenipher and Mukiibi on the road. She was going to visit a friend (an older lady who is like a jia jia to Jenipher), and persuaded me to come along. When we got there, I was offered some soda. When they brought it out, Mukiibi had a little fit because he didn’t get one. He started sobbing and carrying on in a way that was so obviously fake and beneath his advanced age of four years, that I could only look at him, perplexed. The ‘adults’ relented and brought him a soda, but for the rest of the evening he had to endure Jenipher totally mocking him, “wah, I want a soda, wah!
Image: Mukiibi, one cool dude.
On the way home from visiting Jenipher's friend, we stopped off at Fred's place. Although it was late, Fred of course insisted on serving us tea. He put out the hot water and a loaf of bread. While he was out of the room getting the tea and sugar, the loaf of bread fell over, and several pieces landed on the floor. Jenipher and I exchanged glances, and I hurriedly picked them up and put them on back on the plate before Fred came back in. We went on to serve ourselves tea, but Mukiibi was the only one that took bread. After he was served, he made a great show of wiping off each side of bread before dipping it into his tea. Jenipher and I almost died laughing, and Fred of course was just confused.
Joy
For a couple weeks after her house girl quit, Sara (the accountant at Buddukiro) had to bring her three-year-old daughter Joy with her to work. Now, Joy is an assertive person, to say the least. She was ordering me, the other staff, and the street kids around like a little sergeant, and we were all loving it. Here are three giggles courtesy of Joy:
We have a number of educational posters hanging on the walls at Buddukiro, related to things like child labor, health and hygiene, and personal safety. One very graphic poster depicts a traditional healer running off carrying the head of a child, his bloody and headless body visible in the background. (Child sacrifice and witchcraft are still problems here, and we actually warn the street kids to sleep in groups to minimize the danger of being targeted.) Ok, so that’s not such a LOL topic, but it somehow became one when Joy looked up at the poster , pointed at the man, and shouted, “YOU STOP IT!” Out of the mouths of babes…
Joy was playing outside the Center for awhile, and when she came back in we noticed that she kept trying to put her finger up her nose. I scolded her to stop it. When she persisted, a couple of the boys tried to reach up to see if they could find whatever she was trying to fish out. They managed to pull out a few petals. Turns out, Joy had gotten it into her head that it would be a good idea to stick a daisy up her nose. Unfortunately for her, the central yellow part was really wedged up there, and it took a trip to the clinic to get it out! Ooh, that can’t have been pleasant!
Each day, Sara would try to lay Joy down for a nap, which she usually vigorously opposes. On one particular day, she must have been exhausted, because Aunt Cissy was only halfway through feeding her her porridge when she started to nod off, cheeks completely full of porridge! Joy is staying with an Auntie in Kampala these days, and we all miss her (and her antics) terribly!
Image: Joy with her cheeks full of porridge
Neighborhood Kids
Ok, I can only think of one story here, but it was pretty hilarious. There’s a school right behind the Nyendo drop in Center, and I get a lot of attention from the kids there. They often crowd around the door and look in to watch what I’m doing and say ‘bye Muzungu!’ One day, they were particularly eager and exuberant. One little girl of about three really outdid herself waving and craning her neck. Unfortunately for her though, the ground was uneven, and before she could catch herself, she lost her balance and totally face planted in the mud. She of course started to cry, so I came out to pick her up and brush the dirt off her face and out of her mouth (!). She immediately stopped crying, in awe at being touched by the muzungu!
Image: Some of the schoolkids near the drop in center.
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