Adventures in real estate

Since my time with FSD is finished at the end of January, I have been looking for a room to rent after moving out of the host family. I decided that I wanted to stay around the neighborhood, since this is where all my ‘peeps’ are! My first question was, “How does this work here?” I don’t have access to any classified ads, and they certainly don’t seem to have Craigslist, Masaka. Should I just go knocking on people’s gates to see if they have an extra room in their compound?

Very fortunately for me, Buddukiro’s accountant, Sarah, has a brother named David, who happened to stop in to the center one day, and who happens to be very well-connected in the neighborhood since he grew up there! (Thanks Lord for the hookup!) He is one of five siblings that I now know in that family because two of the brothers are in my cell group!

Here’s a few of the stops we made along the way to finding my new home away from home. The main qualities I was looking for coming out of the host family experience? Quiet, privacy, and independence!

Wishing it didn’t have a well - The first place I looked was at the room Brock and Hagar didn’t take. It’s literally almost right across the street from Jenipher, down a dirt path toward the wetlands area. Though pretty, and quite private, it is rather claustrophobic, and with the tap out of commission, I’d have to lug water from the well down the path. XXX

Wide open spaces…(too wide and too open)! - This place is on one of the main dirt pathways up the hill from Jenipher. The lady was willing to rent me the two connected rooms for just 40,000shillings/mo (about $20), and even throw in a bed! Unfortunately, it was a bit run down, and completely open to the street. Given the crowd of curious kids that gathered at the door and windows just during the few minutes of my visit, it was clear that this place would not do! XXX

In excess of my decibel limit - At 30,000, very cheap. Within a gated compound (safe) and a water tap nearby. However, the room was very small and dark, nestled within a narrow alleyway between other tenants. Also, the place came with a soundtrack of Luganda radio and screaming kids that I thought I could do without. XXX

Ooh, that would have been perfect… - if were only 10,000shillings less! I fell in love with this place as soon as we passed through the private alley way and out into the pleasant, open, and equally private courtyard. There were a number of two-room apartments all in a row, and the one I looked at was brand new and bright and sunny, with all the details finished nicely. Unfortunately, it felt like a lot of space for just me and my few possessions, and at 50,000 the price was a little steep. Somehow couldn’t get this one out of my mind though, even as I continued to look at others… XXX

Way too big, aka just right? – Just as I was about to sign on to one of the simple 30,000/month rooms, David came back with an offer that was too good to refuse. There was a compound right next to him where the house was sitting empty because they were having trouble finding a buyer. For just 40,000, they were willing to rent me the whole house, including running water and indoor toilet (amenities that seem to be unheard of in the neighborhood.) Just as I was fearing it would be scary to be all by myself, Amie, the international program coordinator from FSD contacted me because she was in need of a place too! We would be the only ones in the compound, which meant no prying eyes to laugh at our awkward muzungu attempts at housekeeping.
DING DING DING! THIS IS THE ONE WE CHOSE, AND WENT AHEAD TO PUT DOWN THE DEPOSIT AND DRAWING UP THE HANDWRITTEN AGREEMENT.

***BONUS - Here’s some of the items on my must-have list- I’ve put the dollar values in just for fun so you can see the cost of setting up a household in Uganda! (The sad thing is these prices seem high to me by this point!):
1 large and 1 small jerry can – $2.50 and $1.50 respectively
2 basins- one for bathing and washing, one for dishes - $2.00 each
1 small mattress - $15
1 set of sheets - $5
3 lesus (cloths) to serve as curtains - $1.50 each
1 woven banana leaf mat to put under mattress - $0.75
1 colored woven mat to serve as a ‘couch’ for visitors $5.00
Clothes line for hanging clothes, laundry, and mosquito net- about $1.00
2-4 coffee cups, plates, spoons- about $5.00
1-2 pots – about $2-3.00 each
Paraffin cook stove ($4.00)
A place call my own – PRICELESS!

** Update- just a couple days after I paid the rent and signed the agreement (handwritten in English dictated by me!), the transformer blew, landing the whole neighborhood, including ‘my’ house, without power. David says with the customer service ethic of the power company, this is a problem that could take up to the full three months to rectify! So, Amie and I had to decide whether to go for the other 'perfect' two room place that had been on my mind.

This raised an interesting question- given the choice, which do I value more, privacy, or electricity? Electricity won, and so we moved into our two room palace! It didn’t even need to be 10,000 shillings less, because with Amie splitting the cost, it’s now 20,000 less. We’ve been there about a week so far, and are both pretty delighted by how cute it is. More to follow on the adventures of independent living!