Am I on a “World Tour”?

Every young child learns to do their own laundry at a very early age.

My ex thinks I am on a world tour; I guess he thinks I am on a vacation! Here is why I am not on vacation. My bed is on the floor and sometimes I get woke up by a roach crawling on me. I don’t know how they get under my mosquito net. I try to tuck it in good around me, but there is obviously a leak somewhere. Tonight I swept up 12 dead roaches in the kitchen after they crossed over the line of poison that I have drawn on the floor by the door. Thank God for roach poison, but it’s almost gone! This is my world tour.

Bath time is cooling off time!

Roaches aren’t my only problem on this world tour of mine. Mosquitoes are our constant blood sucking problem every night. Our windows need to be opened at night for the fresh air or it gets too hot, so the only safe place after sun down is under the net. You can make a quick dash to the bathroom or to the kitchen, but you’ll get plenty of company real fast! I have a hard time remembering if I took my malaria pill. I hate to take pills.

Kayla playing with some kids under the mango tree.

Diarrhea is another benefit on our wonderful world tour. Mine lasted 2 weeks and I didn’t want to take an anti-biotic because I had already taken so many in Dec and Jan for other issues. I was given some pro-biotic by the missionaries, and that seemed to help my intestines stabilize. Now Kayla has been struggling for about two weeks. I have put her on an anti-biotic, so she should be feeling better soon. We both know exactly where all the flushing toilets are in town. I have only had to use the “hole” or the squatter a few times here. You can see by the pictures that we both have lost weight.

Baby Kayla with her rash.  She is better now.

Baby Kayla at the orphanage is sick with a rash. I took pictures of her and took them to the Rotary meeting on Thursday night and showed them to Rotarian Dr. David. He gave me a prescription for her medicine and I took it to the orphanage this morning. She has a bacterial skin infection with pus pockets on her chest and arms. She will be feeling much better by tomorrow.

Across the street from my house is the garbage pit!

My neighbor, granny, has malaria. The medicine, quinine, costs about 1,500UGX. I gave her 3,000UGX for it, but she didn’t go get it. I should have bought it for her at the pharmacy. A couple of days later the land-lord came and bought her the medicine, but she needed to go to the hospital by then because she was so sick. Many people get malaria here. With Kayla’s diarrhea, the first thing everyone asks is could she have malaria?

Sandy is growing bigger!

Warm water is the chosen drink on this world tour. No fridge means warm water. In Hawaii, I drink soda everyday; diet soda. I love it! Well guess what? Not many people need diet soda in Africa! I know of one store that carries it sometimes, so about once every two weeks I buy my soda for 2,000UGX ($1), which is a lot of money for people here; I sit down and enjoy every molecule of my can of diet coke!

Getting a drink of water.  I have safely drank this borehole water from the orphanage.

There is no maid service on this world tour of mine, so I have to wash all my clothes by hand. Underwear is easy and soft to wash in a sink; shirts are not too bad in a bucket; but pants- wow- pants are difficult to wash and especially to squeeze all of the water out of them. Because I don’t get much water out of them, they can take two days to dry outside. Try figuring out where to hang your wet clothes to dry when it is raining outside.

This is Lucky Lucy, Kayla's best friend.

I have mentioned a few of the problems we face on this world tour of mine, but I must say there are more benefits than problems. The music here is amazing! The words are meaningful; the beat is uplifting and great to dance to. The countryside is so beautiful. The people are amazing and kind and full of love. I guess after 25 years of violence, peace and kindness would become priority in your life.

Jackie is the social worker at the orphanage.

I am on this world tour because of a crisis in my life. I came to pull my head and heart and life together after someone almost destroyed me. I have done that. I am whole. I survived my war. I am so glad I had the sense and the courage to do what I needed to do to fix my life. I found peace and love again. I came to Gulu!

I am watching a soccer game with Kayla's friend Stephen.

I am in a dream that will end in May, and I will have to return to my real life, which is not so bad to me anymore. I’ve learned to look at life in a different perspective; through the eyes of a people that have been in a war situation for 25 years. My life is good. My life is great! I look forward to the challenge of building my business and rebuilding my life. I am blessed that I get to go home to the beautiful island of Hawaii that I love very much; the ocean, the white sand, the waves, the sunsets, my evenings on the beach. I am blessed with amazing friends that I look forward to seeing again. Until then though, I will appreciate everyday that I am here, because this dream will end soon.