Day 9: Preparing for Teacher Training

Kimmie got sick today. She had been queasy all morning, and just before we got ready to leave for town, she started vomiting. The poor thing. By mid-afternoon, she had bounced back, and she realized that the combination of her malaria meds and vitamins she’s been taking reacted to her not having breakfast first. Yuck.

Having to leave Kimmie behind at the hotel, Kristoff, Sandy, and I took off with Bosco to meet Lucy in town. We stopped by the bank to change over some money and then headed to the two shops in town that sold “Muzungu” souvenirs. It was almost exactly like the stuff in Kampala, but almost HALF the PRICE! I was shocked and excited and then bummed to discover that I could have saved SO much money if I’d waited. Cest le vie.

Lucy took us to her pastor’s house where we looked at beautiful Acholi bead necklaces. Acholi beads are made from rolled up bits of paper. The sizes and way they are rolled often creates beautiful shapes and the various colors on the papers creates beautiful textures. Anyone who’s known me for a while knows I’ve always LOVED beaded jewelry, so I was in heaven. I was sad I didn’t have more money to buy beads, but I did walk away with a beautiful pink strand (PINK! It’s my new obsession...) which Kristoff commented on at least three times over the next day.

That afternoon, once we returned from town, I joined Kimmie with last-minute preparations for class while Sandy met up with Patrick to shop for school supplies in town. Patrick is another Gulu resident who spent two years as a child soldier. His harrowing story begins with LRA soldiers raiding his village, holding his family at gun-point while they raped and murdered his sister. He then was abducted with his brothers and forced to become a soldier with the rebels (or risk his brothers being tortured, dismembered, murdered... you name it). He stayed with the rebels for two years watching his brothers die -- in battle or by LRA hands -- before he escaped. He then worked hard to get his education and now is well-respected in the community. He has a weekly radio show on the Gulu station, he works with the kids in the area with after-school kid’s club, and he tries to help families affected by the war.