We received a call late (for us!) last night from the matatu owner confirming today’s pick up with a little Ugandan entrepreneur-ism thrown in. We would call it extortion. He wanted some more money thrown it on top of the 120,000/= per day we agreed on – a little something for him. Uh, like sorry, dude!
This followed a visit from Elias, Far Horizon’s tour operator who had ten Japanese birders for a half-day today and a couple of hours on Monday. He was negotiating for Vincent’s services on Tuesday morning despite the fact that Vincent explained he must teach. We came to a compromise that Vincent could guide if he were delivered back here in time for the afternoon session and that it would not happen again. I also encouraged him to work through “Let’s Go Travel” who should be aware of scheduling issues.
I mention this because the class would now be taught by Sparky a.k.a. the grinning idiot and me, the muzunzu who can not speak English. Some dynamic duo! And Kara would be visiting to document all for posterity. I handled the pre-assignment and classification and Amnon did “How Big is Africa” and “Threats to Wildlife”. Not to brag but I did an outstanding job, language barrier and all. And Amnon was nothing less than fantastic. He took to heart the script I prepared, kept to the key message and dripped with personality.
So now I worried about the afternoon group – how well would Vincent perform? Somewhere along the ‘royal mile’ with the Japanese he must have stumbled upon a cache of personality. There were a few areas that need some smoothing out but otherwise they were BRILLIANT! Amnon (go figure!) hit a home run when he told the kids during “actions you can take to protect wildlife that they can’t rely on rely on foreigners to do it for them; they must save the environment themselves. Bravo! If they can keep up the enthusiasm and sincerity the program, despite Stephanie’s disengagement, will be a success. Robert and Lawrence could learn something from them.
Wednesday was quiet; a riding lesson for Vincent who once had a motorcycle permit, and Amnon who may never get one. Vincent needed only to get used to the machine but Amnon has no experience and Vincent can teach him once we are gone. Rain most of the afternoon put an early stop to the lessons.
Thursday morning’s class, Kalengeija P.S., was a disaster. Vincent went along with Kato, our driver, to show him the way, which turned out to be blocked by a fallen tree. Vincent knew an alternate route so the kids arrived at 9:15am – no big deal. Somewhere along the way, however, Vincent forgot how the program goes. Perhaps the rain short-circuited a memory bank or maybe it was just the African syndrome we have heard so much about. Someone will, for instance, set a table with the fork on the right, despite constant reminders that it belongs on the left. Finally, under threat of dismissal and dismemberment, he begins to get it right and continues to do so for several years. The one day, for no reason, he goes back to the old way.
Whatever! Amnon did very well, but Vincent’s “classification” was worse than awful. Granted, it’s the most difficult lesson and even Tammy couldn’t get it to flow smoothly. Amnon hasn’t even attempted it. But Vincent did well Tuesday afternoon and totally butchered it Thursday morning.
Once the kids left I taught it again to them. We tightened it up and clarified some of the fuzzy areas and to his credit Vincent carried it off well for the afternoon group with just a couple of coaching from the wings.
Joffa and Peter delivered the cabinet bases so now we have some handy, lockable storage and they look good. The tops await the glass and the table and bench (which I had hoped to cancel) will arrive next week. With the tapestries on the ceiling, the posters hung and the cabinets the center is looking pretty spiffy.
