Friday night with Vincent off for the week-end, Passy in Masindi and Amnon in his village, Emile, the little guy who acts as caretaker and custodian, spent the night to keep watch. Of course no one told us so I was surprised to see him there in the morning with his homemade bow and three arrows with crude barbed iron tips. But he has a toothache and needs it extracted and, of course, he has no money. I gave him a couple of Tylenol and the 5,000/= he needs for the dentist. Can you imagine the quality of care he will receive for $2.50?
It was a rainy, dismal morning but we got the center swept out, de-webbed, and even mopped the floor for Peter from JGI , a travel agent from Jane’s Peak Society and a potential major donor. I put out all the educational materials preparatory to explaining the program and waited. And waited. They finally arrived at 1:45pm . The group consisted of Sylvie from JGI HQ, Rob also from D.C. Lori and Helen from Jane’s Peak and “EJ” from Tulsa. In his mid-20s he’s much too young to be a major donor. Lori runs the travel stuff for Jane’s Peak. Helen is older and I think does funding. Sylvie, who we e-mailed prior to the trip is a fund raiser. After they scarfed down a quick lunch Amnon and I gave them a run through of the program and he took them on a forest walk. An interesting bunch, they asked the right questions, seemed impressed with what we have done and headed off for SONSO around 4:00pm. The reason they were so late is because it was raining. Wusses!
I am re-reading “Angle of Repose” by Wallace Stenger. The heroine, the story teller’s grandmother, followed her mining engineer husband around the continent in the latter half of the 19th century. They lived in shacks, shanties and cabins in California, Colorado, and Idaho and about the latter she said, “I would rather be picturesquely uncomfortable than comfortably dull”. That about sums it up. Despite the inconveniences – 50 yards to the toilet, 100 yards to the fridge, carrying 45 pounds of water the same distance, and bucket showers – living here at Busingiro is the most relaxed and naturally enjoyable experience. It is free of human noise, not even airplane sounds. It is cool even at noon and the moonlight tonight shining through the trees is magical. Our neighbors are monkeys, birds and butterflies. The Garden of Eden may be in Uganda.
