zippity doo dah monkey roar

Today was a very good day.

Yesterday we finally got Paul's cushion made for class and I bought him a new mattress for his bed at home because he was sleeping on a ragged piece of foam on the floor. Sun bought Enoch some shoes yesterday at market and today we took all of these things plus a clothing donation to school. It was like Christmas.

I don't think I have mentioned Enoch before, but he is Paul's best friend and caretaker. He's also in P5 but younger than Paul. Every morning he gets up early and walks 4 km to get Paul ready for school. Then he pushes Paul 1 km to school. At school, Enoch carries Paul wherever he needs to go, brings him his porridge, and then takes him home at the end of the day. Every day we tell him what a good boy and good friend he is. Sun bought him shoes because he didn't have any and as a reward for being such a good boy.

Doreen, Gertrude and I just watched some footage I took of Paul and Enoch on Tuesday singing Zippity Doo Dah opera style and making monkey noises. I'm pretty sure we watched it 20 times because it is sooooooo funny. When I was filming I couldn't even talk or hold the camera still because I was laughing so hard. These are the things that happen in the clinic when no one is around. Paul and Enoch eat lunch with me everyday in the clinic after I tend to Paul's knee. They are sooo goofy. If it's just us they really cut up, but if I have patients they sit in the back and repeat everything I say and laugh.

Among the other frequent flyers of the clinic is John. John and his friends are in nursery and get out 30 minutes before everyone else for lunch. So they come and hang out or point at their knee and tell me they have a headache. Or they show me an invisible wound or a scar that is clearly a couple of years old. So I just give them a plaster anyway.

John is hysterical. The first time I met him I was walking 3 km to see the village hospital. I turn a corner and there is this boy 2.5 feet tall with a large stick of sugarcane singing and dancing like he's practicing for East African Idol. We've been best friends ever since. He comes in the clinic everyday and I have some great footage of him doing his dance and singing. Today when I was taking Paul's mattress to his house I asked if he wanted to walk with me because he gets out of school early and lives close to Paul. He took the mattress from me and started walking and muttering in Luganda. Doreen translated and apparently he was telling me that he was a big man and big men should carry things, not mzungu women. Really funny coming from a 2 foot kid. It looked like the mattress was floating because you couldn't even see him. But he carried it the whole way. Big man John.

I have successfully taught almost every student how to throw a peace sign so that's how they greet me when they see me. Even some of the teachers. It's pretty funny. And then we say "peace out" when I leave.

Tomorrow: I am going to school and bringing the carpenter to add the new furniture and cabinets to the clinic (thank God!), then to a Kitoola for a women's empowerment seminar to held lead a workshop on child spacing, and then to Mukono to spend some time with the other volunteers. busy day busy day. I don't have enough time left here I feel.

peace out=)