Omugga Kiyara

"The Nile, forever new and old,/ Among the living and the dead,/ Its mighty, mystic stream has rolled."

Harry Wadsworth Longfellow, Christus, The Golden Legend (1872), Part I

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Is there a better way to start a blog post than with a picture of a newborn baby? This is Harriet's brand new grandson and the newest member of the Musana family.

Not even a week old

This week has been pretty busy. We still haven't settled into a regular schedule yet, but we've had plenty to do! There's never a dull moment here in Lugazi.

Kathryn, our English/literacy intern, arrived around 2am Wednesday morning. That morning (at a much more manageable hour than 2am), Tessa and I showed her the essential locations in town - Musana, the bank, the supermarket - and then we just explored a little bit. We ended up walking through a market set up all along a one of the streets off the highway, and we noticed after a few minutes that we had a couple of unexpected shadows:

Shayla and Steven

It's still a bit of shock when kids follow us around for several minutes. Parents in America would never let their kids trail after strangers!

We have graduated from performing quality control at Musana to actually helping make beads! It's definitely giving me a new appreciation for just how much work goes into one piece of jewelry produced by these women.

Making paper beads with Florence, Fina, Monica, Tessa, and Kathryn.

Prospa helps me make beads... Well, she colors while I make beads...

The coolest thing we did this week was go to Jinja to visit the Nile! We met another mzungu in the taxi on the way to Jinja and he became our Nile travel buddy. We took a boat tour which took us along the shore to see some wildlife, to the islands in the middle of the river, to the source of the Nile, and then out to Lake Victoria.

Fishmonger's market on the banks of the Nile

I spy a monitor lizard

Tessa, me, Kathryn, and Alaster standing in the Nile!

Tessa, Kathryn, Gracie, Luta, and me at Gandhi's memorial

My first time seeing monkeys in the wild!

I'm loving this African adventure. I'm constantly in a state of wonder. There's always something new to see, to experience, and to learn.

Till next week!