Pizza, chocolate, and American movies

Hello,

Today was another packed day in Kampala. I always dread the days I begin without plans, but I am always pleasantly surprised. I spent the afternoon doing internet research about people I want to interview. I found an amazing website that lists all the contact information, including mobile number and e-mail, for all the Members of Parliament in Uganda. This is really amazing because 4 of them specifically represent persons with disabilities. And one of them is the first deaf member of Ugandan parliament, and I have been reading about him since this whole project started. And he is in Kampala, so hopefully I will be able to meet him.

This evening John and Cindy had three young women that work for Focus over for dinner, Joy, Gabrielle, and Audrey. I spent some time with them; they are incredibly nice. Talking to Audrey was also really helpful because she is finishing a master’s thesis on NGOs so she gave me her opinion about what she doesn’t like about the NGOs in Uganda and also the common perception of disabled individuals in Kampala.

Then, I went over the Brian and Renee’s house for dinner. They have five kids under the age of seven. Friday night is movie and pizza night. So we had homemade pizza (the crust was made from the Giordano’s recipe) and watched the movie Royal Wedding. Once the kids went to bed, it was time for the double feature; we watched Runaway Jury and ate homemade chocolate ice cream, but unfortunately the power goes out a lot in Kampala so the cream was a bit spoiled. Most Ugandans don’t like chocolate, so this meal was 100% American. And I wasn’t dropped off until almost midnight! (The latest I have been out since I got here was about 5:00 pm.) It was a really fun night.

During the past two weeks I have heard a lot about one of the projects here called Hope Alive. It focuses on helping orphaned children and fragile families. So I am going to the Saturday program tomorrow to help out. They also have two deaf children that are part of the program, but the good news is that they think one of them is over 18 years old, so I might be able to interview him. That would be too good to be true.

Goodnight.

Sarah