Day 14 – Thursday – How can I get things done without power??

                Okay, first off I want to apologize for not being very consistent with my postings. I have been trying to get more accomplished with the clinic and stay pretty busy during the day. Those reasons with the fact that I don’t get power consistently makes blogging a little difficult. That being said, some of these posts are me recalling the day after it has occurred or later. I just jotted down the bog points of each day so that I could come back to them later and write an in depth blog. Thanks again for reading and I hope you’ll leave comments telling me about home and also ways I can make the content better!

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                I woke up really early to help get breakfast going but am extremely tired from staying up late the night before. I had run into a couple questions about excel and needed to Google the answers. Meaghan was going to town to run some errands with Paula but would then be dropped off at Hotel Tilapia to use the internet. I decided to go along.

                We went to central market again. I wish you could all smell the intriguing aromas that fill the market. As you walk into the tin and tarp-roofed complex you get a nice whiff of tomatoes, ginger, and garlic. As you walk a little further you run into the butcher section where hunks of slaughtered cattle, pigs, and goats line the windows. I’m a carnivore at heart but you certainly don’t feel like eating the “fresh” produce they have to offer out of their non-air-conditioned shops. There is something about the flies and a strange orange layer of fat that keeps me walking past to the next isle.

            Paula has her routine stops at central market. We go by the pineapple guys almost every time and grab a couple. We all of a sudden have a new set of relatives as they cry out, “momma, brother, sista, come and see what I have for you.” If you keep walking back far enough you eventually come to the chicken section. Here you actually get to pick out your chicken. A little bizarre? Yes. Kinda cool at the same time? Also yes. As your work your way back to the entrance the bee keepers have rows of freshly bottled honey and wax for sale. We bought some mangoes, bananas, tomatoes, peppers, avocados, and pineapples along a few other things.

After the market we ran tot eh U-Turn where I got Siri some cookies for helping me out with a project at the clinic. They looked like Oreos and were labeled, “Milk Power!” I thought they had to be good. Turns out they were nothing like Oreos but still delicious. After a couple of hours of working on the internet at Tilapia we went home, snagging a newspaper on the way.

That afternoon I took a much needed nap then went out to dinner to celebrate Sele coming to America. We went to the New Mwanza Hotel again and I had the poached Tilapia. At home a few of us shared some pictures and I picked out several that would be good to help Paula in promoting the clinic. I’m really starting to like this place a lot but I’m also learning about some of the darker sides of the culture. Mainly that the leadership here makes some pretty short-sighted decisions and doesn’t seem to be too concerned with making things better at the cost actually having to work.

This last picture of the little girl is Sele's daughter, Jackie. She's a complete blast and full of smiles. Mary decided while she was here this trip to pay for her education all the way through college. What a great gift for a little girl who can already speak several words in two languages!