Friday 13th - the banks

Thursday evening we sat on the front "porch" of Maama Watali and watched the kids go by. They would run with an old bike tire up and down hills trying to keep it upright. A mother took her 2 year old to the water tap to buy a "baggie" of water, hard to imagine that we would just turn on the tap. Chris was continuing her quilting lessons as I watched a steer with 3' horns come towards us. He was just meandering and I have a great picture of it walking a few feet behind Chris and her oblivious.

Friday Jackson Sue and I headed to Entebbe to pick up Madeline and Shalen (the Ottawa U researchers) . On the radio they were announcing that elecricity rates were to climb 35% and the government was being attacked for subsidizing major corporations. The gov't defended it saying that they were creating jobs and helping the poor. However, the opposition stated that only 12% of Ugandans use electricity. Our solar panels are an even bigger hit - if they arrive.

I was figuring out construction costs with John and the cost are basically the same except the materials are way more expensive and labour is cheaper.  This is a bit of a strin on the budget as our renovation project is the same as Canada - start one thing and the next thing you know something else has to be repaird!

We stopped in Kamapla to get money and none of the ATM's would work we found out that the banks had been order not to give out money as the protest was extending and people had threatened to remove all their money so the government just stopped them!  Luckily we have a plan B.

The shipping company in Mombassa has contacted me so things are looking up except I received the message at 7 on Friday night and theyae a Mon- Fri office..

Our drive to get Madeline and Shalen was nice as we got to see Entebbe and Lake Victoria in the daylight. There was a lot of  new building and less poverty around (I'm sure it is hidden somewhere outside the main roads)

On the way back we stopped at a vocational school to get an idea of what is required. They have space for lectures and classrooms for sewing, electronic repair and software classes. The equipment and material for the electrical class was all stored in a cupboard 2' high 3' wide and 1'deep. The electronics repair materials reminded me of a discard pile at an electronics repair shop. They did have 2 computer labs with desktops that appeard to be 2 years old and there were about 40 in total. The sewing glasses were working on "treddle machine" and they had 8 of them. The school had 600 students and they had 2 shifts days and evenings. Tuition is about $600/ year . I spoke to the principle and he said that the school was 6 years old and they were still building but costs were high as the government does put property taxes on schools and his back up generator (gas) was working more than the regular electricity. Solar is expensive here and they usually get on only the "cheap stuff" from China.

We are preparing for the Makindye Club members coming on Saturday - we have to buy chairs as we don't have enough. We have negotiated the plastic outdoor cheapies to about $8.50 each.

I checked on the garden this morning (Sat) and the construction guys have thrown all the stuff from the rooms they are working on ontop of the plants etc. so we will have to give up on that till the construction is done.

Shalen is busy preparing the template for our Rotary sign and I have to go find a paint brush to paint with .