Day 11: Palissa

I love the road to Palissa from Jinja. It’s lined with rice fields, papyrus filled swamps (my dear friend Maureen loved this plant and would insist we stop and cut some to bring back to decorate her room) and lots of round houses.

We arrived in Palissa just before noon. It was hot and the work on the new dusty red road made everything feel even hotter. Phoebe’s car has air conditioning. After keeping our windows down in James' car on the trip to Kenya and back this felt like pure heaven.

We decided to go directly to Woman of Purpose, the organization that we’ve been working with since 2017. Though training for men and boys has been part of the curriculum mostly WOP focuses on empowerment of women and girls. We work with their tailoring program. We called Jane, our Palissa coordinator, and she came to find us on the back of a bodaboda. I haven’t seen her in several years so it was wonderful to be with her again.

We found three “aunties” and about 10 young women waiting for us. After introductions we talked about The MoonCatcher Project and why we wanted to continue our work with WOP. Charlotte tried on the kit and explained each feature. We looked at a sample kit made by WOP and showed the tailors the problems with their kits. We spent the rest of the day demonstrating how to properly make the kits and emphasized the importance of making each one to be beautiful and durable.

Then we had them sew. Over and over they made parts, traded use of the sewing machines and offered each other advice. We came up with some beautiful work. Once they had each completed a few kits they were able to take one for their own use. We will distribute the others to school girls.

At the end of the day we got a tour of the new primary school next door. We wandered in and out of classrooms followed by tiny children wanting to shake hands or at least touch us. We took photos of the school work posted on the walls. I’m endlessly fascinated by what these kids have to memorize. I don’t think I ever learned the multiple parts of a fish. There’s a lot more than gills, head and tail!

I’m a typical American when it comes to child safety. Ugandan children seem to duck their heads when going under metal window shutters or simply step around the giant hole in the ground. Near the kitchens there are piles of wood strewn willy-nilly that seem perfect for stumbling, but these kids don’t do dumb things. They seem to have a sixth sense for taking care of themselves. I’m thinking it’s just  the way we fret as US moms and it would do us good to chill out. I saw 4-5 year old children carrying younger children along the roads. I guess they were taking care of a sibling and getting that small(er) one home.

We are staying in the AirBnB rental that we stayed in last time I was here. It’s spacious and pretty and sits among trees with roaming chickens and roosters everywhere. I think I know how we will wake up tomorrow!!

Tomorrow we head back to Jinja to teach a class with Tabitha.

Time for bed!