Hi folks – Happy Mother’s Day! Sitting in a web-cafe in Kampala and have – at long last – been able to get sufficient internet connectivity to upload some new pictures. These are of the Gulu house, accessed through this heavy gate, which is locked at night. I know some of you are picturing me living in a mud hut with a thatched roof and gorillas gracing the tress outside. And some folks ARE living closer to that – but even PC has limits, theoretically.
I’m “in the city.” So this house is somewhat typical, although larger than most, which is why I share it with another PCV for the time being. Many of the houses you see here are of the clay-brick variety – but this one has been plastered. I share it with one other PCV and – in addition to others PCVs that happen through Gulu – we share space with an uncountable array of geckos, mice, Giant ants, white flies, and other seasonal creatures I’d rather not know about.
Floors and walls are concrete and the roof is tin. Windows somehow (almost) close, but no screens, though there are burglar bars on all windows and front doors. There are locks (sort of) and there is sometimes electricity (although it’s off more than it’s on and totally random) and even less often there is water. At present electricity is turned off because they say we didn’t pay the bill – which was paid last week when received. The catch is, it was delivered two months late. Ah – the joys of everyday life here. Went through the same thing last month with water. The dilemma is, utilities are so random, ya’ can’t tell you have a larger problem until your neighbor has power, water, etc. and you don’t. Since so few people have either, it’s kind of of a crap shoot.
Note the Jerrycans around the hall sink: always kept full for the moment “water is finished.” We have a very large water tank in the back which periodically fills, when there is enough water pressure from the main station. When it fills, something like a toilet tank float is supposed to turn of the flow when it reaches the top, but it’s broken. Twice now in the middle of the night, I have awakened to the sound of pouring water. That would be the water shooting out of the tank (20 feet off the ground) as it continues to fill. In the middle of the night, in the dark, I have scurried around for a flashlight, gone out that gate you see in the first picture and found the turn-off valve for water coming onto the property. I have finally found someone to replace the mechanism, but the landlady wants in on the act. Ordinarilly this would be a good thing, but the repairman (the one who calls himself the Black Muzingu because he is on time) begged me not to involve her, because “she is a hard woman.” So true. But that’s another topic…
So what else can I tell you. It has a garage, with a door off the living area (right) but also huge metal ouside doors damaged in the burglary. So now a feral cat sneaks in a sleeps there. Hoping he will keep down the mouse population, but the other night Jenna reported having “found the mouse,” and having escorted him out via the suitcase he was all snuggled into. When I got home, we found its big brother living in my bathroom. (God only knows how many we have NOT found). We had decided we could capture it and dump it out as well, but honestly you’d have thought it was a Black Mamba, the way we squealed when it ran between our legs and over feet. Rather embarrassing to admit that, but…. there we were. It ran INTO the wall, so we dumped mouse pellets at the base. Once again, he could have stayed, had it not been for revealing his preference for my dark chocolate granola bars.
The kitchen consists of a two-burner propane (when we can get it) stove, and toaster over that sometimes works, and a sink. With the accumulated furniture from the roommate, it functions decently and beats the hell out of a sigiri for cooking.
All-in-all a decently comfortable space, with sometimes electricity and sometimes water. And yes, among other PCVs it’s considered the Taj Mahal, because of its size and flush toilets.