Yes! Well not the beast itself – all we can boast here are Ancoli cattle but they are impressive. Longhorns? I’m getting to that – but the stage must be properly set.
Tomorrow is International Mother Language Day. Never heard of it? Well you’re not alone, but in parts of the world where Mother Tongue languages – those you grow up speaking from the crib onward – before it is replaced or added to by a second language, native languages are disappearing. The push is to English in most places, but there are great benefits to fluency in your Mother Tongue and this is the day that celebrates that. OK – enough of that. Except to say that I will be spending two very long and grueling days in the heat and dust as we take our show on the road and do two “festivals” in honor of the day. Because, after all, LABE is about Mother Tongue Literacy.
In preparation for that, I am sent on an errand. This in itself is recognition that I live here and can be trusted to go to the market with money. I’m being only half facetious. I am told to go get string. No, no – not at the local hardware store or Walmart. At the cuk madit (main market) boasting hundreds of stalls. I proudly take the back way in (see how I’m becoming a native?) and I find the string (not like the cloth or sisal string we have but plastic). The only color I can find two rolls of is ORANGE – as in burnt. I bargain and succeed, convincing her not to give me the Munu price. I want the Acholi price and she agrees. Proud possessor of two bright orange hanks of string, I now head out to find name tags, an almost unknown product.
So I am walking along on on a street not two blocks from my house there are big folding camp-type that look vaguely familiar. Color? Burnt orange. Logo? LONGHORNS! Texas Longhorns with Bevo on the back. I am not kidding. This was such a kick – especially after just having jump-started the Texas thing with burnt orange string. There are 7 – complete with arms rests and dual beer can pockets.
The world is indeed getting smaller. Just last week I ran into a young woman in the “super market” and we began to chat. She’s from Austin. No, it gets even better. She lives in Westlake where the kids grew up and graduated from Westlake High where they both went to school. Her brothers are the ages of Travis and Brett – and to tighten the loop another notch, she and her roommates are who my soon to be ex-housemate is moving in with. I liked her OK until then…. Nah! They can have him – it hasn’t been a particularly amicable parting and still has a bit to play out. But I will get a stellar housemate in the exchange and for that I’m immensely grateful. And she hails from close to where Brett now lives. There are many layers to this and I love watching it unfold.
Coincidence is alive and well in this little corner of the world.
On another front, my plea for puzzles and activities for the little kids reading program that we are gradually getting off the ground has been heard and I got a wonderful box of puzzles and crayons yesterday! The Friday Painters of Shepherdstown, WV are as amazingly talented and creative a group as you will find. My friend Pat Barnes took the pleas to her group and they took it on as a project! Pat I hope you will send this “thank you”on to everyone in the group, because these types of puzzles and goodies are going to make the project possible. My sister, Evie mailed it and I think she has some psychic in with the PO because her stuff always gets here months ahead of packages mailed at the same time from elsewhere and she hasn’t been robbed once unless you count what the PO charges to get a package to Africa! Evie, thank you and keep up what ever you are doing to charm those packages.
And amazingly, I got 6 boxes of books from Books for Africa today. They got here via a fairly convoluted route including several PCVs and a ex PCV now working down the road from me. But three of those are early childhood books that will go directly for the reading program. The others are adult books and I get to read them!!!!!!! What a treasure trove. I may begin my own lending library of Gulu!
So it has been a good day. On top of that I now have running water and electricity at the same time and there is wind kicking up outside teasing rain, but I don’t really think that will manifest. Still, the sound is good. And on that positive note, the electricity is now flickering and that portends lighting some candles and closing up the house.
Love you all and thank you for all of your amazing support. More news as things unfold.