Day 14, June 8th, Kampala
Tuesday after the daily morning ritual of Mass, meditation, breakfast, and prayers, we continued our work at the Apostolate. I employed the foolproof strategy of entertainment via catch with Rachel and Semaya, who were the most cognitively intact of the girls. It's hard to say how much so because they didn't really speak English (but did understand it?) and neither could walk on her own. They did have quite the friendship though, talked amongst themselves (and with the Brothers), and knew each others names and could recognize care takers. They were also prone to incredible mood swings and Semaya would refuse to get dressed and Rachel would refuse to do her exercises. Tuesday morning, as I dressed Rachel, she became extremely picky and refused my first three shirt selections (at the home, there's just a cabinet of clothes that all the girls get dressed from; they don't have their own clothes). Getting a little frustrated, I finally found the best shirt in the cabinet, a smart little black number with buttons and a collar. Her face lit right up and she hurried to put it on, intuiting that I should probably button faster. I told her she looked greeeeat, and she did, and she just beamed even more.
Despite their moments, however, I was impressed at how resilient and tolerant the two were in a place where the schizophrenic could scream for hours on end and other fellow residents regularly sat dumbfounded in pools of their own urine (Rachel and Semaya were the two capable of informing you of their need to use the bathroom).
While helping one of the workers strap a resident named Sharon in to her standing aid, I met a young resident named Vincent. Apparently Vincent loves going to the classroom used for songs and lessons in the afternoon and asks incessantly from the moment he wakes up if he can go there. While not a walker, he could be found at any given moment scooting away backwards on his butt off the porch and towards the classroom. Persistent efforts to go retrieve him and bring him back to the exercise area did not deter him. I liked his immediately. When the standing aid he was using later became painful and he started to cry, a game of catch easily distracted him. (I guess by necessity crying was largely ignored at the center - there were often children crying, for no discernable reason - but it broke my heart damn near every time.) Like Rachel, Vincent has some condition in which excess fluid collects in his head. Rachel had a operation in which a tube directs the fluid to her stomach (and also has some horrific scars covering her shoulder and upper arm...unclear if the two were related). Vincent hadn't had such an operation, and for all I know, might have an entirely unique condition, so while Rachel's head was many 50-70% bigger than "normal," Vincent's had to be at least twice its natural size. I almost worried he would topple over if he got thrown a little off balance, but he didn't seem to have any problems, so I cautiously tried to quit worrying.
By this time, Brian had become BFF's with Waswa, a little boy who was one of the few (and only one that I knew off) "day campers." His family dropped him off every morning and picked him up every afternoon. They played some catch and generally became bros.....especially when around lunchtime Waswa urinated all over Brian's leg, prompting him to remark that at least he "only got peed on a little bit" and that he and Waswa were about as close as two people could get. I myself was getting better at bathroom management and could clean and change a child (and the floor) at a level at least approaching proficient. There were still, by necessity, several moments of standing foot deep in urine, but at least I now knew what to do about it.
After another insane lunch with the schoolchildren (there really has to be a better way to orchestrate that), I took Rachel for a walk across the porch, which she abruptly decided she wanted to stop about halfway back. Since moving her elicited cries like I was poking her with hot coals, I left her where she sat and took Semaya for a walk with her walker. When we got to about where Rachel was, Semaya refused to go on any longer either. After a few minutes of cajoling, one of the Brothers came by and said "she will not go without her friend." So we made the last 15 yards or so by me walking Rachel about five feet, sitting her down, going back to Semaya and escorting her with her walker until we were even with Rachel, then picking Rachel up and repeating. It was a little frustrating, but mostly just adorable.
That night at Mama Flora's, Brian made some inroads with Augustine. Up until this point, the child would scream in terror whenever he saw one of us, let alone if we tried to touch or hold him. At first it was kind of comical, but it quickly became just plain depressing and we resolved to win him over. Brian was having the most initial success, so I let him work his charmer magic while I entertained Sophie by switching shoes with her. Little kids are just too easy sometimes. Before I knew it, I looked up to see Augustine sitting sitting in Brian's lap - success!
Our evenings at Mama Flora's were wonderfully relaxing - I think I could get used to the slow pace of Uganda. We had tea around 6 or so, chatted with Mama Flora about the day (she was forever terribly worried about anything there was to worry about - she experienced near physical anxiety if I so much as briefly stumbled during the morning walk in the dark), and hung out with any of the number if her children who might be around (still unclear who actually lives there...). We would sometimes watch the very popular soap that came on every night - it appeared to be Filipino in origin, dubbed into English, and then voiced over by one man who both translated into Lugandan and apparently offered commentary. Unclear if the whole show itself or everyone's intense interest in it (male, female, young, old....everyone) was more comical. Sophie had a specific spot on the rug she would situate herself and watch us talk, or have tea, or watch the soap. We decided it was a close competition between Sophie and Rachel for cutest kid in the entire world.
We were lucky enough that Robinha, one of the house girls, offered to do our laundry the next day, so we were able to give her our completely gross clothes.
The next day, we were planning to go to Busega, the site of the new Children's Home that is currently under construction, so we were excited about that.
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