"back in the saddle again......where a friend is still a friend"

i can't explain why gene autry has been looping through my brain today....i'm not even sure about the words to that song, except i think there is something about sagebrush! maybe it's the extreme jet lag which i can't seem to shake or the thick layer of red dust covering counters and beds, etc! YEP, maybe not back in the saddle again, but definitely "back in kampala again"! the flights here were tiresome, delays everywhere and another episode of a misplaced suitcase. i can't blame the airlines this time, seems a passenger from my flight took my bag with him...guess Kathy Houk in black sharpie on the luggage tag didn't mean much to him....kinda, sorta hope he was embarrassed when he tried to brush his teeth or change his clothes and he couldn't get into MY locked suitcase! but, thankfully i have all my 'stuff' and am ready to start this chapter of the book of life.

i have seen a few of my friends and acquaintances. :) yubu and peter picked me up at the airport....thanks guys, you're the best! yubu says he wants to get on facebook but he has never touched a computer in his life. the thought makes peter and me laugh because then the rest of the world would get to hear his superstitions and nicknames for things. (he once told us that if a squirrel bites you and someone laughs about it, you will die! he swears this is true!!) i made the rounds the other day and saw julius, the young man at nakawa market who helps me carry my purchases, evelyn at the office supply store, moses at the shell station, and robbie and soldier at an after church lunch. the lunchlady from mulago market, mae, called yesterday. i asked her how she knew i was back and she said she didn't really know, she just had a feeling. i'll start getting back into the swing of things tomorrow....I have a pizza party to arrange for RUHU and a meeting about the building project and a treadmill to buy (not exactly sure where but don't think i can walk the 7 miles/day on these roads! i'm really looking forward to seeing the kids! mack and umar say they have another song ready to record and im certain the days will fill in as busily as they always do. usually plans go out the window because something more important (or interesting) presents itself....and after all, this is africa where schedules are useless because time keeping is virtually unheard of. i'm still not certain why ugandans wear watches, i think just because they like them as most assuredly many people's watches don't even run.

everyone has asked about my family and friends and America in general. i've told them about visiting washington, dc and everyone i know! many were fascinated by the notion that kaleigh, ben and i went to a shooting range and that kaleigh plays a form of baseball, a game that no one here has ever played. they had questions about bonnaroo and what i ate and was it cold there and how long am i staying this time....lots of questions. i told everyone that i have much to do....but this trip i do not feel the pressure that tormented me the previous trip, as i have engaged 'plan B'! but as for now, time to deal with the jet lag....a brief nap and a few gene autry tunes might be just the thing! blessings from kampala.....something something longhorns and whoopie ki yi a.......!

HUG A STREET CHILD !

this is a difficult blog to write.....sort of a goodbye to my dear friends here as well as a thank you for all the moral, physical and mental support rendered to me these past 4 1/2 months. 4 1/2 months? how is that possible?i don't own a watch or a clock or a calendar, so i rarely know what day it is here. i'm quite good at guessing the time, it's relative to how loud my stomach is growling. sometimes i 'miss' entire days and say things like 'wait....what happened to wednesday?' it happens. george says to use the calendar app on the computer but i like paper ones that u can clip notes and receipts and 'to do' lists to. but i digress.....as usual.

this trip has been so stressful. to those unfamiliar with life in africa, it might seem as though i have accomplished little. i leave the continent with the same issues i had when i arrived...still no ngo renewal and still no work permit. can't begin to say how many sleepless nights this has caused....not to mention the money, the hours wasted impatiently waiting to see someone, the times i was 'reamed out' for being rude, arrogant, stubborn, strong willed and unappreciative. it's ok though, the issues will be waiting for me when i return and an old tom petty song plays in my mind...."i won't back down". and, thanks to a suggestion from someone who actually works at the ngo board, i have a plan B.

i said goodbye to the kids at RUHU on thursday. they had written letters to me.....remember these are street kids, some rescued very recently. one told me that if he had it in his power to stop me from leaving, he would. another said he would remember the memories of things we did together for the rest of his life. many said they would always pray for me and they loved me as their mothers. it was hard to back out of the driveway, but they do know i'll be back. each one of these kids is special, each has been let down or abandoned by their parents and society. each deserves a chance at a better life. each deserves to be loved. i really need a t-shirt that says "HUG A STREET CHILD!" last week in kisenyi, yubu, my driver, said 'everyone here knows you'. i never thought i'd be comfortable or well known in the worse slum in the city but i know God plants us where we are needed and i have been benefitted through humility and the opportunity to serve....the reason why i am here.

i can't begin to thank everyone who has been behind me and who has lifted me when my spirits were so low....robbie and soldier and allanor - the buswale team. 3 talented artists who taught dance and put beats to lyrics and coached singing. they know to call me 'boss lady' even though i cannot sing a note or dance at all, as evidenced by my moonwalking attempts. i love you guys..thanks for making me part of the team, but remember next year, i want top billing and one day you will thank me for the Buyungo Boys! yubu...a formerly quiet man who is a great driver but gets lost a lot. he can't even find his way out of the mall where our office is located! he has a really strange accent saying words like 'shumshing' for 'something'. he makes me laugh and somehow knows when i am quiet, that something is really wrong. he watches out for me and reminds me every morning...do you have your phone, where's your sunglasses, do we need to go to the bank? he isn't quiet anymore....and i'm glad. his daughter, bridgett calls me mjungu...haha for mzungu...white person. we adore each other as she is equally fond of junk food. patrick....i will dance and cry and laugh at his wedding. he is the most amazing young man i have ever met in my life. william....i will walk with him down the aisle in august. shariffah...who knew i could have so much fun buying posho? may aka lady gaza aka the lunch lady, i will miss her hugs and the way she always says 'thank you myyyyy friend'. this could virtually be an endless list, but i will end with peter....what can i say...always there for me....e.r. at 4am, trips to port fortal at 5 am, finding supplies on nasser rd, shooting and editing videos, helping me 'fix' the mess i made on my computer....the best friend a person could have...i tell him we are like elizabeth taylor and michael jackson except i cannot act and am not rich or beautiful and he cannot sing and doesn't own never neverland...haha i love you, you crazy person!

i think i will have to acclimate to life back in the states. i know my accent has changed as has my acceptance that some things are not meant to change. i will welcome the fact that i will have electricity and water on the same day, but will remember that clean, fresh water is a luxury and not a right. i will really enjoy shopping with kathi at green hills mall, but will donate all used clothing and shoes to those who need it most. i will eat more than my share of America's bounty but with the realization that people globally are starving to death every minute of every day. i know i need a break. i know i'm good at what i do because what i do is easy for me. not everyone is meant to be in africa (thankfully :))....not everyone wants to be. i am blessed knowing that i do what i do willingly and happily and each smile, each hug and each thank you, whether verbally expressed or silently noted, is a gift. thank you Jesus for the greatest gift of all, Your love.

~Kathy

nashville wouldn't be nashville.....

can it really be april? 3 months in uganda have flown by.....my birthday, valentine's day, president's day, my anniversary, st patrick's day and Easter....all history in 2013. all passed quietly, with little fanfare. well, except for Easter and our "annual" picnic at Lake Victoria in entebbe with 37 kids ranging in age from 10 to 14! yes, it is approaching insanity to many people, but to us it is so much FUN! games and food and most importantly, SWIMMING! truthfully, very few ugandans can swim. for the most part, they fear the water. (my son, josh, asked if there were crocodiles in the water! haha) these kids LOVE the water and stay where they can touch the bottom. ok, unless they are riding on you piggyback. somehow peter and zhanna and i couldn't stay out of the water and had the best time swimming in our clothes. (nothing like a pair of heavy, wet jeans!) the kids loved the fact that we joined them in splashing and dunking games. eventually we all dragged ourselves out of the lake and i buried 3 kids in the sand. onlookers thought that was hilarious and were taking movies, etc. maybe that isn't normally done in africa, but the boys loved it and all the attention that they received from strangers!

i'm finally learning to cook some african foods successfully! i've gotten hooked on the local fish....oh my gosh, a pun! i've asked people what kind of fish they are and no one seems to know, but i think maybe tilapia. i buy them from the fish vendor at buswega market for about 12k shillings ($5) or a little more if i want them cleaned and put in a bag..YES PLEASE! i've grilled them with cilantro and onions and peppers and tomatoes and even made a boiled fish soup with tomatoes and lots of habeñero type peppers. yes, i apparently am a vegetarian who has gone off the wagon, but i seem to crave the protein somedays, so i indulge. i am also cooking lots of steamed pumpkins, local greens and salads made from finely chopped cabbage, cucumbers, onions, tomatoes and lots of hot peppers. and rice, lots and lots of rice. i went to lunch with my neighbor last week and she told the waitress she wanted rice like i cook! the poor waitress said she couldn't promise it would taste the way i cook it, so my neighbor decided to get fries instead. seriously, they have THE BEST basmati rice here. it is very expensive, 25K ($8) for 5 pounds, but it is well worth it.

i continue to reside, for the most part, at immigration offices at internal affairs on jinja road....i think i was there 3 days this week. when i am not there, i am compiling reports, writing letters, copying photographs or trying to find some old document that has been lost since the time of stone tablets and chisels. seriously, you need my college transcripts and my wedding license to work in uganda for free? it's quite laughable when you consider the blatant corruption by political figures, government employees and even attorneys. actually, it's not laughable at all....it's pathetic....! this emerging nation will remain emerging for a very long time because no one seems to be willing to break the cycle of indecency.

peter and i are taking 2 of the RUHU kids to buswale music on monday to record their future 'hit single', though they tell me they have 20 songs to record. we call them the buyungo boys but that are umaru and mac and wait till you hear their song....it is cute and sooooo funny. i've heard it 2 dozen times and can't get enough of it. everyone who hears it starts singing it..especially the 'chorus'. just wait, i will post it on facebook next week! i bought 11 movies today (remember i don't have a TV) for the total cost of $7.....!! ester at the movie store knows to keep a stack of zombie movies for me and anything with keifer sutherland or denzel washington. i also bought season 1 of The Cult, which looked interesting in a weird sort of way.

i love the way my church family has been sending messages and emails and even a voicemail. sometimes i get lonely for any hometown news or American gossip, so please keep it coming. i love y'all at PFM...you are the greatest. you know, i recently discovered Tim McGraw's version of Nashville Without You....i love it. it reminds me of home.....rhinestoned boots, the man in black, stetsons under Broadway lights.....am looking forward to home soon!! hugs!

chewchew-whys and tilapia!

It has occurred to me that i have met many 'characters' in Uganda over the past year....most have, in one way or another, made me smile and many have certainly brightened my days! One of my favorite is Yubu, my driver. When i first met him, i thought that he was way too quiet and how would I spend so many hours in the van in the company of someone who never spoke unless spoken to. I have known him about 6 months now and each day he breaks out of his shell just a little more. We often find ourselves lost and laughing about it...like how can we not find an embassy or a mall. He often argues with me that he has not been somewhere before and in my complete confusion regarding the streets in Kampala...I will say "oh, you know, next to where we got the good samosas from the man who looked like Buddha and asked if we were gooda" and eventually Yubu realizes he knows exactly where to go! He has been stopped numerous times by the traffic police because no one believes he is 31 and not 13. He says that i am Americanizing his speech...haha...he now says "UH-HUH" and coke rather than coca cola. He has a really funny sense of humor....last week when i asked him the name of a crunchy sweet snack, he said they were called chewchew-whys. i said surely not, but he insisted. However, no one had heard that name and i finally found out they are called 'daddies'. He appreciates anything you do for him or his family, especially if it concerns FOOD! His daughter, Bridgett is adorable and likes to go to church with the mzungu because she knows it means donuts or ice cream afterwards! I love the way unlikely friendships develop, making your life just a little more interesting.

The Desana Uganda Volunteer Team continues to grow....what a wonderful group of dedicated people working together with an amazing vision for the future. Everyone seems to have a niche and we just know we will shine in 2013. i have not made much progress when it comes to my 'dealings' at Internal Affairs. we have submitted for the certificate renewal for Desana Uganda...but the law prohibits me from getting my work visa until the renewal has passed. that being said, i'm sorta up the creek without a paddle. can't work without a work permit and can't get the work permit until the ngo certificate has been renewed. sound confusing? yessireebob! i have spent countless hours with report writers, attorneys, 'people in the know' (who really weren't) and lots of time just shaking my head and saying ' what now'? tomorrow i will check out getting a 'special pass' (no not a monopoly card), an extension on my visa. i cannot head home and abandon the cause because the thought of having to go through this again, would be just too too much!

last week i broke the frame on my glasses and to shell out 180,000 shillings for new ones ($60)...now i seem to have lost them. at least i now know where the optician's office is. i will call on my angels to help me locate the glasses tonight, i have found them in strange places before....surely they are exactly where i last put them! i love knowing i can call on angels. my friend, Art, sees them, i do not....but i often feel their presence and i certainly know they have protected and guarded me many times.

we went to see the RUHU kids today at school....always so much fun to see their happy faces. we brought lunch and bananas and backpacks for everyone. 3 of the boys ran away from school a couple weeks ago, but the school has refused to allow them to come back. it's such a huge adjustment for former street kids to attend a boarding school and to have to sit still and obey rules and even wear shoes! they are all doing a great job! thank you Lord for providing the funds for their educations! we are planning a beach party at lake victoria on Easter sunday. yubu says he can swim, i surely hope so because i do not like being the only adult who can swim. we'll have a picnic and maybe a volleyball game and it will be so much fun for them. they have been asking to go to the beach for 2 months now...last year we went on Easter....maybe it will become our tradition.

i still haven't learned how to make chapatis....the Indian flatbread that is so popular here. it's something i need to master as a really good chapati is hard to find. i did go to the fish market to buy a fresh Nile River tilapia to cook for friends....hmm...what do you mean, 'whole fish'......? i sorta wanted it cleaned and filleted and ready to grill in the oven :) well, ok, why not? add that to my list of firsts....gutting a fish in the kitchen sink....at least i had water yesterday! today.....no water, no power.....and thankfully, no fish! haha each day is an adventure and every moment there is a reason to give Him praise for all the blessings in my oh, so interesting life. Thank you Jesus!

time for a sugar high!

we had a terrible storm last evening....torrential rain and high winds and rolling thunder. the power has been off since then. i can see lights not very far away, so it must just be around our immediate area. i'm really used to living without power, gayaza road was a challenge for sure. now it seems to simply be a minor inconvenience...definitely a step in the right direction! hmmm, well, let me think about that a bit..is getting used to living electric free a step forward or is it a step backward? will need to discuss this with my facebook friend, daniel, which by the way is not his real name. i can't pronounce his real name, so a year ago he said it means daniel....perfect, but last evening he asked "why do you keep calling me daniel"? haha...one of us is daft, and i'm not sure which one that is. at any rate we have interesting discussions concerning food, God, horses, lots of things!

peter, carol, patrick, zhanna, yubu and i went to visit the ruhu kids last sunday at patrahill boarding school....we had a GREAT day! we brought them their usual thursday meal of fish or meat, matooke and rice and juice. patrick also brought sodas and cookies and bottled water...many snacks for them to enjoy. they all showed us their workbooks and we were SO excited about how well they are doing, especially since some of them have not had the opportunity to attend school in years. these kids are so bright and so eager to learn. some, i think, are homesick for the shelter and miss patrick so much. however, they are so very grateful for this opportunity to further their education. we all spoke to them about how proud we are, and how they have to be the best they can be and to look toward the future because God has given them so many challenges and now they are on the path to fulfilling His plan for them. we won't get to visit them until 17 march, which is a very long time!! they were wearing school uniforms and were SO cute...blue shorts and a short sleeved button up shirts, all looked so very handsome....they were proud of themselves too. they said the teachers call them "project" children, which really got my goat. i told them to turn it around...that they needed to make the choice to make that phrase a positive one so that when people say it, it means well behaved, and excellent students...exemplary children. just can't understand why adults would toss negativity at children who had been through so much pain in their lives....several said they had received beatings. Zhanna and i both cringed...beatings in the 21st century!! guess no one has told the school boards that beating a child teaches him that hitting is an acceptable way to solve a problem. we told peter that if a teacher in the USA or Russia strikes a child he can be arrested for assault. we told the children that they needed to behave and never do anything that would break a rule and result in a beating....easier said than done, i think.

patrick, zhanna and i went into kisenyi on tuesday to cleanse and treat wounds. patrick recruited brian, who had once been at the shelter, to return with us. if you look at the pics i posted from that day (19 feb), he is the boy in the olive drab tank top with the sad, sad face. it was so hot that zhanna started to feel sick and after some time had to return to the a/c in the van. we actually have a table now to put our meager boxes of supplies...mostly betadine, neosporin and bandages and tape. people kept stealing our water and most wanted pain killers whether they had an injury or not. we saw several really bad injuries such as the man with the broken leg from a police beating because he was sleeping on the street and a man whose leg was swollen to twice the size of the other. there is so much we can't do. all in all i believe the people appreciate the little help we can give. what a blessing it would be to have the funds to take all the serious injuries to the clinic, but right now that is out of the question. we are going back next week and will bring malaria meds and flu meds. i'm praying that the Lord has blessed us with a new volunteer...a nurse. i will meet him on sunday, so keep your fingers crossed. :)

well, today i was back in post office hell. they had been so good to me lately, hassle free. guess they decided it was time to test my fortitude! it started out well...'yes, your parcel is here. it's upstairs in the parcell room'......oh no i thought, that's where the MAN is, the one who's sole purpose is to give me a hard time! ok, he wasn't there 'this won't be so bad'. a new guy says..'i need a copy of your passport'. 'why', i ask, 'you didn't need one last week'? 'it's the rule'. i say that it wasn't a rule last week, and of course he says it was. 'was not!' 'was'! dang, i'm not getting anywhere here. "where do i get one?' "upstairs' he says, '3rd floor.' sure, ok, up i go but it is a hall of offices and i haven't a clue which one. along comes a man with a jerry can. 'may i help you?' he asks. "sure, thanks, i need a copy of my passport'. 'here in my office, what's your name?' hmm, i think, why do you need to know! we go in his office, i don't see a copy machine and all of a sudden he is trying to rent me a home in kabalagala. 'no, i say, i have a home, i need a copy'. 'where do you live", he asks. 'mutundwe, why?' 'that's too far' he says......ok, mr weird man, i need to go, i'm thinking. he finally led me to the copy machine down the hall after i promised to come back when my lease is up! yay, i get my copy....200ugx...good deal, back downstairs and the new guy at the desk says your package will cost 5900ugx. 'why' i ask, 'didn't have to pay last week'. 'yes you did'...'no, i didn't' and here we go again...ok, i pay the 5900 and the inspector slits my parcel open. i ask her to be careful because there are clothes in it. 'no' she says, 'it's candy'......i tell her there are clothes in there, but she doesn't want to bother looking through the rest of the parcel.....alrighty, she gives it back to me and i start out the door....the guard stops me and says 'i need your receipt'. i say that i don't have one...no one gave me one...that he has been there watching me all along, that he must know i paid and that i didn't get a receipt. i get the LOOK, the one that i recall from the day Erin Williams reeked havoc in that very same room! haha.....finally he allows me to leave without the receipt i never received and i knew right then and there that this was going to be one of THOSE DAYS. oh well, i have 3 new skirts, gummy savers and little debbies...time for a sugar high!!!

"did jeet?"

february is proving to be another challenging month....meetings, reports, plans, budgets....YIKES! anyone that knows me well knows that these are not my 'things'! GEEZ, anyone who can sit at a desk for longer than 30 minutes has my utmost respect and kudos, because i don't know how they can do it. i have a short attention span when it comes to reviewing documents or amending constitutions and i admire people whose mind doesn't drift to an old bon jovi song or what they need from the market. it wasn't this bad in my pre-chemo days....but then in my pre-chemo days i was mucking stalls and riding horses and throwing bales! hmm, guess there are some things i really do miss about the farm! (not the snakes, i don't miss the snakes!)

speaking of snakes, i have not seen ANY in uganda except in the snake park. and that is good because i am still working through my fear of snakes. i don't think i am alone in this phobia. Pastor Jones says fear of snakes represents fear of satan. makes sense, i guess. i have just constructed a wall of steel wool in a cabinet in my kitchen! i am hoping that will keep some of the mice out. i trapped both mickey and minnie last night......Ewwww! you know, i don't fear many things......fear exists when faith does not! right? i have ridden horses whose sole purpose was to have me on the ground spitting out teeth (and a few did just that!), have bicycled down a volcano in maui, ridden a camel in the sahara, ridden a motorcycle into the andes, run down the inca trail from the sun gate at macchu pichu, been hot air ballooning above turkey, and sailed the tradewinds in the south pacific just to highlight the most fun things!! but seriously, rodents make me cringe and send me into a panic! what is that all about? it makes no sense.....mice are even cute but i am terrified of them! ii know, i know...it's childish and insane....there are people who seem to fear nothing, like that guy named Bear who had that t.v. show...and there are people who seem to fear everything. little joan, who is in pre-school and lives next door, also fears mice. it's nice to have a compadre, even a mini one....haha

i am so proud of patrick and ruhu......all of the children are in school. thank you Jesus, it is so wonderful.....street kids working toward their futures. we were fortunate to be able to assist in transporting them last sunday. it was a zoo! kids, foot lockers, mattresses, etc......all were bouncing with energy and talking a mile a minute. can you imagine something this wonderful happening? He reigns!! when we got to the school, the teachers thought that yubu, my driver, was a student (he is 31). they kept yelling at him to put his things on the table with the other children's things. it was so so funny. poor yubu, the traffic police always stop him, i guess they also think he is 12!! peter and i are still laughing about this....even yubu thought it was funny and chuckles when we talk about it...hahaha the kids were so so happy. they asked me if we would come every week to visit at least 20 times. i tried to explain that it was not allowed, but i would be there as often as possible. then someone asked if i would bring rice and matooke and meat like i did on thursdays. i said no, also not allowed. we all got a little sad and prayed. i can't wait for visiting day! what an opportunity for them, what a blessing from our Father! i miss them already. it was odd, but a few of the boys who have never been really 'huggy' with me, wouldn't let go of my hand. of course i had to swallow and smile. i think we sometimes do not know how important we are in kids' lives. if we give just a smile or a hug, it's something they may cherish for a long time.....so hug those kids!!!

i am preparing my first mexican meal for guests! next monday patrick and pastor william are coming to discuss our similar frustrations, make some plans and to pray for and with me as i work through heaps of the previously mentioned responsibilities. (have i mentioned my most recent partner quit with only 2 weeks until paperwork is due at the NGO board?) patrick will eat anything with salsa. i couldn't find any, but made a batch and it is SPICY! i will even break open my only package of tortillas...think i will make chicken burritos, refrieds, spanish rice, guacamole and of course...SALSA. last time they mixed coke and juice....yuck..haha. i am blessed to share time with these friends...God has been good to me. sorry y'all can't make it for dinner.....!!! the other day i said to peter: "did jeet?" then i realized only american southerners understand that one! i love y'all and miss you....!!!

In The Midst

well, here i am back in uganda. my time in the USA went by so quickly and was so much fun. there is nothing quite like visiting and traveling and eating and laughing with family and friends......those memories often get me through the difficult days, the days that i must remind myself 'why i am here'. i've had a rough start....arrived here at 11pm on the 3rd of january and came down with the worse flu i have ever had on the morning of the 5th. dragged my fevered, collapsing, dizzy, coughing self to the ER where i received a 5 minute exam, a blood test for malaria, a bottle of what i think is tylenol and the world's foulest tasting cough medicine...all for 88,000 shillings...$35. plus, of course the $15 cab fare. seriously, i would have started taking cold pills and cough medicine on my own, but my housekeeper insisted she had packed them and they were at the new house. think so? nope, apparently she had gone through all my medications while i was gone and helped herself to all my over the counter meds like tylenol, nyquil, benedryl, etc! i've discovered a few other things missing, but that's a whole other story!

by noon on the 5th, i'm feeling just about as bad as a person can feel, but it's moving day! i only have 3 days to move and clean and paint the old house. when it comes to timing, mine is impeccable...haha. thankfully my great friends freddie, elver, peter, robbie, yubu and soldier loaded and unloaded the moving truck. mostly i just sat there looking pathetic as they would load whatever piece of furniture i was sitting/lying on. i told them i didn't care where they put the furniture in the new place, and to please just put my bed together so i could lie down and nap. i treated everyone to a local meal...elver and freddie ate that nasty dried smoked fish with the groundnut sauce and peter ate goat, so to me it wasn't much of a treat but they had all worked so hard and were so hungry i think they would have eaten anything.

peter and i went went to miracle center cathedral on sunday morning. i sure had missed pastor kayanje...he is an absolutely awesome man of God. peter kept falling asleep and i couldn't stop coughing. i felt sorry for the people around us, so we left a bit early. i came home and napped (again) while peter cleaned every piece of furniture and washed all the floors! i really have been blessed in the 'friend department'....in the housekeeper department, not so much..haha!

in the midst of me being totally immersed in myself and my problems, i didn't know little musifaru was lying in a clinic bed dying. i got the news on monday that he had passed away from malaria.....totally curable malaria...a 6 year old, sweet, loving child is gone....i tell everyone that 20,000 children die every day in africa from preventable and curable diseases and starvation...but this is different because this child has a name and a face i loved. this one held my hand and walked with me and ate from my plate. this one was not a statistic but a happy little boy who was another victim of extreme poverty. this one hurts.