Friday, March 19, 2010

A Day in the Life of Ida


I spent the last 24 hours with Ida Bazonoona...one amazing lady! I met her at the Source Cafe around noon. From the Source, Ida, Rueben (her 10 month old son), & I headed to Waliibo Village. Ida does Women's Ministries in the villages, and she is currently doing an 8 week program at Waliibo. We rode boda-bodas (bicycle taxi) to the taxi park, and then loaded onto a matatu (mini bus taxi) which we rode for 30-40 minutes. We were packed in like sardines! At one point I counted 24 people in the matutu. Then we rode a piki-piki's (motorbike taxi) on a dirt road to Waliibo.

I believe there were 19 women who attended the program. Ida taught a lesson on women being "lights of the world." Then she taught a sanitation & health lesson. Ida is extremely engaging. I was so impressed with the manner in which she kept all of the ladies attention. After the women's meeting was over, Ida & I were served a delicious lunch of sweet potatoes (white sweet potatoes...not orange like those in the U.S.) and spinach & mushrooms. Ida also took me on a tour around the village. She showed me a plot of land nearby where her husband (Richard) & her have planted maize. They are renting the plot and farming. Around 5PM, Ida, Rueben & I headed back to Jinja. We all 3 rode on a picky together and then loaded in a VERY FULL matatu when we reached the main road.

We arrived back at the Source around 6PM. Then we headed to Ida & Richard's house in a matatu. They live about 20 minutes from Jinja. We were welcomed home by Richard & Rebecca (their 8 year old daughter). They have 2 other children (in addition to Rebecca & Reuben), Rogers & Mark, who are both away at school. I toured their garden, where they are growing sweet bananas, matoke, corn and many other things. We had a snack & lemongrass chai...which was soooo good! Then I helped Rebecca peel potatoes and chop vegetables. While dinner was cooking, we enjoyed great conversation & fellowship. Ida & Richard showed me pictures from their trip to the U.S. We didn't eat dinner until 11:30PM! Ugandans eat dinner very late. Then we washed dishes & headed to bed around 12:30.

This morning we had a nice breakfast. We also walked a kilometer or so and got water. We had a big rain last night, which filled the rain-water basins; but I wanted to see where they normally get water. I carried the 10 liter jerrycan back...but I wasn't talented enough to carry it on my head :)

What a blessing it was to spend a day & night with Ida & family...they are amazing people!

PS: The internet is too slow to upload photos, but I will be posting them on facebook soon!

1 comment:

  1. I am impressed you carried 10 liters of water for 1 km.

    -Matt

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