Meg In Uganda: A Funny Story for Caity

Sunday, March 20, 2011

A Funny Story for Caity

I promised Caity a funny and embarrassing story; here it is.

Background information needed to fully appreciate the following story:

If you remember from my previous blog, diapers don’t really exist here. Babies just have towels and plastic bags wrapped around them. Then they just sit tight with their damp towels till the mom has a chance to get a new towel on them. Most babies are damp when I pick them up to weigh them, or their immunization cards that I write on are damp, or their mother’s backs or hands are dripping wet. It stopped bothering me and now I just remember to wash my hands REALLY good when I’m done.

Story time:

So it was a Wednesday. Constant blog readers might recall that it was “Malnourished Kids Day” at Ediofe Health Center. It was kind of slow that day, so I did the only thing that came to my mind: started playing with the adorable babies. I was hogging this one baby (who was damp) more than usual because it kept laughing and smiling at me (opposed to screaming madly at my white skin) when I felt something warm in my lap. As I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, my skirt was sopping wet with pee. Haha. When it became apparent what happened they all just laughed. I took note of the fact that this is not a culture where you apologize if your baby releases their bladder on someone. After thanking the baby in Lugbara and making the mom laugh I returned her and went looking for a towel (by now it is dripping down my legs). Since it was a large amount of urine, Sister Jane told me to go home, change, and wash up and then return. So I did. Ha. Remember that I have a fifteen minute walk back home and almost everyone stares or greets the “mundu” girls on the way. Needless to say, I heard some snickers on the way.

When I got to the gate of Pacis, one of the guards (who have all become great friends) saw my skirt and I explained that I had been playing with a baby. “BAHA! Did a baby urinate on you? BAHAHA!” Not exactly the word I would have used, but yes.

So I went and washed up, changed, and went back to work.

THE END.

Hope that made you laugh, Caity. And everyone else too.

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Things I Will Never Again Take for Granted

The fact that almost all the parents can afford to buy their children a simple ball to play with. Please don't take it for granted.
Nice roomy dormitories. No matter how small you THINK they are, they are bound to be better than an 8x15 brick structure with four bunk beds, two of which are stacked three beds high.
Public trash cans
Trash pick up service
Sanitation Department
DVRing your favorite TV show.
When you pick up your juice or soda that you left on the counter for a few minutes, and you DON’T look inside to see if dozens of ants have decided to claim it for themselves because you know that Terminx just came and sprayed. Don’t take that for granted.
The next time you go to the polls to vote, and the thought that their might possibly be violence hasn’t even crossed your mind. Don’t take that for granted.
Prepackaged meat (like chicken breasts and ground beef).
Lamp Posts and Street Lights that come on at night
Getting a mosquito bite and worrying how much it is going to itch rather than possible diseases the biter might have been carrying. Don’t take that for granted.
When you get a carton of eggs from the store and the chicken poop has already been washed off, please don’t take that for granted.
The next time you get irritated with a super slow internet connection (or no connection at all), please don’t scream at the computer. Don’t take high speed internet for granted.
Hershey’s products (and reeses, most all other American candy besides snickers). Next time you eat one, please don’t take it for granted. (You can take snickers for granted :P)
Email and skype. I don’t know how I would get by without it.
Take out
Public toilets in general, no matter how nasty they get. Don’t take those for granted, they are leaps and bounds better than public latrine pits.
Nice road trips, with long smooth highways and gas stations with working toilets
Going to buy something knowing that they are going to give you the same price they give everyone else and that they are not trying to take advantage of you
Paved roads and sidewalks
Eating out and not wondering whether the cook has washed their hands or not, because if he/she didn’t they would probably be fired
Going to a popular restaurant and just assuming there will be cold sodas (or any sodas at all)
Going to the cheese aisle in the super market and getting to pick out one of the MANY types of cheese
Seeing a kid walk down the street and not even think twice about whether that kid is being fed or loved properly. Don’t take it for granted.
A cold shower after an hour bike ride to get all the sweat and dirt off? Don’t take it for granted; you never know when the water will be off
Hot showers
And please, please PLEASE never EVER take air conditioning for granted again.