There were a few things to get used to: Outlets and Plugs (three possible combination for 220/240?-the power fluctuates often). Sister Gillett's hair dryer did not like its first introduction to Uganda electricity. We quickly learned to adapt to the" Uganda Way". We are sure you will hear more about the "Uganda Way" as we go on. It may not be to portable but it seemed to do the job.
I doubt she will apply for a patent
We will now show you the shower that seems rather unique (the drain is in the left corner which is uphill - the water needs to be manually squeegeed out). Once inside the shower, one pulls both doors toward the center-simple!
...unless one door comes off the track as you shut it to shower...
...it will simply explode into a million pieces of tempered glass. This happened to Sister Gillett while in the shower. Elder Gillett tried to help and stepped into the bathroom just as pieces of glass went everywhere. It was a miracle that neither of us were injured.
On the second day in Kampala we were invited to attend a monthly MLC (Missionary Leadership Conference.) This was a first class meal at a first class hotel called The Poteia. Sister Gillett is trying to decide on which delicious dessert to pick from. We had previously been warned to go to the dessert bar first before the regular food because the young elders would not leave anything if we waited to eat dessert last.
This a picture of all the Zone leaders and their companions.
The next few days we were driven around Kampala and introduced to the many stores. We were impressed that you could buy most things that you wanted except to do so you had to shop at several stores such as Quality, Shoprite, Capitol and Nakamatt supermarkets. We were told that if we found something like granola for example, that we had better buy as much as we thought we would need or there wouldn't be any tomorrow if we came back. Milk is available and comes two ways. one purchases it in an unfrigerated box on a shelf or in a bag form that one cautiously puts in a shopping kart hoping that it won't break. We were quite suspicious about the boxed milk thinking how could it be safe. But we decided the bag form was a big problem. We tried to open one at home and it seemed to shoot out the top uncontrollably. Also on another trip to the store, we had put one bag in the shopping kart and noticed that there was a small leak that was trickling slowly on to the floor. I quickly picked it up and attempt to carry it back to the milk shelf.As I did so it left a trail of milk through the isles. After getting back I tried to inconspicuously put the bag of milk back but got caught by the milk manager. He simply said "oh, another leaky bag". The milk industry might want to rethink how their milk is sold in the stores.
They do offer some interesting things that you may not see in most stores in America. The following pictures illustrate the presentations of products.
I would rather come down with Malaria that have these in my soup
I didn't know sardines came in some many varieties. I wonder if we may be overlooking these tasty appetizers.
Furniture is displayed on busy dusty streets that we are sure have absorbed street fumes from passing motor vehicles.
Probably the biggest adjustment during our first two weeks in Uganda was the driving. We were assigned a new four wheel drive Ford Ranger. But before we could drive it we were given an old dented up car to drive around town. Remember in Uganda the steering wheel is on the right side and you shift gears with your left hand. Not only did we have a challenge in learning to drive "left handed" but we also had to negotiate the worst roads with the worst drivers and try to avoid colliding with motorcycle drivers called "Boda Boda" that will pass you on either side and at the same time try to miss the sea of pedestrians that are walking on both sides of the road.
Here we are the first time behind the Wheel. Elder Gillett did the driving while Sister Gillett served as left seat navigator to tell where to turn and if their might be a Boda Boda Driver approaching from either side.
Most of the streets had pavement at one time but has severely deteriorated over the years. This picture shows how deep and treacherous the sides of roads can be,
Susie (who works in the mission office) took the senior sister missionaries on a fabric outing to downtown Kampala. Sister Gillett felt right at home. (Their fabric stash almost looks like mine.)
We walked through the "taxi parking lot" to get to the downtown shopping. Thank goodness, we didn't take a taxi! We are not sure how a taxi gets out because there was no organization to this parking maze.
