My first days in Mbale

January 1, 2004

Mike and Judy dropped me off at Ian and Danetta Shelburne’s house. They have converted their garage into a guest room with a bathroom, so I have my own space out here. I have to tell you about this family. There are six children so far. Leila is 12. She is one of the 7th graders I’ll be teaching and is one of their natural born children. Then there is Jessiah. He is 10 and has cerebral palsy. He is African, but they adopted him before they ever moved here. Nathaniel is 8 or 9 and he is Hispanic and something else. He too looks African and he was adopted from Christian Homes of Abilene. There there’s Jonathan 7 and Luke 5. They are also the Shelburne’s natural born children. The newest addition to the family is Emily. She was born here in Mbale and just turned 1. When they got her, she was so thin because she never got fed. She has really fattened up since then. Now you can understand why it is important to have my own space!

January 8, 2004

Today is Thursday, January 8, and it’s my birthday. My mom always calls me on my birthday and wakes me up singing Happy Birthday. Last night I realized after everyone was already in bed, that I had left my phone in the dining room. Now in the states, this would not be a problem. You just get out of bed and go into the dining room and get your phone. It is just not that simple here. You see on all of the windows we have bars to keep people out. The exterior doors are two doors thick—one is usually wood and the second is metal. Then there are a series of doors leading into the bedroom halls. In this particular house, there is a wooden door from the dining room into the bedroom hallway that locks with a dead bolt. Then there is a metal door that uses large padlocks. Now this does make you feel extremely safe, however it is very inconvenient when someone else has the key! For this reason, I set my alarm for 6 a.m. so I could come out and get my phone. I figured my mom would call at 7 a.m. Unfortunately I woke up at 5:30 instead and just lay in bed listening for Ashley to get up. Finally at 6:30 she came out and I was able to get my phone. Mom did call at 7:00, of course, which made my day!