Day Six in Uganda

It is impossible to have a lie in here on the main road.  From 4am the sound of the call to prayer booms out over a loud speaker and the dogs join in with the chorus.  Taxi vans drive along with incessant tooting of horns to alert pedestrians that they have room on board.  Radios compete from shack to shack for the best beat and rhythm.  Vans carrying loud speakers spill advertising jingles upon us as they pass through.  It is quite a cacophony of a cocktail.

The heat is very high today.  I did 10am Mass with Annette, the house help.  I like her and her soft nature.  The church was quite full and we sat in the one empty pew.  But as the Mass progressed, it seemed that everybody wanted to come and sit on our bench instead.  And by the end of the services I had children sitting across me, at my feet and on my lap.

I have never been looked at more than out here.  Even the fine hairs on my arms fascinate them, as do my freckles, soft hair and blue eyes.  And today I didn't really feel like looking the odd one out... which of course I do all the time.  I know I can't complain as I have put myself here, but I am constantly reminded that I am different.  It is a strange feeling and I don't think I would like to live a lifetime of this perpetual self-awareness.  The children shout "Mzungu, Mzungu"... which means 'white person'.  My incessant smiling and waves when they do this go a long way.  The youngest babies are seeing a Mzungu for the first time and they really don't know what is going on.  I think they are quite scared by my colour.

Annoyingly my whole left foot is swollen from mosquito bites.  It is really painful and there are bouts of excruciating itching.  Please may it not have been a bad mosquito that bit me!

Beans for lunch.