Saturday only means one thing. Zeke.
I started off the day going to owino market. It was very busy, as i had been warned, but one vendor decided to become my personal shopping assistant so we visited about 4 skirts stalls before i bought 2. It was downtown Kampala, and i had my camera in my bag so I took a boda (motorbike) to get around to avoid having my bag snatched. There were hairy moments, again.Large lorries, large wheels, going on the wrong side of the road. etc. I asked myself what i was doing on a boda having decided against using them!
So, eventually i arrive, alone this time, to the watoto bbira village. I sign in and start walking over to the cluster of houses where zeke is. i take a bit of a long way round, and then i met sarah, the lady who manags the group of houses that includes zeke's. she pointed his house out and i turned around to thank her and realised we were being followed by two little children - zeke and his friend coli! I spent the time before lunch chatting with his siblings whilst he sat next to me playing with his ruler. He does lots of things he used to do as a very young child. He likes balancing objects on his head, my head, his hands, my shoulder, my hands, and so on. he likes playing with boxes, he sees them as just as valid a toy as anything else! anyway, i had a nice chat with his siblings about school, the zoo, favourite colours, favourite food, they taught me about the red soil and about what happens when it rains too much. zeke has some wonderful older siblings.
Esther's actual daughter, Monica, arrived today. Esthr is the mum of the house where zeke lives with his siblngs, who all come from watoto baby homes. we had a nice chat too. she's almost ready to apply for uni. she told me about the ice which melted from a mountain nearby and flooded an area and lots of people lost their lives. i asked her if it is a common occurrence that the ice melts, and she said no, it just happened last year and this year. and that no-one was prepared.
After lunch was playtime! 3 hours of playing lego, throw and catch with the new game i brought, jenga...and catch zeke and tickle him game. i had run aftr him around a house when he gave up and toppled onto the grass, and i did the same and then tickled him and then realise a whole bunch of young kids were watching us curiously haha. i guess its not a common sight in the village? anyway, i had a great time. zeke does this really funny thing, for a 6 yr old boy, of putting his arm round my shoulders. i find it amusing anyway!
esther brought out zeke's school work and reports for me to have a look at. zeke came and sat with me as we went through his work together. he's doing very well. i loved the fact that zeke was confident enough to sit with me whilst i reviewed his work. i cant say i ever felt like i could happily sit there whilst my parents looked at my report! but no, all i had for zeke was praise, of course :)
then esther brough out a picture of zeke and i and another kid, aaron, from 5 years ago when i was working at watoto. zeke went a bit quiet nd looked at the photo very thoughtfully. after some time, he recognized himself, and then me. i started realising that it was probably harsh to show him this photo. he seemed a bit sad and so i put the photos away and played tickle! she also showed me a picture of him when he was in the hospital after his eye operation - he has a squint. he looked grumpily upset lol, poor boy.
i had spoken with steve, the clinical psychologist who also lives here, about pauline and he had said to be careful about the expectations they might have. anyway, so when it was time for me to head off, and i hate goodbyes, i sat down with zeke. i asked him where he lived, and told him that i also live in a house but its in a different place, and it was time for me to go back to my house now. he looked quite glum, so i was glad that i could tell him id see him next saturday, and that i hoped he has a lovely week.
zeke isnt 1.5yrs old anymore. and i have no idea what im going to tell him next week! im going to ask steve!
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