Visiting Suwedi's family

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September 5th, 2007

Yesterday we visited the 10th Boda family of Suwedi. He has 6 children and one wife and lives in a 3 room mud hut with a steel roof. He had a family photo album, which the others didn't have. And they have relatives in the US, who come to visit occasionally. We gave the wife a necklace and the kids some little toys and balloons. They fed us roasted peanuts and motoke for a snack. The peanuts were excellent and I was wondering, where have you been hiding these? The motoke is motoke.

We had a good conversation about mobile phones today. I'm interested from a product designers point of view. And I love the juxtaposition of a ringing cell phone inside a mud hut. But that's life in modern Africa.

Swedi was very generous to give me a live chicken, which makes a total of five. It turns out that 4 of them are roosters and they've been pecking the hell out of each other in the coop. Literally some are bloody. Patrick has separated them and tied the legs of the aggressive ones so that they can't run. This puts them at a disadvantage in a fight, so they have settled down. (At least until we broke two of their necks and ate them for dinner)

Mom came back yesterday from Kampala but the car is still in the shop. Looks like a major engine overhaul.

Our first safety workshop is friday and the repair workshop is on Saturday. Then we have to pack up to leave Hoima on Sunday.

We got an idea from another american yesterday. That is to set up a pre-paid account with the local medical clinic (Azur Clinic) for each of the Bodas. That way they can go for medical medicine or treatment and use the money in the account. It's like having a little medical insurance. We hope to get that today for each of the ten Boda families.

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