Tea for Twenty

12 August 2016

This blog post is kind of difficult to write.  Not because it’s super emotional or traumatic but because I’m a super klutz and spilled my entire cup of tea over the keyboard and now the keys are kind of sticky even after sitting in rice overnight.  C’est la vie.  I apologize now for any horrible spelling errors; the P and Y keys are really tough.

Remember how I talked about a big working tea fundraiser that would bring in beaucoup bucks to the library renovation fund?  Well, it happened!  I spent the week leading up to it in a permanent frenzy trying to make sure that donors were informed, the staff were ready, and the venue and supplies would be sufficient.  Three days before the event, Brother Patrick and I met with the chairman.  Originally, the party was to be held at Kyotera Stirling, remember?  The town hall-esque place that the chairman owned and would lend us the space, chairs, tables, cups, thermoses, for free?  Yeah, well, three days before the event, doesn’t he say “wouldn’t it make sense to have the tea party at the school?  Let’s do that.”  And yes, it definitely would make more sense to have it there, but it’s in..you know…three days.  He tells me not to worry, we’ll inform everyone, he has all their contacts.  I wasn’t so sure.  I tend to spaz a bit (ok more than a bit) when things change so suddenly, but my friends kept reminding me that in Uganda, things work out.  Maybe not how you’re expecting them to, but they always work out.

So the three days before the party were spent collecting supplies, like tea, and making sure the staff knew of the change.  The day of, we secure a chapati guy, all the needed materials, I buy milk, and everything was in motion.  I show up about an hour beforehand and the P7 room is all set up.  The sisters from the church came and helped put it all together.  There’s a table in the front of the room covered in a beautiful cloth, chairs set up for the special guests, tables in the back set up all nicely decorated for tea, and even a TV in the front of the room playing music videos from a DVD (we don’t want the guests to be bored while they wait).  To top it off, an artist from the PTC stopped by to draw some welcome signs on the front chalkboard.  Everything was coming together.  Except one thing:  we were planning for maximum 50 guests.  I bought tea and bananas and coffee and bread and butter and chapatti and milk for 50 guests.  The room is set up for approx. 50 guests.  The number or people who show up? Not including staff, maybe 13.  My heart kind of sunk when we began, I couldn’t believe how few people had come.  But then again I wonder if it really would’ve been a bigger turnout at the former location. 

"Enjoy Da Day!"

The work tea went really well, though.  We had a schedule and everything.  Opened with prayer of course, thanked everyone for coming, the chairman made opening remarks about the library, kind of took a detour with his own agenda and how he’s raising money for cancer research (ok, let’s get back on track, now), and we had a library tour…in the dark.  The sun had long gone down and we don’t have electricity in the library room YET.  We will.  After the tour, we came back and took tea and people came up one by one, made a little speech, and dropped some cash in the donation box.  Everyone was in good spirits, enjoying the tea, socializing, donating money, it was an all-around good time.  My favorite part though was looking outside during the speeches.  We had left the library door open and some students had come back and snagged some books from inside.  They plopped themselves down outside the security light and were pouring over the books, taking turns reading out loud and having a great time.  That was really the moment that stuck with me.  It was nice having people come and donate, but it’s really the students that matter most here.  I want to finish this project more than ever now.  It’s a slow job, but if students are able to have a free space to come and read different books, then I’ll feel accomplished.  Libraries are kind of in my blood; I’m channeling mom’s mojo into this one.

 

After all the donations, cash and pledges, we had raised over half a million shillings!! WOW!  From the few donors that came, they were extremely generous.  We’re only about 150k off of our community donation requirement.  I’m so proud of the library committee team, they’ve even pledged to donate 80k shillings!  It’s a great feeling to see something finally start coming together.  Now all I need is the grant money to come in and we can start on constructing the shelves and tables.  After the term is over, I want to start cleaning out the room, organizing the books that are already in there, and maybe even begin painting.  It’ll happen slowly slowly, but it’ll happen.  Goals are accomplished with patience.  I learned that when I mended my first mosquito net during training, and I’m learning it now.

In other news, remember all those RUMPs kits I got?  Well the PEARLS put their sewing skills to use and at the end of the menstruation lesson, each girl got to make their own reusable pad.  They loved them!  They can make them, they can sell them, they can use them, all good things for girls and menstruation.  Let’s work together to talk about it and kill the taboos. Check out the pictures:

Dorah using her killer sewing skills

Reticia

Gladys 

Jane and Angella

Olivia and Jane

This is where I stop for now.  It’s been a busy two weeks filled with meeting the new country director, having technical immersion where 3 PCTs stayed at my house for training for a whole week, PEARLS club meeting and prep, having my solar lights kick the dust, having my solar lights replaced, figuring out how to pay for those solar lights, getting other electric fix ups done around my house, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, washing A LOT, having Medical Access come to train us on yet another computer program that we are to start utilizing immediately (yeah ok, we’ll see), and constant running around the towns for printing, shopping, meeting, greeting, etc.  I was glad that this past week was a bit more relaxed.  Mid-Service Training is coming up at the end of the month; it’ll be great to see the whole cohort together again.

I can’t remember if I wrote this before, but I’ve stopped counting water stations.  (As I write it, I feel like I’ve already said it.  Oh well, I’ll say it again) At the beginning I was going from point to point, water station to water station, counting down the days to the next break, the next vacation, the next…whatever.  Counting down the days until Peace Corps is over.  I don’t want to do that anymore.  It’ll be over before I know it, and I’m going to wish I would’ve been more present in the everyday challenges and accomplishments.  So no more counting down.  No more water stations.  I have a year left to experience this wonderful place and a year to make lasting memories and relationships.  I’m not counting down those gifts I've been given. 

All is well.
Until next time,
Kelly

Wait, hold up, I forgot the cat.  We like to take snapchat selfies: