Olileota All,
I thought it would be fun to give a little glimpse of Mbarara to you all. While the City itself is very spread out (it's only about half the size of Eugene but occupies much more area) and surrounded by a number of villages, the central town is always full of life. Here are photos I took on our town visit yesterday:
Meet my roommate, Emily. Some humor found in Ugandan English on our first solo eat out adventure! We have learned that it is not uncommon for a restaurant to be "finished" with almost half of their menu items. So, we found, a better question to ask when ordering was "what do you have that we can we eat today?"
I have found great ingenuity in so many areas of everyday life, including their building scaffolding.
At least every other day I visit the main market place for fresh fruit and vegetables. Some favorites being local pineapple, sweet potatoes, Chipati (like tortilla made fresh), Huge avocados, g-nuts (task like roasted peanuts) and mangoes!
The shell station is usually more packed with people and Bodas than actual cars. Most houses here need gas to run the stoves so Bodas are often hired to refill gas cans (like for Emily and myself).
These are the main means of transportation, called a Boda boda. I rode one for the first time last week but i cheated and wore trousers. Next time around I will be attempting side saddle in a skirt!
To find any product in the market place it is like a scavenger hunt! Streets and alley way are occupied by a wide array of merchants selling plastics, kitchenware, stationary, metals, second hand clothing, etc...
This is a sound system shop on delivery day I believe.
This is the shoe department, with approximately ten or more merchants selling any sort of shoe that might survive here.
Similar to what you might see in China, bicycles here carry anything from huge banana plants to goats or couches. Again, quite some ingenuity here...
The grain delivery truck with several delivery men waiting to begin their unloading. Every task here is a team effort and with rarely any deadlines to meet people seem to enjoy what they do in community with others.
I will share more on my specific ministry here as I continue to meet different individuals and create relationships with the OURS clinic (the clinic for children with disabilities), the Physio department here in the Mbarara hospital, the growing Physio program at the college, among others. Please continue to pray over these relationships as well as retention of the local language as it is a challenge but exciting to learn!
May we Glorify the Lord together today in all we do!
Love,
Meg
