Masindi - meeting the mayor and Rosemary

I left Kampala and took a Matatu ride to a northern city " Masindi". After checking in a hotel, I came to the balcony and chatted with a local guy who turned out to be the city mayor named Joshua. Upon hearing my inquiry about  volunteer opportunities in the city, he offered to connect me with some organizations and asked me to go to see him on the next day.
I did go to see him on the next day at the city hall. He introduced a nursery home called " Family Spirit" to me. At the city hall I also met Rosemary who works there as a clerk. She was extremely social and friendly. She told me her story. Her husband died, leaving behind her and two kids. Her brother died and she adopted his two kids. She adopted two other kids from someone. She is raising six kids by herself. We almost became friends right away.
Rosemary took me to the "Family Spirit" , which is about 20 minutes motor bike ride from Masindi. I was told that Family Spirit is a nursery/orphanage and most of kids have no family or abandoned because they have AIDS. Susan, the principle of the school welcomed me and told me that I can help her teach and grade B1 class (kind like first grade). There are about 100 kids in "Family Spirit", aging from 1 to 17. I walked in the B1 class. The kids were very excited to see visitors. They are beautiful and lovely. English is the official language in Uganda and by and large I had no problem communicating with the locals. I told Susan I would start my first day of teaching tomorrow. I was quite excited about the idea of spending time with these kids.
I stayed over night at Rosemary's. I bought food at the local market with her for her family. She lives in a tiny and dark two bedroom apartment made of bricks. The toilet and water hose are shared by the neighbors. Rosemary's kids are quiet and hard working. I can tell heavy chores are part of their daily life. They started the fire over charcoals and washed food in a pot of water. Water is precious and is always reused for different things. The apartment is dark and only the living room has a dim light on to save on electricity bill. The dinner was a really nice treat for Rosemary's family as meat and potato are considered "luxury food" . Their daily diet are mainly Ugali and beans. I did notice Rosemary treat her own kids differently than her adopted kids. Her only boy didn't need to do any labor work and he was served by his sisters over the dinner.
I quickly understood that Rosemary invited me over to her apartment not just to be a good host and that she told me she needs $400 for her new home roof not just for the sake of a casual chat. She looked at me as a potential financial opportunity.  I understand her mentality and even understand this kind of mentality more later on during my stay at Family Spirit.
I crashed on the couch at Rosemary's apartment. I couldn't sleep that night. The mosquito don't bother Rosemary's family. Their life is still


much better than a lot of Africans.