Friday 21st December 2007

Today we took the car into the garage to try and get some new shock absorbers, as the roads here are very unfriendly to our car, wearing them out in record time.  We managed to get some replacements for the front, though they are very cheap and will possibly not last long (they were the only ones that would fit the Delica), but there was no one in Kabale that had the ones we needed for the back.  We will have to try and get some next time we go to Mbarara or Kampala.  While I was waiting for this to happen, and because there are no waiting rooms in the garages here, I went to the drop-in for a while, then met up with Phil for lunch, all within the ‘half hour’ I was told it would take to replace them.  When I returned one and a half hours later they were actually finished and you can actually notice a difference in the front.  In the front now you sort of lightly bounce over pot holes, where as the back just thuds through.

In the afternoon the girls took the matrons to buy some clothes for the children with money that people had donated for buying clothes for Christmas for the children.  While they did that Phil, Aurelia and I baby sat the children, and because it was sleep time most of the children were in bed when the matrons were leaving.  As soon as the last matron had closed the gate to go, however, the elder children popped their heads out the doors to their houses to check and then came out.  It was a good time today as the small children were sleeping and we got some time to spend with the older children.  Most of the time the younger ones seem to get most of the attention, so it was good to play with the older ones also.

Here’s a couple of photos that Aurelia took of me with the children:

In the afternoon and evening we were preparing for tomorrow’s party, I am not sure what time Erica went to bed, but I went to bed around 10:30 and she still had things in the oven, and a lot of cleaning up to do.