The Wizard of Oz …
DOROTHY: “Toto, I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore.”
The smells, the sounds and the landscapes have all caused me
to realize that I am no longer “in Kansas.” The fact that dinner is usually
cooked over a charcoal fire and that we drink coke from a glass bottle and
there is no such thing as capacity on a bus have all made me realize that I am
no longer “in Kansas.”
On Monday, Shiloh and I accompanied our cook, Florence. We agreed
to help her shop for our weeks worth of food. We casually strolled into town
and found ourselves at the local market – not the supermarket, but the local
market.
Previous to going out we had made a list of all the items we
needed to purchase. We had decided that our dinner for the evening would be
chicken and rice. Of course the first stop on our two to three hour shopping
trip was the meat/deli department. It looked a bit different from the meat/deli
department at the King Soopers that was down the street from my home in the
U.S. We found ourselves looking for chicken, not just for chicken, but for A
chicken. Yep, they were alive. We were debating which live chicken to purchase.
There were chickens everywhere – some in cages, some on the ground and some in
the hands of the salesperson. Don’t worry the chickens weren’t going anywhere
because their feet were tied. Florence inspected several different chickens and
finally cut a deal on a black and white speckled chicken. I was handling the
money so I “couldn’t” hold the chicken. Ha! Good thing Shiloh loves animals!
She tucked the chicken under her arm and off we went. It was a meat/deli
department success. Knowing Shiloh’s love for animals I immediately warned her
not to name the chicken … TOO LATE! It was now Florence, Shiloh, Pepper and
myself on the shopping trip.
We then headed to the produce department. There were several
vendors all selling the same products – tomatoes, potatoes, green peppers,
pineapple, oranges, passion fruit. As is cultural here it is not about checking
the items off your list – the market is a relational and social environment. We
bought each of the above items from different vendors.
Our trip consisted of many more stops all with Pepper in
hand. Finally it was time for us to head home, but we had too much to carry
back through town. We hailed some boda bodas from somewhere – most of the time
they just appear out of thin air. A boda boda is a means of public
transportation here in Uganda. They are bicycles with an extra cushioned seat
over the rear tire. We saddled up on the boda bodas – side saddle of course
because we were wearing skirts. Shiloh and I have only once before ridden a
boda boda and believe me it is a bit difficult to get the hang of. Now we were
riding the boda bodas while carrying groceries and a chicken.
We safely made it home and introduced Pepper to the rest of
the family. In efforts to prevent deep bonds with Pepper Florence came and
retrieved the chicken.
We were later reunited with Pepper at about 9:00 p.m. that
night – this time Pepper was in a pot and covered with sauce and we were
sitting around the dinner table.
At one
point I looked at Shiloh and said, “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.”
