May 13th, 2013.
My birthday began early this year. Katie and Jessica jumped out and surprised me with noise makers and balloons when I opened my bedroom door. I had no idea they were there, and as I usually take my sweet time getting ready in the morning, they were forced to patiently crouch and wait for me in silence. They had to avert Geoffrey the maintenance man while they were waiting because his typical morning greeting is a very loud, “WOMAN OF GOD! IT IS A GOOD DAY! PRAISE THE LORD!”.
Our ministry contact Dennis arrived and informed us that we would be visiting a prison today. We had visited a minimum security prison the week before, and it was an incredible experience. We were able to share and encourage the inmates and several of them accepted Jesus as their personal Savior. This time however, we would be visiting a maximum security prison. In the words of Dennis: “It’s where we keep the dangerous ones”.
Dennis told us we would even get a chance to speak to inmates awaiting the death sentence.
My heart started beating faster…DEATH ROW!? This would be serious missionary business.
But, alas…my blog is not titled “My Birthday on Death Row”…the prison visit plans fell through.
Instead, we visited an organization called “Skills Plus Uganda” which help to teach skills and trades to young people in the community. James, Jessica and I spent our morning in a charcoal briquette factory where they invented a way to make cooking fuel that uses less charcoal.
The first step is sifting and mixing sawdust and charcoal dust together. Cassava (African potato) flour and water are boiled together in a giant witch’s cauldron until it becomes a thick, bubbling glop. The flour and water mixture serves as a binding agent…and also a light snack!
Occasionally some of the workers would scoop out a mugful to sip on.
The binding agent is combined with the charcoal dust until the mixture looks like sticky wet tar. The “tar” gets measured out and dumped into a PVC pipe and then a hydraulic press squishes it into three little pucks. The charcoal pucks are then dried on racks and later bagged to be sold in the market.
We watched the entire process, and then it was our turn to try.
Jessica was up first. She loaded the mixture into the press and started cranking the lever. Watch out, this girl is stronger than she looks. CRACK!…one crank too many split her PVC pipe right in half.
James got a new pipe and we were back in business. Three pucks came out of the press but two of them broke in half and ended up on the floor. Well, one out of three ain’t bad.
James: “Does it really matter? They’re just going to burn them anyways!”
Now it was the birthday girl’s turn. Apparently I overstuffed my measuring cup and my pucks ending up being twice the size they should have been.
After our three failed attempts, we were led outside to wash the charcoal dust off of our hands.
Laura: “I think we just got fired.”
Back at home, plans were made to have a celebratory birthday dinner in Jinja…a 15 minute motorcycle ride away.
Dennis: (laughing) “If you go into Jinja after dark you’re going to get robbed.”
Okay, Forget dinner in Jinja.
We decided to walk to the nearby market to find something to eat instead. It was getting dark quickly, but that meant I could try out my brand new headlamp!
Anton: “If someone was going to rob us, they are definitely going pick the girl with the giant light on her head first.”
Okay, forget the headlamp.
We ended up sampling everything edible at the market.
Roasted maize (almost like summer sweet corn, but not quite), fried cassava (almost like french fries, but not quite), doughnuts, hot chapatti (African flatbread…our absolute favourite), bean stuffed samosas…
And then we found skewers of grilled meat.
Only 20 cents?
We’ll take all of them.
James: “Is this chicken?”
Brant: “No, I think this is beef.”
Katie: “Mine kind of tastes like a bad hotdog.”
Laura: *Spits her half chewed up meat onto the road*
Anton: “We should probably all take an Imodium before bed.”
We made it back to the house, and I iced my lemon cake with the Betty Crocker cream cheese frosting that we had found in the “Made in the USA” section of the grocery store. Jessica had been feeling sick all afternoon, and as the “Happy Birthday” song droned to an end, she started to feel a bit faint and ended up collapsed on the floor. We gave her a glass of water to sip, but Superwoman Katie decided that she would be more comfortable on the couch.
So she bent down to pick her up…
Anton: Katie, don’t lift with your back!
Brant: And now they’re both going to die…I can’t watch.
Laura: Sooooo, who wants cake?
We ended the night eating our delicious cake around the dining room table with poor Jessica lying safely on the couch with a frozen chunk of chicken on her head because we didn’t have ice left.
As far as birthdays go, this one wasn’t that special…it was really just an ordinary day on the World Race.
But I think that’s what made it so special for me.
When is the next time I will celebrate a birthday in AFRICA with a bunch of people I love who make me laugh every day?
And then later on in the week, I got a do-over!
We found a restaurant on the bank of the Nile and ate pizza as the sun set over the river…
Yep, this birthday was pretty darn special.
