Time to Market

The nearest town to Kiwoko is Luweero, about 10 miles away. On Saturday Irene and Corrie needed some urgent shopping and so visited the market there.

 

 The first stop was at the vegetable stall. Here there was a variety of recognisable vegetables such as tomatoes and onions, as well as those not usually found in Britain, such as matoke (ma-toke-ay)which looks like a green banana but tastes more like potato.

It is unusual for stall holders to have scales. Instead items such as tomatoes are sold by quantity whilst potatoes are sold by the bucket – Here Irene is buying a quarter bucket.

 

Buying meat is more of an adventure. Chickens are bought live for ‘processing’ at home whilst meat is bought off the bone at open air butchers. Its best to shop early before the meat has had a chance to ‘mature’ in the sun. And flies are no problem!!!!!!!!

 

Finally, after a hard morning shopping there’s always a chance to cool off with an ice-cream at the local ‘supermarket’.

 

Back at the Hospital we also had a different sort of market. Over the months a variety of clothes had been brought out by visitors and left to be sold. On Thursday we held one of our very popular ‘Sales’ where staff, students and villagers were keen to buy clothes, shoes and suit cases. The money will be used for some for the Christian and Children’s ministry at the Hospital.

 

We don’t think it was a homeless clothes moth, but the next day a large moth decided to rest on the frame of Malcolm’s office door – could it be the moth-er of all moths?

 

This week’s Proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from Zambia: ““A person who sells eggs should not start a fight in the market”

The Early Bird...........and the Worm

In Uganda dawn is always at 6.30am throughout the year, which is the sign that the day has started and work must begin.

 Malcolm often goes for an early morning walk, and every day sees a group of men leading a few cows to a field. Here, the animals are butchered and traders buy hunks of meat and take these back to their shops to sell or cook.

 Its an early start at the Hospital Farm. Once the cows are milked, churns are filled and brought around the hospital houses by distributors on bikes.

The Hospital day starts with a service in the dining room for staff and students. This is in English and this week Irene was asked to speak again. Malcolm presented certificates to a number of medical staff, including Sarah from the UK. These were for their help at a ‘Medical Camp’ at a medical centre in Kampala.

For those staff who prefer a service and prayers in Lugandan, they might begin the day at an outdoor meeting sat around one of the rainwater tanks.

This week’s bug is a large grasshopper which came to visit

 This week’s Swahili proverb from the BBC Africa web-site is from Togo  “Once bitten by a snake, you are always afraid of worms” .