Today was the first day we have had rain here and it slows similar to snow at home. The bodas (scooters) cant run and the taxis have a much slower go at it. We had planned to take a taxi to work, but Irene picked us up in her car instead. Mondays are our meeting day so we started the morning with a full office meeting to go over what happened last week and what our goals are for this week. Majority of the girls with sponsorships for their school fees are back at school. We have a few remaining girls, but most of their issues are with the family. I will be meeting with the women on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday this week. I am also going to start working on some marketing projects for Hope.
A fuel shortage in Uganda started over the weekend. Many believe that it was done on purpose by the government to keep people home. But, the official explanation is that the truck drivers were protesting being charged for COVID testing. Each time they enter the country, which is frequent, they were being charged $30 USD for a PCR
test. This is a lot of money to them especially when you can get a PCR test in town for $5 USD or less. The country does not keep much oil in reserve. There was about a 20% increase in price, but the bigger impact is that many of the gas stations just dont have any gas. The government said they have now agreed to test the truck drivers for free so we will see if the oil supply increases in days.
We had a Muslim style of rice for lunch. Similar to fried rice, but with their local spices. About 14% of the population of Uganda are Muslim. Islam was the first foreign religion to Uganda in the early 1800s. In the late 1800s the Christian missionaries came and slowly started to gain the majority. They did this but not just proselytizing, but also teaching skills and they gave military assistance. The Muslims fled to different parts of the country which actually made Islam more wide spread in the country, but still a minority religion.
havent had any cheese or wine since I have arrived here. So I tried a glass of red wine and a pepperoni pizza. I think I will wait until I get home to try either one again and go back to the local food which has been great.
