Friday morning there was an executive meeting at the Duffields house meaning John did not go into BBC the same time as us - so we walked up to the main road to catch the staff bus. while there Suze snapped this lady hopping onto the back of a boda boda with her baby tied to her back - not an unusual site for us at all now. we regularly see children as young as 2 sitting by themselves on the backs of these bikes on the main roads - and you would be amazed at how many chickens or matoki bunches can be tied to one.

this is Takan Bishop Milly!! the mattress is that rolled up thing with the crazy patterns and the plastic bag sitting on top has another woolen blanket for him, a full sheet set and a mosquito net - we were mobbed as soon as we arrived in the school grounds - John our driver had actually told most of the kids they had to get out of the background of the photo. I felt a little bad for Takan because it was not exactly a private meeting with 200 kids crowding in on us trying to get a better look, but we had a little chat to him and even met his dad too. I am looking forward to keeping in contact with him especially - really cool kid

this is Martha, her sister Agnes and their mother - Martha is another of Margs kids and we had visited her at home on Tuesday to meet the family and find out her needs. She especially asked us for some bedding for her sister and some clothes for herself. the mother also told us that food was a problem. we went back on the Friday afternoon with 3 store bought dresses for Martha, as well as 3 for Martha and 2 for Agnes her sister from Margery's sewing angel.
(Suze and I have been having a wonderful time handing out the dresses that Margery gave me - some have gone to BCC children and their siblings but on Friday we met a group of young young girls killing time on top of a pile of rubble at the side of the road while we were waiting around for petrol, so we handed out toothbrushes, toothpaste & pencils to the boys and dressed all the girls and their friends up in brand new outfits - you have never seen such big grins, Suze looked like and Aussie Father Christmas to them!!)
we also bought a woolen blanket, sheets and mosquito net for the Agnes at Martha's request and bought a 100kg bag of maize for the family and were then able to hand the left over money to the mother for other needs. the girls and their mother were over the moon - another good visit

this is me in the 2nd row of a 4 row mini van (and I mean mini van) that at the time was seating around 25 passengers - and if you counted the chickens tied by the leg in groups of 3 or 4 and piled on the roof it could have been tallied at about 60... these mini vans fly all about the place always loaded to the rafters with people - but they are a really cheap (and much faster than the boda bodas) way to travel - just not very comfortable all jammed in!

the taxi ride was required for us to attend a lunch invitation at the home of Phillis and Lydia. Lydia is one of the teachers at Joshua Primary and Phillis her sister is the BCC receptionist. In the picture with Suze are also Phillis' husband Micheal and their two young boys. we have really enjoyed spending time with each of these girls - they have been really cool to us

one of the streets in Mbale - Suze taking stealth pictures

ahh - this shop was a gold mine - I have been lusting after the 'free dresses' (kinda like kaftans with gorgeous embroidery around the necklines and in funky prints and tie dye) that you see many african women wearing and I have been desperately trying to find one for me to take home. anyway I have been passing this one shop the entire time we've been here and admired the mens shirts they had hanging over their doorway but was always unfortunately on the run and had no time to take a look inside - so after many other dissapointing stores we have peeked into Suze and I optimistically headed there on Saturday afternoon and were blown away. I have been looking for these since the day I arrived and most shops will have one or two but none I have liked enough to buy. this store though was the source - totally awesome - the walls were covered in them - the hardest thing was then choosing!!

an example of what you can carry on the back of a bike if only you try...

a entire living room setting?? peice of cake