Repairing and moving.

On the 1^st of the month we moved out to the “farm” about 2 acres, where we will now live rent free. We are between Mukono and Kalagi. The process for getting here was a feat in endurance and it cost us over $1000 to get the house to where we don’t have to go out at night to go to the bathroom or where we can shower behind a locked door at night. But we needed to do it to conserve our income and insulate ourselves from being a small target in a big city of strangers, Kampala. Certainly, others who are white/American live in Kampala, however, they often live in gated communities with on duty security guards and such. We are pretty far below that level of income.

The house was in horrible condition when we started. Dust an inch thick. Lizard poop, hornets and ants everywhere. We still have to replace the front door as someone could just bust it down with little effort. My biggest concern is the layout of the place. After dark you cannot just shut the front door and continue your business inside. The sitting room, a bedroom and a bare floor bathroom are behind the far door. This consists of our living space. The kitchen is behind another doorway. Behind the near door is a third room where a 3^rd person often lives but it is vacant now. The bathroom is out back. After dark, often we sit on the lit patio eating or bathing the girls. It’s a fish bowl in the neighborhood. It reminds me of the scene in the movie Frozen where the family is in the woods and all they see in a perimeter around them is the whites of a hundred watching eyes.

We’ve since worked on the floor—replaced the crumbling concrete. I laid tiles till my fingers bled and my muscles ached—they still ache. We painted the walls. Shhh! Please don’t tell the neighbors because painted walls and tiles and a ceiling are signs that we are uber rich—and the minivan sitting outside. I was reluctant to get a vehicle but after considering what was most safe, we broke down and got one.

We are now moved in. The bathroom has yet to be completed and our clothes are in one big pile on the floor.