Georgette is back in the US now, but sent me an entry, upon request, for the blog. She shares one of her favorite continual interactions with the "Bug Man" we would pass on the way to Idoome, the TAOST location I wrote about in the last entry. Geoffrey is TAOST's director.
"Geoffrey is a remarkable man with a great sense of humor. He picked us up every morning & drove us to Idome for our day of classes & came back for us in the evening.
He always had to make several stops along the way to talk with these & those...Andrew, our translator, asked him if he was running for office because he seemed involved in the lives & problems of so many people.
After about 45 minutes on the main road we would turn onto a small dirt track that was navigated at about 5 mph because it was so chewed up. This road took us through the fields of crops planted by the residents of Idome which was their food supply. There was a man by the rice paddy every day whose job it was to keep the bugs off the rice. That gave us a good laugh because we couldn't imagine how he went about it but once we did see him setting fire to an ant hill. Anyway, each time we passed Geoffrey & he would exchange a few words & then Geoffrey would translate for us. One day he asked Tara for 500 ugs (about 25 cents) - the next day he asked for 1000 ugs. Our amusement factor went up along with the requests. Tara asked Geoffrey to ask him what he was going to give her in exchange & he offered rice. The next evening he said he wanted to go to the UK & everyone had another good laugh. We began to look forward to the interaction.
On the Fri. Tara had other business to attend to & did not come to class with Judy & myself. As we passed "bug man" Geoffrey leaned out the window & told him that Tara was away making arrangements for his ticket to the UK. On our way out on Fri. evening (with a live chicken in the trunk) to our surprise, "bug man" wasn't there. Geoffrey said that he was probably at home packing his bags, or maybe he was getting a passport photo taken, & we all had another really good laugh.
Geoffrey is one of the most charmingly good natured people I have ever met. Out of the goodness of his heart he works toward the improvement of the lives of people, especially women & orphans, in his community. I was struck by how many Ugandans work tirelessly for the benefit of others without any compensation. Whether because of or in spite of the country's history of violence, they seem to have a lot of love & compassion in their hearts. I will never forget them." Georgette
