Most of the mission is down country on various retreats/errands/adventures right now, so it's very quiet here. The only ones left here are Laurie and Josh Tricarico, the Okkens, Jim & Jenny Knox, Heather and me. As the only mzungu on the Wright's compound during the day, I've been having quite a few conversations with the Karamojong guards, our laundry lady Rose, and the slashers (men who cut the grass by slashing it with sickles).

The other day I heard "Emily!" Iriyama Paul told me that something smelled very bad behind the schoolhouse, in the shady area where the workers sit down to rest. The schoolhouse also houses the kitchen, bathroom and shower that Erika and I share, so they thought that maybe we had rotting food or that our propane tanks were leaking. But after some investigation they determined it was probably a dead rat rotting under the building. Great. So today Josh is going to come and see if there is anything dead on top of the building; if not, it's underneath and we'll just have to deal with the rank smell for a little while.

The Wright's cat Priya is going to have kittens any day now. She's huge and she is desperate for food. I feed her a little more than the other cats since she certainly can't hunt in her condition. But she's becoming quite a pest and keeps trying to get into my banda. I don't want her having her kittens here, because then I'd have to leave the door unlocked and open all the time for her to come in and out. Although the workers here are very kind, petty theft is an issue here so we have to keep the buildings locked when we're not around.

Yesterday I went down to the clinic to teach Faith, the eight year old daughter of a Kenyan couple working at the mission. She is a brilliant girl and speaks four languages. Her little brother James (4) and cousin Stacey (3) were also there so I played with them. James speaks some English but Stacey only knows a handful of words. The primary language in their home is kiSwahili. Erika taught them Duck Duck Goose and they know Ring Around the Rosey (in kiSwahili!). They are absolutely adorable. Stacey's mom died of cancer just a few weeks ago, and her father and brother are working and can't care for her, so she's moved in with her cousins here. She's been very shy and sad and hasn't been eating much, but it was great to see her smile and laugh and play yesterday. Poor thing.

I have lots of lesson prep to do before Monday! SO MUCH READING. And the internet here is horrible, so I may not post too often, but I'll do my best.

I miss you all! Please email me or comment here -- Facebook is pretty unreliable so the best way to reach me is through email (emilygpihl@gmail.com). I'd love to hear from you!

Emily