Additions to things seen on a boda, as annotated by Kendra Holloway..

Two full sized bed frames
a stack of matresses 6 or 7 high
another boda on a boda
a couple bags of charcoal (this doesn't sound like a lot, but a bag of charcoal alone weighs a couple hundred pounds.)
a ten foot tall stack of sugar cane

more to come later....

A couple children must have been sacrificed yesterday because it was raining cats and dogs in afternoon while Kendra and I went to the agriculture fair (where I was adopted as the baby sister of a group of fabulous art students (who also gave me a necklace), pushed into the tedious sweatshop-like labor-intensive task of stringing those rolled paper beads for an hour or so while cramped with 30 ugandans under an 7 foot by 7 foot awning, and then forced to walk a mile in the storm back to Kendra's house while being splashed by tidal waves of mud as busses sped through the puddles in the road.) Despite the fact that it stopped raining by the time we got home, the clouds loomed ominously overhead and began to shed their vengence around 1 or 2 in the morning until the hour I awoke. My inability to sleep was only heightened by the thunder and lightning and the wind that screamed over the sounds of the Dido that I had bursting out through my headphones. I'm pretty sure a couple of albinos were slaughtered yesterday or the day before in order to warrant such a downpour.

A little more on the subject of baby killing and why I have mentioned it twice in the last paragraph. I have overheard many times since I arrived here that fateful wednesday so many weeks ago about a phenomenon that has been causing much uproar and fear in the sleepy villages of the Ugandan countryside. Recently, due to the draught (which I clearly have not recognized any sign of) there has been multiple incidents of kidnappings. It is said that these children are being stolen by none other than the ancient and powerful witchdoctors (or traditional medicinemen to be politically correct) and sacrificed to god (or the gods, i'm not sure which, either way they must be crazy... haha... if you get the movie reference), with albinos being the most powerful sacrifice for making dreams come true. I make light of situation as though it is only a rumor, but perhaps I should be more careful, for in fact, it is ridiculously real, and a very serious issue. Children are stolen everyday and sacrificed (usually by decapitation) for reasons spanning from a want of rain to a need for better business.

When mentioning to Kendra that I was writing this post (I've been staying at her humble abode in order to work a little bit on some business issues, partnerships, designs, etc) she turned pale and told me a story about her weekend night watchman. About a year ago, his wife was in line at the hospital and holding her recently born child when she had to rush to the restroom. She kindly asked the woman behind her to watch her child, passed the baby into her arms, and ran off. When she returned, the woman, and her child was gone. Not even a week later, the investigative officer returned to the watchman and his wife's home with what was thought to be their baby son... decapitated. For over a year this couple believed their last born child to be a victim of sacrifice (as decapitation was a clear sign of such an occurance) until one day only a few months ago, the officer returned to their home once again with their baby boy, alive but very sick with malaria, pneumonia, and other various diseases. The woman that had stolen the child had attempted to pass off the baby as her own to her husband, however, he recognized that it was a lie and threatened to kill her unless she told the truth. Despite the fact that the watchman and his wife got their child back, the question still remains... who's child was the mysterious, headless baby that had been thrust into their arms a year ago?

There are certain things that you can do to protect your baby against the sacrificial process, as according to the rules of witchdoctorhood ( p.c. traditional medicinemen) babies can't be sacrificed, or aren't as valuable if they have certain traits. I am not sure what all of these precautions are, but I have seen some things on the farm that have been done to the newborns as a precaution. Vero has put a colorful, plastic beaded belt around the waste of four month old Christina. I have seen other small children with ears that are pierced, or with sharp pieces of wood sticking through their earlobes, as it is said that these children can not be sacrificed. Those are only two that I am sure of, but I will continue to ask around to find out other things that can be done to keep from being cradle robbed.