Ah the perks to cooking in Gulu: fresh | in-season veggies.
P-to-da-T stopped by to say hello today.
Yesterday Tony and I went to Acayo Margret’s house, she’s one of Mend’s newest seamstresses.
Her son, Francis, is quite the creator. He likes sculpting bodas and cars out of mud. He told us, “I want to be a motorcycle when I grow up.” Margret died of laughter, correcting him, “You mean, you want to learn to drive a motorcycle.”
I was Francis’ first sale. I gave him 1,000 UGX for one of his creations. As for his newly earned shillings, he says wants to buy salt with the plans of selling the salt in rations to earn more money. He is 7-years-old. Business man.
On Friday I went to visit Lily, one of Mend’s new seamstresses, at her home to meet her family and gather footage for her bio video.
Lily has chickens. Lots of them. She bought her first one for 9,000 UGX, today she has over 40 of them. She sells one for around 11,000 UGX. Her sons are also owners of chickens; Lily gave each of them two chickens to teach them responsibility and small business practices.
Malaria and worms. Second time is a charm.
Curious George was being sold outside of Cafe Larem the other day. It took everything Bro and I had to not buy him. Will power.
This week I sat down with the six new seamstresses at Mend to hear their stories.
All of them have spent an upwards of seven years in captivity with the LRA. The effect the LRA has had on all of their lives is intense and raw. These women remind me why I do my job. Their humble hearts and strong spirits are uplifting.
Pictured is Atek Lily.
Lily started working at Mend in February and has already earned herself the Seamstress of the Month award. She is a single mother of four boys, and she uses her income to pay their school fees and buy food. One day she hopes to own a plot of land and build a home for her family.
Dream Factory 2’s very first intern - Tony Bazilo.
Tony will be interning with DF2 for the next four months. This week I’m teaching him the basics of storytelling and FCP. We went over the 3-Act structure yesterday and applied it to his favorite movie - The Notebook. Golden. Talk about full circle.
On Sunday I interviewed nine of the returning roadies.
They rehashed some of their best memories from the road. I was nearly in tears from laughing. Great to have them back.
The roadies are backkkkk.
Today they are in Kampala de-briefing and tomorrow they are making the trip to Gulu. On Sunday I’m sitting down with a handful of them to talk about their time spent on the road.
Today I got a little crafty and made a backdrop for the shoot.
Can’t wait to see these guys and hear what they have to say.
Sad day in Gulu.
Our beloved little man passed away. Nelson was our main squeeze.
He was attacked by feral cats. I came home from work just in time to see our guy before he passed.
…Revenge is coming for those cats.
RIP, Nelson.
In Loving Memory
Nelson’s glory days.
2011-2012
Never a dull sunset in Gulu.
Rainbow clouds.
Better known as a circumhorizontal arc.
(Faber told me that).
Too good to be true, but true.
Beautiful imminent danger.
