Hubris

I have learned a new word from my Ugandan friends. The word is hubris. Webster defines it as:: exaggerated pride or self-confidence
So amount my small group of friends we have a running game going of giving people points for things that they say that are overtly self confident. I would like to say that I'm not currently in the lead, but Aki and I wrote this poem for our friend Patrick for his birthday, so.... Well you be the judge...

''We were thinking just the other day
And we hope you realize how lucky you are to have us in your life
In fact the more we thought about it
We aren't even sure how you survived all these years without knowing us
It's hard to imagine a single day of yours without us in it
Just think how sad and dismal that would be.
Surely you must realize by now how rare it is to find
Two girls with such excellent character
And what a true privilege it is to call them friends.
Not to mention this deadly combination of style and beauty is not easily found on any catwalk
And you get to keep us here on your arm making YOU look good.
Some men would call that heaven,
You get to call it your life.
So it's understood that daily mention should be made of how generally awesome we are.

Oh yeah and vice versa.''

When I Fail to Write

So I realize that it has been exceptionally long since I've posted anything on here and in the interest of good authorship I thought I should correct this inexcusable mistake. This is therefore my attempt to rectify that situation and also to pull some meaning from the last several weeks of my life.
First of all I should let you know that I am still not an official Ugandan nurse much to my chagrin. However I know that God's timing and plans are much better than my own so I will wait on Him.
In the meantime I am still working with my friend Aki doing decoration work for kwajulas and weddings. This last weekend we had a very muddy kwajula in Jinja. So many things went wrong it was almost comical if it hadn't pushed our time frame back so far that we weren't sure we could complete the decor on time. Then I got a migraine and ended up having to lie down for a while. It appeared to have passed, but as soon as I got up I had to rush to the side of the bush and lost everything I had that day. Needless to say I felt much better after that, but was still weak into the next day. We slept on the floor that night waiting for the tents to be done so we could complete our work on the insides. The next day dawned bright and early with lots to get done and we tackled it with zest. We actually managed to complete everything, but Aki and I were so worm out that we didn't even have the energy to attend the function like we were originally planning. Needless to say, we were in need of the relaxing day we had planned for Sunday. It was a friend's birthday and since we were already in Jinja we figured that we would make it a long weekend and do some sightseeing.
We got to go to the source of the Nile river and learned about is discovery. It's sad actually, there used to be a beautiful waterfall at the head of the Nile where it flows from lake Victoria, but they put ina dam for hydroelectricity and raised the water level the whole 15 meters over the waterfall, covering it completely. This also disrupted the rapids downstream which used to be one of the top places in the world door destination white water tag rafting. Now I support, in general, hydroelectricity as a clean and renewable source of energy, but when it comes to changing the natural landscape in such a manner, I find it a bit sad and a teensy bit irresponsible.
Anyway we got to go and stand at the edge of where the falls were and you can tell from the current there where they were.
I'll try post some pictures as soon as my computer is out of the shop and hopefully you can all empty them. I had never been east in Uganda except to Mwiri so it was fun to see a little different side of the country.
I

Let's Write a Poem

Let's write a poem.

Let's make it say everything that we've been thinking and feeling

Let's put in all our disappointments and our joys

Let's spread am ample amount of fear for the future and regret for the past

Let's season it with the bliss of a first kiss and the excitement of a little one's arrival

Let's put in all the words we should have been saying to one another all along

Let's speak of noble things

Let's tell of change for our generation

Let's inspire hope of a better tomorrow

Let's be a voice for the one who has none and advocate for the downtrodden

Let's put all this down on paper

Let's give it a stunning title to make people think

Let's fill it full of alliterating prose and Oxford words

Let's fuse intelligence with eloquence

Let's blend the wisdom of the streets with the fullness of a library

Let's twist our thoughts into new written ideas

Let's empathize, emphasize, epigrammatize, enfranchise, equalize, essentialize, and epitomize 

Let's give them something so unique that they snap to their feet

Let's write a poem.