Pickpocket and dinner

We had a not-good afternoon yesterday, followed by a nice evening.

Paul took the afternoon off work so we could shop downtown. We took the usual 14-passenger van to the "taxi park," where about a thousand taxis crowd into a space the size of your living room. From there we walked across town, about a 40-minute walk, to a western style mall. Along the way we stopped into a bank to exchange Ugandan shillings for Kenyan shillings. We planned to send the money to Scott and his guardians with a friend who is heading to RVA next week. About ten minutes after we left the bank, as we waited at a crowded corner to cross the street, Paul was pushed by two men who came at him from either side. When he regained his balance he realized the men were pickpockets and had, just that quickly, gotten the Kenyan money . Of course they had melted into the crowd and there was no chance of finding them. Normally Paul wears clothing with zippered pockets when he's carrying a quantity of money, but since we had plans to have dinner at friends' house that evening, he had put on a dress shirt and slacks and had the money in his front pants pocket. As anyone can tell you who has experienced a theft of any kind, it's not only the loss of money that hurts, but the sense of violation. We wondered if the thieves had followed us from the bank. We certainly were an obvious target, being two of only a few white people in the downtown, and white people, by definition, are rich.

However, things looked up after that.We went to dinner at the home of a friend of mine from high school, Alene, and her husband Steve. They came to Kampala about ten months ago on a USAID project that Alene is working on having to do with monitoring HIV/AIDS programs. I haven't seen Alene since high school, and it was great to catch up with her after all this time. They live in a lovely home outside Kampala with a pretty yard, a swimming pool, and a view of Lake Victoria. After our hot, crowded, difficult afternoon (I had also gotten us lost), it was wonderful to relax in a peaceful spot with enjoyable company and a delicious dinner. We also got to visit with their daughter who is a sophomore at the international high school here. It was nice to be around a teenager again and fun to hear her impressions of her time in Uganda.

Today we had our usual Sat. morning coffee and grocery shopping trip, and tonight we're meeting friends for dinner. It's our 28th anniversary. Kudos to Paul for putting up with me all these years, and only every once in awhile turning to me and saying, "Have you ever had a wife?" I love you, dear!