One Man's Trash

Things are shaping up.  I think.  I hope.  I just had a conversation with my box guy, Philip, and he thinks (while I hope and pray) that the boxes will be done in four days.  Which means on Friday or Saturday I can get them up here to Gulu.  HALLELUJAH!!!  That means I can get the stencils put on - if not over the weekend, then on Monday - and I can finally start distributing them next week!  I have butterflies just thinking about this!

Practicing it's new-found purpose in the world.

I had a few good things happen this last week as well: I had the prototype made up for the grocery sack recycling holder.  I wanted something at a very low cost, something small enough to fit in a kitchen, and something that looked fairly nice.  So I bought these large white sacks they use to carry rice and flour and such in, and had a girl I know help me out.  She is just learning to sew, but wants to go to school for fashion and design.  So she cut the sack into four, stitched up the sides, and attached these little handles out of scrap material.  I'll slap my logo on there and pass it out to residents willing to collect their grocery sacks for me.   Exciting!

Kinda cute, don't you think?

Also, I finally received my ENORMOUS recycling sacks.  Tracking these things down was kind of a trip.  When I called the guy selling them on the phone, he told me he spoke, "Only Swahili, only Swahili."  No one speaks only Swahili.....so I had to have Lenox - a kid who helps around our house here - talk to him about buying them.  So then the guy came to Gulu, with the bags, but wouldn't call me because he was afraid.  So bizarre.  Consequently, it took longer than planned, but I got them!  They're nice and clean now, but soon they will be full of nasty dirty bottles waiting to head to K'la.  

Unraveling the bag to see it's full potential.  

This is Lenox - he's a tall guy - probably 6'2", so you can see this is a large sack.

There was a group of volunteers in from America that asked if I had anything they could do for me.  So I organized a garbage pick-up day.  And then they cancelled.  But that day I was walking to get my bicycle tire fixed (it's been flat four times in four weeks....that's getting old....) and decided to do a little garbage pick-up of my own.  I filled my basket full of empty water bottles on the side of the road.  After only one block, my basket was overflowing.  And this is in a relatively clean part of town.  There were a couple young girls who saw me picking them up and were eager to help, so they carried a few extras to my gate, though they could not figure out why in the world this white girl was collecting bottles for money.....  But this inspired me to do two things:  1. I'm going to organize a service project garbage pick-up day with my my church members - I think they'll happily help me, and 2. I'm going to start carrying a plastic bag with me everywhere I go and fill it with garbage that I can reuse/recycle.  I am turning into the crazy garbage lady.  And I kind of love it.  

Good bottles will be taken to St Monica's while the crushed and broken ones will wait here to be taken to K'la.  This is just the beginning!