The Ugandan culture is all about respect. In the last couple of days I’ve learned from Kimi and a local that serves on her board, that it is common to pay people for a “service” that they render you. It is known as an “appreciation”. In our culture it would be viewed as a bribe or trying to buy someone off, but here if someone goes out of their way to help you, even though it is not expected, you show your respect by appreciating the time that they’ve taken to help you by compensating them. It is also received in a respectful appreciative way. Today Lauren and I gave out our first “appreciations” to the property managers who showed us a home and to our driver, who has been so helpful.

This morning as I was getting ready for the day and thinking about what we were going to accomplish, I decided to pass on the sun block because a majority of our time would be spent in a vehicle to and from the airport. We were in the car for a total of about 7 or 8 hours today, but my arm of course was hanging outside the window. By the time we got home, it was totally burned! At dinner, the children asked about it and if it hurt. I suppose a red suburn on a white muzungu is something so foreign to someone whose skin doesn't burn the same way. They kept touching my arm to feel the heat from the burn and poking it to watch the point of pressure turn from white to red. It was fairly entertaining for all of us!