This Must be the Place

The first thing I did, after my bed frame was brought in (by bike remember?) was measure the floors for vinyl flooring. The majority of the buildings in Uganda, including my office, have smooth cement floors, like garage floors back home. Usually they are left bare, sometimes there are rugs on them. I don’t like the grey drab of them, and they get dusty, especially from shoes.. My floors had a red sheen painted on them. I noticed a similar sheen in a restaurant, but it was wearing off to the grey.

I was inspired by the vinyl floor my host family had in my room. Many shops sell this in 2 meter wide rolls with a variety of patterns. I needed 9.1 meters. These are smooth to sweep the ubiquitous red clay grains, and easy to squeegee and mop up liquids (invariably from pouring water out of the heavy Jerry cans). I used odd extra pieces to fill in gaps, and wound up cutting a large chunk out from under my bed. I even cut it to fit around the door frames. I really wanted to get patterns on the over lapping seams to line up perfectly, until I discovered the basic pattern is actually a rectangle by a slight amount. These floors tear easily, so I always move my chairs without scraping them across the vinyl. I walk on it barefoot, shower shoes or slippers. This flooring is what I am most proud of, thus the extended blathering about it.

Starting in my living/bed room, looking back toward my front double door. There are also windows in each room. Door and windows have bars behind the glass. Behind that, there are solid inside metal doors that latch. When the inside doors are open, they let in plenty of daylight. I close the inside doors and padlock the double door whenever I leave, even for a minute. The fabric on the wall says “Peace on Earth”.

This was built to hang my shirts and trousers. The carpenter added the shoe rack below. The shoe rack slopes a little, but the rest of it does not slope despite the way it looks. When it was delivered, my hangers did not fit over the rail. He thought I would put nails into the rail and hang hangers on the nails, which admittedly was similar to my home stay room. He came back and sawed the rail in half. There is another rail in the back.

I bought this four level TV stand to use for the rest of my clothes. I regret not using my carpenter. The papers above, in my “Peace Corps Corner”, are L to R : my Lasoga Proficiency Certificate; my personal invitation to the swearing in ceremony; my personalized welcome poster from training; a map of Uganda showing our Consolidation Points to gather during civil unrest or disasters (and the step before evacuation, if necessary); and a list of the wardens who would be communicating with us in such event. Peace Corps has Emergency Action Plans in every country. My niece was evacuated from of Bolivia this way.

Going into the next room, the back wall with laundry basin and Jerry cans

This vanity was originally my desk, but it came out too high. Perfect for this though. I had the carpenter lower the shelf, and now the whole thing tilts.

My bucket bathing area. Note the offending spigot. My carpenter put in a block with posts to hang my towel and undies to dry. It is culturally unacceptable to hang undies on the line outdoors.

I get a small storage room with its own door and padlock. I might not need that luggage for two years.