Volunteers age too

Volunteers may not age fast here because the days are slow - but they do not forget birthdays and anniversaries.

Angie's birthday

When Angie celebrated her birthday, she had a bash. The cake she is blowing was steam-baked by Liz, while the solitary candle was my contribution. She cooked the traditional pancit, a Filipino or Chinese dish made of rice noodles or vermicelli fried with a mix of meat, seafoods and vegetables.  Since rice noodles are not available, she used pasta garnished with vegetables.  She will definitely have a long life because it tasted so good.

Liz's birthday

Doug's birthday

Next came Liz's birthday. She did not bake a cake for herself, so Sandra commissioned an instructor from the school where she is assigned to bake it.  We had pizza, red wine and lemon juice.  Doug (Sandra's spouse) had his 66th birthday.  The cake was steam-baked by a newly arrived vol, Marian.

Jenny and Andy's wedding anniversary

Eve's birthday

During our recent training in Kampala, a couple in my batch of vols celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary.  The cake came from a bakeshop, this time.

My birthday came. There would have been no celebration except that Liz baked a cake.  So I shared it with my house mates but not before blowing the candle. I then cut the cake, and offered the first slice to Jacob, our scullion.

My lone guest, Jacob

He surely got a big surprise that I served him first.  I think he felt so honored by the gesture because the following day, he brought me 2 pieces of sweet potatoes from his village.