December 22nd
The Awakening of a New Day
Roosters crow people to wake. There’s no snooze button to hit as the roosters call to each other from their various posts throughout the Quarter. Rows of faded yellow jerry cans, carried by young children, start to form an eternal line by the scattered water kiosks. From the peaks of the stone quarry, life unstretches.
The homes within the Quarter vary tremendously. A few of the finest homes are made of mud bricks and the walls thickened with cement and fine aluminum sheet roofing protects from the heavy rains that come each spring and fall. Most other homes have walls made of branches formed to make multiple tic tac toe games and then filled in with mud. And with aluminum too expensive, a simple plastic tarp held in place by whatever can be found, offers inadequate protection. Stretching beyond these humble homes out of the slum which is the Acholi Quarter, rise solidly built homes with red tile roofs. At night, the flickering of lights in these homes is a stark contrast to the few lights in the Quarter.
