Everyone goes the extra mile to look "smart" at Christmas, so I decided that I would get my hair plaited and look smart too. My friend Prossy found a lady who could braid mzungu hair and she even figured out a cheaper price for me. I agreed to the price and so yesterday morning I hopped on my bike and went to the pharmacy in town where I knew I could find the stylist - Liz.
I was expecting the braiding time to be about 3 hours, but who knew that I would spend the next 9 hours sitting on the floor of the pharmacy, watching and listening to life behind the counter. The whole process began at 10 am, when we walked up the street to the beauty supply store and picked out blonder hair that could match my head. I definitely did not want black hair being added to my head. It was close to 11 am when the braiding began.
I sat behind the counter of a small pharmacy on main street. I sat on a woven mat while Liz sat on a plastic chair tucked in behind me. It was my job all day to pass the extensions to her... little piece by little piece so she could just keep braiding. Conversation flowed and her hands were working, but by 2 pm, we were only a quarter of the way finished. WHAT?? I asked her if it always took this long... and she kindly informed me that she has never done my kind of hair before and she didn't want to hurt me. She has done hair of the Indian mzungus and she thought my hair would be the same.
I could see in the small mirror that she was doing a great job though, and I knew I couldn't just up and walk away, so I continued sitting on the floor, staring at boxes of pills - Hedon, coldafex, and other pain killers. I spelled the menthyl balm that was on the shelf right in front of my face. And I imagined what all the syringes and needles would be used for in the boxes lining the bottom shelves. I did realize one thing... I won't pack as many meds from home... if you look close enough, you can find it here... and the owner of the shop was very concerned about expiration dates.
With an aching back I continued to wait and work, while watching African soaps on the tv tucked up in the corner of the shop. I watched until the power went out, that is.... everybody was blaming Umeme, the power company, until a half hour later when we say a transport coming through town carrying a huge gas tank cylinder on it's trailer. All vehicles needed to be moved and electrical wires lifted in order for the cargo to pass through town. The locals were even amazed that it had a police escort and a vehicle in front saying "Caution - wide load". Apparently this truck was headed for the Congo.
The shop had non-stop customers all day. Many of them were shocked to find me sitting in the corner, but were absolutely delighted that I was getting my hair plaited. "Wow, you really look like an African now!!" Sipping only a bottle of water, I kept hoping that my hair would finish... although I was enjoying the company and Liz was learning to braid faster. She didn't believe me when I mentioned that the key was to have my hair really wet. (That goes against everything Africans believe about their own hair.)
Around 5 pm we heard a crash, and since we had to leave the shop briefly so that the "nurse" could give a treatment behind the counter, we went out to inspect the accident on main street. A lady had misjudged the curb while parking and hit a cement pillar on the side of the building. Thankfully no one was hurt. Back inside, I spent the next two hours listening to a village lady trying to figure out how to get her sacks of charcoal to the next city of Mbale. She was trying to do some small business, but hadn't arranged transport and the man who would take the sacks would have left her with absolutely no money - since the cost of gasoline is so pricey, he was asking 500,000 Ugandan shillings for transport to a city just 2 hours away... thats almost $240 Canadian. By 7 pm the lady was exhausted and just decided to leave her bags and walk away.
Now, thankfully at 6:50 pm, my team-mate Josh called to tell me that there were two Christmas trees dropped off in my yard, a gift from the neighbour children. I used that call to say that I absolutely needed to be home by 7:30 pm (as is my curfew when I don't have a vehicle - otherwise it's way to dark to be out safely) and that I had an appointment. Well, finally things started to rush. Three ladies were braiding and everything was finished by 7:20 pm. I couldn't believe that it took the whole day to add three packages of short extensions to my head. But I learned a lot culturally from the floor of the pharmacy and my head really does look smart.
Now I just need to learn to sleep with this extra bundle of hair on the back of my head.
I was expecting the braiding time to be about 3 hours, but who knew that I would spend the next 9 hours sitting on the floor of the pharmacy, watching and listening to life behind the counter. The whole process began at 10 am, when we walked up the street to the beauty supply store and picked out blonder hair that could match my head. I definitely did not want black hair being added to my head. It was close to 11 am when the braiding began.
I sat behind the counter of a small pharmacy on main street. I sat on a woven mat while Liz sat on a plastic chair tucked in behind me. It was my job all day to pass the extensions to her... little piece by little piece so she could just keep braiding. Conversation flowed and her hands were working, but by 2 pm, we were only a quarter of the way finished. WHAT?? I asked her if it always took this long... and she kindly informed me that she has never done my kind of hair before and she didn't want to hurt me. She has done hair of the Indian mzungus and she thought my hair would be the same.
I could see in the small mirror that she was doing a great job though, and I knew I couldn't just up and walk away, so I continued sitting on the floor, staring at boxes of pills - Hedon, coldafex, and other pain killers. I spelled the menthyl balm that was on the shelf right in front of my face. And I imagined what all the syringes and needles would be used for in the boxes lining the bottom shelves. I did realize one thing... I won't pack as many meds from home... if you look close enough, you can find it here... and the owner of the shop was very concerned about expiration dates.
With an aching back I continued to wait and work, while watching African soaps on the tv tucked up in the corner of the shop. I watched until the power went out, that is.... everybody was blaming Umeme, the power company, until a half hour later when we say a transport coming through town carrying a huge gas tank cylinder on it's trailer. All vehicles needed to be moved and electrical wires lifted in order for the cargo to pass through town. The locals were even amazed that it had a police escort and a vehicle in front saying "Caution - wide load". Apparently this truck was headed for the Congo.
The shop had non-stop customers all day. Many of them were shocked to find me sitting in the corner, but were absolutely delighted that I was getting my hair plaited. "Wow, you really look like an African now!!" Sipping only a bottle of water, I kept hoping that my hair would finish... although I was enjoying the company and Liz was learning to braid faster. She didn't believe me when I mentioned that the key was to have my hair really wet. (That goes against everything Africans believe about their own hair.)
Around 5 pm we heard a crash, and since we had to leave the shop briefly so that the "nurse" could give a treatment behind the counter, we went out to inspect the accident on main street. A lady had misjudged the curb while parking and hit a cement pillar on the side of the building. Thankfully no one was hurt. Back inside, I spent the next two hours listening to a village lady trying to figure out how to get her sacks of charcoal to the next city of Mbale. She was trying to do some small business, but hadn't arranged transport and the man who would take the sacks would have left her with absolutely no money - since the cost of gasoline is so pricey, he was asking 500,000 Ugandan shillings for transport to a city just 2 hours away... thats almost $240 Canadian. By 7 pm the lady was exhausted and just decided to leave her bags and walk away.
Now, thankfully at 6:50 pm, my team-mate Josh called to tell me that there were two Christmas trees dropped off in my yard, a gift from the neighbour children. I used that call to say that I absolutely needed to be home by 7:30 pm (as is my curfew when I don't have a vehicle - otherwise it's way to dark to be out safely) and that I had an appointment. Well, finally things started to rush. Three ladies were braiding and everything was finished by 7:20 pm. I couldn't believe that it took the whole day to add three packages of short extensions to my head. But I learned a lot culturally from the floor of the pharmacy and my head really does look smart.
Now I just need to learn to sleep with this extra bundle of hair on the back of my head.
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