June 20
a happy ending, a joke, and a birthday
1. Yesterday I wrote about receiving a mysterious love letter. Before going to bed, I left a note explaining my happily married state. When I awoke this morning, the note was gone, and when I returned home from work, I found another letter in the drawer by my bed:
Thank you very much. I appreciate the way you have told me through the letter because to be with two wives is committing adultery which is a very big sin. I wish you well and if you go back greet everybody and I encourage you next time to come back to [the hotel I'm staying at].
She also wished me blessings and safety in my endeavors and travels. So, I pass on greetings to you all, and I was pleased for a happy ending.
2. Today, after many hours of meetings at an HIV clinic and before another hour or so of meetings at a non-government organization that provides HIV care, I stole a few moments to read one of Uganda's major newspapers; someone submitted the following joke as an op-ed. (I here largely quote another telling of the joke I found on-line, with a few edits to make it more closely resemble the version I read.)
A Ugandan man dies and goes to hell. There he finds that there is a different hell for each country. He decides he’ll pick the least painful to spend his eternity. He goes to German Hell and asks, “What do they do here?” He is told: “First they put you in an electric chair for an hour. Then they lay you on a bed of nails for another hour. Then the German devil comes in and whips you for the rest of the day”.
The man does not like the sound of that at all so he moves on.
He checks out the USA Hell as well as the Russian Hell and many more. He discovers that they are all similar to the German Hell. Then he comes to the Ugandan Hell and finds that there is a long queue of people waiting to get in. Amazed, he asks, “What do they do here?” He is told: “First they put you in an electric chair for an hour. Then they lay you on a bed of nails for another hour. The Ugandan devil comes in and whips you for the rest of the day”.
“But that is exactly the same as all the other hells. Why are there so many people waiting to get in?” he asks.
“Because there is never any electricity, so the electric chair does not work. The nails were paid for but never supplied, so the bed is comfortable to sleep on. And on top of that, the Ugandan devil used to be a civil servant, so he comes in, signs his time sheet, and goes out to do his private business for the rest of the day.”
[ME: Incidentally, one of the problems with government health clinics here is that the salaries are very low so that doctors leave after lunch to work in their private clinics and supplement their incomes. A common NGO strategy is to supplement incomes, and that seems to be effective at keeping doctors working until closing.]
3. Finally, today is my birthday. I learned a lot, accomplished some, learned a word for the sound your stomach makes when you're hungry (borborygmus), and enjoyed an Indian meal with my two colleagues, G & G. (An economist, an anthropologist, and a clinical psychologist all sit down at a restaurant; sounds like a joke, no?)
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