Esther heard that one of her friends really wanted a duckling for Christmas. Her friend’s mom said that it would be a fine gift, so we set out through our village asking whose duck has recently hatched ducklings. As we were preparing to go, I asked Elijah if he wanted to come along, but he said that it sounded a little too much like a “wild goose chase.” He said, “I’m sure it will be a fun adventure, but it is a little too early in the morning for me.” At 7:30am Esther, Evie and I began our shopping adventure. Our neighbor, Shaminah, said she knew of a few people who had ducklings, so she offered to come direct us. This was a good opportunity to work on my Luganda as we sat and visited with some friends in the village. The first place had already sold all their ducks to get money for Christmas. The second home with ducklings had ones that were more like teenage ducks. After visiting with some more friends, they directed us to an area with many ducks and ducklings of various ages. After some time of discussing which duckling to choose, we selected two possible ones.
After choosing one, we needed to figure out who to pay. Apparently the owner of these ducks had gone for the burial of a friend. Thankfully some friends of mine were there to help me know with whom to leave the money. That can be a bit tricky. After successfully purchasing the duckling we began our walk home. We were all enjoying the morning’s adventure.
We drove into town to give the gift to Esther’s friend. Her reaction was priceless! She was thrilled to have this little duckling to love on!
I have done Christmas shopping in Various places like Boca Raton, FL, Chattanooga, TN, Athens, GA and Jinja and Kampala in Uganda. But Christmas shopping in Buwundo Village is definitely a fun, unique adventure! Merry Christmas from the village!