Rose, The Dancer

Rose Kokokumbya is another of my ‘girls’ that I support more from a communication standpoint than financially. She has been an active member of the Tour (a music and dance fund-raiser that comes to the U.S. for Children of Uganda) for years. She is an exceptional dancer and singer and a real joy to just hang around with. When the Tour was here, I treated them to lunch at Chipotles and some time at our local park; they needed to unwind at the end of the Tour. Rose was the only kid who has seen my home; she and the Sabine director Debra went with me to pick something up there. I talk to Rose on the phone frequently; cell phones are not allowed at her school, but she sneaks me calls at night. Rose is having to adjust to some degree to some organizational changes; in the past, the Tour kids were given resources and privileges significantly above those of the other orphans and the Children of Uganda can no longer do that to the same degree. She has put on a bit of weight since the last Tour; she wasn’t much of a fan of American food and maybe over compensated when she got home.
We went to see Rose at her school; when she came to the office from the call, she stood right beside me not recognizing me (beard and 80 less pounds). I almost didn’t recognize her with the hood of her sweatshirt up, plus the extra bit of weight. She joined us for the weekend; Winnie and she did a ‘sleepover’ at Visitor’s Village, the Bed and Breakfast I stay at when I can afford to. The girls yakked until 2am; typical. She came down with a bad case of malaria and I saw her the next weekend at the orphanages; very sick, as much from the medication as the disease. She scared me a bit that way; I’m glad she recovered quickly. She took to wearing my watch, so I ended up leaving it with her of something of a birthday present (I was pretty broke by then).