Imagine...
You wake up at dawn and restart the fire. There is no electricty.
You begin to heat up the water. There is no plumbing. This water comes from the well that perhaps you or your daughter went to the day before. You have most likely carried 10 Liters of water on your head, in the heat, for over a mile.
You begin to make breakfast over the fire. Everything should be ready before your husband is awake. Once he is awake you will serve him first, then your children, and yourself last. Afterwards you will clean up.
You will spend your morning and the rest of the day doing various tasks. You might go to the market to buy your food for the day. You may bring your grain to the grinding machine or if you cannot afford to,you will need to grind it yourself. You may cut some firewood as this is always needed. You will work on the crops, hoeing the field, planting seeds, harvesting vegetables or fruit. If you are crafty you might go picking banana leafs and other plants in order to make baskets.
Because you are so busy, it will take 4 days to make 1 basket, which you will sell to tourists for 4 dollars.
If you are lucky your husband has been in the field working as well; however it is likely that your husband has been to town spending the money that you have made on the baskets.
You will begin to make dinne. Once you have warmed the bread you will put it in a basket to make sure it stays warm for your husband who expects a warm meal as soon as he enters the house. Many men will come home drunk at 1am. You must get up, kneel at his feet, wash his hands, wait while he eats and then prepare warm water for him to bathe. Then you will clean up and using a kerosene lamp you will continue to work on your crafts until your hands and eyes hurt. Then you will go to bed, and the day will start anew.
If you are a girlchild, your day will start early also as it is expected that you will help your mother with the chores. You may or may not go to school depending on how money your parents have. You will go to the well and fetch the water, stunting your growth and contracting your spine. One day you will be 15 or 16 and it will be time for you to get married. Once you get married it is expected that you begin producing within 6 months. You will begin to do all the work of your mother before you in your new village as you are expected to go to your new husband's villlage once you get married. This work you will do until you go into labor, hopefully 9 months later and not earlier. Hopefully your baby is still moving inside of you. You will go into labor and most likely stay at home. If you are lucky, a traditional birth attendant will be with you, though sometimes what is thought to be helpful is harmful and she will have no supplies to help you with if there is a problem. You will know that childbirth is dangerous. Every girl born in Uganda has a one in 16 chance of dying in childbirth. Hopefully you will not labor for days and will birth a live baby. You know that the death of baby is common. The neonatal mortality rate is 30/1000. The years will go by and you willl continue to produce children. Over a decade may be spent either being pregnant or breastfeeding. The years will go by and you may decide to leave your husband because he mistreats you. If you do so, you will return to your mother's village with your children until you get married again. You will leave your children with her when that happens.
A mother's day , a woman day, never ends.
Carolyn
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