So, today was such a great day for me!! I got the opportunity to lead worship with some of my fellow USP students for our community worship(chapel). I haven't lead worship with singing and playing guitar since I was in high school, so I was a bit nervous.
We were told that USP was given an opportunity every semester to lead worship, so my roommate and I took this task on to organize. We got a band together and had only 2 practices before today. I have to admit, I was a little scared we were gonna suck because practices were a little sketchy, but I trusted that God would move through us. Today rolled around and I was getting extremely nervous, but knew that it would be great no matter what. I was leading on guitar/vocals, my roommate Jen was on piano/vocals, Alli was on piano/vocals, Lindsay was on violin/vocals, Tony on bass, and Loren and Ned on jembe drums. Then, the rest of our students were in the choir. We did about 5 worships songs as a whole group and then just the band did a special song by ourselves. Overall, it went really well and I forgot how amazing it is to see others worship God. I love to see how into worship other people get, because it makes me so on fire! I will admit, I did tear up a little bit, to see thousands of Ugandan students with some random Americans thrown in there worshiping together as one. It is such a beautiful thing to witness. I was highly sweaty from playing and being in African heat, but it was so much fun! :)
To end my perfect moment in life of worship, after we got done I had to leave to go to my last day of my internship. While I was trying to get off stage without making a scene while they prayed, I ran straight into one of the speakers hanging from the ceiling. It was one of the most painful things I've ever done, but I just kept walking because that was embarrassing! haha. Luckily someone was praying so most people didn't see, but I heard a lot of people go "ohhhhh," so I know some saw! Oh my goodness....I walked away real quick and when I was gone, I put my head up and blood was running down my face. It's not a very big cut, but it's pretty deep and took awhile to stop bleeding. I now have a real pretty bump/cut right in the middle of my forehead! You know me, keeping it classy and clumsy even in Africa! All in all, it was an awesome time today and I am so thankful to God for allowing me this opportunity and talents to be able to participate in things like this.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Being in Africa...
Being white in Africa is like having my own personal T.V. show. No matter what I do or say, people will watch me and listen to me. It's like "Muzungu Variety Show" all day, ever day. I could be getting a drink and all of a sudden it's the most exciting thing to happen in anyone's life. Or, my favorite is when I am just sitting or laying somewhere and people find it fun to watch. I am amazed at how I can keep people occupied for hours at a time and all I have to do is stop what I'm doing and be still. People are always waiting to see what will happen next, like maybe I'll do a trick or something.
When I first got here, I was so overwhelmed with all the stares that I thought I wanted to scream! As time goes on, I have tried to be more comfortable with the looks and just understand that's how life goes. But, as I'm ending my time here and people are STILL staring, I am getting frustrated. It's so hard to walk around and see people stop what they are doing to look at you. I don't know why it bothers me so much but it does. It's not the worst thing in the world, but definitely one of those things that is a challenge for me daily. But, on the bright side, it really does a number on you're self esteem to have so many people look at you on a daily basis =)
So, when I come home I expect you all to watch me just so I can feel at ease! haha.
When I first got here, I was so overwhelmed with all the stares that I thought I wanted to scream! As time goes on, I have tried to be more comfortable with the looks and just understand that's how life goes. But, as I'm ending my time here and people are STILL staring, I am getting frustrated. It's so hard to walk around and see people stop what they are doing to look at you. I don't know why it bothers me so much but it does. It's not the worst thing in the world, but definitely one of those things that is a challenge for me daily. But, on the bright side, it really does a number on you're self esteem to have so many people look at you on a daily basis =)
So, when I come home I expect you all to watch me just so I can feel at ease! haha.
Thanks what?
Well, this is a late post of course, but times are busy. So, Thanksgiving in Africa is quite an experience. Since they Africans don't even acknowledge this holiday except for when we mention it, it was really weird. It was funny to hear Ugandans say "Happy Thanksgiving" to me because secretly I know they a. don't really know anything about it or b. don't really care but just say it anyways.
So, I still had to attend class on Thanksgiving......saddest day ever! But, we convinced 1 of my teachers to only let us have class for an hour instead of 2. I still had to have another class for 2 hours though. So, while all of you in college for you're little breaks and fun times at home, I rotted in a classroom. Our program did plan to have a Thanksgiving supper for us that evening so it didn't feel like a total fail of a holiday. We (the USP students) were in charge of making desserts for this little function. Me and 3 friends decided to make cheesecakes, which turned out to be quite a chore since cream cheese is basically invisible here. However, we got real creative and made 4 different cheesecakes using ingredients like: cream cheese, strawberry and toffee yogurt, ricotta cheese, some type of whipping cream(later turned out to be expired), butter, sugar, and biscuits crushed up because graham crackers don't exist here either. It was a very interesting process, but they all turned out delicious in the end.
At 3:30, a bunch of us students got together and played American football. This was super fun, even though I suck and have no idea how to play really. However, my team ended up winning by a lot and I made 2 touchdowns and some interceptions. What up! haha. It was a nice game, but it was probably one of the hottest days we've had so far. It is strange to be dying of heat on Thanksgiving, but a neat change. After football, we all got ready and headed to the Bartel's house, which are the leaders of our program. We had a HUGEEEE feast and I did in fact have 2nds and 3rdish. Then, we had a glorious buffet of desserts, which is course I had about 2 rounds of. I had the biggest food belly I've ever seen and I thought I could die a happy person right now. Then, we watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and called it a night. It was such a twist on Thanksgiving, but I enjoyed my day to the fullest! I am happy to have experienced such a different way of doing things.
Birthday Showers
So, it has been about forever since I've posted, but nothing too blog worthy seems to have come up recently. I decided to write about my African birthday experience, because it's definitely one to remember!
To start off my birthday, when I went to bed on Saturday night, my roomie had put a sign on my door for me that said "Happy Birthday Taui." Also, on my bed she left me a note and a pair of earrings as a gift! It was the cutest thing ever!! :)
One tradition started here by Honors College is the showering of the birthday people. Basically, they lock the birthday person/persons in their rooms until the group can fill buckets with water and soap enough to "shower" someone in. This year, it so happened that not only did I have a birthday on the 21st, but 2 other guys from Honors College. So, Ambrose who was target #1 got locked in his room while the water was collected. I came down to partake in the showering of Ambrose thinking they would just not shower me. However, while Ambrose was getting showered, a few guys ran behind me and got me too. I was not expecting it at all, but it was funny when all was said and done. There was a 3rd person named Charles who didn't mention it was his birthday so a huge group of us took him down to the fountain in the middle of campus and threw him in! After this, about 15 of us just had a massive water fight for about an hour. It was a great way to spend the morning of my birthday :)
When I came in from my birthday shower, I found in my room waiting for me 2 huge vases of flowers and a note with my name on it. It turns out my wonderful boyfriend (Reuben Gay) worked out to send me flowers all the way in Africa!! Talk about commitment! It seriously made my whole day and I am soo grateful to have such a great guy in my life.
After that fun little surprise, a group of friends and I went to a nearby hotel to go swimming. It was a great afternoon spent swimming, eating, and chatting with friends. Since I love sun and water this was a fantastic way to spend my afternoon.
One of my Ugandan friends named Brendah decided to take me out for dinner as a gift to me. I was super pumped because of course I love food! We went to a fancy little hotel place and had a gorgeous meal. The power went out in the middle of our meal though and we got to eat by candlelight. How romantic-haha. It was a great evening with her!
Overall, it was a pretty chill day, but I got to spend it with friends and participate in some crazy traditions. I was greeted that day with all sorts of gifts from friends and it just felt so nice to be cared for like that here :)
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Roomie Love
Taxi ride to a fun day in Kampala
Fatties @ heart. Eating ice cream like it's our job.
Twinks @ a basketball game. :)This is my blog dedicated to my lovely roommate: Jen Moffit.
I am still trying to figure out how they paired roommates here in Africa, because it seems so random. A lot of us were paired with people who seem quite different from us, but we all manage to get along so well. Jen and I are different in so many ways, but we are super close. She is very quiet and introverted. If you know me, I am the exact opposite of this. She loves meeting new people, but has a hard time doing that. She is a music major, specifically voice and piano. She also plays the guitar a little. This is a major bond for us since I love music, specifically singing. We play and sing together a lot, which creates great quality time together! Since we are so different, we balance each other out and get to experience some amazing things together. I am so thankful for such a great friend in my life. It is fun to meet new people and living with someone creates a whole new dynamic to a friendship. We get to lead worship together for various events on campus and for different USP programs. We will be leading worship together on November 30th for our community worship! I am super pumped about this experience and even more excited that I get to share it with my roomie. We have a blast everyday and both loveeeeeee to eat, so you know that makes for a great connection! haha. It is nice to have someone to go to and talk with about any of lives problems or joys. We have gotten extremely close and I enjoy being able to have a good friend away from home.
Well, that is a little bit about me and my roomie, I hope you have enjoyed it! :)
A week in the life...
I realized I have talked a lot about the fun experiences I am having here in Uganda, but I've never really talked about what a normal week looks like for me. I think most people think I am off running wild with lions and zebras and doing all sorts of crazy African things, but it's just not true. In fact, I haven't even seen any lions!! But, I did manage to see a few zebras one day when we were driving somewhere. College life here looks surprisingly similar to college life in America. So, while this may not be that exciting to read about, read it anyways!! :)
Monday: I have a class called Faith and Action, which looks a lot at the differences between African Christianity and American Christianity. We also explore different aspects of life and have read some really awesome books about Christianity. This class is required of all the students in my program. It doesn't start until 10:45 though so I get to sleep in, even in Africa. After class, we go for lunch which is chaos because there are soooo many people here. Also, we are the only white students so of course everyone stares-per usual. Then, I have a break until my African Literature class at 4. I usually nap or do homework or just hang with people around campus. In my African Literature class, we read poems or short stories and discuss themes and characters. It's very similar to the Literature class I took at Greenville already, but it is fun to see how different African authors write in comparison to American ones. Classes are pretty simple here and if you just show up and speak a lot, you will get an A. Not to mention life is graded on a 20 point scale here so 80-100 is an A!! Monday nights I don't do much of anything, like my normal life in America. I do homework or get online or hang with friends. We have a curfew of 8pm, so I can't go off campus after that point. It really puts a damper on life, haha.
Tuesday: I don't have class until 11 am, so yet again I get to sleep in! However, life here starts at about 6 am, so sleeping in can be quite a challenge sometimes. I have a class called African Traditional Religion(ATR) and this is probably my least favorite class. We just learn about African religions and what they consist of-sound impressive?! After this class, we have community worship which is chapel. It goes for about an hour and is actually pretty fun. However the messages are not my favorite and usually seem to attack America/Americans a lot or homosexuals(I won't even get into that). The music is really fun and interactive though. Then, I got to lunch at 1 and at 1:30 I head to my internship. It takes almost an hour to get to Salama and by the time we get there, the kids are super pumped to see us. I stay at Salama till about 5:30 or 5:45pm. My day there is basically filled with playing with the kids, reading books to them, and doing laundry. When I get back, I usually am ready for a shower because I most likely got peed on or worse-ha. I go to supper after that and then at 7:30 I have choir practice until 9:30ish. Then, I attempt to do homework or get online.
Wednesday: This is my day off-kind of. I don't have any classes on Wednesdays, but I do go to my internship. I leave for that around 12:15 and leave at like 5:15ish. My day there is similar to Tuesdays and sometimes I go out to the garden as well. When I get back, I usually don't do much either and just hang around. Nights here are pretty similar to my nights in America. I will watch a movie or hang around with friends.
Thursday: I have class on Thursday at 8:30am and it's my ATR class again. This class goes for 2 hours and is probably the longest 2 hours of my life! When it's over, I like to nap because waking up that early is too much for me-haha. I don't have class again until 2, so I try and get homework done in between there. I usually have lunch and then go to Literature class. After this class, I go to tea time which occurs 2 different times in the day. There is break tea which is 10-11 every morning and then 4-5 is the afternoon tea. Thursday nights I usually go get rolexes from a canteen off campus. Rolexes are chapati with eggs in them. It's like a tortilla filled with an omelet. :) So greasy, but so delicious! I have choir from 7:30-9:30ish again also. Choir here is so interesting because it involves us writing down the words and then they sing it for us and we just have to get it. It is quite a different experience than America. Also, when they teach us songs in Luganda, that is an exciting time.
Friday: I only have 1 class on Friday which is my Faith and Action class again. It is from 8:30-10:30, which I love because then I have the rest of the day free. We usually head to Kampala after class and shop around and go to different markets there. It takes about an hour to get there and only cost 1,000 shillings which equals about 50 cents. :) Lately, we have been going to our school basketball games which happen in Kampala too. This is hectic and probably some of the most awkward moments in my life here. Me and my few friends who go are the only white people in a huge stadium of black men. Basically, we are watched like pieces of meat-so fun....NOT! However, it is fun to see how involved people are here with sporting events.
Saturday: I usually just hang around and don't do much. If I stay with my host family, we go to church in Kampala on Saturdays. This usually turns into an all day event and I don't get back until like 8 pm. We go to church which is about 4 hours and then we have lunch at church. Then, we usually shop around or get whatever we might need for the next week. Downtown Kampala is probably one of the scariest places I've ever been in my life. Between traffic, boda bodas, people, and creepy men, it's enough to make anyone cry, haha. However, it is fun to see all the stores and shops and people.
Sunday: This is my sleep day/homework day/skype day. I sleep in as late as possible, which is usually only till about 9 or 9:30am. Then, I basically do homework most of the day and at night skype with people. The internet is the best, because most people are off campus. I spend a lot of time hanging with friends here and am really developing some close bonds. This makes it all the harder to leave when the time arrives, but I am soooo thankful for all of my amazing friends.
Well, that is a week of my life in a nutshell. Of course all of these days are subject to change and the weekends have been filled with some pretty crazy/random adventures. I am having the time of my life here and will be sad to go. I am blessed to even be able to come here and have such great experiences. :)
Monday: I have a class called Faith and Action, which looks a lot at the differences between African Christianity and American Christianity. We also explore different aspects of life and have read some really awesome books about Christianity. This class is required of all the students in my program. It doesn't start until 10:45 though so I get to sleep in, even in Africa. After class, we go for lunch which is chaos because there are soooo many people here. Also, we are the only white students so of course everyone stares-per usual. Then, I have a break until my African Literature class at 4. I usually nap or do homework or just hang with people around campus. In my African Literature class, we read poems or short stories and discuss themes and characters. It's very similar to the Literature class I took at Greenville already, but it is fun to see how different African authors write in comparison to American ones. Classes are pretty simple here and if you just show up and speak a lot, you will get an A. Not to mention life is graded on a 20 point scale here so 80-100 is an A!! Monday nights I don't do much of anything, like my normal life in America. I do homework or get online or hang with friends. We have a curfew of 8pm, so I can't go off campus after that point. It really puts a damper on life, haha.
Tuesday: I don't have class until 11 am, so yet again I get to sleep in! However, life here starts at about 6 am, so sleeping in can be quite a challenge sometimes. I have a class called African Traditional Religion(ATR) and this is probably my least favorite class. We just learn about African religions and what they consist of-sound impressive?! After this class, we have community worship which is chapel. It goes for about an hour and is actually pretty fun. However the messages are not my favorite and usually seem to attack America/Americans a lot or homosexuals(I won't even get into that). The music is really fun and interactive though. Then, I got to lunch at 1 and at 1:30 I head to my internship. It takes almost an hour to get to Salama and by the time we get there, the kids are super pumped to see us. I stay at Salama till about 5:30 or 5:45pm. My day there is basically filled with playing with the kids, reading books to them, and doing laundry. When I get back, I usually am ready for a shower because I most likely got peed on or worse-ha. I go to supper after that and then at 7:30 I have choir practice until 9:30ish. Then, I attempt to do homework or get online.
Wednesday: This is my day off-kind of. I don't have any classes on Wednesdays, but I do go to my internship. I leave for that around 12:15 and leave at like 5:15ish. My day there is similar to Tuesdays and sometimes I go out to the garden as well. When I get back, I usually don't do much either and just hang around. Nights here are pretty similar to my nights in America. I will watch a movie or hang around with friends.
Thursday: I have class on Thursday at 8:30am and it's my ATR class again. This class goes for 2 hours and is probably the longest 2 hours of my life! When it's over, I like to nap because waking up that early is too much for me-haha. I don't have class again until 2, so I try and get homework done in between there. I usually have lunch and then go to Literature class. After this class, I go to tea time which occurs 2 different times in the day. There is break tea which is 10-11 every morning and then 4-5 is the afternoon tea. Thursday nights I usually go get rolexes from a canteen off campus. Rolexes are chapati with eggs in them. It's like a tortilla filled with an omelet. :) So greasy, but so delicious! I have choir from 7:30-9:30ish again also. Choir here is so interesting because it involves us writing down the words and then they sing it for us and we just have to get it. It is quite a different experience than America. Also, when they teach us songs in Luganda, that is an exciting time.
Friday: I only have 1 class on Friday which is my Faith and Action class again. It is from 8:30-10:30, which I love because then I have the rest of the day free. We usually head to Kampala after class and shop around and go to different markets there. It takes about an hour to get there and only cost 1,000 shillings which equals about 50 cents. :) Lately, we have been going to our school basketball games which happen in Kampala too. This is hectic and probably some of the most awkward moments in my life here. Me and my few friends who go are the only white people in a huge stadium of black men. Basically, we are watched like pieces of meat-so fun....NOT! However, it is fun to see how involved people are here with sporting events.
Saturday: I usually just hang around and don't do much. If I stay with my host family, we go to church in Kampala on Saturdays. This usually turns into an all day event and I don't get back until like 8 pm. We go to church which is about 4 hours and then we have lunch at church. Then, we usually shop around or get whatever we might need for the next week. Downtown Kampala is probably one of the scariest places I've ever been in my life. Between traffic, boda bodas, people, and creepy men, it's enough to make anyone cry, haha. However, it is fun to see all the stores and shops and people.
Sunday: This is my sleep day/homework day/skype day. I sleep in as late as possible, which is usually only till about 9 or 9:30am. Then, I basically do homework most of the day and at night skype with people. The internet is the best, because most people are off campus. I spend a lot of time hanging with friends here and am really developing some close bonds. This makes it all the harder to leave when the time arrives, but I am soooo thankful for all of my amazing friends.
Well, that is a week of my life in a nutshell. Of course all of these days are subject to change and the weekends have been filled with some pretty crazy/random adventures. I am having the time of my life here and will be sad to go. I am blessed to even be able to come here and have such great experiences. :)
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Bush Life
Top: Papa, Me, Alayna
Right: Gilbert-uncle/brother
Alayna-my sister :)
Bridget-my great niece
So, this post is way late, but life always busy here. As some of you know and others don't, I went for a week to live in the bush of Africa. Now, when I say bush I don't just mean some random area in Africa, I mean a literal home surrounded by bush and grass taller than me. I felt like I was in The Lion King on most occasions-(yes I did sing songs from the movie too). Half of our group went to a place in the mountains called Kapchorwa and the rest of us went to Soroti. I got place in Soroti with one of the coordinators of the program. His name is Stephen and was great to have for a papa. I was super nervous about going and honestly trying to find a way out of it, but in the end I am glad I had such an experience. Now, before I get into all the fun/crazy details, I'd like to say although I did not particularly like this rural home stay, I am thankful for my family and the different life I was able to experience.
Overview of Rural Life:
Life in the bush is quite quite different than life in other parts of Africa and definitely America. I was honestly scared out of my mind to go, because I thought people were gonna be running around naked or something and cutting chicken's heads off! Well, it was not that extreme once I actually got there, but there was a whole list of new struggles that I encountered. Ironically I did end up killing a rooster! And let me tell you, this was the biggest rooster I have ever seen. It was the saddest/most disgusting/most exciting thing of my life!! For dinner that night I didn't eat it though because I felt too bad and I did apologize to the rooster and Jesus.haha.
So, they didn't tell us until the morning of our home stays that we would need to learn another language, because theses people don't speak Luganda; they speak Ateso. GREAT! Just what I want to hear as I already don't want to go on this little excursion. Well, I got my cheat sheet and actually picked up Ateso quite fast. My papa taught me some phrases the first night that I would need to know to greet my elders, people at church, children, etc. He also told me that after tonight, (Saturday Oct. 23rd), that I was no longer a guest but a member of the family. Little did I know what that actually meant, but not to worry I found out real quick the next day! Sunday morning I had to iron some man's clothes for him as he was a guest at our house and apparently has no hands of his own(sarcasm). That was an interesting experience because I used what they call a box iron, which is a metal box shaped like an iron with hot coals in it that iron out your clothes. At church I had to kneel to every person who is significantly older than me, which turned out to be almost the entire congregation. The proper greeting is to say kneel while shaking their hand and saying "Yoga papa" or "Yoga toto." It means "Hi, father or Hi, mother." I felt so awkward doing this and wished I could just go home. I know it's not the worst thing in the world and that I need to respect their culture, but this was seriously a challenge for me. The best news I received all week was that I was going to get a "sister" from the program. One of the girls in our group was placed with a family, but there was a death at her host family the first night so she got to come live with us for the whole week. I have to say, thank Jesus for Alayna-my little 'sister' or I would not have survived my week! haha.
For the rest of the week, Alayna and I knelt our way through life while serving everyone we came into contact with. At some points I felt a little like a slave, except obviously not on a huge scale. I already have a hard time responding well to male authority figures and this just made it worse. Surprisingly Alayna has similar feelings, so we both felt annoyed by this experience. Our compound consisted of 4 huts which were inhabited by my 3 uncles and my papa. The house we had was for me, Alayna, my aunt/mama, niece, and great niece. Also, tata or grandma lived in a hut nearby. We had one last hut that was the kitchen hut and always filled with smoke so I tried never to enter it-we called it our charcoal hell. haha!
The rest of my week was a routine of waking up at the butt crack of dawn-literally. We would go to bed sweaty so most nights we had to sleep naked under 2 different mosquito nets, which was a task in itself, lol. Also, we got to go braless for the whole week!! Showing off your knees is more risque than showing your boobs-fun times. We also tried to go shoeless, but they didn't like that very much. Apparently American feet can't handle the earth-ha. If we weren't out of bed by 7 or 7:30am, they didn't like it. We would spend 3+ hours in the garden most days in the blazing heat before breakfast and showers. This was horrible, sweaty, and simply not fun. Breakfast was never at the same time, if it even happened at all. We always had milk tea, but food was random. We were required to take 2 baths a day and for those of you who know me know that even 1 a day is a bit too much for me, haha! So, sometimes we would lie and just go in the "shower" and take our shirts off or something and splash water around. Can't say it's one of my proudest moments, but it happened :) Afternoons we could rest for a bit, but it was too hot in the house to sleep, so we would just lay and sweat. If we layed outside, they would just stare at us or make us do something. Plus, we had cows, goats, turkeys, dogs, and every other animal running rampid on a daily basis. I did however get to milk some cows, which is a lot freaking harder than it looks(still fun). Evenings we had tea, supper, another bath, and helped with whatever chores there were. One of the fun parts of my stay was meeting my uncle/brother named Gilbert. He is only 19 and is technically my uncle but it's weird since he's younger than me so I call him my brother. He kept Alayna and I pretty occupied and turned out to be a lot of fun! When the end of the week came, I was sad to leave him and my niece Carro and her daughter Bridget, but I was a little happy to leave. It was an intense week of culture shock, but I am glad I got the opportunity. I realize this is not as detailed as it could be, but to recap the week would take way too long. This was my overall experience and it was a whole mix of emotions! I was definitely happy to be back to campus after all that.
For Saturday and Sunday (10-30 and 10-31), our program took us to Sipi Falls. We stayed at a resort there and got to hike into the mountains and see waterfalls. These waterfalls were amazing and I got to take a natural shower in one because we went to the base of it. I have to say this was one of the best experiences in Africa so far! There is nothing like standing under a waterfall and seeing a rainbow in the distance to really feel God. It was the perfect end to a not so perfect week.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
New
When I have been a victim of familiarity
When my heart has fallen into sleep
Healing is the voice that awakens me And it is you
You take an ordinary day And turn it into flowers like the month of May
Yes you do
You see all my pain
You cry over it for hours till I'm new again
Sometimes I think it takes a whole new world to truly understand who you are. It wasn't until I came to Africa that I was hit with some realities I was choosing to ignore back home. I am finding myself sooooo on fire for God, yet I can't seem to grasp what is out there for me. I read my Bible, I pray more than I have for the majority of my life, I worship him through song by myself and with others, and I have daily conversations with friends about our faith walks. For some reason, I can't feel it though. It seems like perhaps my heart has fallen into sleep. Maybe I am missing something that everyone else has figured out?! I found that I was getting upset with myself when I first got to Africa because I thought, God is gonna work in such amazing ways that I can't help but see him. Well, that was not always the case and I think I was hurt because part of me felt let down. I don't look for big miracles, but secretly I think that's what I expect.
However, as time goes on, I am learning to appreciate all of the little things God is showing me. I am learning to truly be thankful for my family and friends-here and in America. I wouldn't say I am a person to take advantage of others, but I just think I am learning to appreciate all the amazing people I have in my life as time goes on. Not to mention, being thankful for such a great experience as this. For most people, including myself, this is a once in a lifetime trip! As time goes on, God is revealing himself to me in ways I never thought possible. He is honestly blowing my mind! His healing voice is the one that is slowly waking my heart up to see what He has for my life. I still find it hard sometimes to really get something out of what I read, but I am finding other ways to connect with God instead. One of those ways is through other people. I am someone who loves to be around others, so this proves to be one of the best ways for me to grow closer to God as well as others. I want to live this life that is most importantly pleasing to God but also to others and I am now finding out that I am able to do that. I am learning that God meets us right where we are at. He isn't trying to move me somewhere I am not prepared to go.
I am falling more and more in love with Him as the days go on. I no longer want to be stuck in what is familiar to me. I want to dive in head first to brand new experiences and not be afraid of the outcome! I am ready to explore my life and follow God wherever he takes me. I would not say Africa has changed me, but has simply opened up my eyes a bit more to what life is really like and what it can be. I am learning striving towards God is never an easy process, but definitely worth it. That I am someone who is very dependent on others when it comes to my faith and I need to be more dependent on God than anyone else. That being alone and silent is not always a bad thing. I am amazed and impressed everyday that I get to wake up to a new day and have new experiences with God who loves me for who and what I am, even if that's not perfect.
"You make me new"
Circumcision
The "doctor" who is in the white shirt with black jacket and his crew.
Mud attack!
Sunset on the walk down the mountain.
Not even half of the people that attended walking down the mountain.Well, I am pretty sure that I am getting my money's worth coming to Africa! If going to Rwanda didn't do it, seeing a circumcision definitely took the cake. Last weekend, (10/9-10/10), most of our group headed to Mbale for a class field trip. All we knew was that we were going to see a circumcision, but I don't think we truly knew what we were heading to.
We left early in the morning for a 3 hour drive to Mbale and stayed at a college campus there. We had tea, breakfast, listened to a speaker for about an hour talk about how a circumcision ritual is done, lunch right after, then off to the adventure of a lifetime! We drove in a huge bus and 1 van as far as we could go before the mud hindered out travel. It had been raining heavily for the past 3 days and the village that we went to was filled with muddy trails. By the time we actually reached the top, we had hiked about 5 miles UP a mountain in ankle deep mud. Most of the people in our group wiped out and were covered in mud. Even those of us who didn't fall were magically covered in mud. We got to the top sweaty, muddy, and out of breath and gathered around a group of men. This group consisted of the "doctor" who would be performing the ceremony and then other random helpers and family members. The boy who was going to be circumcised was only 14 years old. That seems old when it's in terms of what he is about to experience, but young in terms of calling someone a man. He was rushed up the mountain by about 10ish men and shoved in the middle of this circle of a bunch of Mzungus(us), hundreds of small children, and a bunch of other village people. The 1st cut was the cutting of the foreskin. The "doctor" did that and it was over before I even realized what was happening. After that was cut off, the boy was sent to run 6 miles!!! After he ran, he came back to the circle and they cut 2 more times. He then had to run another 6 miles!! The boy was not allowed to make any noises or cry and I am honestly surprised how well he did. After it was all over, he looked at all us Mzungus and laughed and danced. It was so funny to me that he was the one in pain, but he was laughing at us because we were so shocked/disgusted/amazed. It was a bloody, graphic sight to see, but interesting also.
When everything was said and done, the people rejoiced and drums were played, everyone danced, and we had a big dance party on top of the muddy mountain! I would say that it was a neat experience to have, but that I would not want to see it again-haha. I don't necessarily agree with this tradition, but I respect them for it. Now, after our amazing dance party, we had to get back down the mountain. This was proving to be more of a challenge than walking up the mountain. 1. The mud was worse from sooo many people walking up the mountain. 2. It was starting to rain. 3. It was getting dark 4. There were more people walking down than we had originally seen walking up 5. African men get mighty grabby when night comes! haha. A lot of people fell again on the way down, but I was a champion and never fell! We got back a little after dark and I'm not gonna lie, it was a bit scary. But, we survived to tell about it and the mud definitely made for a better story.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Mukono Homestay
Me and mama making chapati. Our fun chore together :)
My mama and papa supporting Greenville and Freeport!For 2 weeks in September, we were all given the opportunity to stay with families in Mukono town. Me and my fellow students in the USP program were divided among families that live as close as 3 minutes outside of campus and up to an hour away(walking distance). Most of us were placed by ourselves, but a few students got another student with them because of limited families. I was fortunate enough to be placed alone and I am so happy that it worked out that way. I think I was able to interact better with my family and it forced me to be outside of my comfort zone and find a way to deal with it without the help of others.
So, here is a little background on my family before I get started with my actual experience. My mama and papa are called Robert and Jememiah. Random side note: People call my mama Aunt Jememiah, which makes me laugh because of the syrup. She never heard of it before so I told her about it and bought her a bottle :) Anyways, my papa is 31 and my mama is 32, which is rare because most men in Africa may wayyyy younger than them. They are different areas of Uganda, which created a little difficulty between the families when they got married. They celebrated their 5 year wedding anniversary the day I arrived there with them on September 11. That day it rained, which apparently is a sign of good luck when you have a guest and it rains. Also, the next day, my mama's family came over to celebrate their anniversary with them, but it was a total surprise. I guess it's also good luck when unexpected visitors come when you have a new guest, so they call me their good luck charm now! :) I have a unique family compared to most because they are still very young and they have no children. Most of my friends had siblings and older parents closer to our real parent's ages. Also, my mama is in a wheelchair and has been for most of her life. She got polio as a young girl and it damaged her legs. This is a huge deal because crippled people are not looked at very highly in society here. My papa's family didn't even attend the wedding because they were upset that he was marrying her. My mama is a wonderful lady who does so much despite her disability. They got pregnant a couple of years ago and last November ended up losing their 1st baby during child birth. I didn't know much about that situation because I was too scared to bring it up, but eventually my mama talked with me about it and she has a surprisingly great attitude towards the whole thing. Of course it was a horrible situation, but they are trusting in God to bring another child to their life. My parents work mostly from home, my mama sews any and everything, but her specialty is bags/purses. My papa is a weaver and has a workshop with looms that he makes place mats and matching table runners. They are both very talented and hard-working people. Like most families, they also sell things right from their home, like vegetables and fruits, or whatever they happen to be making that day. I had a very unique home situation in this way, but I think it made for an experience that I'll never forget.
A brief overview of my 2 weeks at my new home in Africa: I was super nervous about staying with a family for 2 weeks, but was also pumped to experience a different part of Africa. We went there on Saturday morning of September 11. My papa picked me up and we had about a 25 minute walk back to my home. We chatted quite a bit and he asked a lot of questions to make me feel more comfortable. It was a pretty easy connection with him because he is young, so I felt like I was talking with my big bro back in America. He gave me a little history on their life and the loss of their baby. I mostly left all the information he told me about them at that because I wasn't sure if it would be appropriate to bring up in front of my mama. When we got home I was welcomed very warmly by my mama and 2 "aunties," but it was a bit awkward. That weekend was filled with awkward tension and a lot of silence on my part. I went to church with my papa right when I got to my home stay because they are 7th day Adventists and they go on Saturdays. My family mostly speaks Luganda, so I sat in the kitchen with them but didn't talk since I don't know the language. My mama didn't really speak to me for the 1st like 4ish days, but she was never mean. She just watched me a lot and I think was mostly trying to figure me out before she opened herself up. However, after she opened up to me, we had a blast! She feels like my best friend here and we talk about any and everything! She always calls me "my sweet" which is my little nickname from her. My family has hosted 4 or 5 other girls before me, so they often talked about them. It was neat to hear the different stories of the girls and see how different we all are.
I learned a lot from my family, but most importantly how to be a great African wife, haha. I learned how to cook some traditional meals(mainly chapati) and how to make different fruit juices. I learned to make my bed, which of course I know how to do-haha but it's super important to do here before you leave the house. Also, I learned how to wash my hands and feet properly. My family also taught me some random words in Luganda in order to help me out in everyday life. My papa taught me words to help ward off men, haha. Our favorite family word is"Wolokoso" which is meaning for like rumors or gossip. It's a slang word and kind of a running joke in my household. We also love to sit around and compare how Americans speak English as compared to Ugandans. We make fun of the way words are said and we entertain ourselves for hours this way. I honestly laugh at my home stay for hours on end and it is nice because I feel more at home that way. I know I am loved and my family treats me as one of their own, as well as all the neighbors. I feel silly for being nervous about the experience and not trusting that God would blow my expectations, as he always does. I am truly blessed to have such a great family here and a place to call my own on those days when I need to get away. I was able to go to a farmers market with my family at the butt crack of dawn one of the days. It was a crazy experience full of fruits, vegetables, and people! It was miles of people crowded! I was very overwhelmed but glad I got experience that. On the way there, we had to take a taxi and our driver hit a boda boda man and I thought we were gonna get shot! It was a scary time in life, but makes for great stories :) Also, on Fridays my family sells their crafts at a market in Kampala. I was able to go with one Friday and experience what that was like. It was a blast! I am getting a great view of the many aspects of Africa.
Now that my home stay has been over, I have visited my family multiple times and I stayed the night a week ago. This week, I am going to be staying 2 nights with them as well. I am going to try and stay at least once a week, simply to keep up my relationship and because I miss them a lot when I don't go there often. It is always such a warm welcome when I return and I love that feeling. There are 3 little girls who live next to us and they always get so excited to see me! I am greeted with hugs almost every time. They love to have someone to play with them and be crazy! I have however been bit like 6 times by them, haha, but it's still fun. This home stay has been a great adventure for me and I am so thankful for a wonderful family :)
Salama
Me, Lindsay, and some of our adorable children! From left to right of the 4 who are actually in the picture: Kawesa, Joseph/Jon, Paris, and Innocent. Kawesa can see only a tiny tiny bit and that's if he is like right up next to something. Jospeh can see rather well. Paris sees only a little bit also and Innocent has limited sight as well.
Me and Jon-pee pants and all! :)As some of you may know, but not all of you, I am doing an internship all semester at a place called Salama, which is a school for blind children. It is P1-P7, which is basically 1st-7th grade and the ages vary from like 7-18. Since some of these children have mental disabilities as well as being blind, they are behind and may be 12 but in a P2 class. Also, I think since they are blind, people treat them as if they are disabled when actually they are very talented. There are some older boys at the facility who can see pretty well, but still learn how to read and write in Braille, as well as in English. They are teaching the children English, but it is a slow and steady process. I do believe these children are truly special because they are conquering so many obstacles in life. Being blind in Africa is looked down upon and often seen as being cursed, so many families shun their children from their homes. Salama is a boarding school and offers a God-centered curriculum for these children to learn from.
When I first visited Salama, we got a tour of the compound and met the children. They were so welcoming and so very excited to have visitors that wanted to actually talk with them and learn from them. I have been helping there for over a month now and these children have already drastically altered my life. I know they have helped me just as much as I have helped them. When I asked some of them to teach me Braille, they got so excited, because I don't imagine they get many opportunities to share what they know with others. They teach me Braille and I attempt to teach them English, to the best of my abilities. One of the difficult tasks is conquering not only a language barrier, but a visual barrier as well. There are quite a few children who are completely blind and don't speak English very well. Between their broken English and my broken Luganda, we make quite a funny scene. However, we seem to manage and I enjoy ever moment spent there. It is also hard because a lot of the teachers are blind too and they also don't speak much English. A lot of the time, I am basically in charge of what I do and who I spend my time with while at Salama. It was a challenge at first to be somewhere that didn't have much organization, but now I am using that to my advantage and attempting to turn it into something good. It does allow for me to go to the different classrooms and just observe what they are learning. Me and some of the other girls who help there have also been taking children books and reading to them. They love to hear us read and we could read the same story over 10 times and they wouldn't be sick of it. The book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" has proven to be a crowd pleaser! :) Some of the kids who can see a little bit like to try and look at the crazy pictures on every page. I think reading to them has been one of the best experiences for me, just to see their faces light up even if they don't know every word that I am reading to them. On that same subject, one of the boys who can see pretty well, named Kato, he read one of the books to me and my friend Grace who help there and it was sooooo rewarding! He didn't know a lot of words, but he did his best and we helped him with the rest. I was so proud of him because I know this wasn't an easy task for him.
The story of little Jonny: There is a boy named Jon at Salama who quickly became my favorite! I am not sure how old he is, but he is under 8 and weighs about negative pounds. He looks almost like a cartoon character because he has these 2 HUGE teeth in the front of his mouth and that is about it. He is completely blind and also has some high form of autism(I think). There is def. some type of mental disability there. He can't speak English, but he is great mimicking what you say. His phrase of choice is always "Wasuze Otyanno" and I always say "Bulungi." This tends to be our only conversation for hours on end when I am there. He loves to be tickled and read to. Most of the time he just wants to jump with you and swing. I usually walk with him around the compound since he can't really be in a classroom setting and generally doesn't get much attention. The teachers are very busy with other students and are already under staffed as it is. The one thing Jon is known for is peeing his pants. He generally pees his pants at least 6 times within the 4ish hours I am there a day. That was hard for me to deal with at first, but now I am just used to it I guess. I am weird and love it when babies cry, or when little children pee their pants, because I know they need someone to love and help them and I am excited to be that person! Jon knows it's me whenever I come because he feels for my bracelets and them smells my hands. haha! He is changing my life more than he will ever know and I hope that I am blessing his life a little each day.
A day at Salama can look very different depending what time I do, but for the most part, I help out anywhere I can. I have taught a class-scary! I usually do laundry for a couple of hours each day, I help clean the compound, I teach English, I sit in on classes, I learn Braille, we have about an hour of prayer/worship time, we play games, read books, etc. This past Tuesday, my friend Grace and I stayed the night at Salama for the 1st time. I was a bit nervous because I didn't know what to expect, but I ended up having a blast! We went Tuesday (10/12) at 1:30pm and didn't leave until Wednesday (10/13) at 5:00pm. It was sooo wonderful to see the kids at night and see how outgoing they became. During the school day, they are more reserved and polite. But, at night, they let loose just had so much fun with us! We all got to know each other a lot better and I really enjoyed myself. The next day I was deathly tired, but I stuck with it and had a great rest of the day anyways. This internship is definitely one that will stay with me and has encouraged me to perhaps work with blind children later down the road or even mentally handicapped children. God is opening so many doors and changing my life one day at a time. Just from working at Salama already, I feel like I perhaps have made some difference in at least one child's life.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Fast Lane
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,and do not lean on your own understanding
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
As I head out to my internship(Salama) the other day, I am riding in the passenger seat of a big 15 passenger van. It's just me and Vincent-my driver, for about an hour. We are speeding down the left side of the road past boda bodas, random people, and every pot hole known to man. I know he is experienced with these roads, but I can't help but to hold my breath for most the trip. We drive faster than maybe I would have and crazier than I would normally feel comfortable with. I quickly began to realize that event though Vincent has been driving these same roads for years and knows every nook and cranny, that I would still somehow feel better if I was driving. If I was speeding and hit someone, at least it would be my fault. If I hit a pot hole and damaged a tire, at least it would be my fault. I wouldn't have to sit and point the finger of blame at him and allow him to account for my actions. I would feel more in control if I were behind that steering wheel.
The more I thought about this, the more I found my relationship with God feeling the same way. I want to be in control always because I feel better when I know what is going on and what may happen next. I want to be behind the steering wheel because it makes me feel safer. He knows the 'roads' of my life better, but for some reason I want to find them on my own. I want to take responsiblity for whatever I do wrong and not have to blame God. I think I find it easier to blame myself rather than others. It's so hard for me to give total control to God without feeling like I need to hold my breath in case I crash. I found this verse in Proverbs so helpful, just knowing that God knows my path better than anyone, including myself, so why not let him sit in the driver's seat?
Monday, September 27, 2010
Facts of Life
Hey all! I know it has been awhile for blogging, but I have been on home stays and keeping rather busy. I have decided to make a list of things I have observed or experienced in Africa thus far. This should let you in on a little bit about what is going on in my life, while also making you laugh or perhaps get disgusted! Anyways...enjoy :)
1. That great white shirt you know and love so much will quickly become that great brown shirt you know and hate.
2. Most things in life become optional. Ex: using toilets/toilet paper, shaving legs/armpits, wearing bras/underwear.
3. Cold showers will be your only showers and you will most likely never be fully used to them.
4. Doing laundry can turn into an all day task, as well as cooking any meal.
5. Meal times are way different. Ex: Most families eat supper at 10:30pm or later.
6. Despite popular belief, you will actually gain weight while living here, but you walk a lot so you can attempt to lose some.
7. You may actually come back just at light if not lighter than when you arrived.
8. Walking is a way of life.
9. You better hope you enjoy carbs because that will be your staple food while here. Ex: rice, beans, bread, and potatoes will be all of your meals in some fashion.
10. The fruit here is AMAZING!!
11. Ugandan English and American English are 2 very different things. Just because someone is speaking English doesn't mean you will understand them. Most Africans pronounce every single letter in a word.
12. Ugandan men are super blunt and forward. You will most likely(if you're a girl) feel overwhelmed on countless occasions.
13. The mannequins here all have HUGE lower halves. The top looks normal and then the hips expand so far, lol.
14. You will be called "Mzungu" at least 5 times a day. It will become so normal you may began to think this is your actual name. Also, when small children say it, it's okay, but if adults do it's just weird.
15. You will get used to the oh-so-familiar scent of your own and others 'natural' body scents. :)
16. Most people have surprisingly white and straight teeth.
17. Most Africans have never heard of or seen contact lenses before.
18. You will get stared at everywhere you go and a lot of street vendors will raise prices on their merchandise for you.
19. Africans are extremely hospitable and welcoming.
20. Birds, monkeys, and roosters make great alarm clocks-at 5 am! haha.
21. Some terms and phrases that are a bit different than America: Instead of saying, 'My name is Taui,' they say, 'I am called Taui.' Instead of saying, 'I have 3 siblings,' they say 'We are 4.' Instead of saying, 'I'll walk you home,' they say, 'Can I give you a push?'
22. With the younger children here, they all have no hair, so the only way to tell them apart is girls wear skirts and boys wear pants.
23. The exchange rate works highly in our favor! :)
24. Power outages are a normal everyday occurrence.
25. Gender roles are taking VERY VERY seriously.
26. Many younger children kneel/bow to older men or women in their community.
27. You will definitely become an expert at bathing from a basin using only your hands, doing laundry by hand, cooking, and washing your hands properly.
28. When someone has a birthday, they "shower" them. This basically means they wake everyone up and we all go and watch friends pour water on the birthday person.
29. Dating is a lot more serious here. When you meet someone's family it means you are engaged or should be heading there real soon.
30. If you are married or have a ring on your finger, the opposite sex generally stays away from you out of respect to your spouse.
31. Blowing your nose soon becomes a fun game of "What color will I see today?"
32. Dirt here is reddish/brown and will eventually be in places you didn't know where possible.
33. Your feet will never be fully clean.
34. Mixed people such as myself are called "half-casts."
35. Dress here is very modest and students are required to dress up for classes(lectures).
36. Tea time is 2 times a day-everyday.
37. Africans are very resourceful.
38. Views on homosexuality and divorce are so extreme. Homosexuality is not tolerated and most think it should be punishable by death.
This is just some of the things I have observed in my life so far in Africa. As time goes on I can add more. I hope this helps you see a little bit of what life is like here :)
1. That great white shirt you know and love so much will quickly become that great brown shirt you know and hate.
2. Most things in life become optional. Ex: using toilets/toilet paper, shaving legs/armpits, wearing bras/underwear.
3. Cold showers will be your only showers and you will most likely never be fully used to them.
4. Doing laundry can turn into an all day task, as well as cooking any meal.
5. Meal times are way different. Ex: Most families eat supper at 10:30pm or later.
6. Despite popular belief, you will actually gain weight while living here, but you walk a lot so you can attempt to lose some.
7. You may actually come back just at light if not lighter than when you arrived.
8. Walking is a way of life.
9. You better hope you enjoy carbs because that will be your staple food while here. Ex: rice, beans, bread, and potatoes will be all of your meals in some fashion.
10. The fruit here is AMAZING!!
11. Ugandan English and American English are 2 very different things. Just because someone is speaking English doesn't mean you will understand them. Most Africans pronounce every single letter in a word.
12. Ugandan men are super blunt and forward. You will most likely(if you're a girl) feel overwhelmed on countless occasions.
13. The mannequins here all have HUGE lower halves. The top looks normal and then the hips expand so far, lol.
14. You will be called "Mzungu" at least 5 times a day. It will become so normal you may began to think this is your actual name. Also, when small children say it, it's okay, but if adults do it's just weird.
15. You will get used to the oh-so-familiar scent of your own and others 'natural' body scents. :)
16. Most people have surprisingly white and straight teeth.
17. Most Africans have never heard of or seen contact lenses before.
18. You will get stared at everywhere you go and a lot of street vendors will raise prices on their merchandise for you.
19. Africans are extremely hospitable and welcoming.
20. Birds, monkeys, and roosters make great alarm clocks-at 5 am! haha.
21. Some terms and phrases that are a bit different than America: Instead of saying, 'My name is Taui,' they say, 'I am called Taui.' Instead of saying, 'I have 3 siblings,' they say 'We are 4.' Instead of saying, 'I'll walk you home,' they say, 'Can I give you a push?'
22. With the younger children here, they all have no hair, so the only way to tell them apart is girls wear skirts and boys wear pants.
23. The exchange rate works highly in our favor! :)
24. Power outages are a normal everyday occurrence.
25. Gender roles are taking VERY VERY seriously.
26. Many younger children kneel/bow to older men or women in their community.
27. You will definitely become an expert at bathing from a basin using only your hands, doing laundry by hand, cooking, and washing your hands properly.
28. When someone has a birthday, they "shower" them. This basically means they wake everyone up and we all go and watch friends pour water on the birthday person.
29. Dating is a lot more serious here. When you meet someone's family it means you are engaged or should be heading there real soon.
30. If you are married or have a ring on your finger, the opposite sex generally stays away from you out of respect to your spouse.
31. Blowing your nose soon becomes a fun game of "What color will I see today?"
32. Dirt here is reddish/brown and will eventually be in places you didn't know where possible.
33. Your feet will never be fully clean.
34. Mixed people such as myself are called "half-casts."
35. Dress here is very modest and students are required to dress up for classes(lectures).
36. Tea time is 2 times a day-everyday.
37. Africans are very resourceful.
38. Views on homosexuality and divorce are so extreme. Homosexuality is not tolerated and most think it should be punishable by death.
This is just some of the things I have observed in my life so far in Africa. As time goes on I can add more. I hope this helps you see a little bit of what life is like here :)
Unique
God works in some very unique ways.
Last night I got a chance to talk to my mom for almost an hour! As we were discussing my home stay and my mama and papa here in Africa, we made an amazing connection. I had already talked to my real mom previously about how my parents and how they lost a baby girl last year at birth. However, last night I also informed her of how my mama is in a wheelchair because she is disabled from the waste down and how my papa weaves for a living. As soon as I said, "Oh, he has a workshop with looms in it," something clicked. My mom began to tell me how about 5 years ago she had prayed to be able to speak in tongues and the night she did that she had this really weird dream. In her dream a woman who was disabled in some way was sitting next to a weaving loom and crying because she had lost a child!! It was the scariest/most exciting thing ever! I got goose bumps and immediately started crying with my mom on the phone. It was such a neat God experience we got to have together over the phone last night and I can't even describe my feelings. This just seemed like such a neat experience I wanted to share. :)
Last night I got a chance to talk to my mom for almost an hour! As we were discussing my home stay and my mama and papa here in Africa, we made an amazing connection. I had already talked to my real mom previously about how my parents and how they lost a baby girl last year at birth. However, last night I also informed her of how my mama is in a wheelchair because she is disabled from the waste down and how my papa weaves for a living. As soon as I said, "Oh, he has a workshop with looms in it," something clicked. My mom began to tell me how about 5 years ago she had prayed to be able to speak in tongues and the night she did that she had this really weird dream. In her dream a woman who was disabled in some way was sitting next to a weaving loom and crying because she had lost a child!! It was the scariest/most exciting thing ever! I got goose bumps and immediately started crying with my mom on the phone. It was such a neat God experience we got to have together over the phone last night and I can't even describe my feelings. This just seemed like such a neat experience I wanted to share. :)
Friday, September 10, 2010
Kampala
Africa may be my favorite place on earth! Today was one of the best days I've ever had!! This actually won't be going up until later though because the internet has been down for a couple of days. When I say today, I mean 9/9/10.
When we 1st arrive in Uganda back in August, there were some girls staying in my dorm that I actually got pretty close with in a short time. When we got back from Rwanda, they had moved out of this dorm and into hostels or other dorm buildings. 2 of the girls we met are named Amito and Truth. They are both my age and super sweet. Amito is sooooooooo tall, dark, and gorgeous. She actually does some modeling for various agencies. Truth is almost as tall and just a beautiful. My friend Esther from the USP program and I have connected really well with Truth and Amito and planned to go to Kampala for the 1st time today. We left around 4:15 from Mukono in a taxi. Now, a taxi here is a bit different than one in America. A taxi here means a big 15 passenger van stuffed full of people. It's crowded, hot, and smelly, but oh so much fun. Me, Esther, Amito, and Truth took one from Mukono to Kampala-which technically we aren't supposed to do, but hey you only live once, right?! It only cost us 1,000 shillings which is equivalent to like .50 or $1.00 in American-amazing! Once we got there, we had to cross traffic which is literally 100 times worse than traffic in Mukono. Esther and I were holding hands with Amito and Truth likes babies, lol. Once we got there, we went to a market-in other words a massive group of people crowded in 1 tiny area trying to sell things. This market was right next to railroad tracks and I couldn't move anywhere because it was so crowded. Of course Esther and I were the only white people there, so the only word I could ever make out was "Mzungu" as we walked through the crowds. There was a lot of neat stuff like clothes, shoes, and jewelry for real cheap. I bought a few things, but most of the people would raise their prices on us simply because we were white. Luckily, we had Amito who would bargain for us and get us great deals. It was a bit overwhelming, but I enjoyed every second of it!
After the market, we hit up Garden City Mall. Oh my goodness.....how I miss malls already! This place was beautiful and everything was open and breezy. It wasn't like a typical mall in America, but that made it even better. They had supermarkets right in the mall and some really cool shops. Of course they also had some American type stores with clothes and shoes like you would normally see. If I ever feel homesick that is where I shall reside, haha. For supper we decided to go to this cafe called 'Cafe Javas.' Amito goes there a lot and it's actually really nice and Americanized. My body was overjoyed to dine on chicken and smoothies!! I got cajun chicken sandwich and spiced fries and a smoothie for supper and needless to say I could die happy. Now, life isn't really that serious, but I am realizing how much I take for granted when I am home. At dinner, there was a group of like 8 men sitting next to us talking about us in some other language. Truth actually understood what they were saying and it wasn't very pleasant. They were stereotyping us and actually staring at us and treating us inappropriately. I suppose men will be men regardless of where you are in the world. Typical. Once supper was over, we hit up the supermarket and got a few items and then headed back to Mukono. It cost 1,500 for the way back but that is still super cheap in comparison. Once we reached Mukono, we weren't by the campus so we decided to be adventurous and ride on a boda boda. I was super scared, but I might as well be a rebel while I can! I rode with Amito and Esther rode with Truth. It actually turned out to be not very scary and a lot of fun.
When we 1st arrive in Uganda back in August, there were some girls staying in my dorm that I actually got pretty close with in a short time. When we got back from Rwanda, they had moved out of this dorm and into hostels or other dorm buildings. 2 of the girls we met are named Amito and Truth. They are both my age and super sweet. Amito is sooooooooo tall, dark, and gorgeous. She actually does some modeling for various agencies. Truth is almost as tall and just a beautiful. My friend Esther from the USP program and I have connected really well with Truth and Amito and planned to go to Kampala for the 1st time today. We left around 4:15 from Mukono in a taxi. Now, a taxi here is a bit different than one in America. A taxi here means a big 15 passenger van stuffed full of people. It's crowded, hot, and smelly, but oh so much fun. Me, Esther, Amito, and Truth took one from Mukono to Kampala-which technically we aren't supposed to do, but hey you only live once, right?! It only cost us 1,000 shillings which is equivalent to like .50 or $1.00 in American-amazing! Once we got there, we had to cross traffic which is literally 100 times worse than traffic in Mukono. Esther and I were holding hands with Amito and Truth likes babies, lol. Once we got there, we went to a market-in other words a massive group of people crowded in 1 tiny area trying to sell things. This market was right next to railroad tracks and I couldn't move anywhere because it was so crowded. Of course Esther and I were the only white people there, so the only word I could ever make out was "Mzungu" as we walked through the crowds. There was a lot of neat stuff like clothes, shoes, and jewelry for real cheap. I bought a few things, but most of the people would raise their prices on us simply because we were white. Luckily, we had Amito who would bargain for us and get us great deals. It was a bit overwhelming, but I enjoyed every second of it!
After the market, we hit up Garden City Mall. Oh my goodness.....how I miss malls already! This place was beautiful and everything was open and breezy. It wasn't like a typical mall in America, but that made it even better. They had supermarkets right in the mall and some really cool shops. Of course they also had some American type stores with clothes and shoes like you would normally see. If I ever feel homesick that is where I shall reside, haha. For supper we decided to go to this cafe called 'Cafe Javas.' Amito goes there a lot and it's actually really nice and Americanized. My body was overjoyed to dine on chicken and smoothies!! I got cajun chicken sandwich and spiced fries and a smoothie for supper and needless to say I could die happy. Now, life isn't really that serious, but I am realizing how much I take for granted when I am home. At dinner, there was a group of like 8 men sitting next to us talking about us in some other language. Truth actually understood what they were saying and it wasn't very pleasant. They were stereotyping us and actually staring at us and treating us inappropriately. I suppose men will be men regardless of where you are in the world. Typical. Once supper was over, we hit up the supermarket and got a few items and then headed back to Mukono. It cost 1,500 for the way back but that is still super cheap in comparison. Once we reached Mukono, we weren't by the campus so we decided to be adventurous and ride on a boda boda. I was super scared, but I might as well be a rebel while I can! I rode with Amito and Esther rode with Truth. It actually turned out to be not very scary and a lot of fun.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Sorry it has been so long since I've blogged, but life has been very hectic. I am attempting to gather all my thoughts from Rwanda and create a blog post about my trip, but that will take a few days. For now, I will tell about the past couple of days and the start of classes.
Our group returned from Rwanda Sunday night (9/5)right before supper. We had to meet Monday morning (9/6) for our 1st set of classes. My 1st class did not start until 11am, which is amazing :) This class is called Faith and Action and it is a class that the USP program has for us. It will consist of a lot of paper writing and reflections. We meet 2 times a week and 2 hours one day and 1 hour the next. Another class I have is African Literature. My professors name is Patrick and he walks with a cane. Probably the cutest old Ugandan man I have ever seen! For that class we basically introduced ourselves and went over the syllabus. All the professors grade on a 20 point scale here, which makes my life!! Wooo! For example: points from 100 to 80 is an A. I also had my social work class on Monday and I think this will be my favorite. I am doing a practicum while here and I have decided to work at a school called Salama, which is for blind children. Blind children are seen as cursed by most families and most are sent away :-/ I will have to keep journals of my experience there and write a few papers for that class. I am excited for this experience because it will be something so different from anything I've ever done before. I am meeting the leaders of the school on Friday and planning out a schedule of when I can work there. I am sure it will be a roller coaster of emotions, but such a great learning experience for me!
Yesterday (9/7) I didn't have class again until 11am! Africa must love me or something, lol. I had my African Traditional Religion class, which sounds like it will be so much fun! We are going to learn about Christianity in Africa, as well as Islam and Judaism. My professors name is Samuel and he is married to a woman who works for USP. He seems like an interesting man and that he will really challenge me to work hard. After that class, I went to my 1st community worship here, which is similar to a chapel service @ Greenville College. Except, it's more fun-ha! It lasts an hour and we do singing and dancing, announcements, and a speaker. Yesterday they read from Eph. and talked about grace. They have community worship every Tuesday and Thursday from 12-1 and I required to attend 12 of them(I just couldn't escape chapel attendance, even with leaving Greenville!) I met and am friends with a guy who helps out with the worship services and I think I will get to read Scripture some of the times, if I want to. That was my last thing of the day, so the rest of it was spent hanging with friends and meeting new Ugandans. Everyone is still really nice, but it is sometimes hard to tell if people are truly wanting to be our friends or if they think we have money and will give them stuff; as bad as that sounds. This is something I am really struggling with while here, because some students(mostly men) think women are like the movies, which is not good for anyone. However, I am still having a great time and I do have a lot of wonderful friends(guys and girls) from Uganda!
Today I did not have any classes!! I will never have class on Wednesday, but this will be one of the days that I do my practicum once I actually get started. I got to sleep in until 10 which was simply stunning. I went into Mukono town with Loren from USP and Brendah who is one of my Ugandan friends. We shopped around for about 2 hours in the blazing heat! It is soooo hot today and I love it. One scary thing about shopping in town is all the traffic. No one really pays attention to road signs and you will get hit if you don't watch where you are going. I made it safely this time, no accidents required, haha. I bought a scarf/dress thing from my friend Agatha yesterday and wore it as a dress today. It is big enough to wear as a skirt, shirt, dress, scarf, or head wrap; I will be making great use of it! I wore it as a head wrap yesterday and everyone loved it. I felt like a real African haha.
As I've said before, laundry is my least favorite thing in the world. Well, it has proven to continue to hate my life as we speak. Since Monday, I have done 4 "loads" of laundry and just finished washing it all today and getting it hung on the line. I had so many dirty clothes from Rwanda that I could cry, lol. My hands are starting to get dry and crackly already and it is only like my 2nd time doing laundry. We have to wash our hands right after using the laundry soap and put on lotion so my hands won't fall off. I did my jeans and a towel yesterday and let me tell you-worst life choice. It is funny to see how dirty the water is when you ring things out though. The really sad story is laundry has to be done every couple of days so it won't pile up.
There are soooo many students here on campus now and it is a bit overwhelming. They all still stare, but most do that because they are new 1st years and are super scared of everyone, lol. I have met a lot of 1st years during lunch and supper and they all seem pretty nice. At meals it is so crowded that you just have to hope to find a table with anyone, even if you don't know them. So, every meal I am meeting like 6 new people. I shall have 1,000 friends before I return to the states. :) I am still getting along with everyone in USP and Honors college(they are the Ugandan students that live with us and came to Rwanda.) I am finding it very easy to get close with the Ugandan students and we all seem to bond really well.
Well, that is life as I know it now. Rwanda posts will be coming shortly. :-)
Our group returned from Rwanda Sunday night (9/5)right before supper. We had to meet Monday morning (9/6) for our 1st set of classes. My 1st class did not start until 11am, which is amazing :) This class is called Faith and Action and it is a class that the USP program has for us. It will consist of a lot of paper writing and reflections. We meet 2 times a week and 2 hours one day and 1 hour the next. Another class I have is African Literature. My professors name is Patrick and he walks with a cane. Probably the cutest old Ugandan man I have ever seen! For that class we basically introduced ourselves and went over the syllabus. All the professors grade on a 20 point scale here, which makes my life!! Wooo! For example: points from 100 to 80 is an A. I also had my social work class on Monday and I think this will be my favorite. I am doing a practicum while here and I have decided to work at a school called Salama, which is for blind children. Blind children are seen as cursed by most families and most are sent away :-/ I will have to keep journals of my experience there and write a few papers for that class. I am excited for this experience because it will be something so different from anything I've ever done before. I am meeting the leaders of the school on Friday and planning out a schedule of when I can work there. I am sure it will be a roller coaster of emotions, but such a great learning experience for me!
Yesterday (9/7) I didn't have class again until 11am! Africa must love me or something, lol. I had my African Traditional Religion class, which sounds like it will be so much fun! We are going to learn about Christianity in Africa, as well as Islam and Judaism. My professors name is Samuel and he is married to a woman who works for USP. He seems like an interesting man and that he will really challenge me to work hard. After that class, I went to my 1st community worship here, which is similar to a chapel service @ Greenville College. Except, it's more fun-ha! It lasts an hour and we do singing and dancing, announcements, and a speaker. Yesterday they read from Eph. and talked about grace. They have community worship every Tuesday and Thursday from 12-1 and I required to attend 12 of them(I just couldn't escape chapel attendance, even with leaving Greenville!) I met and am friends with a guy who helps out with the worship services and I think I will get to read Scripture some of the times, if I want to. That was my last thing of the day, so the rest of it was spent hanging with friends and meeting new Ugandans. Everyone is still really nice, but it is sometimes hard to tell if people are truly wanting to be our friends or if they think we have money and will give them stuff; as bad as that sounds. This is something I am really struggling with while here, because some students(mostly men) think women are like the movies, which is not good for anyone. However, I am still having a great time and I do have a lot of wonderful friends(guys and girls) from Uganda!
Today I did not have any classes!! I will never have class on Wednesday, but this will be one of the days that I do my practicum once I actually get started. I got to sleep in until 10 which was simply stunning. I went into Mukono town with Loren from USP and Brendah who is one of my Ugandan friends. We shopped around for about 2 hours in the blazing heat! It is soooo hot today and I love it. One scary thing about shopping in town is all the traffic. No one really pays attention to road signs and you will get hit if you don't watch where you are going. I made it safely this time, no accidents required, haha. I bought a scarf/dress thing from my friend Agatha yesterday and wore it as a dress today. It is big enough to wear as a skirt, shirt, dress, scarf, or head wrap; I will be making great use of it! I wore it as a head wrap yesterday and everyone loved it. I felt like a real African haha.
As I've said before, laundry is my least favorite thing in the world. Well, it has proven to continue to hate my life as we speak. Since Monday, I have done 4 "loads" of laundry and just finished washing it all today and getting it hung on the line. I had so many dirty clothes from Rwanda that I could cry, lol. My hands are starting to get dry and crackly already and it is only like my 2nd time doing laundry. We have to wash our hands right after using the laundry soap and put on lotion so my hands won't fall off. I did my jeans and a towel yesterday and let me tell you-worst life choice. It is funny to see how dirty the water is when you ring things out though. The really sad story is laundry has to be done every couple of days so it won't pile up.
There are soooo many students here on campus now and it is a bit overwhelming. They all still stare, but most do that because they are new 1st years and are super scared of everyone, lol. I have met a lot of 1st years during lunch and supper and they all seem pretty nice. At meals it is so crowded that you just have to hope to find a table with anyone, even if you don't know them. So, every meal I am meeting like 6 new people. I shall have 1,000 friends before I return to the states. :) I am still getting along with everyone in USP and Honors college(they are the Ugandan students that live with us and came to Rwanda.) I am finding it very easy to get close with the Ugandan students and we all seem to bond really well.
Well, that is life as I know it now. Rwanda posts will be coming shortly. :-)
Monday, September 6, 2010
Rwanda Adventures
Okay, so this is like 1,000 years late but better late than never, right?! This shall be my blog on Rwanda and I was going to be all detailed and fill you in on all the wonderful/not so wonderful things about my trip, but that would take forever. Instead, I am going to give some highlights and also share a poem that I wrote after we got back that helped me to process all of the information I had to take in. First, my poem... it is titled Innocence.
Cry, plead, beg, scream,
Is this pain or is it a dream?
The sword is sharp as blood flows down,
The words won't come as I start to drown.
Raise your hand as you've never done before,
Beat me and shake me till I crumble on the floor.
Who is this man with a voice so proud,
Why are the shrieks of my family so loud?
Where should I go, where should I run?
This game of hide-n-seek was never much fun.
Mommies are dead and daddies are broken,
Who will listen to the words that I've spoken?
Cutting, shoving, bleeding, and sorrow,
Will I live long enough to see my tomorrow?
What is the hate that I see in your eyes,
Who told you an earful of horrible lies?
Look at my face and tell me I'm filthy,
Look in my eyes, could I really be guilty?
Innocence in my soul, youth in my heart,
How has my world suddenly shattered apart?
Is it possible for peace to come back again,
Or will I eternally be punished for the lack of my sin?
This poem was finished a couple of days ago and I wrote from the perspective of a small child in the genocide.
While in Rwanda, we stayed at a church guest house for 2 days and then for 4 days we stayed in another area of Rwanda at a different guest house. The trip there was most uneventful because everyone was sleeping most of the time. The roads were extremely dusty and soooo bumpy! I felt like I could have fallen out of the bus. Overall, it was about a 13 hour drive there and we had to stop at the border of Rwanda which took forever. While there we went to a genocide memorial building that had different exhibits placed throughout 3 floors. There was not only information, gruesome pictures and stories on Rwanda genocide but on 4 others as well. Outside in the back they had mass graves of some of the Rwandan victims. On the top floor of this building, it was dedicated to children that were lost in genocide. There were pictures and stories of how old each one was, their favorite things in life, and how they died. I will not share details, simply because they are hard to talk about. I would gladly share with anyone who asks and feels the desire to know more. That was probably the hardest part of the day for me, because some children were as young as 3 months old. Other rooms has videos of survivors and their stories or rooms with pictures of victims, or bones and clothing from the deceased. It was a lot to deal with in one day, so when we returned to our camp that night everyone was exhausted.
The next day, I thought things couldn't possibly be any harder than that memorial, but I was wayyyy wrong. We went to a church named Nyamata that was actually a site for killings during the genocide. Before we entered, a man talked with us through a translator about what we would be seeing while inside the church. Sometimes he would speak to us in English, but it wasn't very good so he kept with the translator. When we went inside the church, it was immediate disbelief. There were bullet holes all over the ceiling and piles of clothes EVERYWHERE. There were broken pieces of furniture and bullet holes in the walls and doors. Also, I didn't know this at the time, but before we left we were informed that the dark stains on the brick walls were actually blood stains from victims. The back half of the church had clothes that looked too small for adults and we found out that this section was where children 5 and under where sent to get killed. I shall once again spare you the details of this scene, but it was not a pleasant moment in life. We all gathered in the front of the church while Charles(the man telling us about the church) told us he was going to tell us some stories himself without the translator. What occurred next may have been one of the worst/hardest moments in my life. Charles started to tell us that the reason he knew so much about this church is because he was actually there when the genocide was happening. He was in the church and managed to be 1 of 5 people who survived that day. I can't remember the exact number of people in the church that day but it was in the high thousands. He was only 8 years old at the time and had to sit by and watch as his mom, dad, and at least 6 siblings were murdered. He survived because his older brother covered him in blood and bodies so the Hutus would assume he was dead. This is as far as I will go with details on that because it gets a lot worse. I apologize if this offends anyone, but I would like to truly express my Rwanda experience. As Charles kept telling us stories, I had to leave because I was literally sobbing. Everything about the genocide just became so real to me at that moment and I couldn't handle it. Outside of the church they had mass graves and I just couldn't bring myself to even go near them. When we arrived back at our camp that night, I had to go to bed because my body felt physically and mentally exhausted.
Almost the entire week we were in Rwanda I had gotten really sick. Monday-Saturday I had symptoms of just about everything. It hit it's highest point on Thursday when I had a fever of 103 and couldn't keep food in me. So, I was miserably sick on top of taking in all this graphic information. However, the Rwanda trip was an actually amazing experience. I got to know and bond with the Ugandan students who came with us and also get to know my fellow USP students better. We would have little random worhsip sessions most nights that always made me feel better. We also attended a trade fair that had all sorts of crafts and goodies to buy. We went to a place called Ubuntu that was a shelter for widows of the genocide and they make and sell crafts there as well. It also provides schooling for widows and orphans. That was a lot of fun because they put on a dance and little musical show for us. Earlier in the week we got to attend a Rwandan church, which was crazyyy!!! We had to sit up front-awkward and we sang some songs for them and gave a sermon. They had like 5 different choirs and sang about every 5 minutes. haha. It was a really neat church experience and so different from America. We of course couldn't understand a single word that was being said, but I till enjoyed myself. It was a 3 hour service.
I really had a great time in Rwanda and there is no way I could ever tell you about all the things that happened. These are some highlights and I would love to share other stories with anyone who wants to know. I highly recommend going to Rwanda at some point in life and getting a chance to see 1st hand the horror of the genocide but also the reconciliation that is taking place.
Cry, plead, beg, scream,
Is this pain or is it a dream?
The sword is sharp as blood flows down,
The words won't come as I start to drown.
Raise your hand as you've never done before,
Beat me and shake me till I crumble on the floor.
Who is this man with a voice so proud,
Why are the shrieks of my family so loud?
Where should I go, where should I run?
This game of hide-n-seek was never much fun.
Mommies are dead and daddies are broken,
Who will listen to the words that I've spoken?
Cutting, shoving, bleeding, and sorrow,
Will I live long enough to see my tomorrow?
What is the hate that I see in your eyes,
Who told you an earful of horrible lies?
Look at my face and tell me I'm filthy,
Look in my eyes, could I really be guilty?
Innocence in my soul, youth in my heart,
How has my world suddenly shattered apart?
Is it possible for peace to come back again,
Or will I eternally be punished for the lack of my sin?
This poem was finished a couple of days ago and I wrote from the perspective of a small child in the genocide.
While in Rwanda, we stayed at a church guest house for 2 days and then for 4 days we stayed in another area of Rwanda at a different guest house. The trip there was most uneventful because everyone was sleeping most of the time. The roads were extremely dusty and soooo bumpy! I felt like I could have fallen out of the bus. Overall, it was about a 13 hour drive there and we had to stop at the border of Rwanda which took forever. While there we went to a genocide memorial building that had different exhibits placed throughout 3 floors. There was not only information, gruesome pictures and stories on Rwanda genocide but on 4 others as well. Outside in the back they had mass graves of some of the Rwandan victims. On the top floor of this building, it was dedicated to children that were lost in genocide. There were pictures and stories of how old each one was, their favorite things in life, and how they died. I will not share details, simply because they are hard to talk about. I would gladly share with anyone who asks and feels the desire to know more. That was probably the hardest part of the day for me, because some children were as young as 3 months old. Other rooms has videos of survivors and their stories or rooms with pictures of victims, or bones and clothing from the deceased. It was a lot to deal with in one day, so when we returned to our camp that night everyone was exhausted.
The next day, I thought things couldn't possibly be any harder than that memorial, but I was wayyyy wrong. We went to a church named Nyamata that was actually a site for killings during the genocide. Before we entered, a man talked with us through a translator about what we would be seeing while inside the church. Sometimes he would speak to us in English, but it wasn't very good so he kept with the translator. When we went inside the church, it was immediate disbelief. There were bullet holes all over the ceiling and piles of clothes EVERYWHERE. There were broken pieces of furniture and bullet holes in the walls and doors. Also, I didn't know this at the time, but before we left we were informed that the dark stains on the brick walls were actually blood stains from victims. The back half of the church had clothes that looked too small for adults and we found out that this section was where children 5 and under where sent to get killed. I shall once again spare you the details of this scene, but it was not a pleasant moment in life. We all gathered in the front of the church while Charles(the man telling us about the church) told us he was going to tell us some stories himself without the translator. What occurred next may have been one of the worst/hardest moments in my life. Charles started to tell us that the reason he knew so much about this church is because he was actually there when the genocide was happening. He was in the church and managed to be 1 of 5 people who survived that day. I can't remember the exact number of people in the church that day but it was in the high thousands. He was only 8 years old at the time and had to sit by and watch as his mom, dad, and at least 6 siblings were murdered. He survived because his older brother covered him in blood and bodies so the Hutus would assume he was dead. This is as far as I will go with details on that because it gets a lot worse. I apologize if this offends anyone, but I would like to truly express my Rwanda experience. As Charles kept telling us stories, I had to leave because I was literally sobbing. Everything about the genocide just became so real to me at that moment and I couldn't handle it. Outside of the church they had mass graves and I just couldn't bring myself to even go near them. When we arrived back at our camp that night, I had to go to bed because my body felt physically and mentally exhausted.
Almost the entire week we were in Rwanda I had gotten really sick. Monday-Saturday I had symptoms of just about everything. It hit it's highest point on Thursday when I had a fever of 103 and couldn't keep food in me. So, I was miserably sick on top of taking in all this graphic information. However, the Rwanda trip was an actually amazing experience. I got to know and bond with the Ugandan students who came with us and also get to know my fellow USP students better. We would have little random worhsip sessions most nights that always made me feel better. We also attended a trade fair that had all sorts of crafts and goodies to buy. We went to a place called Ubuntu that was a shelter for widows of the genocide and they make and sell crafts there as well. It also provides schooling for widows and orphans. That was a lot of fun because they put on a dance and little musical show for us. Earlier in the week we got to attend a Rwandan church, which was crazyyy!!! We had to sit up front-awkward and we sang some songs for them and gave a sermon. They had like 5 different choirs and sang about every 5 minutes. haha. It was a really neat church experience and so different from America. We of course couldn't understand a single word that was being said, but I till enjoyed myself. It was a 3 hour service.
I really had a great time in Rwanda and there is no way I could ever tell you about all the things that happened. These are some highlights and I would love to share other stories with anyone who wants to know. I highly recommend going to Rwanda at some point in life and getting a chance to see 1st hand the horror of the genocide but also the reconciliation that is taking place.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Oli Otya
Oli Otya is a phrase we learned the other day which is how you greet your peers here. It basically means, "How are you?" and in response you would say, Ggendi, which means "fine." Now you all just learned some Lugandan :-)
I already feel like I have been in Uganda for months and it has only been 3ish days. I am already getting used to the cold showers and mosquito nets. One thing I can never get used to is locking my room and electronics down. We have big dead bolts and actual padlocks on the outside of our doors that we have to lock whenever we leave the room. Also we have a box in our room with a padlock for our money, cameras, computers, etc. for when we aren't in the room. It is just for safety, not that anyone will steal, but just in case.
Today I got to experience washing my clothes by hand. Lets just say I REALLY appreciate my washer and dryer. This may be one of the most tedious and annoying tasks here thus far. You have to fill your not so big bucket with water and add soap. Then, you scrub your clothes as best as you can with your hands and let them soak for an hour. After that, you have to ring them out and make sure all the soap is out which is extremely hard to tell if it is. And.....jeans are the WORST thing to wash ever! They never get rid of soap and suck to get all the water out. Needless to say, I will not be wearing my jeans till I leave...haha. You need to hang dry things on a line when all that stuff is done and as luck would have it, it rained. So, my clothes half dried and I had to iron most of them. I burned my hand twice, which is always fun.
My stomach growled all day today, I think it's finally realizing that it doesn't get to be a fatty like it generally is. I have already lost a couple of pounds because portions are so small. Thankfully though I love the meals we get.
Tomorrow morning or in 5 hours, I am leaving for Rwanda. They are taking all of us there until September 5th to learn more about the genocide there and just experience a different side of Africa. I won't be blogging until I get back, because I can't take my computer. So, I will have many stories when I return and lots of pictures.
Life in Uganda is great minus washing my clothes! I am learning already how materialistic we are as Americans and how much I really need to be thankful for. I take so much for granted and that is really becoming apparent to me the longer I am here. God is already working through me by allowing me to form relationships with the Ugandans easily. I am sooo pumped for what He has in store for me during Rwanda and when the semester starts.
Taui Ra
I already feel like I have been in Uganda for months and it has only been 3ish days. I am already getting used to the cold showers and mosquito nets. One thing I can never get used to is locking my room and electronics down. We have big dead bolts and actual padlocks on the outside of our doors that we have to lock whenever we leave the room. Also we have a box in our room with a padlock for our money, cameras, computers, etc. for when we aren't in the room. It is just for safety, not that anyone will steal, but just in case.
Today I got to experience washing my clothes by hand. Lets just say I REALLY appreciate my washer and dryer. This may be one of the most tedious and annoying tasks here thus far. You have to fill your not so big bucket with water and add soap. Then, you scrub your clothes as best as you can with your hands and let them soak for an hour. After that, you have to ring them out and make sure all the soap is out which is extremely hard to tell if it is. And.....jeans are the WORST thing to wash ever! They never get rid of soap and suck to get all the water out. Needless to say, I will not be wearing my jeans till I leave...haha. You need to hang dry things on a line when all that stuff is done and as luck would have it, it rained. So, my clothes half dried and I had to iron most of them. I burned my hand twice, which is always fun.
My stomach growled all day today, I think it's finally realizing that it doesn't get to be a fatty like it generally is. I have already lost a couple of pounds because portions are so small. Thankfully though I love the meals we get.
Tomorrow morning or in 5 hours, I am leaving for Rwanda. They are taking all of us there until September 5th to learn more about the genocide there and just experience a different side of Africa. I won't be blogging until I get back, because I can't take my computer. So, I will have many stories when I return and lots of pictures.
Life in Uganda is great minus washing my clothes! I am learning already how materialistic we are as Americans and how much I really need to be thankful for. I take so much for granted and that is really becoming apparent to me the longer I am here. God is already working through me by allowing me to form relationships with the Ugandans easily. I am sooo pumped for what He has in store for me during Rwanda and when the semester starts.
Taui Ra
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Uganda
Hi everyone! My first blog from Uganda and unfortunately it is coming a few days late. We didn't get set up with internet until yesterday and our dorm buildings don't have very strong signals. Here is a little bit of what has been going on since I left the U.S.:
I flew form Chicago at 6 am to Philly and then to Washington. I got to Washington around 11:30 am and slowly but surely the group started to arrive. We all had to wait around until 3:30pm to meet and then didn't fly out until 6:30pm. By this point I was already tired from not sleeping the night before. We arrived in Amsterdam after 7 and 1/2 hour flight at 8:10 am-this is with the times changes. Then we flew on another 7 hour flight to Entebbe(Uganda) and arrived at 8:30pm on the 24th! That was wayyyy too much flying for me and I Am happy I don't do it again for 4 months.
Once we arrived we had to drive 1 and 1/2 hours to our school. We got our dorms and roomies and were sent to bed because it was like 11pm here. My roomies name is Jen and she is really nice. She is kind of quiet but we generally talk in the room. She is a music major, vocal, so we like to chat about music. :) Trying to adjust to the time change kind of sucks! I am exhausted all day!
I already feel close to my group and the Ugandan students that are here. There are only athletes here right now and then a few others. My dorm building has about 6 Ugandans staying in it, so we hang out with them mostly and eat our meals with them too. We all like to compare how Americans are and how Ugandans are. There are many similarities, but Ugandans view some things differently like: marriage, divorce, and dating. We learned that dating is super serious here and if someone introduces you to their family, you are basically engaged. Most don't believe in divorce except for adultery. Also, they have a strong opinion on homosexuality and do not tolerate-to put it nicely. However, guys and girls act basically the same at the college age. Boys will be boys and flirt and girls are catty and talk about any and everything. Needless to say, other than our skin color, we fit in wonderfully! Ugandans stare at us like there is no one else in the world. They not only stare for a brief moment, but continue to do so until you are out of sight; it is interesting to say the least.
I met a girl named Jassy the 1st night and I actually got close to her in the 2 days that I've been here. She just graduated, so she left, but we bonded immediately. She called me a "half-cast" which is what they call mixed people, I guess. She said it is not common here at all and people love to see half-casts. They are rare and special, so she said everyone will try and touch my hair and my skin...ha! That's kind of fun. Some Ugandan girls I have met are Ameto or Queen, Esther, Truth, Gloria, and Priscilla. They are all gorgeous with amazing skin! We met some Ugandan men too, but we mostly interact with them at meal time.
Life here is very different than the U.S., obviously. We have cold showers which are not that bad after the initial cold hits you. It wakes me up immediately in the morning on the bright side. Toilets look very similar here, but others are just a hole in the ground. We brush our teeth in the sinks with their water, but otherwise we go to special sinks for drinking water. We have to wash clothes by hand, which will be fun whenever I experience that...ha! We have to hang dry our clothes and then iron them because we were told mango flies could possibly lay eggs on our clothes while they are outside and get into our skin-fun tidbit :)
Meals: Aug. 25
Breakfast: eggs, a piece of bread, banana, pineapple, and tea
Lunch: Rice and meat sauce, putoko(thick, white trianlge of sugar and some other things mixed together), peanut sauce-purple, and water.
Supper: Matoka(fried plantains), half a sweet potato, and some sauce, cabbage and water.
Aug 26
Breakfast: 1 doughnut-not much bigger than a doughnut hole, hard-boiled egg, and water
Lunch: Rice and beans and water.
Supper: Rice and beans, putoka, peanut sauce, and cabbage w/carrots, and water.
Meals are small but surprisingly filling. All of our meals will be mostly these foods and same everyday. Rice and beans are the staple foods.
In the afternoon today we learned Luganda for 2 hours. This is their native language and we just learned how to greet people formally and informally for the day and evening. I am basically a pro ;-). Today we also went to Mukono town and did some shopping. The locals stared us down like we were a diseas..haha. But, we said hi to most and they were extremely nice back. They always ask how you are and smile back. A lot of the places are tiny and cramped together, but have neat things. The dresses here are so beautiful and colorful. The children always waved and said hi to us. Most adults called us "Mzungus," which means white people. On our way back, me and 3 of my friend were crossing the street, which is very dangerous because traffic is fast and unorganized, and a boda boda(motorcycle) hit Esther and I. The man tried to stop, but he was unable to do it in time. He hit Esther who then hit me and I got knocked over but Esther fell and rolled. She cut up her knee pretty bad and has a few cuts and bruises, but everyone is okay! :) It was a crazy little experience but will make for good stories later. It has already been an intense 2 days, but I am loving every minute of it.
Taui Ra
I flew form Chicago at 6 am to Philly and then to Washington. I got to Washington around 11:30 am and slowly but surely the group started to arrive. We all had to wait around until 3:30pm to meet and then didn't fly out until 6:30pm. By this point I was already tired from not sleeping the night before. We arrived in Amsterdam after 7 and 1/2 hour flight at 8:10 am-this is with the times changes. Then we flew on another 7 hour flight to Entebbe(Uganda) and arrived at 8:30pm on the 24th! That was wayyyy too much flying for me and I Am happy I don't do it again for 4 months.
Once we arrived we had to drive 1 and 1/2 hours to our school. We got our dorms and roomies and were sent to bed because it was like 11pm here. My roomies name is Jen and she is really nice. She is kind of quiet but we generally talk in the room. She is a music major, vocal, so we like to chat about music. :) Trying to adjust to the time change kind of sucks! I am exhausted all day!
I already feel close to my group and the Ugandan students that are here. There are only athletes here right now and then a few others. My dorm building has about 6 Ugandans staying in it, so we hang out with them mostly and eat our meals with them too. We all like to compare how Americans are and how Ugandans are. There are many similarities, but Ugandans view some things differently like: marriage, divorce, and dating. We learned that dating is super serious here and if someone introduces you to their family, you are basically engaged. Most don't believe in divorce except for adultery. Also, they have a strong opinion on homosexuality and do not tolerate-to put it nicely. However, guys and girls act basically the same at the college age. Boys will be boys and flirt and girls are catty and talk about any and everything. Needless to say, other than our skin color, we fit in wonderfully! Ugandans stare at us like there is no one else in the world. They not only stare for a brief moment, but continue to do so until you are out of sight; it is interesting to say the least.
I met a girl named Jassy the 1st night and I actually got close to her in the 2 days that I've been here. She just graduated, so she left, but we bonded immediately. She called me a "half-cast" which is what they call mixed people, I guess. She said it is not common here at all and people love to see half-casts. They are rare and special, so she said everyone will try and touch my hair and my skin...ha! That's kind of fun. Some Ugandan girls I have met are Ameto or Queen, Esther, Truth, Gloria, and Priscilla. They are all gorgeous with amazing skin! We met some Ugandan men too, but we mostly interact with them at meal time.
Life here is very different than the U.S., obviously. We have cold showers which are not that bad after the initial cold hits you. It wakes me up immediately in the morning on the bright side. Toilets look very similar here, but others are just a hole in the ground. We brush our teeth in the sinks with their water, but otherwise we go to special sinks for drinking water. We have to wash clothes by hand, which will be fun whenever I experience that...ha! We have to hang dry our clothes and then iron them because we were told mango flies could possibly lay eggs on our clothes while they are outside and get into our skin-fun tidbit :)
Meals: Aug. 25
Breakfast: eggs, a piece of bread, banana, pineapple, and tea
Lunch: Rice and meat sauce, putoko(thick, white trianlge of sugar and some other things mixed together), peanut sauce-purple, and water.
Supper: Matoka(fried plantains), half a sweet potato, and some sauce, cabbage and water.
Aug 26
Breakfast: 1 doughnut-not much bigger than a doughnut hole, hard-boiled egg, and water
Lunch: Rice and beans and water.
Supper: Rice and beans, putoka, peanut sauce, and cabbage w/carrots, and water.
Meals are small but surprisingly filling. All of our meals will be mostly these foods and same everyday. Rice and beans are the staple foods.
In the afternoon today we learned Luganda for 2 hours. This is their native language and we just learned how to greet people formally and informally for the day and evening. I am basically a pro ;-). Today we also went to Mukono town and did some shopping. The locals stared us down like we were a diseas..haha. But, we said hi to most and they were extremely nice back. They always ask how you are and smile back. A lot of the places are tiny and cramped together, but have neat things. The dresses here are so beautiful and colorful. The children always waved and said hi to us. Most adults called us "Mzungus," which means white people. On our way back, me and 3 of my friend were crossing the street, which is very dangerous because traffic is fast and unorganized, and a boda boda(motorcycle) hit Esther and I. The man tried to stop, but he was unable to do it in time. He hit Esther who then hit me and I got knocked over but Esther fell and rolled. She cut up her knee pretty bad and has a few cuts and bruises, but everyone is okay! :) It was a crazy little experience but will make for good stories later. It has already been an intense 2 days, but I am loving every minute of it.
Taui Ra
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