So the title does not really have anything to do with this post, the song was just in my head.... I'm going to tell you about the past two weekends and all of my fabulous adventures that are going to make you all extremely jealous and cause you to hop on a plane so you can visit me!!!! Yeaaaaaaaa!!
Two weekends ago the IMME group (Intercultural Ministry and Missions Emphasis) took a trip to Jinja the Ninja!! Actually it's just called Jinja, but it's fun to rhyme sometimes! We stayed at a gorgeous resort on Lake Victoria right by the source of the Nile. I pretty much slept a lot! We heard from an extremely cute older couple, Jesse and Beverly, and their prison ministry in Jinja that has expanded into many other incredible projects. I was blown away by the fact that they live off donations solely. Their story was one incredible miracle of God coming through for them at the last minute after another. For example, he couldn't get into the school to study missions unless he showed up at the campus in a week, but it was in Arizona and he was in Colorado and he needed to sell his house in that week. The Friday before having to leave on Saturday his friend called and asked if there were any houses around for sale and he ended up buying Jesse's house and moving in the next day! Crazy!
The next day we went to a cafe in town called The Source and heard from two guys named Bobby and Spencer. They were fun guys and made me excited about the idea of missions. They have this program to save these incredible trees in Uganda called Mvule trees and so they have a website where you can buy a tree and get updates on it's growth and stuff. It sounds incredibly goofy, but it's working. We went on a tour with Spencer after eating a guacomole, chicken wrap!!! It wasn't like a regular tour because Spencer set it up like more of a devotional. It was really neat and I wish I was better at relating what it meant to me, but i didn't really write any of it down. Anyways, later that night we ate at a restaurant and had American food! Sausage pizza, a calzone, strawberry and chocolate milkshakes, and a banana split!! Yes I did eat that all, but I split it with two other girls as well. It was glorious and I was wonderfully full afterwards!
The next day we went to a church and fellowshipped with them. The children's choir sang about Jesus love being like a mango-sweet and sweet, like a circle-big and round, and like a rainbow-colorful. One of my peers gave the sermon and she talked about running the race, faithfully using your gifts, living with joy, and crossing the finish line with a smile. It gave me goosebumps and I almost cried!
This past weekend I slept over at Kurty's home with her crazy family!! They are every bit as incredible as she said they are in her own blog! I had a blast with them. On Saturday, Kurty and I went to the National Dance Competition with her sister, Judith. We were at the competition for 5 hours!!! Our main goal was to watch Kurty's cousin do her solo with her high school, but we found out that we actually missed it after waiting for that long! It was incredible though. They did these dances where they shook their hips for like ten minutes straight and I can't even imagine how much their muscles were burning! I do admit that I fell asleep for a bit while waiting though :S We got hungry so we decided to walk across the street to get something to eat and while we were walking we heard very disconcerting noise...A boda-boda driver lost control and crashed towards us. Judith and I were able to jump sideways, but Kurty couldn't quite get all the way out of the way and the boda man flew off his bike and took her out!! I have not been that terrified in a long while! I thought her knee was going to be messed up again or she was going to crack her head or something. She walked away with a couple scrapes and bruises, but no more worse from the wear. When we were sitting at the restaurant reflecting on the ordeal after we all stopped shaking we realized there were some very funny moments. As Kurty was falling she was holding a soda in her hands and when she fell she made sure to lose as little soda as possible! No worries that she's falling towards the pavement, gotta save the Fruity Mirinda! Also, when I first asked her if she was ok she said "yes, oh man i ripped my pants!" Sometimes I wonder where her head is at! Also, her sister Judith scurried us away across the street as fast as possible...no need to stay at the scene...we didn't even say a word to the driver or see if he was ok (he was). The whole ordeal was just weird!
During the day we had to take Matatu's (taxi's) everywhere and you have to smash in with a bunch of other people and I'm glad we had Judith with us so they didn't try and rip us off. The whole day however, Kurty was hit on by like 5 guys in 5 different ways...a biker gave her a whistle as he swerved near, a boda driver told her he loved her, and a street vendor called her "my size," which means he wants her to be his lover and she's the right size for him. Among other moments, but apparently an American who is taken is more attractive than one who is single because no one hit on me!! hahaha, sometimes it's so easy to make fun of her!
The last thing I want to say about my weekend is that I killed a cockroach as big as my palm!!! It was at Kurty's...I don't have cockroaches at my house, thank goodness!
Well, that's it for now. All caught up on my life. The Ants go marching three by three, hurrah, hurrah, the ants go marching three by three, a little one stops to take a pee, and they all go marching down, to the ground, to get out of the rain, boom boom boom boom......hahaha
You are the light of the world, a city on a hill cannot be hidden. Matthew 5:14
Monday, 29 September 2008
Sunday, 28 September 2008
I want to share with you...oooh, shiny!
This blog is going to seem like I have ADD. It'll include all the random information that doesn't fit in any specific post. No theme here, just little snippets of Ugandan life!
1. It is perfectly acceptable here for men or women to hold each others hands and it does not mean that they like each other. Just good buddies! When you talk with someone they like to hold hands the whole time as well...more of a connection or something...
2. Every so often you see an African cowboy. It's a status symbol or something to wear a cowboy hat, but not actually need it in life.
3. My family listens to the radio and one of our favorite stations is BOB and it plays country music!!! It's glorious!
4. If your stomach hurts here you say it is "quarreling."
5. I texted my brother Thor and asked him about school and then told him I missed him and he told me he missed me back!!! It made my week!!
6. Earplugs are a necessity here! My family is up until 1 or 2 somedays and gets up at 4 or 5 as well!! I don't know how they do it!
7. The ties here are short and fat! They barely reach the belly button sometimes and are just chunks!
8. It is extremely offensive to walk and eat here! No snacking on the run.
9. I have a gecko living in my room. His name is Gershwin. In one tribe they tell their children if they kill a gecko then their mom's breasts will flip to the back so as to scare their children into not catching and killing them because they eat the bugs in the home.
10. If I could re-pack and just bring one more thing I would pack a toe-nail clipper. I stab myself with them every night when I'm trying to sleep! I bled the other night!! haha
11. One of the other IMME student's was eating breakfast at his home when his 16 year old sister decided he needed a haircut and proceeded to butcher his hair. I can't even describe to you how hysterical it looked. It looked like an outline of the Rockies over his forehead!
12. Sometimes when we've had people over they have sat on the floor and eaten our supper with their hands. I thought it was just because we didn't have enough forks, but I actually found out that women are actually not supposed to get to use forks and they are supposed to sit on the floor. My father informed us that we were being spoiled. That the men are the only ones supposed to use the forks and sit in chairs. I'm starting to realize how patriarchal my family is.
13. I killed a cockroach as long as my palm when I was visiting at Kurty's home.
Well, that's all I have for now. Hope you followed all right. :)
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ... Ephesians 2:4-5
1. It is perfectly acceptable here for men or women to hold each others hands and it does not mean that they like each other. Just good buddies! When you talk with someone they like to hold hands the whole time as well...more of a connection or something...
2. Every so often you see an African cowboy. It's a status symbol or something to wear a cowboy hat, but not actually need it in life.
3. My family listens to the radio and one of our favorite stations is BOB and it plays country music!!! It's glorious!
4. If your stomach hurts here you say it is "quarreling."
5. I texted my brother Thor and asked him about school and then told him I missed him and he told me he missed me back!!! It made my week!!
6. Earplugs are a necessity here! My family is up until 1 or 2 somedays and gets up at 4 or 5 as well!! I don't know how they do it!
7. The ties here are short and fat! They barely reach the belly button sometimes and are just chunks!
8. It is extremely offensive to walk and eat here! No snacking on the run.
9. I have a gecko living in my room. His name is Gershwin. In one tribe they tell their children if they kill a gecko then their mom's breasts will flip to the back so as to scare their children into not catching and killing them because they eat the bugs in the home.
10. If I could re-pack and just bring one more thing I would pack a toe-nail clipper. I stab myself with them every night when I'm trying to sleep! I bled the other night!! haha
11. One of the other IMME student's was eating breakfast at his home when his 16 year old sister decided he needed a haircut and proceeded to butcher his hair. I can't even describe to you how hysterical it looked. It looked like an outline of the Rockies over his forehead!
12. Sometimes when we've had people over they have sat on the floor and eaten our supper with their hands. I thought it was just because we didn't have enough forks, but I actually found out that women are actually not supposed to get to use forks and they are supposed to sit on the floor. My father informed us that we were being spoiled. That the men are the only ones supposed to use the forks and sit in chairs. I'm starting to realize how patriarchal my family is.
13. I killed a cockroach as long as my palm when I was visiting at Kurty's home.
Well, that's all I have for now. Hope you followed all right. :)
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ... Ephesians 2:4-5
Friday, 26 September 2008
There and Back Again...Rwanda
So I want to take you all back. I went on a little trip within my trip to start of this whole experience. We spent one night witho our host family and then left for Rwanda the second day after arriving in Uganda. Unfortunately this will probably be less exciting because I'm posting so much after the trip, but I journaled about a lot of it so that will hopefully help the memory. We were their for about 8 days so I'm going to go day by day.
8/30
So we left Uganda at 5:30am and drove for 13 hours to get to a resort/hotel spot in Gahini, Rwanda as our first stop. On the way I played a lot of cribbage against Kurty and hung out with our group of 14 IMME students and 4 Ugandan students (the rest of our American group went in a different bus for their own trip). That was one way to get us all to bond quickly...shove us all onto an 20 passenger bus for 13 hours. The border crossing was really interesting because we all got off the bus and went through the exiting and entering lines for each country and with how lines work here I'm sure you can guess how long it took. It was funny to see all the kids as we'd drive past pull double takes when they saw all the muzungu's on the bus and scream and double waved at us with all their might! When we got to our destination, our group was split up into smaller groups because the following day we were going to church and we had to have one person preach, one give a testimony, and have a couple songs prepared to present. i was supposed to preach, but our group got dissolved into another because our church couldn't take us after all and I was sort of glad because I had no idea what I was going to do.
8/31
I loved my church experience! They had four different choirs (woman, young children, teens, and an older mixed choir) and they all sang at different times during the service. We couldn't understand what they were saying exactly, but some of the tunes were familiar. Each one of their songs included a specific motion to them and they would go on for a while just repeating the same lines. It was really neat. We also joined them in dancing in the middle of the sanctuary sometimes when the choirs were singing, which was a blast! Kurty did her finger point dance and they thought it was hilarious and copied her so we think it will be the new dance craze sweeping the nation! We also sang our songs for them and it was probably one of my favorite moments the whole morning! And this is sort of uncharacteristic of me so please be amazed :) We sang My Redeemer Lives and Kurty and I dueted the bridge where one line says "I'm dancing on this mountain top, to see you kingdom come" and we each did a little dance and the congregation exploded in laughter at us and had us sing it again later in the service because they liked it so much. It was so fun to have them clap along and smile. Afterwards we had lunch at the pastor's house so all in all we were there for about 5 hours.
Later that night we heard from one of our translators who was about our age tell us his story of how the genocide effected him. His parents were killed and he was almost killed and at one point even went to a Hutu to have the guy kill him because he was sick of running and hiding. He also shared about how the man who killed his parents came and asked for forgiveness and he eventually granted it and now hangs out with him sometimes. It was an incredible story.
9/1
We left for Kigali (capital) on this day and went to the Rwandan Genocide Memorial. I don't know what to say about all of this or how to get across to you what I felt. I have a hard time processing all of it, but it was incredible to see how things can be so ugly, but at the same time highlight such incredible human compassion in the stories of the rescuers. It was also hard to think about how much psychological damage was done in their country.
9/2
We stayed at a Catholic convent of sorts and it was really nice. Complete with a shower that spat out hot water! Ok, so the shower head didn't work, but we were able to scrunch ourselves under a faucet about 2 feet off the ground that offered a nice warm trickle :) We went to a memorial that immortalized 10,000 people who were massacred while taking refuge in a church. The pastor went and got the band of killers to come and murder them and when they got there many of the people were already dead because so many were smashed into the church. The memorial had all of the clothes piled everywhere in the church and they also had skulls out as well. There was a tomb of sorts that had coffins in them that held 30 or more skeletons in them of the victims. I have a hard time knowing how to process any of these types of things, but later on that day we heard from victims and killers who had reconciled with each other and were working towards further reconciliation. Hearing the stories of a woman who had forgiven the murderer of her family and his repentance and shame for what he had done helped me to process it in a way because I saw the conclusion and God's redemption working in this post-tramatic era. We also heard from a man named Chris Page who I think has been my favorite speaker we have heard from. He is a missionary from the UK and God called him to start businesses and he had never had any experience doing any of that. He said this quote in regards to that that I really liked, "God does not call the qualified, he qualifies those he calls." I really liked the message in that and his story was great. He talked a lot about being a person who when they see a problem in their community they ask God to show them what to do. He told the story of a man named Arthur who saw a problem in his Irish community of alcoholism and prayed for God to show him what to do about it and God told him to make a beer that would be healthier, not as alcoholic, cheaper, and would satisfy. He came up with the beer Guinness and it really did stem the problem and became the national drink of Ireland. There is more to his story and other things that he did. His story probably ranks in my top 5!
9/3
We traveled to Gisenyi today, which is right near the Congolese border. It should have taken 4 hours, but we got lost in the mountain roads and it took more like 7 hours to get there. The views were incredible though and we all made the best of it. We stopped at a remote village to use some latrines and I'm pretty sure many of the villagers had never seen a white person before because as it spread that we were there we could hear the kids and people shouting muzungu and see them sprinting from every direction to see us until by the time that everyone who had to go had gone we were surrounded by a mass of people. Let me also mention the latrine...it had no door and people apparently didn't mind so much about aiming because it was difficult to squat without standing in poop...Kurty and I took turns trying to screen the other from the overlook of the entire village and all the people running up to see us. It was quite a hysterical adventure! When we arrived we ate supper and then heard from a woman who came with her husband who was doing micro-finance in Congo and what life was like for her. She came for her husband, but started doing things in her community to further His kingdom.
9/4
We went to Lake Kivu today and walked around on the beach for a bit until we met up with a pastor and visited the school and orphanage he had helped to set up and start. They had over 300 orphans that they help get all the way through high school. Many were orphans from the genocide. When we first got there and got off the bus a bunch of kids came and attached themselves to each of us so as we visited almost each one of us was holding an orphan and walking hand in hand with one. I was able to look into the face of those that the Bible talks about, the fatherless. We also got to watch these young girls preform traditional dance for us. After we were finished we headed back to Kigali after we got our tire fixed because we didn't quite make it out of the 7 hour mountain trip cleanly :)
9/5
We saw the hotel from Hotel Rwanda and I put that on my list of movies to see when I get home. We left for Uganda as well today and stopped at a resort on Lake Binyoini to debrief with the other group for a couple days. This place was ritzy (and I mean that in light of what we'd been to so far). It was super nice. We spent time debriefing and talking about what we had seen and heard and relaxed. We went on a boat tour of the lake and heard about each of the islands in the lake and it's history. For example, there was a tiny one that the tribes would leave pregnant, unwed, teen mothers to die because they got pregnant without being connected to a man. It was a fascinating trip. People played volleyball and we swam in the lake, which was the deepest in Africa at 6,500 feet!!! This little respite was nice to have before heading back to officially start our home stays and school. I was looking forward to getting back and getting into a routine!
Well, for better or for worse, there is my summary of Rwanda. I wish I would have written it earlier because I forget all of the humorous things that happened...but maybe it's better because then this post would have been beyond long!! Oh well!
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness . Lamentations 3:21-23
8/30
So we left Uganda at 5:30am and drove for 13 hours to get to a resort/hotel spot in Gahini, Rwanda as our first stop. On the way I played a lot of cribbage against Kurty and hung out with our group of 14 IMME students and 4 Ugandan students (the rest of our American group went in a different bus for their own trip). That was one way to get us all to bond quickly...shove us all onto an 20 passenger bus for 13 hours. The border crossing was really interesting because we all got off the bus and went through the exiting and entering lines for each country and with how lines work here I'm sure you can guess how long it took. It was funny to see all the kids as we'd drive past pull double takes when they saw all the muzungu's on the bus and scream and double waved at us with all their might! When we got to our destination, our group was split up into smaller groups because the following day we were going to church and we had to have one person preach, one give a testimony, and have a couple songs prepared to present. i was supposed to preach, but our group got dissolved into another because our church couldn't take us after all and I was sort of glad because I had no idea what I was going to do.
8/31
I loved my church experience! They had four different choirs (woman, young children, teens, and an older mixed choir) and they all sang at different times during the service. We couldn't understand what they were saying exactly, but some of the tunes were familiar. Each one of their songs included a specific motion to them and they would go on for a while just repeating the same lines. It was really neat. We also joined them in dancing in the middle of the sanctuary sometimes when the choirs were singing, which was a blast! Kurty did her finger point dance and they thought it was hilarious and copied her so we think it will be the new dance craze sweeping the nation! We also sang our songs for them and it was probably one of my favorite moments the whole morning! And this is sort of uncharacteristic of me so please be amazed :) We sang My Redeemer Lives and Kurty and I dueted the bridge where one line says "I'm dancing on this mountain top, to see you kingdom come" and we each did a little dance and the congregation exploded in laughter at us and had us sing it again later in the service because they liked it so much. It was so fun to have them clap along and smile. Afterwards we had lunch at the pastor's house so all in all we were there for about 5 hours.
Later that night we heard from one of our translators who was about our age tell us his story of how the genocide effected him. His parents were killed and he was almost killed and at one point even went to a Hutu to have the guy kill him because he was sick of running and hiding. He also shared about how the man who killed his parents came and asked for forgiveness and he eventually granted it and now hangs out with him sometimes. It was an incredible story.
9/1
We left for Kigali (capital) on this day and went to the Rwandan Genocide Memorial. I don't know what to say about all of this or how to get across to you what I felt. I have a hard time processing all of it, but it was incredible to see how things can be so ugly, but at the same time highlight such incredible human compassion in the stories of the rescuers. It was also hard to think about how much psychological damage was done in their country.
9/2
We stayed at a Catholic convent of sorts and it was really nice. Complete with a shower that spat out hot water! Ok, so the shower head didn't work, but we were able to scrunch ourselves under a faucet about 2 feet off the ground that offered a nice warm trickle :) We went to a memorial that immortalized 10,000 people who were massacred while taking refuge in a church. The pastor went and got the band of killers to come and murder them and when they got there many of the people were already dead because so many were smashed into the church. The memorial had all of the clothes piled everywhere in the church and they also had skulls out as well. There was a tomb of sorts that had coffins in them that held 30 or more skeletons in them of the victims. I have a hard time knowing how to process any of these types of things, but later on that day we heard from victims and killers who had reconciled with each other and were working towards further reconciliation. Hearing the stories of a woman who had forgiven the murderer of her family and his repentance and shame for what he had done helped me to process it in a way because I saw the conclusion and God's redemption working in this post-tramatic era. We also heard from a man named Chris Page who I think has been my favorite speaker we have heard from. He is a missionary from the UK and God called him to start businesses and he had never had any experience doing any of that. He said this quote in regards to that that I really liked, "God does not call the qualified, he qualifies those he calls." I really liked the message in that and his story was great. He talked a lot about being a person who when they see a problem in their community they ask God to show them what to do. He told the story of a man named Arthur who saw a problem in his Irish community of alcoholism and prayed for God to show him what to do about it and God told him to make a beer that would be healthier, not as alcoholic, cheaper, and would satisfy. He came up with the beer Guinness and it really did stem the problem and became the national drink of Ireland. There is more to his story and other things that he did. His story probably ranks in my top 5!
9/3
We traveled to Gisenyi today, which is right near the Congolese border. It should have taken 4 hours, but we got lost in the mountain roads and it took more like 7 hours to get there. The views were incredible though and we all made the best of it. We stopped at a remote village to use some latrines and I'm pretty sure many of the villagers had never seen a white person before because as it spread that we were there we could hear the kids and people shouting muzungu and see them sprinting from every direction to see us until by the time that everyone who had to go had gone we were surrounded by a mass of people. Let me also mention the latrine...it had no door and people apparently didn't mind so much about aiming because it was difficult to squat without standing in poop...Kurty and I took turns trying to screen the other from the overlook of the entire village and all the people running up to see us. It was quite a hysterical adventure! When we arrived we ate supper and then heard from a woman who came with her husband who was doing micro-finance in Congo and what life was like for her. She came for her husband, but started doing things in her community to further His kingdom.
9/4
We went to Lake Kivu today and walked around on the beach for a bit until we met up with a pastor and visited the school and orphanage he had helped to set up and start. They had over 300 orphans that they help get all the way through high school. Many were orphans from the genocide. When we first got there and got off the bus a bunch of kids came and attached themselves to each of us so as we visited almost each one of us was holding an orphan and walking hand in hand with one. I was able to look into the face of those that the Bible talks about, the fatherless. We also got to watch these young girls preform traditional dance for us. After we were finished we headed back to Kigali after we got our tire fixed because we didn't quite make it out of the 7 hour mountain trip cleanly :)
9/5
We saw the hotel from Hotel Rwanda and I put that on my list of movies to see when I get home. We left for Uganda as well today and stopped at a resort on Lake Binyoini to debrief with the other group for a couple days. This place was ritzy (and I mean that in light of what we'd been to so far). It was super nice. We spent time debriefing and talking about what we had seen and heard and relaxed. We went on a boat tour of the lake and heard about each of the islands in the lake and it's history. For example, there was a tiny one that the tribes would leave pregnant, unwed, teen mothers to die because they got pregnant without being connected to a man. It was a fascinating trip. People played volleyball and we swam in the lake, which was the deepest in Africa at 6,500 feet!!! This little respite was nice to have before heading back to officially start our home stays and school. I was looking forward to getting back and getting into a routine!
Well, for better or for worse, there is my summary of Rwanda. I wish I would have written it earlier because I forget all of the humorous things that happened...but maybe it's better because then this post would have been beyond long!! Oh well!
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness . Lamentations 3:21-23
Friday, 19 September 2008
The Other Thing Besides Fun I Get to Do
Just so you know, I didn’t forget that part of my time abroad also includes studying although it has sort of taken a back seat. I spend from about 8 until 6:30 at school, taking classes, doing homework because we’re not really supposed to do any at home, and playing basketball!
CLASSES: I’m taking Christian Mission and Missiology, Faith and Action, Reading the NT in Africa, History of East Africa, and African Traditional Religions.
*Missions- I enjoy the readings most of the time because they have some very interesting insights and quotes. It’s a small group so we do a lot of discussion and it gets really frustrating because all people do is argue or throw Bible verses at each other so I end up humming the tune “Why Can’t We Be Friends” for most of the time or doodling. I’ve begun making a comic called The Adventures of Shmurty in Africa (this may reference something only a few of you will grasp)…don’t worry I still plan on getting a B in the class ☺
*F&A- If you read that title correctly I hope you laughed! I’m going to wait to pass a verdict on whether I like or dislike this class until we get into a little more substance. We do talk about some of the relevant issues in Africa like HIV/AIDS and women in ministry so that should be interesting.
*Reading the NT- We get off topic so much in this class in our discussions that I’m not quite sure what were really learning about right now. A lot of times what comes out in our discussion is just a general bashing of the United States so in this class I hum “The Star Spangled Banner” and other patriotic tunes…just kidding. I learn the most in these types of classes by debriefing or doing the readings and discussing with Kurty or a couple people before or after.
*History- My teacher is very…active and has some very interesting mannerisms. He’s a Ugandan, which makes asking questions so much more exciting since he has lived through some of it. Right now we are talking about the theories of historians about history and kingdom formation, etc, so I’m just waiting to get into the actual history, but I’m looking forward to that. My professor is a prince in one of the tribes near here and the king just passed away last week so he's up for possibly becoming the next king!
*ATR- This class is pretty interesting, but I have a very hard time understanding my Ugandan professor because of his accent so I’m always like a sentence behind. We learn about different African traditional religions, Islam, and Christianity in Uganda and we get to take field trips! One to a mosque, one to a Christian martyr’s shrine, and a couple to a few tribes including one to learn about their ritual or circumcision of boys who come of age. And not only do we get to just hear a lecture on it, but we actually get to watch the actual ceremony!!! I’m not joking here either, our professor kept referring to the “brutality of the knife.” Can you say “pardon me!” I’m not sure how much I’ll expand on that in my blog when it occurs :S Yikes!
One of the interesting things about Africa is when it rains here everything shuts down. A lot of times our professor’s won’t come to have class if it’s raining so lot’s of mornings I will do a little rain dance ☺ It is the rainy season here for the next couple months ☺
BASKETBALL: Kurty and I join the girls team for training when they have it and the first time we went…phew! I rediscovered so many muscles that have been laying dormant for a while…I rediscovered them for about 3 days following as well! The courts are outside so when it rains it’s either a no go for practice or you slip everywhere! The basketballs are extremely bouncy and after we’re done practicing our palms are brown. The girls are really nice and fun to play with. The coach is a player on the men’s varsity named Robert Mugabe…not to be confused with the president of Tanzania…and he’s about 25 and when he speaks I can’t hear a word! During practice there is absolutely no down time. They go from one drill to the next always running. The emphasis here is maybe not so much on skill, but on speed. Not quality, but quantity. So for now my skills are pretty much pointless until I can keep up with the pace, which I’ve realized is a great way to get in shape for when I get back!
We rode the bus with them to a game of theirs and to an indoor court that reminded me a lot of Hamline, including the obnoxiously loud music. Watching the game was fascinating. The playing style here is quite a bit different than in the States. The philosophy here seems to be to go as fast as possible in order to get as many shots in as possible. Everyone, and I mean everyone, seems like they are out of control! I know what you’re thinking, that I’d fit in quite well, but while that is partially true they always seem to find a way of staying on their feet!! Maybe that is something I can learn from them! There are a couple girls who can handle the ball all right and they quickly prove to be the top tier players. It’s hard to completely describe how it is, but it was fun to watch for the mere fact that it was so different. Our girls won 78-48. The fans were great as well. If only we could get Ugandan’s into our stands at home! The guys team was super into the game and a lot of other students took taxi’s to the game to cheer as well. The cheering is much the same between our two cultures. I heard many cheers directed toward the refs as well as a few ‘warm up the bus’ type comments, but the energy was great! During the game the girls would even talk and interact with the crowd in the stands. One of the guy players named Ken sat next to us for much of the game and we talked with him a bunch. He’s a Boston Celtics and Kevin Garnett fan so we got along extremely well ☺. Kurty and I got extremely excited today when we recognized him and saw him on campus since we never recognize anyone on this campus of 6,000.
Basketball in Uganda is a good metaphor for how Ugandan’s do life. There is such a huge emphasis on community and they play hard without a whole lot of structure.
Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body. Ecclesiastes 12:12
Hahaha, just kidding
As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. John 9:4
CLASSES: I’m taking Christian Mission and Missiology, Faith and Action, Reading the NT in Africa, History of East Africa, and African Traditional Religions.
*Missions- I enjoy the readings most of the time because they have some very interesting insights and quotes. It’s a small group so we do a lot of discussion and it gets really frustrating because all people do is argue or throw Bible verses at each other so I end up humming the tune “Why Can’t We Be Friends” for most of the time or doodling. I’ve begun making a comic called The Adventures of Shmurty in Africa (this may reference something only a few of you will grasp)…don’t worry I still plan on getting a B in the class ☺
*F&A- If you read that title correctly I hope you laughed! I’m going to wait to pass a verdict on whether I like or dislike this class until we get into a little more substance. We do talk about some of the relevant issues in Africa like HIV/AIDS and women in ministry so that should be interesting.
*Reading the NT- We get off topic so much in this class in our discussions that I’m not quite sure what were really learning about right now. A lot of times what comes out in our discussion is just a general bashing of the United States so in this class I hum “The Star Spangled Banner” and other patriotic tunes…just kidding. I learn the most in these types of classes by debriefing or doing the readings and discussing with Kurty or a couple people before or after.
*History- My teacher is very…active and has some very interesting mannerisms. He’s a Ugandan, which makes asking questions so much more exciting since he has lived through some of it. Right now we are talking about the theories of historians about history and kingdom formation, etc, so I’m just waiting to get into the actual history, but I’m looking forward to that. My professor is a prince in one of the tribes near here and the king just passed away last week so he's up for possibly becoming the next king!
*ATR- This class is pretty interesting, but I have a very hard time understanding my Ugandan professor because of his accent so I’m always like a sentence behind. We learn about different African traditional religions, Islam, and Christianity in Uganda and we get to take field trips! One to a mosque, one to a Christian martyr’s shrine, and a couple to a few tribes including one to learn about their ritual or circumcision of boys who come of age. And not only do we get to just hear a lecture on it, but we actually get to watch the actual ceremony!!! I’m not joking here either, our professor kept referring to the “brutality of the knife.” Can you say “pardon me!” I’m not sure how much I’ll expand on that in my blog when it occurs :S Yikes!
One of the interesting things about Africa is when it rains here everything shuts down. A lot of times our professor’s won’t come to have class if it’s raining so lot’s of mornings I will do a little rain dance ☺ It is the rainy season here for the next couple months ☺
BASKETBALL: Kurty and I join the girls team for training when they have it and the first time we went…phew! I rediscovered so many muscles that have been laying dormant for a while…I rediscovered them for about 3 days following as well! The courts are outside so when it rains it’s either a no go for practice or you slip everywhere! The basketballs are extremely bouncy and after we’re done practicing our palms are brown. The girls are really nice and fun to play with. The coach is a player on the men’s varsity named Robert Mugabe…not to be confused with the president of Tanzania…and he’s about 25 and when he speaks I can’t hear a word! During practice there is absolutely no down time. They go from one drill to the next always running. The emphasis here is maybe not so much on skill, but on speed. Not quality, but quantity. So for now my skills are pretty much pointless until I can keep up with the pace, which I’ve realized is a great way to get in shape for when I get back!
We rode the bus with them to a game of theirs and to an indoor court that reminded me a lot of Hamline, including the obnoxiously loud music. Watching the game was fascinating. The playing style here is quite a bit different than in the States. The philosophy here seems to be to go as fast as possible in order to get as many shots in as possible. Everyone, and I mean everyone, seems like they are out of control! I know what you’re thinking, that I’d fit in quite well, but while that is partially true they always seem to find a way of staying on their feet!! Maybe that is something I can learn from them! There are a couple girls who can handle the ball all right and they quickly prove to be the top tier players. It’s hard to completely describe how it is, but it was fun to watch for the mere fact that it was so different. Our girls won 78-48. The fans were great as well. If only we could get Ugandan’s into our stands at home! The guys team was super into the game and a lot of other students took taxi’s to the game to cheer as well. The cheering is much the same between our two cultures. I heard many cheers directed toward the refs as well as a few ‘warm up the bus’ type comments, but the energy was great! During the game the girls would even talk and interact with the crowd in the stands. One of the guy players named Ken sat next to us for much of the game and we talked with him a bunch. He’s a Boston Celtics and Kevin Garnett fan so we got along extremely well ☺. Kurty and I got extremely excited today when we recognized him and saw him on campus since we never recognize anyone on this campus of 6,000.
Basketball in Uganda is a good metaphor for how Ugandan’s do life. There is such a huge emphasis on community and they play hard without a whole lot of structure.
Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body. Ecclesiastes 12:12
Hahaha, just kidding
As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. John 9:4
Part Three: Extra-Familial Activities
This last section in the 3-parter is going to hit on life away from the fam. Namely a few of the events that I’ve experienced in the Ugandan culture.
WEDDING: I went to a Ugandan wedding last weekend and Henry told me that we would “sit and sit, and yawn and yawn, and then sit and yawn some more.” That almost exactly describes what we did and the thing I remember the most was how darn uncomfortable those benches were! We were supposed to leave for the wedding by 11:30 and get to the wedding by noon, which was when it started. Well these times were all meant in African terms of time. We left at 12:30 and the wedding didn’t start until closer to 2. The ceremony was almost exactly like an American wedding. It had all the same elements except they just took longer, a total of 2 and a half hours. It was all in Luganda, but Rita translated bits and pieces for us. Even though I couldn’t understand what they were saying I took in the incredible plethora of colors that everyone was wearing. The women wore the traditional gomisi’s with the poofy shoulders (that’s the best way I know how to explain it) in the most beautiful display of a rainbow I have ever see. My ears were also satisfied by the incredible choir that provided the music. I recorded a couple of the songs because they were beautiful, especially when they sang the Hallelujah Chorus! Another element that I found really neat was that they had the older generation come up and pray for the couple during some worship time and they had all of the mothers in the house form a tunnel that the bride and groom walked out through and held out their hands to bless and pray over the new couple.
After the ceremony was the reception and that was in the building next door and the benches were only slightly less uncomfortable for someone wearing a skirt. We had to wait for a long time before the bride and groom showed up after their pictures. When they got there then they started serving sodas and eventually got to cutting the cake of which we all got to sample a bite sized piece of. After that was the speech making and I think everyone and there dog got to speak! That might be a slight exaggeration, but it went on and on. An extremely shy girl probably around the age of 12 sat next to me and as the reception progressed she got closer to me little by little until she was just touching me and then leaning on me and then holding my hand in my lap. We didn’t exchange any words, but sat like that for the three hours we were there as I interacted with Rita and everything else going on around. Looking back on that time I realized how much I loved that interaction. Instead of having a child come up to me and want my full attention, be shy and wary of me, or start spouting off every English phrase they knew including “give me money” she just was present with me and even when I would interact with her she would answer simply with a giggle and a smile. Near the end of our time there the sun was setting so I turned to her and then looked at the sun and said “bye, bye omusana” (sun) and she quietly laughed for like 10 minutes. I’m not sure why, but it was so encouraging to me.
CHURCH: So my dad is the associate pastor of Sts. Peter and Andrew Cathedral Church (Anglican) just up the road from my home. We went to the English 8:30 service and walked into a church that looks much like what you’d see in America. The crowd was mostly the younger generation because they are the ones who know English comfortably. We sang some songs in Luganda and English and it was a mix of contemporary music (Blessed Be Your Name) and hymns with a band. I felt right at home in the worship because it felt like what I was used to, which surprised me a lot actually. The Anglican church is so much like American church and I wasn’t expecting that at all. It was a little bit more liturgical than at home and they had many more times where they led prayers or times of intercession.
Sunday is my favorite day in the States and that hasn’t exactly changed here either. It is a kick-back-relax day to the core here. After church you normally go visiting all of your friends and relatives or just putter around the house and possibly take a nap. The only thing missing is the FOOTBALL! If any of you have different updates or news from that wonderful game I’d love to know! I think I miss football more than a good pair of sweatpants!
From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:16
WEDDING: I went to a Ugandan wedding last weekend and Henry told me that we would “sit and sit, and yawn and yawn, and then sit and yawn some more.” That almost exactly describes what we did and the thing I remember the most was how darn uncomfortable those benches were! We were supposed to leave for the wedding by 11:30 and get to the wedding by noon, which was when it started. Well these times were all meant in African terms of time. We left at 12:30 and the wedding didn’t start until closer to 2. The ceremony was almost exactly like an American wedding. It had all the same elements except they just took longer, a total of 2 and a half hours. It was all in Luganda, but Rita translated bits and pieces for us. Even though I couldn’t understand what they were saying I took in the incredible plethora of colors that everyone was wearing. The women wore the traditional gomisi’s with the poofy shoulders (that’s the best way I know how to explain it) in the most beautiful display of a rainbow I have ever see. My ears were also satisfied by the incredible choir that provided the music. I recorded a couple of the songs because they were beautiful, especially when they sang the Hallelujah Chorus! Another element that I found really neat was that they had the older generation come up and pray for the couple during some worship time and they had all of the mothers in the house form a tunnel that the bride and groom walked out through and held out their hands to bless and pray over the new couple.
After the ceremony was the reception and that was in the building next door and the benches were only slightly less uncomfortable for someone wearing a skirt. We had to wait for a long time before the bride and groom showed up after their pictures. When they got there then they started serving sodas and eventually got to cutting the cake of which we all got to sample a bite sized piece of. After that was the speech making and I think everyone and there dog got to speak! That might be a slight exaggeration, but it went on and on. An extremely shy girl probably around the age of 12 sat next to me and as the reception progressed she got closer to me little by little until she was just touching me and then leaning on me and then holding my hand in my lap. We didn’t exchange any words, but sat like that for the three hours we were there as I interacted with Rita and everything else going on around. Looking back on that time I realized how much I loved that interaction. Instead of having a child come up to me and want my full attention, be shy and wary of me, or start spouting off every English phrase they knew including “give me money” she just was present with me and even when I would interact with her she would answer simply with a giggle and a smile. Near the end of our time there the sun was setting so I turned to her and then looked at the sun and said “bye, bye omusana” (sun) and she quietly laughed for like 10 minutes. I’m not sure why, but it was so encouraging to me.
CHURCH: So my dad is the associate pastor of Sts. Peter and Andrew Cathedral Church (Anglican) just up the road from my home. We went to the English 8:30 service and walked into a church that looks much like what you’d see in America. The crowd was mostly the younger generation because they are the ones who know English comfortably. We sang some songs in Luganda and English and it was a mix of contemporary music (Blessed Be Your Name) and hymns with a band. I felt right at home in the worship because it felt like what I was used to, which surprised me a lot actually. The Anglican church is so much like American church and I wasn’t expecting that at all. It was a little bit more liturgical than at home and they had many more times where they led prayers or times of intercession.
Sunday is my favorite day in the States and that hasn’t exactly changed here either. It is a kick-back-relax day to the core here. After church you normally go visiting all of your friends and relatives or just putter around the house and possibly take a nap. The only thing missing is the FOOTBALL! If any of you have different updates or news from that wonderful game I’d love to know! I think I miss football more than a good pair of sweatpants!
From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:16
Thursday, 18 September 2008
Part Two: Please pass that flavorless lump!
In part two of this exciting 3 part series I’m going to focus on the area of calorie intake and production. Let’s just say I don’t think that I’m going to be losing weight here!! So I’ll be giving you a little bullet action:
-The title of this post is referencing a food called posho. It’s physical appearance is best described as a white flavorless lump that is often cut into squares. It is simply made of flour and water…yes that is all. It is served almost everyday for lunch at the university and I think it’s purpose is either to fill your stomach so you can survive until 10 o’clock dinner or it is a joke to see how many mzungu’s (whites) will take and eat it!
-My favorite meal of the day back in the states is breakfast by far, but here I wake up and make myself a cup of tea and have two biscuits …which are actually just cookies and that’s all we eat. So I’m fulfilling my childhood fantasy of having cookies for breakfast!!
-One of my favorite things here is the butter! I don’t know hoe to describe it, but I’m probably going to stock up and bring some back to the states!
-Ugandan’s LOVE sugar here. When Rita takes tea with us she heaps two full spoonfuls of sugar into her cup and once when we brought a massive bag of suckers home as a treat for our family they were gone in, I’m not kidding, a day! A little girl who was staying with us literally had two in her mouth at all times.
-Twice a day we have this wonderful thing called tea! I personally like milk tea better than just water, but Kurty had some chunky milk once so she can’t quite handle it anymore!
-Every meal we have matoke (banana mash), which by itself is not the best thing in the world, but there is also always a sauce that you cover your matoke in and then it’s not bad at all.
-Sometimes we have meat…which sometimes means beef, but other times something else like possibly goat (which is not that good)! When you do get meat for a meal you have to plan accordingly as to when during the meal you are going to take a bite. You have slot yourself about 7-10 minutes to chew the meat so you can’t eat your meat if you plan on getting in a conversation at all! And this food is the singular reason as to why I’m running out of floss!
-You can get a lot of great snacks and foods at the shops and stands along the road. Chapati’s, samosas (wonton type thing filled with meat), rolexes (rolled chapati’s with an omelette inside), or meat on a stick which just reminds me of the state fair. They’re stinkin’ cheap too, only about 50 cents.
-All of the soda is in bottles here, which are fun to drink from, but when you buy it you only buy the soda inside the bottle and not the bottle. You have to return it to them because the empty ones will get picked up, taken to a place to be cleaned, and refilled with soda again.
-At the market the fruit vendors pile and stack there produce in incredibly balanced pyramids and stacks! All of the colors and shapes makes your eyes water! The other funny thing at the market are the butchers. Their product just hangs outside their shop, nice and raw, for everyone to see!
-Another fascinating thing I’ve noticed at meals is who serves whom. Stephanie and I are given plates to serve ourselves, but Rita or Rebecca will serve Papa Henry, Elisha will make a plate for Enoch, feed him and then get his own food, and if Jaja (grandma) is over then Henry will serve her. It’s interesting to see the respect shown in that way.
-We eat family meals in the living room/dining room. We sit on the couches and use the small oval coffee table to hold all of the pots and pans. I know when supper is done when Henry stands and says “good night everyone” and walks out of the room.
Well, that’s all I have for this subject for now, I have to go eat some supper now. Feel free to ask any questions ever and I’ll try and answer them in a later post. Tulye ekyegulo (let’s take supper)!!!!!
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. “1 Corithians 10:31 ☺
-The title of this post is referencing a food called posho. It’s physical appearance is best described as a white flavorless lump that is often cut into squares. It is simply made of flour and water…yes that is all. It is served almost everyday for lunch at the university and I think it’s purpose is either to fill your stomach so you can survive until 10 o’clock dinner or it is a joke to see how many mzungu’s (whites) will take and eat it!
-My favorite meal of the day back in the states is breakfast by far, but here I wake up and make myself a cup of tea and have two biscuits …which are actually just cookies and that’s all we eat. So I’m fulfilling my childhood fantasy of having cookies for breakfast!!
-One of my favorite things here is the butter! I don’t know hoe to describe it, but I’m probably going to stock up and bring some back to the states!
-Ugandan’s LOVE sugar here. When Rita takes tea with us she heaps two full spoonfuls of sugar into her cup and once when we brought a massive bag of suckers home as a treat for our family they were gone in, I’m not kidding, a day! A little girl who was staying with us literally had two in her mouth at all times.
-Twice a day we have this wonderful thing called tea! I personally like milk tea better than just water, but Kurty had some chunky milk once so she can’t quite handle it anymore!
-Every meal we have matoke (banana mash), which by itself is not the best thing in the world, but there is also always a sauce that you cover your matoke in and then it’s not bad at all.
-Sometimes we have meat…which sometimes means beef, but other times something else like possibly goat (which is not that good)! When you do get meat for a meal you have to plan accordingly as to when during the meal you are going to take a bite. You have slot yourself about 7-10 minutes to chew the meat so you can’t eat your meat if you plan on getting in a conversation at all! And this food is the singular reason as to why I’m running out of floss!
-You can get a lot of great snacks and foods at the shops and stands along the road. Chapati’s, samosas (wonton type thing filled with meat), rolexes (rolled chapati’s with an omelette inside), or meat on a stick which just reminds me of the state fair. They’re stinkin’ cheap too, only about 50 cents.
-All of the soda is in bottles here, which are fun to drink from, but when you buy it you only buy the soda inside the bottle and not the bottle. You have to return it to them because the empty ones will get picked up, taken to a place to be cleaned, and refilled with soda again.
-At the market the fruit vendors pile and stack there produce in incredibly balanced pyramids and stacks! All of the colors and shapes makes your eyes water! The other funny thing at the market are the butchers. Their product just hangs outside their shop, nice and raw, for everyone to see!
-Another fascinating thing I’ve noticed at meals is who serves whom. Stephanie and I are given plates to serve ourselves, but Rita or Rebecca will serve Papa Henry, Elisha will make a plate for Enoch, feed him and then get his own food, and if Jaja (grandma) is over then Henry will serve her. It’s interesting to see the respect shown in that way.
-We eat family meals in the living room/dining room. We sit on the couches and use the small oval coffee table to hold all of the pots and pans. I know when supper is done when Henry stands and says “good night everyone” and walks out of the room.
Well, that’s all I have for this subject for now, I have to go eat some supper now. Feel free to ask any questions ever and I’ll try and answer them in a later post. Tulye ekyegulo (let’s take supper)!!!!!
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. “1 Corithians 10:31 ☺
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
Family, Food, and Fun!
When I sat down to name this new post I was going to name it the 3 F’s and then I realized that that could be a little misinterpreted. Way to go Kiersten, nice job thinking that through (it’s a new character trait I’m trying out ☺)! Since this post would be as long as nose hair of an elephant if I included all three of those aspects I will have to do it in parts.
Part 1: My Family
Reverend Musumba Henry: This is my father. He’s about 32 I think so I don’t call him Dad because he would have been 12 when I was born…. so I call him Musumba or Henry, but I’m thinking about trying out Rev next! He’s the associate pastor of the Anglican Church just up the road so he’s a busy man. We have a lot of visitors come in that he calls brothers or sisters so for a while I thought his mom really took to heart the verse “be fruitful, and multiply!” However, that is not the case (she only had 10 :P), they are all people from our church.
Oh, let me explain something before I go any farther. In Uganda when a baby is born they are given at least two names. A Christian name (Henry) and at least one, but often more than one, Luganda name (Musumba). There is no such thing as a last name. Your Luganda name does indicate what tribe you are from. My name here is Nalubega Kiersten. The other interesting thing about family connections here is that they don’t use words like cousin or aunt much, just a lot of sisters and mothers so I never know exactly how I’m related to anyone. All right, onward…
Mama Irene: Irene is my mother and she is very quiet and a little more reserved so I never quite know how to be around her or whether or not she looks down on my impromptu dance parties or not :S However, I don’t really get a chance to find out because she is doing her residency for nursing in Kampala and so can only come home every third weekend or so.
Uncle Kaagwa Elisha: This is Henry’s younger brother…and I mean younger. He just turned 17 so I don’t call him uncle. He’s quite the character though! He was super awkward at first and when he would talk to me his voice would hit an unnaturally high level! He’s still learning to master English yet too so sometimes my comments are lost in the space between us. He has a great laugh and a huge mouth when he opens wide…. I wonder if they are correlated?? Elisha does a lot of work around the house and cooks a lot and Henry tells me that he’s a better cook than most of the boys his age.
Aunt Ncato Rebecca: Again this is one of Henry’s younger siblings, but she’s a little older…she’s 18. Rebecca is probably the one I connect with the least in my family because she doesn’t speak a ton of English and she is always cooking or doing something around the house so I can’t just sit down with her and chat. One day my roommate Stephanie and I were learning her Luganda name and Stephanie sometimes has trouble repeating the same syllables so instead of saying Ncato she said Ntaco, everyone in the room busted up with laughter including me because in Luganda taco means butt! That happened last week, but every time someone visits or we meet someone that is one of the first stories that is told followed by tears because people laugh so hard! Rebecca headed of to boarding school the other day though so I won’t see her until the end of November again.
Rita: Rita is a boarder at our house. She goes to the school near our house and has stayed at Henry’s during the school year for the past couple years. She’s 19 and has one semester left of high school. She speaks English very well and is probably the one I connect with the best. We are becoming quick friends! She’s beginning to get the hang of my humor I think and we teach each other dance moves at night to Bob, the country radio station. Nothing like a little line dancing to Cotton Eye Joe in Africa
And now for my favorite…
My little Brother Enoch: This is the two-year-old joy in my life! He is the master of the house! He is really good at the fake cry to get what he wants and most of the time they give it to him. He can’t speak a whole lot yet and the words he does know are in Luganda, but laughter and enjoying each other’s company does not need any of those silly languages. When I get home he comes running up to me when he sees me and blabbers and leans on me with his arms up until I pick him up. It’s probably my favorite part of the day. I really love to offer this service to him except when he su-su’s on me!! There is no such thing as diapers for this boy and he is not potty trained so when I was holding him and thought I was getting sweaty I discovered that he was using my shirt to help soak up his pee! He also finds it very humorous to walk into my room without his pants on, stare at me, and then let flow all of his pent up liquid all over my floor or any other floor he is standing on! The term “go with the flow” has taken on new meaning for me! I found this hysterical, but then when I found out that my family just lets it dry on the floor…. Hahahah, I might try this myself when I don’t want to walk out to the squatty. Don’t worry, almost every morning the floor is washed…almost every morning ☺ Last night, after supper, Enoch fell asleep in my arms and I almost started to cry because I just felt the pure emotion of love for this little baby and contentment as we just rested there. I also realized what a beautiful picture this was of how content and safe I can feel and rest in my God’s lap. He could fall into a deep sleep and completely relax in my lap because he trusted and knew me. Oh if I too could trust and know God with such completeness.
As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him. Psalm 103:13
Part 1: My Family
Reverend Musumba Henry: This is my father. He’s about 32 I think so I don’t call him Dad because he would have been 12 when I was born…. so I call him Musumba or Henry, but I’m thinking about trying out Rev next! He’s the associate pastor of the Anglican Church just up the road so he’s a busy man. We have a lot of visitors come in that he calls brothers or sisters so for a while I thought his mom really took to heart the verse “be fruitful, and multiply!” However, that is not the case (she only had 10 :P), they are all people from our church.
Oh, let me explain something before I go any farther. In Uganda when a baby is born they are given at least two names. A Christian name (Henry) and at least one, but often more than one, Luganda name (Musumba). There is no such thing as a last name. Your Luganda name does indicate what tribe you are from. My name here is Nalubega Kiersten. The other interesting thing about family connections here is that they don’t use words like cousin or aunt much, just a lot of sisters and mothers so I never know exactly how I’m related to anyone. All right, onward…
Mama Irene: Irene is my mother and she is very quiet and a little more reserved so I never quite know how to be around her or whether or not she looks down on my impromptu dance parties or not :S However, I don’t really get a chance to find out because she is doing her residency for nursing in Kampala and so can only come home every third weekend or so.
Uncle Kaagwa Elisha: This is Henry’s younger brother…and I mean younger. He just turned 17 so I don’t call him uncle. He’s quite the character though! He was super awkward at first and when he would talk to me his voice would hit an unnaturally high level! He’s still learning to master English yet too so sometimes my comments are lost in the space between us. He has a great laugh and a huge mouth when he opens wide…. I wonder if they are correlated?? Elisha does a lot of work around the house and cooks a lot and Henry tells me that he’s a better cook than most of the boys his age.
Aunt Ncato Rebecca: Again this is one of Henry’s younger siblings, but she’s a little older…she’s 18. Rebecca is probably the one I connect with the least in my family because she doesn’t speak a ton of English and she is always cooking or doing something around the house so I can’t just sit down with her and chat. One day my roommate Stephanie and I were learning her Luganda name and Stephanie sometimes has trouble repeating the same syllables so instead of saying Ncato she said Ntaco, everyone in the room busted up with laughter including me because in Luganda taco means butt! That happened last week, but every time someone visits or we meet someone that is one of the first stories that is told followed by tears because people laugh so hard! Rebecca headed of to boarding school the other day though so I won’t see her until the end of November again.
Rita: Rita is a boarder at our house. She goes to the school near our house and has stayed at Henry’s during the school year for the past couple years. She’s 19 and has one semester left of high school. She speaks English very well and is probably the one I connect with the best. We are becoming quick friends! She’s beginning to get the hang of my humor I think and we teach each other dance moves at night to Bob, the country radio station. Nothing like a little line dancing to Cotton Eye Joe in Africa
And now for my favorite…
My little Brother Enoch: This is the two-year-old joy in my life! He is the master of the house! He is really good at the fake cry to get what he wants and most of the time they give it to him. He can’t speak a whole lot yet and the words he does know are in Luganda, but laughter and enjoying each other’s company does not need any of those silly languages. When I get home he comes running up to me when he sees me and blabbers and leans on me with his arms up until I pick him up. It’s probably my favorite part of the day. I really love to offer this service to him except when he su-su’s on me!! There is no such thing as diapers for this boy and he is not potty trained so when I was holding him and thought I was getting sweaty I discovered that he was using my shirt to help soak up his pee! He also finds it very humorous to walk into my room without his pants on, stare at me, and then let flow all of his pent up liquid all over my floor or any other floor he is standing on! The term “go with the flow” has taken on new meaning for me! I found this hysterical, but then when I found out that my family just lets it dry on the floor…. Hahahah, I might try this myself when I don’t want to walk out to the squatty. Don’t worry, almost every morning the floor is washed…almost every morning ☺ Last night, after supper, Enoch fell asleep in my arms and I almost started to cry because I just felt the pure emotion of love for this little baby and contentment as we just rested there. I also realized what a beautiful picture this was of how content and safe I can feel and rest in my God’s lap. He could fall into a deep sleep and completely relax in my lap because he trusted and knew me. Oh if I too could trust and know God with such completeness.
As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him. Psalm 103:13
Friday, 12 September 2008
I knew I'd love it here when...
Hello everyone!! Oli Otya! I am so excited about this opportunity to be able to share with all of you some snapshots of what my experience is like over here. And I say snapshot because I will never quite be able to do it justice. Well, here we go....
I've named this post the way I did to give you a taste of the everyday life I'm living and share some of my favorite things about Uganda as well as maybe a few of the challenges.
I knew I'd love it here when on the way to the University after landing in Entebbe we were given something to eat called chapati! As many of you know I often follow where my taste buds lead and if it weren't for basketball I would be pleasantly plump :) Chapati is like a tortilla that will contain little bits of onions and almost has a meat flavor to it! I was hooked and couldn't wait for the next actual meal! Little did i know that I'd be waiting a lot for meals...the time for meals is more flexible here than what I'm used to you could say. Breakfast at 7, which for me consists of a piece of bread and tea, lunch at 1, which is often matoke, rice, and beans, and then supper is not until 9 or 10 normally!!!!!! Let's just say my stomach communicates with me a lot between lunch and supper. I love the suppers though! So scrumptious! Rice, beans, noodles, matoke, ground nuts, pineapple, and many other options depending on the night. It's best if it's all mixed. My host dad says matoke is the food of heaven and as an associate pastor I would assume that he might be in the know, but I'm not so sure about that. Although he does claim that we will also have ice cream and pigs-in-a-blanket there as well. Good news.
I knew I'd love it here when little kids will come running to you from all different directions to get a peek at you. They are fascinated by my white skin and long, blond hair. I find such joy in being able to bend down and look into their beautifully rich brown faces with their glowing white teeth smiling at me as they hold out their hands to hold. Everywhere I go I am greeted by the term mzungu, which simply means white person. We stopped in a town in Rwanda way up in the mountains when we got lost and we could hear that word echoing everywhere as kids and people came sprinting up the hill and along the paths to get to see us. My love for being with kids is easily satisfied here and God truly blessed me when I was placed with a host family where I have a 2 year old brother.
I knew I'd love it here when my desire to learn as much as I can was met with such enthusiasm from the people I asked questions of. I'm slowly learning some of the Luganda language and can say hello (oli otya), good morning (wasuzeotya), milk (amata), dance (zina), I am tired (nkoyae), beautiful (bulungi), as well as being able to count to ten and many other things. My family as well as some of my Ugandan friends are so willing to help me learn, but I think they have an ulterior motive as well. They will sound out the word for me and then spend the next 5 minutes laughing at my attempt to repeat it, but they tell me that I'm a quick learner and am doing quite well.
I knew I'd love it here when everytime I go to bathroom it's an adventure as to whether or not there will be toilet paper! Hahaha, it's funny to me to hear how excited our group will get if the bathroom we use has toilet paper or if we are blessed with a toilet seat!! I don't really mind the squatty potties that much. You gotta do what you gotta do, right?!? At my home we have a small square hole cut into some cement, but I'm a pretty good aimer. However, Kurty has been blessed with a larger hole with a helping ramp built in so funnel all your misfires back into the hole. Oh the things I get jealous about here!
I knew I'd love it here when I found out I was peeing in a skirt the wrong way! No one ever told me all you have to do is lift it up and pull down the underwear! Don't worry, I do not pull it down anymore. Hahaha. Wearing skirts everyday isn't bad. I kind of like looking nice, but the muscles in my legs used for crossing legs or keeping them together are quite sore and tired! I still love getting home and putting on capris after a full day in a skirt. But in this hot weather a skirt is quite breezy!
I knew I'd love it here when I got to have a dance party in the middle of church! In some ways here it is so much easier to go nuts for God in worship. Experiencing God in a new context is so exciting. I'll expand more on this later, but I am so glad I can go into this experience knowing God because everything is so enriched. It is great to have Kurty here as well as others to be able to share and talk about these things.
Ok, just a few last minute thoughts of some of the other joys I experience every day: I get to walk to school everyday and enjoy struggling up a massive hill, but also enjoying God's picturesque way of putting his world together. I love hand washing my clothes that are constantly covered in a film of the red dirt of Uganda because there is such a sense of accomplishment. I love that every late afternoon or early evening the sky clouds up after a stinkin' sweaty afternoon and cools off or often dumps a little rain on us. I like going to town to get a box of crackers for a buck or a tea cup for 50 cents and attempting to cross the street full of taxi's and boda-bodas (little motorcycles)...always an adventure!
Well, that's all I have for now. Still to come: my trip to Rwanda, my host family and life with them, and I'm going to a Ugandan wedding this weekend. Just more events on my grand adventure with my God in this life. I'm excited to see what he has in store around the next turn! Can't wait to share it with you all!
"Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious! Say to God, How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power..." -Psalm 66:1-3
I've named this post the way I did to give you a taste of the everyday life I'm living and share some of my favorite things about Uganda as well as maybe a few of the challenges.
I knew I'd love it here when on the way to the University after landing in Entebbe we were given something to eat called chapati! As many of you know I often follow where my taste buds lead and if it weren't for basketball I would be pleasantly plump :) Chapati is like a tortilla that will contain little bits of onions and almost has a meat flavor to it! I was hooked and couldn't wait for the next actual meal! Little did i know that I'd be waiting a lot for meals...the time for meals is more flexible here than what I'm used to you could say. Breakfast at 7, which for me consists of a piece of bread and tea, lunch at 1, which is often matoke, rice, and beans, and then supper is not until 9 or 10 normally!!!!!! Let's just say my stomach communicates with me a lot between lunch and supper. I love the suppers though! So scrumptious! Rice, beans, noodles, matoke, ground nuts, pineapple, and many other options depending on the night. It's best if it's all mixed. My host dad says matoke is the food of heaven and as an associate pastor I would assume that he might be in the know, but I'm not so sure about that. Although he does claim that we will also have ice cream and pigs-in-a-blanket there as well. Good news.
I knew I'd love it here when little kids will come running to you from all different directions to get a peek at you. They are fascinated by my white skin and long, blond hair. I find such joy in being able to bend down and look into their beautifully rich brown faces with their glowing white teeth smiling at me as they hold out their hands to hold. Everywhere I go I am greeted by the term mzungu, which simply means white person. We stopped in a town in Rwanda way up in the mountains when we got lost and we could hear that word echoing everywhere as kids and people came sprinting up the hill and along the paths to get to see us. My love for being with kids is easily satisfied here and God truly blessed me when I was placed with a host family where I have a 2 year old brother.
I knew I'd love it here when my desire to learn as much as I can was met with such enthusiasm from the people I asked questions of. I'm slowly learning some of the Luganda language and can say hello (oli otya), good morning (wasuzeotya), milk (amata), dance (zina), I am tired (nkoyae), beautiful (bulungi), as well as being able to count to ten and many other things. My family as well as some of my Ugandan friends are so willing to help me learn, but I think they have an ulterior motive as well. They will sound out the word for me and then spend the next 5 minutes laughing at my attempt to repeat it, but they tell me that I'm a quick learner and am doing quite well.
I knew I'd love it here when everytime I go to bathroom it's an adventure as to whether or not there will be toilet paper! Hahaha, it's funny to me to hear how excited our group will get if the bathroom we use has toilet paper or if we are blessed with a toilet seat!! I don't really mind the squatty potties that much. You gotta do what you gotta do, right?!? At my home we have a small square hole cut into some cement, but I'm a pretty good aimer. However, Kurty has been blessed with a larger hole with a helping ramp built in so funnel all your misfires back into the hole. Oh the things I get jealous about here!
I knew I'd love it here when I found out I was peeing in a skirt the wrong way! No one ever told me all you have to do is lift it up and pull down the underwear! Don't worry, I do not pull it down anymore. Hahaha. Wearing skirts everyday isn't bad. I kind of like looking nice, but the muscles in my legs used for crossing legs or keeping them together are quite sore and tired! I still love getting home and putting on capris after a full day in a skirt. But in this hot weather a skirt is quite breezy!
I knew I'd love it here when I got to have a dance party in the middle of church! In some ways here it is so much easier to go nuts for God in worship. Experiencing God in a new context is so exciting. I'll expand more on this later, but I am so glad I can go into this experience knowing God because everything is so enriched. It is great to have Kurty here as well as others to be able to share and talk about these things.
Ok, just a few last minute thoughts of some of the other joys I experience every day: I get to walk to school everyday and enjoy struggling up a massive hill, but also enjoying God's picturesque way of putting his world together. I love hand washing my clothes that are constantly covered in a film of the red dirt of Uganda because there is such a sense of accomplishment. I love that every late afternoon or early evening the sky clouds up after a stinkin' sweaty afternoon and cools off or often dumps a little rain on us. I like going to town to get a box of crackers for a buck or a tea cup for 50 cents and attempting to cross the street full of taxi's and boda-bodas (little motorcycles)...always an adventure!
Well, that's all I have for now. Still to come: my trip to Rwanda, my host family and life with them, and I'm going to a Ugandan wedding this weekend. Just more events on my grand adventure with my God in this life. I'm excited to see what he has in store around the next turn! Can't wait to share it with you all!
"Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious! Say to God, How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power..." -Psalm 66:1-3
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