Pygmies, Monkeys, and Squatties!

I took a trip to Bwendi this weekend with my IMME group to visit with some people in the town of Buhoma. It is really close to the border of Congo and at one point we were walking up one hill and looked over to the neighboring hill, which was Congo. It was not nearly as far as the trip to Rwanda, but it took almost as long (and longer, but I’ll explain that later) because the roads were so bad for the last part of the journey.

We left on Friday morning at 7am for our 12 hour bus ride. As a side note, for some reason every time we are about to embark on an extensive bus ride it always seems to be that time of month…rough, but I have learned to be a trooper and just “go with the flow” like my little brother Enoch! I really feel like having that attitude on life makes everything more enjoyable and less stressful! It is also a necessary quality to have in cross-cultural experiences!
So we rode and rode and slept and slept and played a little cribbage. Then, and this story is for you Dad, at one stop we went to go use the restrooms, but there was only one and apparently it was for both genders…at one point the girls tried to block off the door so all the girls could quick go, but as it so often goes with Africans in lines the guys just waltzed right on past. You had to walk past the urinals to get to the toilets so I ended up having to cover my eyes to create tunnel vision as I walked past them to get to the toilet. The guys in our group were great, they tried to protect us as best they could and give us more privacy. Oh Uganda. When we finally reached our destination we found out we were staying on the edge of a forest of gorillas and that the resort we were at led gorilla tracking expeditions!! Fun, but there were no actual sightings of any gorillas by our group. We had spaghetti with red sauce and chocolate cake for dinner (those terms are a little misleading, but it was still good) and it was glorious for a moment to break up the monotony of rice and matoke.
On Saturday we went to visit a hospital compound and missions organization started by a man named Scot Kellerman. He wasn’t actually there, but we me with a Ugandan named Richard who worked with him. They told us a quick bit about the place and we fed a few monkeys bananas!!! and then we packed up and headed out to go to a village. On the way our tire got a flat (this is important for later) so we ended up walking to the base of the mountain we had to climb. We climbed for bout 30 minutes and saw a gorgeous view. Our destination was a village of pygmies from the Batwa tribe! We were coming up to help them build a mud hut for one of the villagers. They really are pretty darn short and it was fun to get some pictures standing next to them. They were extremely fun to work with and even though we didn’t know their language we still goofed around with them. A couple started posing for my camera and one saluted me so I called him general and we kept saluting each other the rest of the day. The frame of the house was already up when we got there so we helped tie up cross supporting sticks. It was a quick learn and our group swarmed the house and toasted that work extremely quick. Later after lunch we helped start the mudding process! They made mud right near the home and then formed a fire brigade line and passed up the mud to begin building in between the cross supports we tied. The guys were tossing the mud up the line as fast as they could trying to cause the next one to miss the toss. They were all having such a good time playing with mud! Most of this time I took pictures for people and at one point had five cameras around my neck. Including a couple really nice ones that made me feel like someone on National Geographic and I had to try really hard not to covet! ☺ It was such a cool opportunity and so incredible to watch our progress. It was nice to get a chance to actually do something tangible like that instead of just listening to what is being done within a mission from a speaker. What amazed me the most was that everyone within this village was there to help. The women and younger children included. Even with a baby on their back they were tieing and throwing mud. The project was important to the whole community to get this man a house. I realized that this was a phenomenal example of community! I wanted to be a part of it and not just an outsider. There have only been a few times when I've felt more like a tourist than a student and that was one of them. I looked around and thought that I could do that type of work. I loved the area as well. When we had to leave they did their tribe's dance for us and had us join in, which was super fun! It includes a lot of stomping and stepping and I think it is probably my favorite dance of the three I’ve seen and participated in so far. It was all a phenomenal experience. We got a chance to see what some of the people were still living in hoping to get a house as well. It was a tent like structure built out of leaves and sticks and was supposed to house five people, but I have no idea how they all fit in it. It made me catch my breath because it was so sad and see the importance of that ministry.
On Sunday we went to a church that was about a 45 minute hike up a mountain and I thought at one point I would die. I was sweating so much, enough to sweat through my skirt! On the way up we stopped in a little village to wait for some stragglers and had a spontaneous dance party with the kids who came to stare at us ☺ We would sing some songs and then they would sing some to us. It was so much fun to be a part of their community for a short bit. The parents and older villagers got a kick of all our antics, and I love making people laugh! Dad, this next little tidbit of the story is also for you…when I went in to use a squatty potty at one point I found it had no hole to pee into and I found out you just pee on the rocks! I could write a story about all toilets and squatties I’ve used here! It's always an adventure!
The church was pretty small and pretty liturgical. My favorite part about it was this little boy who was in a suit coat and matching trousers that were about 3 sizes too big, wearing oversized green muck boots that made him a little tipsy :) After church we danced a little bit with the kids again until it started raining and everyone scattered. It was incredible! One drop and the place was cleared out! The other highlight of the night was destroying a couple of our fellow students in rook with Kurty. Thor4, I'm getting better..almost to the point where you might even want to be my partner! That when I was falling asleep I experienced an earthquake!! It shook my bed and then swayed for a little bit afterwards. I wanted to get all excited about it with my roommates, but no one woke up so I silently celebrated. Later in the night I got extremely cold and tried to snuggle in with Kurty, but in her sleep she fought me out of her bed. She kept rolling into the spot and literally pushing we away! Eventually I just gave up and shivered myself to sleep! Funny funny.
We left for home on Monday for our 12 hour ride that ended up taking 18!!!! We stopped at our bus drivers house for lunch and ended up being there for a couple hours, which didn't set us back too bad, but then later we blew our tire that went flat earlier in the weekend and had to stop and put on our spare in the pouring rain, with a jack that was made for a small car, on ground that turned to soupy mud! It took quite a while and then we had to limp into town and get a new one. Vincent's (our driver) family gave us a ton of bananas to take home with us and it was a great provision because we didn't get to stop for supper because we got set back so badly. I think I ate about 12 bananas! I had potassium coming out of my ears!!! I got home about 1:15 am and had a short night so I slept through the next day pretty much and I'm still recovering. Thank goodness for instant coffee!
One of the things that made me really excited was I got a chance to quick talk to Scott Kellerman before we left on Monday and I've been actually wondering about my major and the extra schooling i have to go for after undergrad and I've been wanting to talk to someone about occupational therapy on a missions setting. When I asked him where he saw any of that working he got really excited and said that there is huge need for OT's in the hospitals here. When he said that my stomach felt like was on a roller coaster and just dove down the next dip! I had been praying some about it and I still have questions, but I felt that was just for me. Scott wasn't even supposed to meet us and he was only there for 20 minutes to say hello and I only had time to ask him one question.
Well, I'm sorry if these are a bit boring...sometimes it's hard to spice it up when you are so cramped for time. I miss you all.

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1-2