Luweero

We embarked on our final IMME trip this past weekend. Our destination was a district called Luweero. It was the closest of all our tips so we only sat on the bus for a little over two hours.

When we got there we immediately went to the Anglican Bishop of Luweero’s home to speak with him. He was an extremely welcoming man and invited us into a beautiful home. It was probably the nicest home I’ve been in since being here in Uganda. It felt sort of weird to look around at all these things and hear him talk about how he grew up in poverty and so understands the needs of the poor and knows the value of sharing what you have. It was just sort of weird to me when he was obviously living much better than those around him. I understand that it’s hard and he probably does do a lot for his community. It was just hard to follow him when he talked about the poverty in Africa and look around at all these lavish decorations. He spoke English very well and had been to America before so he had fun stories. We were also given refreshments of juice, hot cocoa, popcorn, and fried cassava. I love fried cassava or in English, fried root. It’s the root of a bush, but I think it tastes like popcorn and fries when they fry it! Yumm!
We stayed at an Anglican guest house and it was really nice…ok, except that we’re pretty sure that Kurty and our other roommate, Kamanha, had company as they slept!...Bed bugs!!! It gave a whole new meaning to the rhyme “good night, sleep night, don’t let the bed bugs bite.” We didn’t really discover until after the weekend and it wasn’t too bad, just annoying. It was made up for however (Kurty might disagree since I escaped the weekend without any bites) when we were able to take extremely hot showers!!! It felt fantastic! I let it get almost to the point where I couldn’t bear it just to remember what it felt like.
On Saturday we went to a place called the Mirembe Resource Center to share time and fellowship with the children and families that were supported there. The organization was started by a local couple who saw the need in their community to address the needs of the families effected with HIV/AIDS. There is an incredible stigma here against people with HIV. They are almost immediately ostracized from a community when it is discovered that they have contracted it, whether it was their fault or not. I was sort of surprised by this and during my time there and I saw how important it was to give these people their dignity back. It is great that there are programs that address the poverty of HIV and offer medical assistance, but it is almost more crucial to return their dignity back to them. Especially in a culture where being a part of the community is pivotal.
This organization helped out about 8 families. One was a child headed household, one had a grandmother as its head because the parents had died, and another was completely rejected from the rest of the family because the mother bore a child who was disabled. This young 7 year girl who was disabled was named Christine and she was born without clavicles so her arms are useless, but she is miraculous with her feet. She immediately stole my heart and I played soccer and talked with her for a while.
We were told that these kids look forward to this day when we come and play with them every semester. When we arrived we started out the day by introducing ourselves and getting a quick introduction from the staff and then were told, “ok, here are some games and toys. Go play.” Are you kidding me?!? I actually get to go play with them instead of just sitting and listening to a speaker!?!? Not to say that speakers are bad, but I mean really, let me at those cute kids! We played for over an hour with them. Soccer, balloon animals, games with the massive parachute, volleyball, and tons of other hysterically fun adventures! The only low light was when I was playing keep away with a younger girl and Justin Lane and he thought it would be fun to bounce the volleyball off my face from 2 feet away! No worries, no broken nose, but we’re still trying to work out our differences. It was actually pretty funny. We had lunch with them and then shared songs and skits with each other as a big group. They sang a few songs and danced for us and we sang them a few songs (banana song, Jesus loves me remix, father Abraham, and others). What a rewarding time spent to see the smiles and laughter. I think this might possibly be the highlight of my time here in Africa. It was so refreshing.
Later that night we met with a Catholic priest from the area named Father Jerry. He was a nice guy, pretty young. It was a pretty casual meeting and he just shared stories with us about his ministry, especially with HIV/AIDS, and different people he’s helped. I really like speaking with him because he was one of the first people I met who talked about his own weaknesses and shared about his wonderings and doubts about God. He really struggled with the injustice and seeming unfairness of God. I just really appreciated his honesty and the fact that he was thinking critically about himself and his community, which is a trait that I haven’t really experienced very much here because of how the schools teach by way of wrote memorization.
We went to his church the next day. I had never been to a Catholic service before so it was interesting. It was in Luganda though so it was tough to know what was going on. It was a pretty big church too. I think their dedication to ritual is admirable and Father Jerry was extremely relatable with his congregation. It was a good experience and I appreciated the look into a different denomination within Uganda.

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 15:5-6