Sunsets and Lightning Storms Over the Banana Trees

This is the second section about my rural home stay experience.

Activities
Coffee Harvesting- My family had a smaller garden compared to some of the ones I’ve heard about. I learned how to pick coffee with them though and when we first got to the garden Solomon taught me the proper technique for picking and then informed me, sort of off hand, that I was “standing in a hill of biting ants.” Thanks Solomon. Needless to say I spent the rest of the day slapping at imaginary ants. I also went along to the second stage of coffee harvesting, called pulping. There’s a crank machine they use to pop the beans out of their outer case. It was hard work constantly turning the crank and it made me pretty tired. Also, let me just tell you that coffee does not smell good until after it has been roasted! For all of you who know that I struggle with smells understand how sucky that was.
Dodgeball- this term is a little misleading, but let me explain. The family had a ball that was pretty deflated and one time we were throwing it around and playing catch, but it then morphed into I would stand in the middle of our yard and huck the ball at one of the kids. It started out with just Solomon, Selestine, and Abida and then all of a sudden there were about 10 more neighbor kids. There was so much giggling. I’ve never enjoyed pelting people so much in my life!
Chores- I helped peal matooke (really hard and I cut myself…big surprise there!), shell ground nuts (exactly like peanuts at a ball game), fetch water (why do rivers have to be down in the valleys so you have to walk up), de-kernalizing (Kurty’s word) corn (mom, what would the term actually be for that?), and digging in the garden (six blisters from only 15 minutes with a hoe ☹).
Food- So I ate a ton all the time, but there are a few specific dishes I want to share with you. One morning, in between picking coffee my mom brought out a mug of “porridge” for me to eat. It contained maize flower, millet, rice, milk, and water…it looked like paper mache mix or “camel snot” as my dad calls it for his art classes. It was all right and I only gagged once because of the texture, but I ate all of it…ok, not all of it, I threw a couple spoonfuls into the bush when no one was looking more because I was full than didn’t like it. There was however something I met with that caused me to get the closest I’ve gotten to throwing up because of something I was eating or in this case drinking. One night my mom asked me if I liked milk to which I of course replied to in the positive. She brought in a glass of it and I took a sip…it was warm, chunky, very sour, and it smelled. It was something they appropriately call “sour milk” and is made by mixing milk and ash together and then letting it sit in a gourd four a couple days! They love this stuff and I watched my whole family chug it. It was the single most disgusting thing I’ve ever had and I was oh so close to puking everywhere! The rest of the meal I tasted it every time I took a bite and even after brushing my teeth twice I could taste it. It was that potent. The last food I’m going to talk about is the sugar cane I got to eat. Sugar cane is fun to eat. You rip off a piece with your teeth and the chew and suck on it until the sugar is gone and then spit it out. The taste and the smell reminded me of my brother and camp. It tasted and smelled like the sweet corn we used to sneak in and swipe out of the freezer at camp and take fishing with us. What a great memory!
Murdering a Chicken- I was given the opportunity to kill a chicken for supper. Let’s just say that the knife was dull and required a lot of sawing….and at one point I hit a nerve so it flinched and I freaked out and stepped off the wing so it splattered me with blood. What an experience. I got to pluck all the feathers off and when we gutted it we found a fully formed egg (which we ate later) and tons of others at various stages of development. It was fascinating.
Church- I went to my father’s church on Sunday, but the night before he spent about an hour with me writing out a script in the local language, kupsabene, so that I could introduce myself in church to everyone without a translator. I practiced really hard because I wanted to be able to offer this to the people in his congregation because I knew they would appreciate it. It went pretty well and they laughed and applauded my attempt a lot, but it was really fulfilling to connect with them like that! My father also bought me an avocado at the end of the service where they auction off the offering items. He bought it for me because when he asked me if I’ve ever eaten it I couldn’t understand what he said so I just said no…oops, but good thing I love avocado!
Meetings- I went to a couple women’s meeting with my mom and learned about how they pool their money to take care of each other in their community when it’s needed. It was cool, but I didn’t understand any of it for the most part besides when they would say muzungu every so often. I just played with the kids..that is f they weren’t afraid of me. Once when my mother turned on the flashlight on her phone a young boy kept trying to blow it out because he thought it was a candle. Very cute!
Glowstick Bracelets- I brought along some bracelets that, when you crack them, light up and glow in the dark for a period of time. I brought them out for each one of my family members and they loved them. They were amazed by them and we went outside and played around with them. We tried to take pictures, but it was a bit difficult. It was really fun to see their fascination with it all.
The Cliff- My father took me on a walk to a place they call “the cliff” one evening. The cliff sounded sort of ominous to me, but on the way we walked through a massive sunflower field that was absolutely breathtaking so I figured it couldn’t be that bad…I was definitely right about that! We walked out of the field and I could see for miles! It was an overlook where I could see all the way to Soroti, which was about 2 hours drive from Kapturwa. It was really clear and the sun was even setting! Talk about drop your jaw and rub your eyes! We stood and Bonifas pointed out all the different sites and landmarks to me. It was one of my favorite moments.
Playing with Abida- After Abida got over his fear with me he started playing with me a lot. One specific game we played was where I would count to 3 and throw him into the air and then catch him again (a very important part of the game). It was probably his favorite game and he would run up to me and hold out his arms to show me he wanted me to throw him. At one time however, I was throwing him up and I felt something shift in my shoulder :s and I almost didn’t catch him again. My shoulder feels fine now, but it bothered me a lot then and has caused other problems especially in my back because I kept trying to compensate for my shoulder. I’ll explain all those consequences in the next blog.

Before I end this blog I want to explain the title of this blog and share a few things I appreciated during my 5 day with my rural family.
As for my title, one evening I was hanging out at the home and looked out over the top of our banana trees and saw a lightning storm on one end of my horizon and a beautiful sunset on the other end. Both of these contrasting pictures that I saw on my horizon were both incredibly stunning. It was a captivating sight and I could see God for those few moments. The sunset exuded God’s beauty and majesty while the lightning storm showed off God’s incredible strength and power! His character was there, on one skyline for me. I could go into more about what God was speaking to me about, but I don’t have the room and that is the main point anyways.
As for what I appreciated about it all, I really enjoyed having a mom present. I missed that. My family was very active in caring for those in their community and sphere of influence. I loved seeing that. I like working with them to produce something. I like learning from Bonifas about the culture. I appreciated the slow down and the time to interact. And I liked the kids :) Always my thing!

The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The Lord has been clothed and girded Himself with strength; Indeed the world is firmly established, it will not be moved. Psalm 93:1