I just can't leave yet

Another good week has gone by...so little time left. It's crunch time now just like any other semester and I am trying desperately not to get too stressed with school while trying to cherish the last few weeks I have with my family. On saturday I spent the day in Kampala with Danielle, Caroline, and Danielle's sister Rebecca. We sort of killed two birds with one stone by spending time with family and studying because we went to this great cafe and had the best time sharing stories, drinking coffee (a mocha frappe!) and even getting some homework done.

Last Sunday we were talking Godfrey about how little time we have left here in Uganda, so he decided he wanted to show us some of the ministries he's involved in. We went first to Besaniya - a children's rehab center. We didn't stay long though because he really wanted to take us out to the school for the blind about half an hour away. We picked up our friend Reverend Esmond and the four of us drove out on one of the worst roads I've ever travelled on...ever. Soon after arriving I realized it was well worth the effort. When you meet these kids and the workers who manage the place you immediately feel so much love from them.

It was one of the most incredible experiences I've had at any ministry in Uganda thus far. These kids are so loving and accepting and really just full of joy. As soon as we met them they started feeling our arms, our hair - anything to get a first impression. It's funny because they are the only ones who can't tell you are a mzungu until you open your mouth and speak! The first few kids we met just held onto our hands the whole time that Godfrey was giving us a tour of the compound, and it made us all want to stay forever. We did getto stay at least for about an hour and join them for an evening fellowship service. Wow, those kids can sing, and once again I was so impressed with the sincerity and passion of their worship. Salama school for the blind is one special place that I think I will never forget.

That was really the highlight of my week. There were some minor excitements amidst the normalcy - Musumba actually sent Caroline and I to the suprmarket after dark for a loaf of bread...we felt so independent, haha! We watched 2 episodes of Andy Griffith last week and it was so funny to hear the heavy southern accents after being here for 2 1/2 months! Mama doesn't like us to whistle after dark because it will "call the snakes," so when she heard the Andy Griffith theme song from another room she was concerned and demanded to know who was whistling!

Enock continues to keep us entertained as he is getting closer and closer to speaking real words. Poor kid - he's probably so confused hearing English and Luganda all the time. He's gettign the tones down quite well and cxan copy almost any sound, but he still doesn't quite form the words. When Mama tells Enock to call for Elisha he copies the exact tone she uses, but al lthat comes out is "aaaya". So for now his vocabulary consists only of 3 words: Amen, Dada, and the Luganda word for hot, it sounds like "jya" or something. He loves to point at my cup of tea and say "Jya!" to make sure I know that it's hot. That kid makes me so happy...I don't know how I will live without him.

It's rainy season now which is good and bad. It's good because we have plenty of water (the tank is overflowing!) but bad because everything gets so muddy. Yet Ugandans work so hard to stay clean and I don't know how they do it! We walk the same roads yet my shoes are covered in mud while theirs stay clean. To me, this ability ranks right up there with their ability to see in hte dark and hear a whisper two rooms awya. Not gonna lie, I'm a little jealous.

Anyways, because it's always so muddy when it pours for hours on end, everything sort of stops and events get cancelled. On thursday we even cancelled our missions class, but since the rain stopped in the afternoon we were still able to have a dessert "BBQ" in the evening as planned. Professor Button and his wife invited our class over totheir house for smores and roasted chocolate bananas! It was incredible, and quite a refreshing taste of America - roasting marshmallows over hot coals while listening to Jack Johnson...praise God for expatriot professors!

As much as I miss home (and I do miss all of you more than you know) I have actually just changed my plane ticket...I love these people and have nothing to do for the next month so I've decided to extend my stay through May 24th instead of May 2nd! I know it won't excite some of you as much as it excites me but I just can't leave these people in a few weeks. I know staying longer wont' make the leaving any easier but I have to take advantage of every opportunity to stay while I can. I don't know the details of what I'll be doing or where I'll be staying for the month of May, but I have a few options and its just a matter of working out the details now. I'll be spending some time in Sipi, some time in Iganga, and some time in Mukono. Besides visiting friends and family in these places I'll be volunteering at some local ministries.

Ugandans are the most hospitable people in the world and a visitor is always welcome, even without an appointment, so don't worry too much about me! Everyone I've talked to so far about staying with them for a few days or weeks was very excited for opportunity to host me and they said they would even be willing to host me for the whole month. So while this will be a challenging experience to be here basically alone, without the school related program, I will still be surrounded by friends and family who love me and know how to take care of people.

Prayer Requests:
-Time management - balancing finals and papers with spending time with my family.
-Getting the details worked out for staying here in May
-Guidance from God about the near and distant future

Happy Easter!

This weekend we went to the Luwero district of Uganda to meet with some ministers and learn about their ministries. We arrived thursday evening after a 4 hour drive that was only supposed to take 2, but Danielle and Erin kept us entertained with ridiculous singing and joking so it wasn't so bad. At one point our van was turning around near a boda-boda park...perfect opportunity to be harrassed. One driver was saying something to us in Luganda about love (kwagala) to which Danielle responded out the window "banange," (my friends) - an expression used sort of like "my goodness". The driver continued harrassing so Danielle said, "tu swala" (you're shaming us) and closed the van window. At this the entire line of boda drivers busted up laughing and clapping for us - it was quite a showdown!

For Good Friday we got to be a part of an incredible program hosted by some of the churches in Luwero. It is an event in which Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Lutherans, and the Church of Uganda all come together for the way of the cross. I've heard of churches in America doing the "stations of the cross" before, but never quite like this. In Luwero, they do a dramatic presentation and actually act out the stations of the cross. The first two were held in the catholic church, and then we all proceeded out into the streets following the actors as they continued to reenact the events. There were about 1000 of us walking as one large mob around the actors, led by a pick-up truck with massive speakers. Some of the bishops rode in the truck and through the speakers, read the scriptures that corresponded with the acting. They also preached a little as we went and we definitely drew crowds around town. It was really an amazing way to take the Gospel out into the community. It was also an unforgettable experiencing that really made the story of Christ's suffering come alive in a new way. Walking for 2 hours in the hot sun in a crowded mass of hundreds of people, following a man carrying a cross and being "beaten" almost the entire way...I felt like I was really part of the crowd walking with Jesus 2000 years ago. A lot of people in the community joined us along the way simply out of curiosity about what was going on, and it made me realize that when this actually happened to Jesus, most of the crowds probably had no idea what was going on. I had thought about this before but it sort of hit me in a new way, being a part of it. We ended the walk at the Anglican church and they "crucified Jesus" to the cross and ended with a closing service.

After the most incredible Good Friday of my life, the day got even better as we met with Father Jerry, a local Catholic priest for tea. This guy has such a heart for ministry and just seemed like one of the most sincere people I've ever met. After meeting with him, we were invited Bishop Kisseka's house for more tea! He is an Anglican bishop and has the nicest house I've seen in Uganda thus far...Bishops are pretty highly regarded here. He has actually ministered in America for some time, so it was interesting to hear about the differences between ministering here in Uganda and ministering back home.

I just can't believe what amazing people I'm meeting here in addition to the families I've stayed with. I am loving my Mukono family more and more all the time. Yesterday we had a huge lunch for Easter...Chicken, beef, pork, irish potatoes, pasta, cabbage, greens, 3 kinds of sauce for each of the meats, rice, matoke (of course), pineapple, and soda. We all ate so much! 3 plates each at least! Even after my 3rd full bowl of food, our friend Godfrey who was over for lunch said once again, "Sharon, you have eaten like a mosquito!" And after telling him I couldn't possibly eat anymore, he said we needed to get up and dance and jump around to make more room for the food! After we had all eaten way too much we all just relaxed and talked for the rest of the afternoon. After all that talking we decided it was time to do something so the rest of our evening was filled with dancing! I know I'm a Wesleyan, but I figure maybe social dancing is okay when its with your family!

The Sunday morning service really wasn't all that different from a normal service except the cathedral was completely packed, we took communion, the liturgy was a little different, and the focus of the whole service was on Jesus' resurrection of course. So even though Easter Sunday wasn't vastly different from how I've experienced it in America, it was definitely not a disappointment. It rained all day but here that is a blessing...you start realize this when your family's water tank is overflowing for several hours! Mukama yeba zibwe! Praise the Lord!

Good Morning, Pumba

Though I haven't written for a while, not much has happened besides our weekend safari. Things are so normal and routine now - I love it! Ever since I returned from Kapchorwa I have felt so at home in Mukono. Everyday I feel like I reach a new level of comfort and openness with my host family. They are continually opening up more and more, so it makes it easy to do the same. I'm really finding myself here finally, feeling like I can be myself in a way that works in this culture. I've even picked up on so many of the phrases and the "Ugandan English" here...I wouldn't be surprised if I talk a lot different when I return to America, and I hope it doesn't get too confusing! There are so many things they say here that confused me at first - some examples:

-Words like "moving", "slopeing", "passing" are all terms for walking. It sort of throws you off when before you leave for a party your mom asks you, "Do you move with toilet paper?" meaning "are you bringing toilet paper with you as we go?"
-"...give us a push" means "can you give us a ride?"
-"it has refused" is said when something doesn't work.
-"Surely?" or "Sure?" means "really?" or "are you serious?
-My all-time favorite is when they stop in the middle of their sentence and say "what?" For example, "Me, I have eaten so much, but you, you have eaten like a what? Like a mosquito."

Anyways, we finally went on safari this weekend to Queen Elisabeth National Park in the Rift Valley - such a beautiful place. You know its gonna be good when you can't reach the main gate of the park because a family of elephants is blocking the road. We took into consideration the fact that there were baby elephants and a massive daddy elephant who was flapping his ears as a warning sign, and we decided to turn back and seek an alternate route. I can just remember the excitement in our bus at seeing elephants, followed by our driver's voice of reason, "Are we safe?" After turning back we found a guard and explained our situation. He laughed a lot but then said it was good of us to turn back because if we had gone forward, "they would have charged and killed all of you."

So we found a different gate to get into the park and thankfully there was someone to open it for us (a.k.a a man in the bushes with a gun). Once we were in we drove around for awhile looking for a campsite and stumbled across a group of Indians from the UN. Feeling intimidated by large group and tent mansions, we moved on to an open area to pitch our tents. My friend Holly did a great job directing our driver to the right area saying, "You see those people who look confused, the ones with the little flashlights? Those are our kind of people." It was actually my very first camping experience ever - quite exciting! I didn't sleep well however because of all the noise, you know, the hippos munching, the warthogs grunting and pushing on our tent. Yes, I've officially met Pumba now.

Saturday we set out for our game drive safari a little late. We didn't see as many animals as we would have if we would have gone early in the morning, but we still saw quite a few...more elephants, waterbucks, Kobs (my clan!), buffalo, warthogs, some crazy birds, mongooses (mongeese?). In the afternoon we went on a boat safari since the animals go for water during the day. This was pretty incredible...I can't really describe the experience of seeing animals like hippos and elephants in their natural habitat, no fences separating you, the Rwenzori mountains as a backdrop...it was awesome. Sunday morning we went out a little earlier and saw a lot of the same but also monkeys and finally, the lion! Sightings are rare in this park, and it was a female so it didn't have the exciting mane, but there's something exciting about sharing common territory with a lion.

Though we had opted to camp, this park had a beautiful high class lodge hotel that we spent some time at during the day just relaxing. I think we all experienced a little culture shock just being in the hotel lobby and other common areas...it was really like stepping back into America for a few hours. It made me realize this is going to be harder than I thought - coming back to America that is. March is flying by and all my weekends are booked from now on with trips and events. I honestly don't think I will be ready to leave my Mukono family in a month...part of me wishes I could change my ticket home to the end of July, but that's not really practical. I miss you all so much anyway.

So other than safari, the only mildly exciting things that happened were preaching at a secondary school last sunday, Enock dropping my phone in the basin of water as I was washing laundry, and getting all the clothes I had washed that afternoon stolen. A humbling experience for sure - having my already limited wardrobe diminished by half. I now have about the same amount of clothing that each of my family members have, and they survive just fine! I think when I go home to all the other clothes I left behind, I will be more than content with them for a long time.

Prayer Requests:
-School as usual (overwhelming)
-Rittah may have malaria
-Trying to make sense of my time here in Uganda - how best to use it since its going so fast

It's only the beginning

Do you know what it is to meet people and feel as though you've known them and have been friends with them all your life? To feel totally content and happy to be with them for hours just because they are such great people? I met such people about 10 days ago in Kapchorwa, and we all agreed as we said goodbye that this was not the end but the beginning of long, maybe even lifelong friendships.

I really wasn't excited at all about my rural homestay, (it's never good when you're the only one out of 12 that they specifically tell to bring a sleeping bag and pillow!) but as soon as they dropped me off at the house, I felt completely at peace about everything. I stayed with Reverend Diana (in her mid thirties) and her cousin-sister Victoria (13). I couldn't believe it but that was the extent of the family living in the home - just 2! Rev. Diana has 2 biological sons Stephen (10) and Asa (8) but they are staying with their Grandparents now during the school year. They come to visit on weekends and they are so great...they absolutely loved my camera, and actually mastered it quite well!

Our house was actually surrounded by tourist resorts/camps because Sipi Falls was right next door! It's dry season up there in the mountains so they are closed for a few months, but usually there are tons of tourists around that area. Since it's their off-season, the people who manage the resorts were not very busy and I became such good friends with two in particular - Whinnie (21) and Michael (26). Since they deal with tourists all the time, I found it very easy to talk with them, and we had a lot of time throughout the week for good conversation.

For example, last monday Michael took me on a hike through the mountains to the first and second of the three waterfalls in Kapchorwa. I've never seen such natural beauty in my life...I felt so spoiled to be living in the midst of it for 10 days. After a day of hiking we came back to Whinnie's camp for lunch, and I had to wait over there all afternoon and evening until Rev. Diana returned from work. I had the best time talking with Whinnie for hours about all the differences between life in rural Uganda and America.

Rev. Diana is one of my new favorite people in the whole world - I loved having her as a mom! We just hit it off right away, and all our conversation just came so naturally. This lady works so hard - she already has her MDiv. and wants to go back for a PhD soon. She teaches 7, yes 7 classes at a secondary school in the village which is actually about a 20 minute hike from the house. Then, she has to come home and cook dinner and keep up the house...cooking dinner here is no easy task. We're talking several hours of preparation and cooking over a fire. I admire Rev. Diana so much!

Working out in the village is hard and never ending. I helped sweep the yard, do the dishes, walk the goats to some grassy areas, cook, fetch water, and even carried some matoke on my head from our plantation 20 minutes from our house! I carried one small bundle and thought I was going to die, while Rev. Diana was of course carrying two bundles stacked on top of each other on her head! One bundle weighs about 15 pounds - no easy task on rough terrain! What I can't understand is how the women carry these kinds of loads on their heads, with things in their hands, through the mountains that I could barely walk through without falling over!

Though I was in the home of a Reverend, I did not have to preach thankfully! I just introduced myself and gave a short testimony and they all loved it. The most interesting part of the service was actually the time at the end for tithes and offerings. Not only did people give money, some also gave eggs and there was even a live hen brought forward! At the end they sort of auction off these items to the congregation...so interesting.

I felt like I really got a sense of the friendliness of Uganda that I always hear about but never quite experience in Mukono. About 80% of Uganda is rural like Kapchorwa so Mukono is not really the norm. In Kapchorwa, everyone greets in the street as they pass, and really if they are not working, everyone goes around visiting each other. On Sunday afternoon we constantly had visitors in and out of our home - I really love that aspect of village life. I have never experienced such hospitality in my life. A visitor is always welcome no matter what and a visitor like me is always greatly anticipated. I wasn't Rev. Diana's visitor, I was the village's visitor. I really experienced this as our whole USP group came together for hiking at Sipi, and we passed some of the villagers working in the valley. Everyone was greeting one lady carrying something on her head saying, "hello" and as I passed I said "Takwenyo" (the local greeting) and the lady said, "Is it Sharon?" I didn't recognize her but there's a good chance she may have been in church on Sunday, and so I just asked her how she was doing, etc. So funny...it really caught me off guard!

Our homestays actually ended on Wednesday and then we met the other USP students in Soroti for a few days, about 3 hours away. Then we all returned to a camp right up the hill from Rev. Diana's house for camping and hiking and more debriefing, so I actually got to hike twice - once with Michael, and then with some of my USP friends. We had an amazing time just relaxing, star gazing, dancing when no one could see us (I think!), praising God under a waterfall, and having a worship service Sunday morning on the top of the mountain.

So when we returned to Kapchorwa from Soroti, I was able to visit my family for a few hours and it was wonderful. I arrived with Danielle and everyone was there wrapping presents for me and my Mukono family! I didn't realize what was going on, but thought it was strange that they had us sit outside for awhile. I thought they were having a party for someone because there were visitors there that I didn't recognize. So after Danielle and I had tea and shared more stories with Rev. Diana, Michael, and Whinnie, they started thanking me for being willing to stay with them and for coming to Sipi and gave me tons of gifts! I felt so honored but also like I should have been thanking all of them for their hospitality.

With less than two months left here in Uganda, I will definitely be making plans to go back and visit these friends in Kapchorwa, or maybe meet somewhere in Kampala or Jinja. This is truly just the beginning, not the end.

Prayer requests:
-Praise God, Rittah is back in school! I don't know the details of how the money came through but God provided.
-We can't seem to keep our house help for Enock...we've already been through 3 in the last few weeks and the one we have now is only temporary till we can find another one. He's just a really active kid and I guess people don't have the energy to keep up with him, but we are in serious need!