Life comes at you fast...

I apologize for not writing in so long...life has been crazy! We're finally wrapping up the semester and saying goodbye to our families this week Friday. I'm hoping it won't be so hard since Caroline and I are both staying in Uganda for an extra month and will be back to visit our family a few more times in May.

Many interesting things have happened just in the last two weeks. The first weekend in April, our IMME group travelled for 12 hours in a small van over treacherous dirt roads to experience Bwindi, home to one of the largest national parks in Africa. Bwindi impenetrable forest is absolutely gorgeous and famous for being the home of over half of the gorillas left in the world. Though we were lodged at the edge of the forest, we didn't see any gorillas because we you have to pay about $500-$800 to do that and we were just in Bwindi for ministry purposes.

We met some pretty amazing people that weekend, like Dr. Scott, who came to Bwindi about 4 years ago and basically developed a whole health clinic compound out of nothing. His ministry has come so far so quickly and has really been meeting the needs of the people in great ways. We also got to meet and work with Pygmies, helping them build mud houses. It was a little shocking to see the "house" the family lived in before that we were replacing with a new mud house. The old house was basically an "A" shaped roof on the ground, made of sticks and banana leaves with an unattached wood plank as a door. I had to duck to walk in and the amount of floor space was about equal to that of a 3 or 4 person tent. I couldn't believe that it was home to a family of 7.

Church that Sunday was incredible because we just went to a local village church where the service lasted about 5 or 6 hours! Bwindi is home to the Bukiga people who have a distinct drum beat and dance which involves a lot of jumping and stomping, and it made for an unforgettable praise and worship experience. After having lunch we all went and danced with some of the village kids as they sang - so much fun!

Bwindi was great, minus the drive and the salmonella that came along with it. When we went back to school after that weekend 9 out of the 12 of us were sick with diahrea and vomiting - we endearingly called it the IMME epidemic. It was pretty awful...I had gone this whole semester here without really getting sick and here at the end it finally came. A few of us went to Kampala to see a doctor at a place called "The Surgery". It was a crazy experience as we all felt awful and had to wait for several hours. We were actually seen and treated by Dr. Dick Stockley, who plays the part of the journalist in "The Last King of Scotland". He was hilarious and made the whole experience that much better. I developed a high fever that night too, but thankfully the medicine worked for everything and we were all feeling a lot better over the next few days.

So after a crazy week I was thankfully able to travel back to Sipi to visit friends for a much needed weekend of relaxation. It was great to Michael and Reverend Diana again - she was so surprised! She thought for sure I wouldn't make it all the back to Sipi since this program is ending soon, but she was pleasantly surprised to find I had come "home" to Kapchorwa like I promised I would. Some, though not all of you have heard by now that Michael and I have actually decided to pursue a relationship with each other...you know part of the story already, but if you want to hear the whole thing just ask me sometime when I'm back home and I would love to tell you.

I realize not everyone will understand, especially at first, but just know that this is not a shallow fling. It may seem out of the blue to some, but keep in mind, there is a lot more to the story that you don't know. It has been well thought out, talked out, and prayed about.

I actually met a lot of his family this past Sunday as we went to his Mom's house for lunch. I will be staying with her at her house in Iganga district (about halfway between Mukono and Sipi) for most of May, just living there, helping around the house, and also volunteering locally in their community. When we arrived we received an incredible welcome at the local church...I've never experienced anything like it really. As we walked in the doors of the church we found about 30 people from the village clapping and shouting with joy to welcome us. They were just so excited and grateful to have me as a guest in their village, knowing that I would be staying with them for about 3 weeks in May. Michael and his stepdad made a few speeches and also asked me to say a few words as is custom in this culture. Then they all sang and danced in celebration of my coming, and I was just beside myself. The whole thing was totally unexpected and I just kept thinking that nothing like this would never happen in America...Ugandan hospitality continues to floor me.

When we had lunch back at the house, I actually became so grateful for all the intercultural classes I had taken back home in which I learned the importance of food in culture. I was already pretty full from having tea before lunch, but the time came I knew I had to eat and eat well to make a good impression! I don't think everyone there realized that I had already been living with a Ugandan family for the past 3 months and was used to local food like matoke & rice and some kind of unidentifiable meat, so they were worried that I wouldn't like the food. It was so funny because I could feel the stares of everyone the whole time I was shoveling food into my face, conquering the African sized portion Michael had served me. He told me later that the way I ate all of the food really made a great impression on his parents and other relatives and that the conversation they were all having in Lusoga (the local dialect of Iganga) during lunch was all about how well I was eating! Who knew that food could be the major deciding factor of my acceptance into the family!

After a long trip home to Mukono, I was pleasantly surprised to find my family very excited for Michael and me. I was so nervous when I was showing Caroline pictures from the weekend and Musumba walked into the room. Caroline showed him the pictures and said "...Sharon's new boyfriend" to which Musumba responded "Boyfriend? Hallelujah!" I responded gratefully with the usual "amen" plus an extra sigh of relief!

This may be the last post I write for a while as we are leaving for a 10 day trip to Rwanda this weekend. When we return we will basically just be debriefing that trip and the whole rest of the semester, then I'll see my fellow students off at the airport and proceed to Iganga for the month. Thank you all for your continued prayers, I really am missing you all so much.

Prayer Requests:
-For Michael and I of course
-Pray that the details of May would work out smoothly
-Enock is very sick with flu
-Safe travel to Rwanda - its a 14 hour drive across the roads of Uganda