The Red Soil Road

End of 2010 Update

2010-12-30T14:14:00.000+03:00

Hello world!

Let me take this opportunity to at least wrap up the year with an update. First of all, it’s been EXTREMELY HOT here recently. It hadn’t rained for the last 2 weeks or so until just a few days ago. In fact the heaviest rain we’ve had in a long time came on Christmas day. We’re talking a serious downpour for several hours straight. It ended up being a freezing cold Christmas after all.

In other news, we got a new puppy! I don’t even remember if I wrote about giving the other dog away but it’s now with a different owner. It was causing problems between us and our neighbors so we thought we’d try a different one. This one is a girl and her name is Roxy. She’s exactly what I wanted in a dog because she’s social and friendly around most people but can also bark at strangers. Our neighborhood is becoming increasingly dangerous so it will be good to have some extra security once the dog grows a little.

I’m about 8 months pregnant now though still small. I guess I’m just one of those small pregnant ladies. Most people think I’m around 6 months because of my size. Due to her years of experience, Grandma was the only one who guessed I was 8 months! People keep telling me if I was an African I would be so fat by now! I must say for a first pregnancy I feel it has treated me fairly well thus far.

There was one set back the other week which put me in the hospital for a couple days, but it wasn’t exactly pregnancy related. It was food poisoning, made worse by the fact that I couldn’t take any normal medication for it because it wouldn’t be safe for the baby. It developed into some kind of bacterial infection but I was well treated at the hospital. We thank God that the baby was fine throughout and I’m also fine now.

In the beginning I was just nervous about pregnancy because I’ve always heard about how hard it was. I had a picture in my mind of being miserable for 9 months, and though it’s not easy, it definitely hasn’t been as bad as I thought. Now I’m just terrified about the whole delivery thing! I mean, I’ve seen it a hundred times in the movies and watched a live video in biology class, but what is it actually like?! Anyways, I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it, but I feel like time is flying and I’m approaching the bridge very quickly!

Michael is doing well in all of this. He was afraid I would hate him and be annoyed with him through most of the pregnancy but so far it’s been the opposite. I feel really clingy around him now and I get really jealous when he spends his time with anyone but me! Thankfully his job is flexible and we can spend a fair amount of time together. In addition to managing the guest house, he also gets some cake deals here and there. He’s hoping to break through into UCU next year and run a canteen there since there is a vacant building already. He would love to be running his own business rather than working for other people.

I’m happy to say we were able to go to Salama School for the Blind three weeks in a row for music ministry as their school term ended. They don’t resume again until February of next year but at least we are off the ground and running with teaching the kids music. I’ve been blessed with a wonderful team of keyboard and guitar teachers and I really thank God for their commitment. They not only teach but are also passionate about seeing the ministry succeed, and I can see how much they really love the kids too.

So far it has been amazing to see how quickly some of the students are picking up these instruments. I can’t wait to see how far we will get in the next year going every Saturday to teach. In the meantime we are trying to get at least 2 new keyboards and a guitar which we can give to the school so that they have instruments of their own. We are working on finding the best way of receiving financial support from countries abroad because of course, we hope to have many partners supporting the ministry in the future.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We spent Christmas weekend visiting Grandma, my host family from 2008, and Aunt Susan in the village. It was nice and refreshing to get away from the crowded and noisy city for a few days. We really feasted and managed to finish off a whole goat and 3 chickens!

We wish you a blessed and happy new year!

Blessings

2010-10-14T09:41:00.002+03:00

We thank God because as of 2 weeks ago, we are now car owners! No more public transportation for us. Well, of course we use taxis here and there but it feels different when you do it by choice rather than by force. So far it has been a huge blessing and we are just so thankful to God every time we use it.

It’s a toyota corolla and a bit old but it’s mechanically sound and the fuel consumption is low. That’s a bonus because fuel here is ridiculously expensive. I don’t know what fuel prices are like now in the US but if I’ve done the math right, here we are paying the equivalent of $5.50 per gallon. Hence, we use the car sparingly – only for the biggest needs. Anyways, it is God who provided the car and I know he will give us the means to maintain it.

Back in June our church held crusades in the surrounding areas and on the night we attended, the speaker concluded with a powerful prayer session. It was a time of presenting our biggest and most pressing needs to God and believing in faith that he would do something about them. Many people prayed about finding spouses, others about financial breakthrough, and others prayed for physical healing. I prayed for financial breakthrough and specifically for a car. In the midst of praying I felt the Spirit leading me to pray for a car within a 3 month time frame, which to me sounded impossible, but anyways, that’s faith. It really stretched me because we had absolutely no money in savings for a car. You can imagine how crazy it felt praying for God to provide a car in three months when you have no extra money...you are starting from zero.

However, God is truly faithful and can do anything. By the end of September we had all the money we needed for the car and purchased it on October 1st. Also, since the crusade we have gained various jobs here and there which have given us the financial breakthrough we needed and are now providing the weekly income we need for fuel. That is why I can honestly and confidently say that it is God who provided it.

We needed the car so much for many reasons like general convenience in getting around Kampala, transporting the cello wherever we need to take it, etc. However there is a bigger reason that some of you know about already but others may not know. I guess it’s time to make it public since people here are figuring it out...I’m pregnant! Wow, it feels really wierd writing this on a blog...we’ve been keeping it secret here for about as long as we could. That’s kind of how people are here...it’s not something they usually discuss openly. They have indirect ways of talking about it which is quite different from home where people just ask, “Are you pregnant?”.

We’ll give you an official due date soon but I’m about 20 weeks/5 months along. We’ll find out the gender on the day of birth...more exciting that way! We are so excited and experiencing a lot of new things as we go through this for the first time. Please keep us in your prayers as we need them so much.

Moving Forward

2010-09-22T12:27:00.003+03:00

Hello to everyone who still reads this thing! Life without a laptop or anykind of PC is apparently not easy. Anyways, here’s an update on us.

Michael began working at the restaurant at the beginning of August and in the last month the place has begun slowly catching on. I say slowly because the menu is mostly western and a bit pricey compared to the typical Ugandan restaurant. However, once people discovered that this was not the typical Ugandan restaurant they have been steadily coming in. It’s the quality of the food that attracts them.

By the way, the pizza...best in Uganda, period. No pizza I’ve tasted here has ever reminded me of home but with my husband’s pizza, I was taken back to the US with the first bite. I know you’re thinking I’m just saying that because he’s my husband but as an authentic American who loves pizza, I can honestly say there’s nothing like it here.

The unfortunate news is that Michael is now no longer working there. The owner had to send him away with great pain because of poor planning. She simply has no money to pay him beyond this first month. It’s a common problem here. People start a business and expect to make serious profits within a very short amount of time. I guess she didn’t realize that these things take time to catch on and you can’t expect the business to start paying for itself in just one month’s time.

It came as a huge disappointment but at the same time we were hopeful that we could still benefit from it and in fact we are already seeing the benefits. The situation has pushed Michael to really begin baking from home and selling to friends, family, and even the Uganda Studies Program students from the US. All of these people will be placing orders with us every week and we will deliver directly to them. It’s really better because all the profits will go to us instead of an employer/restaurant. It’s an idea we have always talked about but never put into action.

Also, we’ve seen how God is truly taking care of us as only one week after Michael left the restaurant, he was offered another job as manager of a guest house in Kireka (about halfway between Mukono and Kampala). The pay is about the same and the job is more flexible and less strenuous physically. We thank God so much for his care and provision.

As for me, I gained 3 more cello students at a different music school – the African Institute of Music (AIM). This school is very different from Kampala Music School. It was founded by a missionary from California who had a vision of beginning a music school in Uganda and eventually forming something like a national orchestra here. The school is basically in a big house and it creates a beautiful and comfortable environment for learning. So far I’ve found the students to be very committed and self motivated. Two are Ugandan and one is Tanzanian. They have basically been teaching themselves cello for the last year or so and are grateful to have a teacher, so it is really a perfect situation to step into.

As for the project at Salama School for the Blind, we are thinking bigger and bigger all the time. God has shown us that our original vision of a music project was much too small. It was something we felt we could feasibly do. But I believe God usually wants us to have massive visions that are obviously too big for us to accomplish on our own and push us to rely on Him for success.

Currently a friend of ours who is very connected to Salama and also happens to be a lawyer is writing the constitution and bylaws for what will hopefully in a years time be Hope for the Bind Ministries – a registered NGO that will act as a source of overall help and funding for the school. Since the school has so many needs, we realized it would be a bit strange to raise a lot of money for a simple music project while ignoring other serious issues. So now we are seeing the music project as one of many others that will enrich the school. Eventually we would love to bring other people on board who can design things like an agricultural project, and a medical project to take care of the many needs of these students. Finding sponsors for all the students would also be an aspect of the organization.

So please pray for us as we work on getting things into motion. It is really a long process and the music project in particular has now been on hold for about 6 months but as soon as we can get a car we will begin on that again. Please pray that God continues to bring/lead us to the right people who can help and not harm this endeavor. I’ve seen a lot of organizations here start off well and eventually collapse because of just one corrupt person.

I know this vision is from God and because of that I have total confidenc e that it can succeed with time and hard work. So please begin supporting us in prayer now as I’m sure you all know that starting off is never easy.

I think I’ll leave it at that for now. We are missing all of you there so much, but we are also happy to be where we are. God Bless.

HELLO!

2010-07-22T14:25:00.000+03:00

Okay, so here are my attempts at making excuses as to why I haven’t written in so long:

1. Everyday for the last 2 months our electricity has been off from about 9am to 6pm as the power company has been replacing their transformers. So of course businesses like internet cafe’s have been closed during the day. Could I have gone in the evenings? Yes, but I was busy watching the world cup and I don’t really like going out at night. Wow, have I become old and boring? I used to love going out at night.

2. Life has been so routine and practically boring until recently that I was really at a loss for what to write. At least now things are happening, so here’s an update on our lives.

Michael is supposed to be starting work soon as the chef of a new American restaurant opening up in Mukono. This is a huge answer to prayer! Michael has been without steady work for the last year so of course it was putting a strain on us financially. This new source of income will help us to sustain the kind of life we want to live and will also give Michael an opportunity to put more capital into his travel company for marketing and such. The company is now fully registered as Wildcat Safaris Uganda. There is no website yet but it will soon be possible.

Another answer to prayer came last week when I FINALLY got my Dependent’s Pass which says I can stay here legally for the next two years. I emphasize “finally” because we applied for this pass last year in October. They said it would be ready in five days. Ha! Nine months later I’ve got it!

There were some unclear things and misunderstandings about the visa I got from the airport when we arrived here in May of last year, and at one point Internal Affairs was trying to give some ridiculous fine of over $4,000! Thank God one of Michael’s uncle’s is a powerful person in Uganda and was able to convince the higher-ups to wave that fine and give us the pass for the normal fee. The fact that we didn’t pay a single bribe to the officials and still got the pass is a miracle, though it is part of the cause for it taking so long to process. Internal Affairs is apparently one of the most corrupt ministries in Uganda. Anyways, God helped us through 100%.

In celebration of finally being fully legal in this country and not having to deal with Internal Affairs anymore, we decided it was time for a little vacation. We considered it the honeymoon we never took in Uganda. We went to Mabira National Forest just for the weekend and had a relaxing and refreshing time in the privacy of the thick woods. It is an absolutely beautiful place where we were able to spend some quality time together before life becomes different and very busy for Michael. We have consistantly had 1 or 2, sometimes 3 friends/relatives at a time living with us since October of last year so this was a good chance to get away and be alone for a couple days.

e were able to take a simple forest walk for a couple of hours though we covered little ground when you look at the forest as a whole. It is massive. When we drive through it on the highway going 60/70 mph it takes a good 20-30 minutes to get through it. We saw plenty of red-tailed monkeys on our walk and some exotic birds and butterflies. I even fell in the mud once along the way! I mean, someone had to make a funny memory.

was also nice just to have someone else make dinner for us. There was a fire pit behind our cabin so we made a campfire in the morning...not as exciting as it would have been if it was at night, but we couldn’t get firewood in the dark. The most unfortunate part of the trip was that we had no camera. Oh well, we have our memories.

We also took a side trip to Jinja to visit the source of the Nile and a good American cafe there. I never thought I would describe a cheeseburger as “refreshing” but I had one, and it was indeed very refreshing. Jinja is only about a 25 minutes drive from Mabira but we had an impossible time getting a taxi so we ended up hitch-hiking with a couple who had a personal car. As we conversed we discovered that the man works with internal affairs! Pretty funny since we took the trip specifically to celebrate being done with dealing with internal affairs, but it was okay. He was a good guy and we got a free ride to Jinja.

That’s all for now. I will try harder to keep you all posted as life goes on.

One Year and Counting

2010-05-22T19:33:00.000+03:00

Last Sunday we had the pleasure of celebrating our first anniversary! We thought through a lot of different ways to celebrate like going to Murchison Falls on safari, going to a nice restaurant in Kampala, or having a big party and celebrating with friends. Originally I was ready to go the American way and have a romantic dinner for two (after the realization that safaris can get expensive!). Later on however, we realized my birthday would be taking place 5 days after our anniversary, so we just decided to have one big party to celebrate both events.

It turned out to be a great day of eating good food, cake, playing cards, and having serious debates. Yep, that’s right. We “discussed” (at the top of our lungs, sometimes sitting , sometimes standing) things like politics, religion, where to buy your clothes, DSTV, and the meaning of a “simple” life. What else can you do at a party when the power’s out all day? We were afraid it would be too quiet without music and movies...little did we know we had great debators in our midst who all prefer to shout at the same time.

In the evening we decided that instead of sitting in a dark house we should enjoy the great outdoors, so we actually carried all our furniture outside and set up a new living space on the lawn. Probably the biggest hit of the day was our wedding album. It is a beautiful storybook album with the pictures printed directly onto the pages. The comment of the day was “This is not in Uganda”, meaning that technology is not yet used here for things like personal albums. Wedding albums here are simply full of regular pictures, and it’s common for friends and family to take a picture or two for themselves once they see the album. When people see our album, their first response is to complain in a joking way that they can’t take any pictures home with them. Personally I’m grateful it worked out that way...OUR wedding pictures! You can’t have them!

The last year has been so good but also extremely challenging. At least my challenge of missing American food has been taken care of for now as I will soon be receiving a package from Mom and Dad which contains Mac & Cheese! Also, some of my friends from Britain that I work with at the music school treated me to lunch yesterday at an American style coffee shop with really good sandwiches. And of course, I’m so grateful for my wonderful chef of a husband who is always willing to step in and make me french fries when I get tired of African food.

Seriously though, besides that “crisis” we have not had an easy time with jobs and finances. My work at the music school is part time and many of my students are unreliable. Michael’s travel company has not picked up a lot of business yet either, but of course it is common for new things to take time and even get off to a rough start. We are really seeing that with our music ministry at the blind school as we are still struggling to get consistent transport to the school every weekend.

However there are many opportunities coming up for us that we are praying will keep us busy in the near future. There’s a good chance I and a violinist friend of mine will begin playing in some of the big hotels around Kampala to provide dinner music for various functions. Also, a job has opened up in the Uganda Studies Program at UCU that I have half a chance of getting since I’m a former student. There is a good chance that Michael will be working one or two jobs in Gulu as a chef and hotel manager in the very near future. While he would be living a long distance away most of the week, we still see it as a good opportunity for a time until something else comes along. As for the project at the blind school, we have discovered that there is a missions organization in our area that sometimes rents out their vans, especially to other ministries.

These are just a few of the possibilities we are looking forward to in the near future. Despite some of the challenges we have faced, God has allowed us enjoy our first year of marriage and grow in love for each other. In fact, the challenges that we have come through have been good reminders that without God we can do nothing. We owe him everything. He has kept us going in ways that we never could have on our own and brought us through situations that could bring anyone down if not for God’s help.

So we are working on being thankful for and in the challenging times, because they make our lives testimonies of God’s goodness and in the end, bring Him glory. Who knows? If not for the challenges, we may have gone through the first year of marriage giving ourselves the credit for everything instead of giving God the glory. “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name...” (Psalm 29:2).

Missing Home

2010-04-09T15:02:00.005+03:00

I love Uganda, and I like most of the food here, but sometimes I just miss American food like crazy. Like the other day I got an intense craving for mac & cheese...didn't see that one coming! Of course, it's not like it's impossible to get mac & cheese and other American delights here. They are just expensive compared to Ugandan standards. The money we would use to buy a jar of Alfredo sauce for one meal here could get us about 6 or 7 meals of African food. It's just not worth it. We did manage to make tacos the other day at least!

Please don't worry...food is not the only thing I miss about home. I miss all of you! Our dream right now is to come home for Christmas this year, but it will take a miracle.

It has been so long since I last wrote, but it seems like nothing much has happened here. The music project for Salama School for the blind has not really taken off yet because we can't get there on a weekly basis. We had a successful "kick-off" day, playing violin, piano, and cello for the students. We also want to teach them guitar but the one they have at the school is in a very sad state so we have not been able to teach it to them yet.

After hearing a sample of each instrument, we gave them a chance to touch and try out each one. It helped them to grasp what it is really like to play these things. We managed to go back one more time after that and began group lessons. Most students have an idea of which instrument they want to learn but we haven't totally organized a time table yet for giving them private lessons. Most students have chosen keyboard of course because it's familiar to them and is somewhat easy to make good sounds on right away compared to cello or violin. Still, we have at least 2 or 3 students on each of the other instruments so things should be moving along well soon.

Since that first day of group lessons we have not been able to get back to the school because it is very far and we don't have an available car. So the project is basically on hold until we can get consistent transport to the school. The person we had planned to go with every week is not able to go anymore so now we are really stuck. There are those who are willing to take us on a weekend here and there, but if we can't give lessons on a weekly basis there will be no progress. We are planning to make a video very soon to showcase the project and point out some of the needs we have. Then we will send copies home to several churches and hopefully begin receiving support for the project.

We had a very nice Good Friday service last week, and I was privileged to be a part of it. I played cello with the worship team in 2, 1 hour sets and also did a special. It was a great service, though very different from those I've attended in the U.S. First of all, beginning at 9:30am and ending around 3pm is not something I'm used to! At least lunch was provided afterward for us to enjoy as a church.

The biggest difference though was not the length of the service, but rather the mood. Instead of being somber and serious, it was actually a service of celebration. I've never seen the people at church dance and shout with so much joy as they did that day. It made me wonder what would be left for us to do on Easter Sunday, but of course, it was another celebration. It just had a slightly different focus.

We are still enjoying "newlywed" life here but we're getting close to that 1 year anniversary! We are just so thankful to God who keeps us going and takes care of our needs every single day.

An Addition to the Family

2010-02-02T11:59:00.002+03:00

Meet the newest member of our family! This is our new puppy O.B. We missed the boat the first time we had an opportunity to get one, but this time we didn’t hesitate. Now we’re the proud owners of a whimpering, flea-infested, ankle biter! Well, the fleas should be going soon with the help of meds, but I’m not sure when he’ll grow out of the other things.

O.B. stands for “Old Boy”, which is not so appropriate now but once he grows up a little it will be more fitting. Here in Uganda O.B. and O.G. are basically terms used to describe alumni of any school. For example, anyone who has graduated from IWU is my “Old Girl” or “Old Boy”. Anyways, we thought it would be a fun name for a dog and it sort of gives people a feeling of friendship even when they first meet him.

Having a dog here in Uganda is not terribly uncommon but it’s definitely a different experience than in the States. Most people here use them as guard dogs, so they are not so much indoor pets. They don’t really get special treatment and I’ve never seen anyone take their dog out for a walk or anything. So here, they’re not very hard to look after…at least, that’s what we’re hoping.

Other than the new puppy, everything else is going along normally. We are just looking forward to new things beginning in February, and we can’t wait to see where God takes us in these endeavors. We are planning to begin music lessons at Salama School for the Blind in about two weeks. We’re still in need of voice and keyboard teachers but I’m confident we will find some soon. In the meantime we will go ahead with cello, violin, and guitar lessons.

Also this month, Michael and I will be going once a week to an upcoming preschool to read Bible Stories and sing songs with the children there. We are excited about this opportunity because we (Michael especially) love children. This should be a really fun way to minister and get a little more connected in the community.

One group that we have absolutely loved being a part of so far is a small group fellowship for young married couples. It’s called True Vine Fellowship and is based at the Anglican cathedral nearby, but thankfully they accept couples from other churches as well. It’s a very close-knit group and though we’ve only met with them a few times, we have already become close to most of the people. Different couples host the fellowship at their homes once a month and we meet either for Bible study or to discuss marriage related topics. For the topics we usually have guest speakers who are a bit more qualified and experienced than any of us, so we really learn a lot.

We recently had a big cookout together and it was a blast! It was really a taste of home, complete with sausages, hamburgers and grilled pork. It was a great time to get to know each other, and for Michael to show off his grilling skills! Anyways, we’ve realized that this is a really worthy ministry and we hope continue to be involved for a long time.

The Holidays in Uganda

2010-01-02T19:00:00.007+03:00

Happy New Year!

One holiday that Ugandans know how to celebrate is New Year’s Eve. My goodness. Christmas can go by without notice but New Year’s…It was as if the whole country was in Kampala celebrating all night long! Almost all the churches plan an overnight service of praise, prayer, and preaching from around 9 in the night to 5 in the morning. There’s nothing like stopping at midnight – people just expect to spend the whole night out.

Michael and I spent it with some friends at Watoto Church in Kampala (former Kampala Pentecostal Church), only staying until about 2:30 in the AM. It was an incredible way to bring in the New Year. This church was planted by an American missionary couple and it’s doing great things around Uganda. The church itself was packed with thousands of people inside so we ended up with the masses outside in the parking lot following the service on the big screen. The praise and worship there was almost purely western with a few African songs in the mix. It was a nice taste of home as I felt like I was back in chapel at IWU - the major difference being that these people know how to dance!

Christmas on the other hand didn’t seem to come with all the bells and whistles that I’m used to. Decorations are sparse and don’t appear until the day has almost arrived. In fact, we put up decorations at my mother-in-law’s house ON Christmas day. Most people don’t do Christmas trees, probably because they’re all fake and could only be chosen by Charlie Brown himself as a sufficient decoration. Anyways, I’m not trying to bash Uganda for lacking Christmas Spirit, but I just couldn’t help but notice how toned down it was compared to how we do it in the US.

Here, Christmas is about spending time with family and going to church. I think people exchange small gifts here and there, but no massive gift exchanges for the most part. Michael and I along with many of his brothers and sisters, travelled to Iganga to spend Christmas with Mom and Step-Dad. We basically went to spend time together as a family and eat a lot of food! It was a great weekend to relax and take village tours, visiting other friends and relatives. We spent almost every evening gathered around the laptop enjoying episodes of “Tom & Jerry” – a show which is apparently a hit in any culture! We also ate all the mangos we could possibly stuff ourselves with…well, at least those who were used to eating them. Most people had around 10 each. I managed to get 4 down – quite an achievement for me!

On Christmas Day, everyone goes to church. In the village where we were, Michael was the preacher of the day! I was so proud of him. He simply felt like it was something he needed and wanted to do, and asked the reverend of the church if it was okay. The reverend was actually relieved because he wasn’t feeling well and was looking for someone to preach in his place. The church also responded very positively. They were very attentive, and some said it was the first Sunday all year that they hadn’t fallen asleep in church!

I definitely missed being with family back home – spending Christmas Eve at Uncle Tom & Aunt Kay’s, eating the best Chicken Noodle Soup on the planet! Missing these traditions is inevitable, but it was also refreshing to celebrate in a different way and spend time with my new family.

Now we are just looking forward to what God has in store for the coming year! Be blessed in 2010!

Finally Back Online!

2009-12-21T19:08:00.002+03:00

A "quick" recap of recent events:

We participated in the Kampala quarter marathon (10K) with over 20,000 other people! This was quite exciting for me because I’ve never been interested in running and I’ve never done a serious race like this. It turned out to be a lot of fun and not as hard as I thought it would be.

We had Thanksgiving dinner with the students and staff of the Uganda Studies Program at UCU and almost had a taste of home. The mashed potatoes and gravy really hit the spot and we ate way too many desserts, but the turkey turned out to be really disappointing. It was cut like a chicken, marinated, and thrown on the grill for a few minutes. The flavor was okay to be sure, but I couldn’t get a real bite out of it because the meat was so tough! The rule with meat here – you have to boil for some good time before doing anything else to it…it’s so tough. So, not exactly the turkey dinner I was hoping for, but at least we watched “Charlie Brown’s Christmas” (once the power came back)!

We celebrated Michael’s birthday on Saturday the 12th and ended up having a great party! I really laughed at how things worked out because it would never work in the U.S. We sent text messages to about 2 families on Friday night and called a few people Saturday morning. A few friends arrived in the morning and by 2 we had over 10 people in our house ready to eat some good pork for lunch. Haha! And we were concerned that no one would show up…

Michael is gaining business little by little with his travel company and cake making, and I’m getting new cello students here and there as well. I’m really enjoying teaching at the music school and now the International School of Uganda as well. It’s interesting teaching children and adults because you really have to adapt the teaching style for maximum effectiveness. I’m trying to market myself to other international schools and also take up a few private students, teaching in their homes. By January, when schools are back in session, I will likely have 15 students all together.

Something that we could really use prayer for is a project we are trying to start up at Salama School for the Blind. It’s a wonderful school with passionate children in whom I have seen great musical potential. A few months back, God gave me a vision for these students – that they can be great musicians if someone will take the time to teach them. Upon meeting with some of the directors of the school, I found that we were an answer to prayer. They had the same vision for some time, but no one to teach the students.

Because of my connections with Kampala music school, I’ve been able to round up the teachers and instruments we need in order to give lessons to these kids. We are thinking of calling it the “Joyful Noise Music Project” and offering guitar, piano, voice, violin, and cello lessons for now, but of course we hope to add more opportunities in the future. The project will basically focus on equipping them to play worship music – familiar choruses and hymns. They are already very passionate in their times of worshiping through music, so we hope that one day they will be able to have their own worship bands and even string trios or quartets. In the future they could even minister in churches and raise money for their school through this.

We’re planning to begin in February when all of them have returned from the holiday break. We’re very excited and we believe that God can do many great things with this project, so please join us in praying for this. I will keep you posted with more specific challenges and things to pray for as they come up.

Hope you’re all enjoying the snow during this festive season! As for me, I’m really having a hard time realizing that it’s Christmas. The decorations are sparse and the average temps are in the 80s…not a flake of snow in sight! I don’t miss the snow so much but, I miss that warm, cozy Christmas season feeling. Does that make sense? It just doesn’t feel like Christmas at all.

For the first (or maybe second) time in my life, I won’t be going to Uncle Tom and Aunt Kay’s house on Christmas Eve…I’ll be going to my mother-in-law’s house in the village to eat good African food and just visit with everyone around. Things will be quite different indeed, but still good. Merry Christmas everyone!

Oh and by the way, we’re most likely getting ourselves a puppy for Christmas!

Sorry!

2009-12-08T15:12:00.002+03:00

Wow, sorry I've not lived up to my own expectations of writing another blog soon. Our laptop has been down for some good time. First we had to get it cleaned for viruses and in the process lost almost all photos. Now it has stopped booting up all together so we'll probably lose all documents now. It's not really practical for me to write blog updates at the internet cafes because it adds up to a lot of money.

So we're here, alive and well in the dry heat of December. Yes, I'm totally confused about the holiday season! It's so different. I'll try to be posting short updates for the time being until we can get the computer fixed again.

We miss everyone back home very much and hope you have a great holiday season!

History

2009-10-19T15:56:00.007+03:00

This blog was actually written about a month ago and many things have kept me from posting until now. For example, as I was posting it there were riots breaking out in the street so we had to leave before it was posted. Life has just been generally inconvenient lately so this is the first I've been back to the blog since early September. Just enjoy thinking of it as an historical account! I will try very hard to post another update very very soon so that you will know the current situation. Thanks for reading!

Once upon a time...

...We had a big reception as a way of celebrating our marriage with friends and family here, and introducing me to the family members I’ve not met. It is indeed a very big family! As Uncle Manzi was introducing the family to me he would say something like, “All the girls who are a part of the Rabichwamba family, stand up.” Then about 25 of my cousins stood up! It was great to finally meet most of the aunts and uncles and see everyone all in one place. It was also good for Michael’s family to meet Rev. Henry and some of the USP staff. We really had a great time dancing, giving speeches, and eating great food and of course, cake.

The day was basically a success, except for the fact that we, the guests of honor were about 3 hours late to our own party! We were going to get ready from the family home in Kampala but we decided to go to a nearby salon for my hair instead of doing it ourselves. We told the guy we only had about 30 minutes and we thought he would do something simple and fast. 2 ½ hours later, my hair was done! He did a great job and was going as fast as he could, but he really put us in a tough position. Our party was starting on the other side of town and of course, I couldn’t leave with my hair halfway done, so we had no choice but to come very late. Once we got to the party everything was fine, but the morning was so stressful.

I’ve finally started teaching at the music school, but only one day a week for now. Originally they told me I would have ten students and more would come in September, but many of the students weren’t so committed or serious about lessons, so for now I’m only teaching 5 of them. So far it’s been a good experience because they are all at different levels. One of them is almost as good as me so sometimes I feel like I’m not very helpful, but it’s fun to teach him because he can play more interesting pieces. My youngest student is 12 and she is a talker! I can see that it’s going to be a challenge to get enough playing/teaching time in with her.

I’m glad that I will be around for a while because the students all have great potential. I would love to help them go far in improving their playing skills. I think now that they will have more consistency in their lessons they will improve quickly. The school usually just brings in visiting teachers whenever they are available, and these foreign teachers are usually only around for about a month at a time. If no one is visiting, they simply can’t offer cello lessons. One of my students wanted to know how long I was staying because she’s been playing for seven months, but she’s already had 6 different teachers. No wonder she’s struggling with basic techniques! I’ve also had about 6 different teachers, but in the last 12 years! So I hope with some stability, she will be able to improve quite a bit.

Michael is still looking for a job, but we’re hoping that one of the hotels he applied to will call him soon. One restaurant manager almost gave him a job, but apparently he was “overqualified” so they didn’t hire him after all. Ridiculous, I know. So for now we’re just trusting God that things will stabilize soon with jobs and finances.

Otherwise, we are still enjoying newlywed life, we enjoyed the beach again on Sunday afternoon, we love our church, and we hope to get more involved and connected there soon. We’ve been attending Deliverance Church in Mukono for about 2 months now and we’ve really been blessed by it so far. One of the things we’ve loved about it is that the people there are so genuine in love and faith. The church has many ministries including outreach programs, ministry to the less fortunate, etc. The music is lively and Spirit led, as well as the preaching. They really emphasize acting upon the word and doing the things we learn about in the sermon.

Application is seriously emphasized, for example, a few Sundays back, the pastor was talking about giving and being free with our money and possessions. It wasn’t a planned thing, but he just got so fired up about it that as he was encouraging us to go out and be givers to those around us, he just had everyone stand up and give something to someone else in the church! It was incredible! The pastor gave someone his tie and his watch, Michael gave someone his sweater because it was a very cold morning, and I hadn’t carried anything with me that day so I just gave someone a hug! It’s just really refreshing to go to a church with people who are genuine and want to act on their faith.

We will be joining a home cell soon, (a small group) and this coming Sunday I’ll be playing for offertory for the first time. Michael might be joining the choir in the near future too, so we’re excited to be joining the people there in ministry.

Tooth Fairy Vs. The Rats

2009-07-24T14:46:00.003+03:00

I don’t know when or where the whole tooth fairy idea came about, but this week I learned from our neighbor boy that they have a very similar myth here in Uganda. Since he’s of the age of losing teeth, he started telling me how when he loses a tooth, he puts it in the corner of his bedroom and while he sleeps, a rat takes the tooth and leaves some money. I was so amused by this and I started to tell him how we do the same thing in the states only our parents tell us that there’s a tooth fairy who leaves us money. I almost told him how eventually, kids figure out that it’s really their parents who give them money, but then I realized he still hadn’t figured it out and there was no way I was going to spoil it for him!

This boy is quickly becoming our friend as he loves to come by to “converse” and see what we’re doing. When he wants to kick a ball around, he knocks softly on the door and asks me, “Is the neighbor in?” It’s so cute how he doesn’t call Michael and I by name, just “neighbor”. This boy has incredibly good English, in fact, I don’t think I’ve ever heard him speak in his native language. Once he starts talking, it’s hard to get away. One day after talking with him for some time I went inside to continue some work. When I came out a few minutes later he was there waiting and he said, “We are still conversing.” Some of the things he talks about cause me to think that I’m talking to an adult and then I remember that this boy can’t be more than 7, maybe 8 years old! I look forward to getting to know him and his family more in the future. We visited them once and they’re a great family. Lately we’ve gotten into the habit of gift giving...like the other day, Michael baked some bread rolls and told the boy to give them to his family. Immediately after taking them over, he came back with some bananas for us!

After some motherly nagging, I’ve finally made an apartment video tour as promised, so at the end of this post there is a glimpse of where we are currently living. Unfortunately my camera doesn’t record sound so it’s a silent film. Basically right now we have more space than we know what to do with. We’ll fill it up eventually but we decided just to get by with the basics until we are both working. Decorative things, and plants and flowers will come later, and we’re even doing without a fridge and a dining table for now. Those things are such necessities in the US, but it’s so easy to live without them here in Uganda. Most people don’t have them and would probably feel awkward anyways as eating at a high table is very Western. Our second bedroom is lacking beds right now but eventually we’ll be able to host visitors overnight. I can’t really compare the floor to anything in the US, but it’s basically a smooth, polished cement.

Anyways, we’re just enjoying having the place to ourselves and hosting visitors whenever they decide to come over. Our place has become quite the hot spot on Sunday afternoons! The last couple of weekends we’ve had 6-8 friends/sisters/cousins over at a time. I’m really loving Michael’s friends and family so much...we have the best time together eating, dancing, playing games and watching movies. I never expected to have such close friends this early on, but I’m so thankful for them.

Last Saturday we were tired of sitting around the house so we went to the beach in Entebbe with some friends. The waves were so good at Lake Victoria that day and we basically spent the whole afternoon jumping in the waves. I assumed that because this beach was the closest one to the airport that there would be a fair amount of tourists there...I was wrong. All eyes were on me and even when I was in the water everybody wanted to swim close to me. Maybe those who have a more outgoing personality would enjoy this but those who know me well won’t be surprised to know that this made me very uncomfortable! One high school boy even asked Michael if he could take a picture with me, as if I was some kind of celebrity! Thankfully I have a great husband who kindly said "no, sorry, this is my wife."

It just cracks me up because so many people on the street here look at me as some kind of big, important, celebrity and sometimes I just want to tell them how incredibly normal I am! It’s not easy to get used to this when the last thing I want to do is be the center of attention. It really gets to Michael too. Now he just stares right back at people, which makes them quickly look away in shame. We’re learning that if you don’t want to be stared at, you just have to stare back, because almost nobody wants to be stared at!

One Sock Short

2009-06-25T20:27:00.006+03:00

I don’t buy it. I used to think that washers and dryers were sock eating machines, but yesterday I found myself coming up one sock short as I was laying them out to air dry. Even here in Uganda where we’re washing clothes by hand, we still end up with an incomplete pair! I don’t care what you say, you can’t blame the washing machines for stealing your socks.

I apologize for taking so long to write another update...I think there is a way that stability and routine will help solve that problem in the future. So much has happened in the last few weeks so I’ll try to just give a “quick” recap...we’ll see.

-We celebrated our 1 month anniversary on Tuesday, the 16th, but it feels like we’ve been married a lot longer!

-We’ve booked an apartment in Seeta (pronounced “Say-tah”), the town next to Mukono. We haven’t started occupying it yet because we’re still buying furniture, but we’re planning to make this Saturday our moving day. I’ll post some pictures as soon as I get some! In the meantime we’re staying with a friend of Rev. Henry named Rachel. I couldn’t stay at Reverend’s house anymore because we discovered that the cold/flu I thought I had was actually a result of staying in that house. I’m allergic to something, possibly bats, the furniture, who knows? All I know is that I begin sneezing and coughing almost immediately upon entering the house. So Rachel has been kind and generous enough to let us stay with her until the end of the month. It’s really a pleasure too, because she has a 6 month old baby named Jed who is just the happiest and most peaceful baby I’ve ever seen!

-Last week I applied to the Kampala School of Music to teach cello lessons and a week later I already have the job! I won’t be starting until August 10th but they assured me I have the job. This is definitely a God thing because it was just way too easy! I met the administrator a few weeks ago and talked with him for about 5 minutes. He told me to email him my resume and after seeing it he told me to call him. When I called he said we should meet to discuss a few details, but then called back a minute later and said that the visiting teachers are leaving in August so just come August 10th – that’s your starting date. Way too easy!!!!! Also, they apparently provide housing for their staff, so we may be getting even more help in that area in the coming months.

-I’ll be talking soon with some of the USP staff about ministry opportunities in the area so that I can start volunteering and serving somewhere soon.

-A couple weeks ago we had a family reunion of sorts for Michael’s Mom’s side of the family. We all met in Jinja at Grandma’s house and feasted! We ate in the traditional way of only using our hands, and it was quite entertaining for the kids to see an American eating this way! After feasting there was dancing of course, and I really got a kick out of watching the older folks jump up and dance. I think what really made it hilarious was actually the song that everyone first started dancing to – the new hit song in Uganda that is about bread and butter! The first time I heard it I couldn’t stop laughing because it’s these guys singing to their girls, “You are me bread and me buttah, me bread and me buttah”. Imagine your whole family getting up and dancing to this song...quite entertaining.

It was great to see Michael’s mom again and spend that weekend with her. My baby nephew Okello apparently doesn’t remember me at all from last year because he cries and hides every time he sees me! Hopefully he’ll get used to me as he gets older!

It’s official...we’ve deemed this the picture of the week! On our way back from Jinja we passed someone transporting goats in a most unusual way. He strapped 2 of the animals to himself and even made the boda driver carry one as well! Needless to say, they were ashamed.

Life is still a little bit hectic right now but God is providing for us all the time and I think life will be taking shape more in the next month or so.

Home Again

2009-06-01T12:16:00.014+03:00

It’s good to be back in Uganda...I never realized how many little things I missed! Simple things like the natural sounds you hear at night, African tea, the sweetest pineapple on earth, and even Blue Band! Blue Band is basically the only brand of butter here and it’s so much sweeter than ours. Of course, I missed the people most of all. It has been amazing to see everyone here. In fact, it feels like I hardly left even though it’s been a year.

We arrived around midnight at the airport in Entebbe completely exhausted, but excited to be home. The most exciting part about our arrival for me was discovering that my cello was completely intact and even tuned to the same pitch that I left it in! I had heard so many horror stories about people putting their instruments under the airplane with the rest of the luggage and finding them crushed when they reached their destination that I swore I would never check mine as baggage. I was planning to just ship it through DHL but apparently something of that size costs about $2000 to ship that far...not an option! Since we found this out the day before we left for Uganda, we had no choice but to check it with the rest of our luggage and trust that God would get it there safely. Needless to say, God came through for us again! A big “THANK YOU” to all who prayed for it!

After spending the first night in Entebbe, Michael’s sister Barbara picked us up and had us stay at her house for lunch. She has 4 beautiful boys who I am proud to call my nephews. They were fascinated with my “guitar” and also had fun with the camera. I’m telling you if you just give kids here a little bit of trust and lend them your camera, they will take the best pictures. Here is some of their work...I think you can tell which one is Mr. Personality

Later that day I met some more of Michael’s family that lives in Kampala, and finally ended up in Mukono in the evening at my host family’s new house. My host father from last year, Musumba Henry, insisted that we stay with them until we find a place of our own...how could we refuse?! It’s been so good to be with this family again, especially Enoch. Sometimes he can be just as fun and sweet as he was last year, but other times he really lives up to the stage that he’s in...the terrible two’s. He’s talking a lot more now, and his favorite new words seem to be “motocar, vroom, vroom!” He really only speaks and understands Luganda, but he’s very good at copying and mimicking words and sounds – even when I cough or clear my throat he also does it!

So far we’ve been looking around Mukono and Kampala for cheap but decent apartments. There are definitely plenty of good options but it’s hard to decide where to live when we don’t know where we’ll be working. There’s a beautiful apartment in Mukono with a lot of advantages but we’ll most likely end up somewhere in Kampala. Michael’s friends and family have been so great, looking for places for us...people here really take care of you.

Unfortunately I came down with a cold about 2 days after we got here and throughout the week I’ve had it all – runny nose, sore throat, cough, fever, and aches. I’ve been taking more medicine than I knew what to do with and just to make things worse, on Friday I woke up with a very fast heart rate and almost no strength to do anything. I finally went to the doctor only to find out that it was just a reaction to some of the meds I was taking to get rid of the cold. So I guess that’s good news but we spent a lot of money to find out that information and walk away with some basic pain killers and vitamins.

Anyways, we’re really doing fine overall, though still very tired. Michael has been meeting often with his business partners about their travel company, and I’ve been attempting to rest though it’s still not enough. It’s going to take a while to adjust and really recover from the trip, so please pray for rest and strength in these next few weeks while we also look for jobs and housing. God has been so faithful every step of the way and we’re excited to see where exactly he takes us next!

Life comes at you fast...

2008-04-15T10:02:00.003+03:00

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

I just can't leave yet

2008-03-31T09:49:00.003+03:00

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!

2008-03-24T10:56:00.004+03:00

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

2008-03-13T10:33:00.011+03:00

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

2008-03-03T10:32:00.006+03:00

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!

School Fees, Sorcery, and Bungee Jumping

2008-02-20T16:54:00.000+03:00

So this past weekend went a little differently than planned...but it was still very good. While traveling 7 hours away to see a traditional circumcision ceremony did sound like a good experience, I wasn't too disappointed to find out that the trip was cancelled. We have so many trips coming up and the semester is already about half way over – I feel like I’m never going to see my family! With an unexpected free weekend, many of the other USP students went white water rafting and bungee jumping at the Nile, but I didn’t want to rush into a decision like that (it was a lot of money too) so I just didn’t make plans. I originally thought I wanted to go rafting but many of the rapids were class 5 and I’ve never been rafting before...it sounded like something you would want to be experienced in before going. Hearing the stories of those who went was a lot of fun (you should read their blog entries about it!), but most said it was absolutely terrifying...a great and incredible experience but completely terrifying. After hearing about the bungee jumping and seeing video however, Danielle and I have decided we want to do that in about a month! We jumped out of a plane together last semester...I think we can jump off a bridge, right?

There was a singles retreat Saturday that I attended with our church – a nice surprise since I thought I would be doing housework all day! About 20 of us met at the church around 8:30 in the morning (since everyone was told to be there at 6:30 haha), and we drove to a resort in Jinja to spend the day worshipping and talking together. It was wonderful to make some more Ugandan friends who are about my age. For the first few hours we listened to some very good preaching by Rev. Titus...he had a lot of good things to say not only about being single, but being spiritually disciplined in various aspects of life. After lunch we moved outside for a time of questions and open discussion. We sat on a cliff overlooking the Nile, and I was thankful for the incredible view because about 90% of the next 2 hours of discussion was in Luganda! Every once in awhile the girls sitting next to me would explain what in the world they were talking about, and asked me a few questions as the rest of the group continued their discussion. One of the conversations I had with Rachel (the one sitting next to me) was so meaningful...it was one of those “aha” moments, and it made the whole trip worth it.

For the past week or so our family had hired someone to watch Enoch during the day and also help with the cooking/housework. Her name was Justine and she only spoke Luganda so I didn’t really have a chance to get to know her. Last night when I got home from school we had a different Justine...the other had gone home for personal reasons.

It turns out she was involved in practicing sorcery, which we had no clue about when we hired her. The other night when I was going to sleep I heard Musumba talking and praying with one or two people in the sitting room, and then they moved outside and began singing. It was around midnight so this was all very strange, but I wasn’t too worried because I could tell it was some kind of praise song, though it was in Luganda. It was beautiful by the way...I felt like I was getting a glimpse of heaven! Anyways, since this was so out of the ordinary I asked about it at dinner last night and apparently they had led Justine to Christ and had also exercised some things from her. Unfortunately, the next day she decided she wasn’t happy with the decision she made to follow Christ, and returned back home to continue practicing sorcery.

Hearing about all of this made so many things make sense. For these past few days, every time I would be at home things just felt wrong...I thought that our family was just having personal issues and it was causing me to feel like something wasn’t right. I really think that I was experiencing a presence of evil all those days when the first Justine was here. There was such a marked difference between yesterday evening and the last week that she was here. Last night everyone was just in brighter spirits and there was more laughter than we’ve had at dinner in a long time! Please continue to pray for our family and for Justine.

Rittah is having a really hard time dealing with not being able to go to school because of school fees. Her dad stopped by on Monday and she thought he would have the money, but he didn’t. They have 6 kids in their family all together so it’s understandable why they are having a hard time coming up with it...it’s such a hard situation.

Last night after dinner she was clearly not okay, and after everyone else left the room I just asked her what was troubling her. She could barely get the words out as she began to cry...I just sat there crying with her, feeling like the biggest jerk and hypocrite, knowing that I could easily provide the money. At the same time I know that’s not necessarily the best or right solution because it could really lead to a lot of problems. Even my host parents could provide the money but they don’t.

I know in my head that handing over some money isn’t the best thing to do, but in my heart it makes no sense to sit there and pray for God to provide when he could be wanting to use me to provide for her. What kills me is that a couple weeks ago when we went to Kampala she saw me spend the same amount of money on food and transportation for a day of pleasure as she needs for some, or possibly all of her school fees. Does she think of these things when I sit and cry and pray with her? Does she wonder why I sympathize but don’t offer any real help? I haven’t felt God leading me to give in this way, but it’s hard to know what to do or even how to act around her.

Please continue to pray for this situation...I know God has a plan, and maybe for now it is his will for Rittah to struggle through this, but it’s not easy to watch a close friend go through a difficult time.

I probably won’t be writing for quite awhile because Friday we are leaving for our rural homestays. We are taking a week off school to go stay with families in the mountainous district of Kapchourwa to see what life is like in the country. I know this will be a great experience, but I’m really not excited about it right now. It seems so stressful! They speak a completely different language but some English thankfully, there will be no electricity, its very conservative, and if I end up in the home of a reverend, it’s guaranteed that I’ll be giving the sermon on Sunday...that’s not intimidating or anything!

So don’t expect to hear from me for a while, but when I get back I will have tons to tell you I’m sure! Thanks in advance for your prayers!

Ups and Downs

2008-02-14T09:31:00.002+03:00

A lot has happened since I wrote last...where to begin?

Wednesday night of last week we had our overnight intercessory prayer service at the Cathedral, and it was quite an experience. Since we had classes the next day we only stayed from 9pm-1am and we actually would have stayed another hour or so, but we were already an hour late getting Betsy home. I don’t know why I haven’t ever written much about the other USP students yet (Betsy being one of them)...we have so many crazy experiences together and are such good friends...I can’t believe I haven’t talked about any of them as of yet! I have so much to write about from the weekend, so some other time I will share some stories of our adventures, but if you follow the links you can read some of their blogs and get to know them a little better.

Anyways, for the first 3 hours of the prayer service we actually just had a time of praise and preaching. The preaching was pretty intense, and the power went out a couple times making things even more interesting, especially since the purpose of this service was to pray against all the witchcraft practiced in and around our area. I was misinformed when I said in my last post that they would be having a similar service going on simultaneously. The reason this service was focused around this issue was because those who practice witchcraft here usually gather privately, but now they want to worship publicly and build a cathedral. We were also praying for our pastors and their families and churches because they are all under attack. Those who practice witchcraft have recently been sending some of their members out as agents of evil to attend churches in the area on Sunday mornings. They seek to bring discord and harm to our congregations, and especially our pastor’s and their families. To give you an idea of how prevalent this is in our town of Mukono, apparently last year we had the highest number of child sacrifices in Uganda – 52. As you can see, this is an ongoing thing that we could use prayer for all the time here. So we finally had the first time of prayer from about midnight to 12:45, and they continued to alternate between preaching and prayer throughout the morning hours. The presence of God was so heavy and so obviously present – it was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced, hearing hundreds of people praying aloud in their native languages for 45 minutes straight. It was so hard to leave – we all felt like we could have stayed all night had we not had class the next day.

The weekend was full of excitement, but Saturday morning was rough. I woke up to find that Grace would be leaving in a few minutes to go home with her brother and go back to school. It came as a shock to our whole family, as her brother just showed up that morning to take her home without warning. When I told Grace that this made me very sad she said, “Even me, I am not happy.” The whole situation was really hard on everyone, especially Grace. She is the most amazing 13 year old girl I know – what 13-year-olds do you know who would gladly clean, do dishes, look after a 2 year old, and cook for a family of 8 every day? I am going to miss her witty sense of humor and even her laugh. Our family jokes that though she is so young she already has her masters – in laughing! I am thankful to have had a month with her but we all miss her so much.

Some of us had been planning to go to Kampala for the day on Saturday and it was really good to get out of the house after such an unexpected goodbye. Becca, Betsy, Caroline, and I set out with our sister Rittah to the capital city for shopping, American food, and cello playing! We took a 45 min. ride in a Matatu (taxi van) for less than a dollar to get there. Since we had to be home before dark we were pressed for time and didn’t end up going shopping, but we did have a late lunch at the “New York Kitchen” where we got calzones, lasagna, and mac & cheese! You’d be surprised at the kind of foods you miss when you’re here! After lunch we took a taxi to the YMCA where, low and behold, they really did have a cello! I got to rent it for half an hour for about $1.25. It wasn’t the same of course, because the cello wasn’t the best quality, but it was actually in better shape than I expected. There was so much I didn’t get to play because of time, but it was well worth it – just enough to tide me over for another month or so!

The ride home was an adventure all its own as we had to take 3 different Matatus to get back! The first was just to get to a different side of Kampala where there would actually be taxis going to Mukono, and the second one got a flat tire halfway home. This happened just as it was getting dark and we had to find another taxi to get us the rest of the way home. Since it was getting dark and we weren’t back yet, Musumba was worried and prayed for us...praise God the flat didn’t cause us to get into an accident. Have I mentioned yet that Uganda’s roads are the 2nd most dangerous in the world? Feel free to add traveling safety to your list of ongoing prayer requests!

Sunday morning Betsy, Becca, and I went to a nearby high school for their Sunday morning service. We preached a very short sermon about trusting God, and just enjoyed worshiping with about 25 teens. I have never experienced such sincere worship with a group their age. Apparently something they’ve been learning lately is to really mean the words when they sing and I could tell they are really getting it. Being a part of this school ministry is something I feel I need to be involved in on a regular basis, which I never expected before I came here. I wouldn’t be preaching every week of course, but I would love to get to know these students better, counsel and mentor them, and continue to learn from them.

School work is getting tougher, and USP is keeping us all busy with trips and meetings, so unfortunately I won’t be able to post as often...this weekend we are going to see a traditional Bagesu circumcision (also something I didn’t expect before I came!), so I’ll tell you all about it next week!

Prayer requests:
-I am getting very accustomed to everything here and I don’t want to take it for granted...I want to enjoy the time I have here and not let it pass me by.
-Rittah had started school again last week but now she cannot attend because she can’t pay her school fees. Please pray that God will provide quickly...this is her last year of school before going on to University. Note: I am asking only for prayer, not money! Sending money from the U.S. would cause more problems rather than solve them, so thank you for your prayers.

Perspectives

2008-02-06T15:39:00.002+03:00

I love my African family. I knew they were very accepting and understanding of our culture and very accommodating for Caroline and I, but I had no idea how great the really were! As a disclaimer I am going to say that I do not mean for this post to be judgmental because I have also been guilty of these things in one form or another.

Monday night, when we had the missions team from Michigan over for dinner at our house, I observed the clashing of two cultures. It was a rare opportunity to see my culture through different eyes, the eyes of my Ugandan family. I am by no means saying that I have any real grasp of this culture after being here for just 3 and a half weeks, but there was a significant difference between my understanding and the MI team's understanding of how to behave and interact in this context.

The team of 8 Americans and two Ugandans spilled out of the van and we welcomed them into our small sitting room. Our family sat in the other room, waiting for us to be done with the food while Msumba, Caroline, and I sat and ate with the missions team and their escorts. Msumba welcomed them all and announced the variety of food that we had prepared for them - Matoke, chicken, fish, Irish potatoes, various sauces, pineapple, and sloppy joes! Upon hearing the words "sloppy joes" the whole team cheered and clapped, and while I was honored, I had to suppress a cringe as they had just unknowingly communicated that they would not have survived eating just the African food. You may think I'm overreacting, but you did not see their expressions as they listened to the list of prepared dishes that were not exclusively American. As the team was getting their food, one member specifically thanked Caroline and I for the sloppy joes as she passed up the matoke, which several team members had not even tried yet. The staple food! She had not even tried it yet and would not take any, even after we assured her that it was better here than anywhere else in town.

Throughout the evening the team mostly talked amongst themselves and to Caroline and I, only engaging in conversation with our Ugandan hosts once or twice. It was strange to hear harsh sarcasm and joking, as this is just not a part of Ugandan culture. Here, people are generally very encouraging and build each other up in conversation. I realized as I observed their interactions just how much I've changed in the short time I've been here in regards to my usual sarcastic humor. Most of the conversations I had with the people sitting next to me during dinner were very negative, and I do not think they would have talked so openly without the other noisy conversations that made it impossible for our hosts to hear them. One man asked me questions about what we normally have for dinner, confident that our family was "putting out the spread" for them but normally starves throughout the week. I proudly defended my family and informed him that we always have more than enough for dinner every night - a lot more than a normal American family would eat for dinner!

He also made comments about varying exchange rates and how Ugandans will do anything to get another dollar out of us Americans. For a brief moment I felt myself wanting to agree with him, until I remembered where I was and what I've experienced here so far. Instead of affirming what he was saying I sat in silence, wondering how anyone could seriously make generalized, negative statements about Ugandans taking advantage of Americans while sitting as an honored guest in the home of an incredible Ugandan family who had spent the past 4 hours preparing the meal he was now ungratefully eating!

The one time they did make an effort to engage in conversation with our parents, they asked a very imposing question for this culture. To Mama Irene, " So, why'd you decide to marry this guy?" The team chuckled at their typical American humor as our mom just politely smiled. The tension in the room was almost visible to me, as after an awkward silence she finally said, "I saw how he served the Lord." Then, with the tone of an adult speaking to a small child, the man said, "That was important to you." There was nothing really wrong with this comment, but the manner in which he spoke to our mom, as if she was somehow intellectually inferior, was incredibly offensive. The unfortunate, but enlightening part of it all - he had no idea he was doing it.

After they had all left, my stomach literally ached as I thought about all the culturally offensive things I have unknowingly done and am still doing! It kills me to know that there are things that I do here without realizing the messages they are communicating. This whole experience came with incredible timing, because it really challenged me to check myself in what I'm doing here. I criticize them for not engaging in the culture and interacting mostly with other Americans, yet I have done nothing but the same. I spend the majority of my time on campus with the other American students, including lunch, but I am now changing that. Also, since I have recently been feeling more comfortable with my family here, I was going to loosen up a little more and be myself. I now realize that "being myself" would only make matters worse because the parts of my "self" that I have been withholding are very American and would not necessarily be received well in this culture. I will instead continue to observe how my family members here interact with each other and incorporate those things into my life.

Our parents never said anything negative about the evening after our guests left, only positive things. I respect Henry and Irene even more now, and Caroline and I expressed great thanks to them later for being so understanding towards us, especially in the first few days when we didn't have a clue how to live and interact in this culture. Our family is incredible!

Prayer requests:
-from 7pm-7am our time, (11-11 EST) our church will be having an ongoing intercessory prayer service as there will be a similar event going on simultaneously among those who practice witchcraft here locally. These people normally meet in more private settings but are now wanting to do things publically so our church here is responding with this all night prayer service. Several of us students will be joining in this prayer service for a few hours and I'm sure this will be an experience unlike any I've had before - I will keep you posted on this!

Mzungu Night!

2008-02-04T10:57:00.000+03:00

I can't believe I'm starting my fourth week here already...time is flying now! I think we are all finally starting to get really comfortable with each other as a family, even though the members of the family keep changing. School is starting up again for all the kids here so some people are no longer staying at our house. Imma (whose name I was mispelling as 'Ema') left on Friday, but we thought she was leaving Sunday so we did not get to say goodbye. Also for the past week Reverend's younger brother and sister, Becca (16 or 17) and Elisha (15 or 16) have been staying with us but Becca left today to go back to school. So this is the current family roster - Msumba (the Luganda word for 'Reverend'), Mama Irene, Elisha, Rittah, Grace, Enoch, Caroline, and me - and this actually seems to be quite small for a typical African household!

I've had some interesting conversations with my family lately. First of all, I am surprised at how much our parents here compliment us on how "smart" Caroline and I always dress. They have actually thanked us several times for dressing so well because usually, Mzungu students bring their casual concept of dress over here with them and don't really make an effort to fit into the culture in this way. I guess it really does have a big impact on how people receive you!

We have also been talking about some of the differences in weather between here and America - especially Michigan! Mama Irene was asking me about what we do when it snows, and apparently she always thought that life just stops during winter. She thought that no one went to work or school when it snowed and everyone just stayed inside all the time! She asked me how people travel when there's snow on the roads and I attempted t tell her about plows and salt trucks. Then she legitimately asked me how those trucks drive through the snow. She thought maybe we had to drop the salt from planes because it would just be impossible to drive through snow! The whole conversation was very eye-opening for both of us I think. For someone who has lived in Africa her whole life, the ideas she had about snow actually make sense when you think about it. It has been fun thus far to see parts of my world back home through different eyes.

This weekend Caroline and I went with our parents to a college graduation party for our new friend Dambale. She just met Caroline and me last week when she came over to the house to visit, and the next thing we knew, we were invited to her graduation party! It was quite different than any open house I've been to in the states. For one thing it officially started around noon or 1, but when we showed up at 2:30 there was still no one there! Gotta love African time. After visiting and meeting people for about an hour, the presentation/ceremony began. This involved everyone sitting in rows of chairs on the front lawn with Dambale and some of her family at a table in front of us. There were several pastors there, so in addition to some prayers and songs led by our host father, another pastor gave a short sermon. We sang several songs in Luganda at random times throughout the event and it was a blast! The whole thing was really a great experience, and apparently we are going to another one next Sunday!

Yesterday at church there was a missions team visiting from Muskegon, MI! One of them preached the sermon and the others introduced themselves and also gave a guitar to the worship band as a gift! We talked briefly with them afterwards, thinking we may or may not see them again, but later that afternoon Msumba came home and told us that all the "Michigan guys" were going to come over for dinner Monday night and said we should cook some American food for them! After thinking about the ingredients and cooking facilities we have here, Caroline and I decided that Sloppy Joes would be a feasible dinner to prepare.

I called my dad to get his recipe for the sauce, and it's sort of funny - the first time I call home is mainly for the purpose of asking how to cook sloppy joes! It was really good to hear my parents voices though, of course!

So no pressure or anything right? We just have to cook sloppy joes (which I've never done) over hot coals (which I've also never done, but thankfully, Caroline has) for about 20 people! Thankfully, our family is also cooking the normal African food we eat every night as well so if something goes wrong there will be food to eat! We normally eat dinner here between 9 and 10 pm but we are moving it up to 7 so that it's closer to Mzungu dinner time. People here usually don't worry about eating at specific times, they eat "when food is ready," or as Msumba says, "Here, we don't eat time, we eat food!"

I'm sure no matter what happens tonight we will all have a good time so I will try to stop worrying so much enjoy the experience! I will definitely let you know how everything turns out, complete with pictures too!

Thank you so much for your prayers and comments - they are such a blessing read!

Weekend Adventures

2008-01-29T14:00:00.000+03:00

Unexpected culture:
-When you ask a Ugandan a question and it seems like they are not responding, it’s not that they don’t understand or are just being rude. If you watch closely you notice that they often raise their eyebrows to say “yes” – the equivalent of our silent nod “yes.”

This weekend was jam packed with learning, new experiences, frustration, and relaxation. Part of the missions emphasis track (IMME) in this program is taking weekend trips, so the 12 of us who are in home stays all semester headed about an hour away to Jinja for a few days. We stayed at a guest house and were spoiled with incredible food all weekend (french toast!).

The actual purpose of these weekend trips is to talk to missionaries in various parts of Uganda to learn about their ministries and ministry in Uganda in general. We met a couple who has been doing prison ministry here for about 10 years and it was incredible to hear their stories and insights. I realized that while I have learned a lot about the culture already, I really know nothing! There is so much to learn and 4 months is actually extremely short!

We also talked to 3 guys who started a cafe in Jinja called "The Source" and it's actually a cafe, library, gift shop and internet cafe all in one. Jinja is home to the source of the Nile River, hence the name of the shop. We learned so much about Ugandan culture and the challenges of ministering in Uganda. Already I am learning new things that pertain to issues we've talked about in classes at IWU, and I never would have thought about them had I not come here. For example, in past classes there has always been an emphasis on discipleship and developing churches overseas to the point where you can turn over leadership to nationals. The goal is to establish ministries to the extent that their success does not depend on the missionaries anymore. One thing that the missionaries here said though was that Ugandans are hesitant to fully accept this idea. While they accept responsibility and take leadership in ministry, they do not see a reason for the missionaries to leave. To them it makes absolutely no sense why someone would come along side them, build this ministry and these relationships, and basically say, "I think you can handle this now, so see you later!" In this community/relationship focused society, this process sends the message that the relationships mean nothing. This is something I never thought about in my classes. I always assumed that nationals would want their ministries to function independently from the missionaries as soon as possible, but the Ugandan perspective puts a whole new spin on things. To make a long story short, my experiences here are already stretching my thinking beyond what I've learned in the classroom.

Something a little lighter that I'm noticing as a cultural difference is food. I expected the food to be different and it is, but I never realized that I had expectations about the purpose of eating food. Obviously, we all eat food for nourishment and to live, but as an American, I eat more for pleasure than I realized. Here, people eat food to fill the stomach. This becomes apparent as matoke is served at almost every meal - a heap of mashed bananas, steamed for several hours, resulting in a substance that has absolutely no nutritional value whatsoever. It fills you up really fast though!

Living on a diet of mushy steamed bananas, potatoes, rice covered in purple ground nut sauce, and the occasional chunk of fatty meat for a couple weeks has brought me to the realization that I rely on food for pleasure more than I should. Saturday night we went to a really nice restaurant in Jinja and had pizza and cheeseburgers - I thought I had died and gone to heaven! I actually woke up in the middle of the night last week craving cheese, just a plain slice of cheese! They don't use it for anything here! Anyways, I have been realizing that I place way to much value in food since I get ridiculously excited about something like cheese and feel deprived without it after 2 weeks.

In addition to great food, the weekend included a short tour of Jinja. We went to the bank of the source of the Nile, a slum, and a hospital. Needless to say, it was a lot to process in one day. The missionaries have nicknamed one part of the slum "ting-ting" because it is essentially a compound where people bang metal into usable items like trunks, doors, pots, etc., for a living. Apparently this crowded, chaotic place is the best opportunity for employment for most of the population of Jinja. It was quite an eye-opening experience to say the least. Going to the hospital confirmed something for me - I am not cut out for working with sick people! We went to a tuberculosis ward and were told to visit/pray with patients for about 5-10 minutes. I basically froze - how was I supposed to even approach these people? Part of me thinks that if I was going to talk with the patients for more than 5 minutes I would have been more open to the idea because 5 minutes seems so pointless, but what do I know?

After a crazy afternoon we actally took a boat ride on Lake Victoria and the Nile - a great way to unwind! It was so beautiful and exciting because not only were we on the famous River Nile, we were at the source of the Nile! We all took pictures at the place where they begin counting mile 1 of about 4,000!

There's so much more I could say, but I haven't even talked about Sunday yet so I'll move on! Sunday we went to a small baptist church in Jinja that has a huge vision for church planting - 3,000 churches all over Uganda by 2010! One of our fellow students, Kyle, preached the sermon through a translator and did a fantastic job. I don't think I could do it! The worship was quite an experience because all the songs were in Luganda and we just clapped and "danced" along! At one point while they were singing they invited everyone to close their eyes and lift their hands, and this was one of my favorite moments of this whole semester so far. To hear a small congregation praising God in their beautiful native language and silently join in that worship was incredible - words do not do justice in describing the experience!

After an intense weekend, it was actually really nice to come home to our family. I missed them so much after those few days! I don't even want to think about how I'm going to feel after a few months, knowing that I will have to leave them for a lot longer! However, I do miss home quite often already - family, friends, IWU, cheese (haha)...
At the same time I love being here and getting to know these people. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Prayer requests:
-Doing homework! Who has time for that stuff when you're trying to experience Africa?!
-My stomach has not been happy with me the past couple nights. Thankfully there has been no throwing up yet but it's been close and it doesn't seem to be getting better.
-Emotional and mental strength for the times that I realize I'm not actually with my real family. I love these people and they are so good to me, but I miss my brother and parents back home a lot! It's hard being out of your own cultural context and having almost a constant feeling of uncertainty. I hope that with time, that feeling will fade.

A Day In the Life

2008-01-25T14:47:00.000+03:00

My alarm goes off around 6:30. I sit up in bed under my mosquito net and talk to God, knowing that as soon as I leave my room I will have virtually no time alone that is not looked upon with suspicion. After preparing to face the day, I fight my way out from under the mosquito net, grab some TP and head out the back door, as indoor plumbing is a thing of the past for me. I say "Good morning" to Mama Irene and Rita, who have already been up cooking breakfast and washing clothes. I make my way up the stairs of the backyard, to the latrine, and am greeted by swarms of flies, and 4 lizards which we have named Lima, Eva, David, and Solomon. I'll spare you the details of the smell.

I return to my room, gather some things and head through my parent’s bedroom to the bathroom. After engaging in the task of bathing from a small basin of water, I finish getting ready for school and have breakfast - tea with "biscuits" (cookies). I then brush my teeth with bottled water, spitting into the dirt by the brush of the backyard. Every day I realize how much I took running water for granted.

Caroline and I sometimes walk to school, though lately our dad has been driving us since Caroline hurt her knee. On a typical walk, we tread down the rocky, dirt path to a more traveled dirt road, looking downward so as to not trip on the rocks and unpredictable crevices while wearing dress shoes. A few cars and boda-bodas (motorcycle taxis) whiz by, missing us by an inch or two. We pass the spot where some taxis wait for business and the drivers shout to us, "Mzungu! (the non-derogatory term used to identify a white person) Mzungu! You are so beautiful, let me accompany you!" We smile and shake our heads no, continuing our walk up the hill in the hot sun. We pass Ugandans heading to work, and women carrying 10 gallon jerricans of water atop their heads. Birds are singing, laughing, and some sound like monkeys, as we pass tall green grass and banana trees. We finally enter the back gate to the university and make our way across campus to the IMME lounge - the equivalent of a commuter lounge - where we can access the internet, study, and share our experiences with the other off campus USP students.

Classes vary from day to day. Some are 2 hours, some 1. Mine are all in the same classroom, but for my missions class we meet in a hut and have tea, discussing things more than enduring lectures. In African literature we are taught by Dr. Mukakanya, whom I could listen to all day. He’s sort of like Wilbur Williams, only Ugandan. For African Traditional Religions, Islam, and Christianity, we strain to understand Dr. Opol through his thick Ugandan accent, but we are all amused when he giggles at certain points of the lecture.

After a long day at school (usually 8:30 – 6:00) we return home and greet our family as they take a break from cooking and serve us tea. I think about how we would normally be eating dinner back home at this time, and I am thankful for the tea and biscuits that tide us over till dinner. Throughout the evening we talk to Mama Irene as she irons, learning Luganda and talking about everything from food to serious relationships. We wander outside and chat with the girls as they cook over the fire. The matoke has been steaming away for 3 hours in the pot, enveloped in banana leaves. Ema is washing dishes, Grace is stirring porridge for Enoch, and Rita is cutting fresh peppers and onions to spice up the Irish potatoes. If Enoch is not eating dirt or rocks, he is “singing” and banging something around – anything to make noise! Reverend talks in a high voice to Enoch, who replies in the same tone with baby talk, resulting in a sweet song of father and son “conversation.” As we wait for dinner to finish cooking and helping where we can, we sit on the back porch under the stars, watching the girls dance to the radio in the moonlight. The power goes out about every other night. When this happens, we light oil lanterns and life continues as usual since we do not rely on electricity for much here anyway.

It is somewhere between 9 and 10 PM, and we finally all gather in the sitting room for dinner. After we pray, we wait as some get food from the thermal pots on the coffee table in the center of the room. Mama Irene invites us to get food. I take a bowl and fork from the stack on the table and scoop matoke, potatoes, and sometimes fresh fish into my bowl, topping it all off with some kind of vegetable “soup” (sauce). We may talk of the things of the day, or eat in silence, content with each others company. Mama Irene asks, “Is it sweet?” meaning, “Is it delicious?” “Yes, very sweet,” we reply, thanking those who cooked the meal. Reverend wishes everyone a good night and we help the girls clear the table.

After talking a little while longer with the girls, sharing stories and pictures, we wish everyone a goodnight and return to our room. Caroline goes straight to bed, so I write in my journal by flashlight, processing the day. I go to bed around 11:00, thinking of how I would never get this much sleep at IWU, and thanking God for this incredible Ugandan family of which I get to be a part.

Fitting In

2008-01-21T10:39:00.000+03:00

Unexpected Culture: -In Uganda they do not see the "man in the moon" they see a woman sitting and holding a baby.
-Often times people will say, "Oh, you have gained weight" or "You are looking fat" which is actually a compliment! What they consider to be fat, we would consider average or healthy, so I am almost fat and that is a good thing to them!

There were so many new experiences this weekend, it's going to be hard to choose what to write about.

First of all, we met our mother on Wednesday, Mama Irene. She is such a sweet person, and it's too bad she is only home Wednesday through Sunday. The things that are going on in Kenya have hiked fuel prices to about $5 a gallon here, so it is much to expensive for Mama Irene to travel back and forth to work 3 days in a row.

Our family attends St. Philip & Andrew's Cathedral of Mukono, an Anglican church. Our father preached the sermon and directed most of the service yesterday, but I think he was filling in for someone else because he said many of the bishops were gone that day. I loved the service because of the liturgy, reciting the Apostle's Creed, and the music, which was mostly famililiar. We sang some choruses but also some hymns like Blessed Assurrance, Standing on the Promises, and What a Friend we have in Jesus. The hymns were familiar but the music was so upbeat and lively - it was great! It reminded me of Lakeview Wesleyan in Marion, IN because everyone was swaying and dancing! One of the choruses was in Luganda and it was so great to praise God in another language.

"Tusiime Mukama, Aleluya
Tusiime Mukama, Amiina, Amiina"

It means, "Come let us praise the Lord / Alleluia / Amen"

After church we had a quick lunch and then began preparing dinner. Grace taught me how to peel Matoke (green bananas used to make the sweet yellow mush we eat at almost every meal), and Mama Irene taught me how to peel Irish potatoes and cut them into "chips" or fries basically. They do everything with huge knives so it's not quite as easy as using a peeler. I love helping them prepare food because there is so much opportunity for conversation and language learning. I am learning a decent amount of Luganda already, and it is beautiful but difficult because it is a tonal language. If you change the inflection or tone of voice the word means something different.

For several hours on Sunday our parents were away, so we got to see quite a different side of Grace and Ema. Grace draped some toilet paper around here neck and said "I am the pastor!" Then, she imitated a shampoo commercial and also did a short skit with Ema - they are so funny! I will try to post some pictures, but the internet here is very slow so no promises. Our baby brother Enoch is also warming up to me, and he makes us all so happy as he is always dancing and "talking".

I am beginning to find my place as a member of the family, but there are still a lot of times when I am uncertain of what to do. It is so different to live in a community oriented culture rather than the individualistic culture of America. Everyone is usually doing something together, or at least in the same room. If you go to your room by yourself to do something or take a nap they assume you are sick or something is wrong. This will be a positive adjustment for me, I think, but at times it can be overwhelming.

Thanks so much for all of your prayers - I am sleeping peacefully now (7-9 hrs a night!), and I am finding adequate time to do my homework during the day. I actually don't have any class on tuesdays so it makes a nice substitute for a Saturday. Since we aren't really supposed to do homework at our home stays, it takes the stress away at home because I can spend time with my family and not feel like I should be doing homework. I never expected it to work out this well!

Prayer requests:
-Continuing to find my place in the family
-Continued health
-Learning how to express love and appreciation in a culture that is so different

It's official!

2008-01-17T09:31:00.000+03:00

There are so many cultural differences and unexpected things that I experience here everyday, so from now on I may begin each post with an "unexpected culture" section. So for today-

Unexpected Culture:
-Our host family loves country music and we listen to it on a radio station called "The Bob" every morning!
-When someone says "You are smart" they are complimenting you on being well-dressed.

As you can see from my previous post, my thoughts are very scattered because of culture shock. I hope that future posts will make more sense as I grow accustomed to the culture and learn to process things here, so thanks for bearing with me in the meantime!

Last night Caroline (the other American student rooming with me) and I were given names from the clan of our host father, the Reverend. So it's official - at my home here in Uganda, my name is Naiga, of the Kob clan, of the Muganda tribe. Reverend said that the name itself does not mean anything in particular but it sets me apart as a member of his clan.

So now, Nalubega (Caroline) and I are no longer visitors but are a part of the family! This means we get to learn how to do various chores like cooking over the fire, washing clothes by hand, and cleaning latrines I'm sure! It is so much less awkward now that we are not guests anymore because we can all be more open with each other. Last night was the first night that the 3 girls in the house, Rita, Grace, and Ema came into our room. We shared stories and photos, and it was just nice to finally connect with them on a more personal level.

I have finally had some classes now, and I can already see that this is going to be an incredibly tough semester, but definitely worth it. Unfortunately, I don't have any classes with Ugandan students, just USP students, but I do have some professors who Ugandan. It is a challenge to adjust to the teaching style and even the accent, but again it is an incredible opportunity to learn from the national perspective.

At this point, I really don't know how I am going to handle the challenge of time management this semester so I could really use prayer for this. I have just as much of a course load as a normal IWU semester, but now I am a commuter, have a family to spend time with in the evening and on weekends, and have very limited resources for books. We don't buy all our textbooks here, we just check them out of the library, but there are only a few copies of each book. I will have to be very disciplined during the day to do all my homework in the hours that I don't have classes, because when I go home I spend time with the family and do my share of the work.

I feel so blessed to be having this experience, but with classes it is simply overwhelming. As I get busier with assignments I definitely won't be posting every other day, but I will do my best to keep you posted.

Prayer requests:
-I am having trouble getting to sleep at night. I get so tired after dinner (which is usually around 10pm) but when I actually lie down I can't fall asleep for hours
-Learning how to show love and gratitude to my family here

Soon to be Ugandan

2008-01-15T11:59:00.000+03:00

Hello everyone! We all arrived safely Sunday night and spent the night together at a convent. We had tea at about 10pm and basically went straight to bed as we were exhausted!

This first night - wow - so crazy! At least I was used to sleeping under mosquito netting already from last semester, but I wasn't prepared for the noises! Things crawling in the bushes, some kind of bird that sounds like it's laughing (I think it's a bird!), crickets, cows, roosters at 2am, bats, and who knows what else. There's a constant burnt smell everywhere because they burn most of their trash here. The trash bins say "burnable" and "non-burnable".

Anyways, Monday we drove to the capital city of Kampala and exchanged our American dollars for Ugandan Shillings. This is going to be confusing because you get about 1600 shillings for every US dollar. For example, it caught us all off guard when we were told that if we lose our meal card it would cost us about 5000. Of course we were all thinking dollars and started cracking up when we realized they meant 5000 shillings!

Driving through the cities and towns reminded me so much of the jungle towns in Peru, but everything is in English so that is nice. Traffic is crazy of course and we've been riding around on a big UCU bus. Outside of Kampala most of the roads are dirt and VERY bumpy! After changing our money we went to the university and it is so different! It's beautiful and the dining hall and main lecture hall are outside - there's a roof but no walls. There are chickens all over campus - it's so funny to sit in a classroom and hear chickens while the professor is talking! It's very hilly and there are roads and pathways but they are uneven, rocky, and muddy so just walking around campus is a challenge. Quite a far cry from the abundant sidewalks of IWU!

We ate in the dining hall for lunch and had Matoke which is cooked bananas (a staple of Uganda), rice and some kind of square thing that tasted like flour. Oh and don't forget the purple peanut sauce that they spoon over everything to make it not so dry! It was all good but they give you so much! Also, there are no choices at meals - one line, what you see is what you get.

After orientation and registration (we didn't actually have class on Monday) we went to stay with our host families. I dont' think I could ever adequately describe all the feelings and thoughts that came with this experience! Can you imagine arriving in an African country and the next day, loading up in a van with all your luggage and driving through small neighborhoods to meet your new family? I was so excited and nervous, and when we dropped off the first person some of us got emotional and started crying (happy tears of course), because the family looked so happy and welcoming! I have an American roommate, Caroline, so that makes it a little easier to adjust. We were dropped off last and we only have about a 15 minute walk to school.

Ugandans are known for their hospitality and I definitely see why! We are staying with a reverend, henry and his wife Irene. We actually haven't met Irene yet because she works as a nurse out of town so she's only home every few days. They have a 1 and a half year old son! He is so adorable and loves to peek into our room and smile and watch us! I will hopefully be able to post pictures soon. There are also 3 other girls that live in the house - Rita is a family friend, Grace is the young sister of Irene, and Ema is also a friend. Africans have a lot of extended family that live with them, and I think ours is small compared to everyone else's host family.

We do have electricity at the house so that is a blessing, but no running water of course! The bathroom is exactly what it's name says - a room to bathe yourself in. If you have to go, you say "where's the toilet?" but of course it's not a toilet. It's a shed with a whole in the ground, so now I have experienced the squatty potty! And you can't go after midnight because it's too dangerous so you have to plan ahead! Bathing consists of standing in a shallow basin of water and taking a sponge bath. Good times. Let's just say I won't be washing my hair as often as usual this semester!

Wow this is forever long but so many things have happened! I wish I could describe to you the excitement of getting up and brushing my teeth outside in the morning amongst the chickens, banana trees, and red mud. This is going to be a great 4 months!

Prayer requests:

Continued health
Adjusting to new routines and food
Bonding with my family

It's Time

2008-01-11T08:49:00.000+03:00

It definitely snuck up on me. Less than 12 hours before my parents and I begin the treck to D.C. and nothing is packed - just laying out all over my room. There's still so much to do and so little time, but that's okay because at this point I just want to BE THERE. The sooner the better!

It's been so great and encouraging to catch up with friends this week. I am blown away by all your incredible prayer support and even the comments on the first post. I wish I could express to you how much your prayers mean the me - I don't take that support lightly.

So here's the plan:

My parents and I will drive to Virginia Friday, and then to D.C. Saturday. They will drop me off at Dulles airport around 3pm when I will get to meet the other USP students. At 6pm we fly from D.C. to Amsterdam, then Amsterdam to Entebbe in Uganda. We're scheduled to arrive in Uganda at 9pm on Sunday (1pm eastern time). We will probably all be exhausted and jet lagged, and then we get to start classes the next morning! That scares me.

There are already a few cultural differences that I find interesting and I'm not even there yet! I know that I am attending classes on monday, but I do not know for sure which ones! I know which ones I would like to take, but I don't know when or how it becomes official. At IWU we know a month or two in advance what classes we're taking, when and where they meet, etc. At UCU we may have to check on a daily or weekly basis to find out what time our classes meet. That will take some getting used to!

Also, when Ugandan students go to class they dress very professionally, so I'll be wearing skirts everyday. As I've been buying clothes for this semester I often look more like a teacher than a student, at least by IWU standards! I will definitely miss the jeans and hoody default that we students all know and love! Also, we've been told we should bring a full-length, modest nightgown to sleep in for homestays since the family will likely be conservative. I bought one today and I am officially declaring it my first humbling experience of the trip. :)
I know I haven't technically even left yet, but I say it counts.

Anyways, how can you pray for me? Well, besides the obvious "safe travel" request, please pray that I will adapt well as I enter a different culture, attempt to sleep, and then go off to classes that will be totally different than anything I've experienced.

Please pray that I will be able to step outside of my comfort zone and take the initiative to meet and interact with Ugandan students, as I'm sure my instincts will tell me to cling to the other American students instead.

Pray for my separation anxiety from my cello!!!!!!!!! Yeah, I know it's wierd, I don't care. In the past several years I haven't gone more than about 3 weeks without playing it, so 4 MONTHS is kind of a big deal. However, I've heard that there may be one at the YMCA in the capital city, Kampala (15 miles from campus) that I could play every once in awhile. That would be a blessing!

Please pray that God would grant me the grace to trust him in everything. He has been faithful in amazing ways already.

Two Weeks!

2007-12-29T03:15:00.000+03:00

Just about two weeks from now I'll finally be on my way to Uganda! After a year of serious thought and preparation for this, it still hasn't hit me that this is really happening in just a few short weeks. Just to make everything clear right from the beginning, I will do my best to explain what this trip is all about.

I am going to Uganda this spring semester (January 12 - May 2) to study abroad. I am going through an organization called Best Semester and this specific program is called Uganda Studies Program (USP). I will be attending Uganda Christian University (UCU) and taking a full course load so things will be just as busy and crazy as a normal semester. Most USP students (there are about 35 of us from all over the U.S.) will stay in the dorms on campus at the college, but some of us get to stay with a Ugandan host family for all 4 months! This is part of a new missions & ministry emphasis track they added to the program for students who are specifically interested in missions or becoming career missionaries.

So no, this is not a missions trip. This is an experience that will help prepare me for becoming a missionary later on down the road. I am doing this to learn things that are vital to my future career but cannot be learned in a classroom. In missions and ministry classes at IWU we learn about the importance of respect, adapting to cultural customs, how to communicate cross-culturally, etc. My hope is that spending 4 months living in a different culture will allow me to learn first-hand how to do these things and will bring insight for what I'm going to do for the rest of my life.

But enough about all that - now I'll tell you what you really want to know.

-I don't know who my host family will be yet, but soon after I meet them I will tell you all about them and maybe post some pictures if they don't mind. I'm secretly hoping for some younger siblings because I've never had them and I think it would be a blast for 4 months!

-The house I live in could be anywhere from a 5 to 30 minute walk from campus and it may or may not have electricity and running water.

-The main languages spoken in Uganda are English, and Luganda, their native language.

-It is summer there and Uganda is on the equator so the average temps will be in the 80s and 90s! I'm very excited about this but buying an appropriate wardrobe in the middle of Michigan winter is proving to be very difficult!

-I will have access to the internet while there but I don't know how often I'll be able to post updates. Feel free to email me (I would love to hear from you!) but please don't be offended if I don't reply every time.

As you can see a lot of things are still unknown right now, so I will just have to wait till I get there to give you all the info.

At this point I am very excited, nervous, and terrified all at the same time. Part of me knows that I will probably fall in love with Africa and build incredible relationships while there, but part of me already feels a little homesick and frightened by all the "what-ifs." Still, the more I pray about this, the more God assures me that he will be with me in everything. He has also assured me that through this experience he will reveal more of his calling on my life. It has been an incredible journey thus far and I think this will be one of the milestones along the way.

I would definitely appreciate your prayers even during this time of preparation, and I am so thankful to my family and friends who have already been praying about this for a while.
Mom, Dad, and Scott have been so supportive, but it's hard for them too so please lift them up in your prayers as well.

I may post a few more times as the departure date gets closer, but if not, I will write to you all from Uganda!