Weekend Adventures

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.