This past week/2 weeks I spent in a village 7 hours north of Mukono. This was my rural home stay. I have to admit that I was pretty disappointed in my experience. First of all, as materialistic and shallow this sounds, I was disappointed that I didn’t get to stay in a grass hut. The home I stayed with had 3 huts but they were cement and one was nicely furnished. They also had two cement houses. One of them is where my roommate Lauren and I stayed. We ended up having the whole house to ourselves. My host mother and father stayed in the other house. Much of my time was spent sitting around. It was the dry season for them, so harvesting and planting were not being done. It was hotter than Hades there, probably about 95 degrees during the day and between 89-90 degrees at night. The sun was super hot and there was no place to cool down. They consider (HOT) tea time their time to cool down because it makes them sweat more…go figure!:) haha it was really a good time and I enjoyed my stay there I just was let down in the fact that I wasn’t allowed to engage in the culture as much as I had hoped for.
However, on a more positive side of things, I went to church with them on Sunday. That was quite and experience. We met in a school facility which looked more like a park pavilion. It lasted about 3 ½ hours and it was all in Ateso (the local language). My host father did a great job of translating just about everything that was said. He also gave Lauren and I an Ateso song book so we could sing along, although we weren’t very good at it. The lettering structure to their language is so crazy! This is the first few lines of ‘Jesus Loves Me’:
Yesu kamina eon,
Kotema kolo kwanin,
Ikedwe luciciki
Einakin areren
Yup, that’s what I saidJ Men sat on different sides than women and children. This is done more out of tradition than custom. Women/children gave offering in a separate basket than men. When the offering was taken, someone gave an egg because they didn’t have money to give, so in the middle of the service the egg was auctioned off. I thought that was pretty amusing.
All meals were eaten with our hands. Papa said from the very beginning “You people use forks and knives in America, but we believe that God gave us hands for a reason” So there we ate with our hands, rice and soup and chicken!
Most of the rest of my time was spent sitting and resting. IN the morning I would wake up and ask to help but everything seemed to be finished. “Come and eat your breakfast with tea” Toto (my host mother) would say. After breakfast, again I would ask if there was any thing I could help her with, “Oh go and rest” she would say. So Lauren and I would sit in the living room and talk for 2-3 hours until lunch was ready. “Come for your lunch” Toto would say. “Go and rest.” By this time that’s really all you want to do because it was so blazing hot, I sweat through my shirt just sitting at the table! So I would lay in my bed and fall asleep from heat exhaustion until about 5 pm. This was our most active time. Papa took us into his fields to show us where the crops usually are grown. He grows sweet potatoes, millet, cassava, sorghum, rice, corn, ground nuts (peanuts) and a few other things I’m probably forgetting. Another evening he drove us up to this hill that was by our house and we got to climb it and watch the sunset, which was beautiful.
Even though, I didn’t get the experience I thought I as going to get, my time spent there was great and I learned a lot just in a different way.
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On Thursday of that week after I had met up with the rest of my group, we joined with the Peace Promoters group who were part of the Mennonite Central Committee. I’m not sure the town that we went to, but it was a 2 hour drive north of Soroti Town. We passed many villages on the way, but in these particular villages, all the huts were very close together and the land looked desolate. When I asked one of the Peace Promoters, Simon, he told me that these were once used for refugee camps for people escaping from the Lord’s Resistance Army. When the people would flee to these villages the governments army would come and surround the area to protect them. There were still some people lingering around because they are afraid to go back to their own homes – the last time the LRA raided this area was in 2003. However, the LRA and been active for over 20 years and is still very active in the north.
I got to sit next to Simon on the way there and the way back and I learned so much from him. It was very surreal to be in this place and talks to people that have been affected first hand by these raids. I had read about it so much and jumped on the whole ‘Invisible Children’ campaign, but to actually be there and talk to people…I am still sorting my thoughts. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that these are real people and not just something/someone you read about. Please pray for them.
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The next day was Friday and my group traveled to a place called Sipi Falls. It was up in the mountains. It was beautiful and green and our campsite was straight across from the biggest of the 3 waterfalls. It was the most amazing relaxing time. We got to hike around the hills and the valleys of this place. Our campsite was in Kapchorwa town, but I don’t know what the hills/mountains were called. Our campsite was on the side of the top of this one hill. You could climb about 2-3 minutes along a small footpath to reach the top of the hill which was a flat area. The first night a few of us went up and watched the stars. The sky has never seemed so enormous, it was beautiful! Earlier that evening we watched the sunset and about 12 kids came up and we couldn’t understand most of what they were saying, but we ended up playing all kinds of games with them. Some they were showing us and others we showed them, like hand clap games and London Bridge and a few others. It was so much fun. The second night I was there a few of us girls, Erin, Holly, and myself, brought our sleeping bags to the top and slept under the stars! It was so beautiful! I told them I wished I could sleep with my eyes open to watch the stars all night longJ Then in the morning we woke up to see the sun rise. It was gorgeous! The whole weekend was so relaxing and enjoyable.
I know this has gotten a little long, but there is so much more that I want to share with you, like conversations I had with people, learning their outlook on life and their world views and perspective of things. Its so amazing to learn the difference between people.
Now, I am back in school, back to the routine of normal school work, and I can’t get into it!!!! I hope all of you have had a good week/weeks and like always I would love to hear from you!
P.S. Did I mention how grateful I will be to use a washing machine! It just took me over an hour and 45 minutes to wash 12 pieces of clothing, 5 of which were underwear and socks!!!! God Bless the washing the machine!!!!
However, on a more positive side of things, I went to church with them on Sunday. That was quite and experience. We met in a school facility which looked more like a park pavilion. It lasted about 3 ½ hours and it was all in Ateso (the local language). My host father did a great job of translating just about everything that was said. He also gave Lauren and I an Ateso song book so we could sing along, although we weren’t very good at it. The lettering structure to their language is so crazy! This is the first few lines of ‘Jesus Loves Me’:
Yesu kamina eon,
Kotema kolo kwanin,
Ikedwe luciciki
Einakin areren
Yup, that’s what I saidJ Men sat on different sides than women and children. This is done more out of tradition than custom. Women/children gave offering in a separate basket than men. When the offering was taken, someone gave an egg because they didn’t have money to give, so in the middle of the service the egg was auctioned off. I thought that was pretty amusing.
All meals were eaten with our hands. Papa said from the very beginning “You people use forks and knives in America, but we believe that God gave us hands for a reason” So there we ate with our hands, rice and soup and chicken!
Most of the rest of my time was spent sitting and resting. IN the morning I would wake up and ask to help but everything seemed to be finished. “Come and eat your breakfast with tea” Toto (my host mother) would say. After breakfast, again I would ask if there was any thing I could help her with, “Oh go and rest” she would say. So Lauren and I would sit in the living room and talk for 2-3 hours until lunch was ready. “Come for your lunch” Toto would say. “Go and rest.” By this time that’s really all you want to do because it was so blazing hot, I sweat through my shirt just sitting at the table! So I would lay in my bed and fall asleep from heat exhaustion until about 5 pm. This was our most active time. Papa took us into his fields to show us where the crops usually are grown. He grows sweet potatoes, millet, cassava, sorghum, rice, corn, ground nuts (peanuts) and a few other things I’m probably forgetting. Another evening he drove us up to this hill that was by our house and we got to climb it and watch the sunset, which was beautiful.
Even though, I didn’t get the experience I thought I as going to get, my time spent there was great and I learned a lot just in a different way.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
On Thursday of that week after I had met up with the rest of my group, we joined with the Peace Promoters group who were part of the Mennonite Central Committee. I’m not sure the town that we went to, but it was a 2 hour drive north of Soroti Town. We passed many villages on the way, but in these particular villages, all the huts were very close together and the land looked desolate. When I asked one of the Peace Promoters, Simon, he told me that these were once used for refugee camps for people escaping from the Lord’s Resistance Army. When the people would flee to these villages the governments army would come and surround the area to protect them. There were still some people lingering around because they are afraid to go back to their own homes – the last time the LRA raided this area was in 2003. However, the LRA and been active for over 20 years and is still very active in the north.
I got to sit next to Simon on the way there and the way back and I learned so much from him. It was very surreal to be in this place and talks to people that have been affected first hand by these raids. I had read about it so much and jumped on the whole ‘Invisible Children’ campaign, but to actually be there and talk to people…I am still sorting my thoughts. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that these are real people and not just something/someone you read about. Please pray for them.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next day was Friday and my group traveled to a place called Sipi Falls. It was up in the mountains. It was beautiful and green and our campsite was straight across from the biggest of the 3 waterfalls. It was the most amazing relaxing time. We got to hike around the hills and the valleys of this place. Our campsite was in Kapchorwa town, but I don’t know what the hills/mountains were called. Our campsite was on the side of the top of this one hill. You could climb about 2-3 minutes along a small footpath to reach the top of the hill which was a flat area. The first night a few of us went up and watched the stars. The sky has never seemed so enormous, it was beautiful! Earlier that evening we watched the sunset and about 12 kids came up and we couldn’t understand most of what they were saying, but we ended up playing all kinds of games with them. Some they were showing us and others we showed them, like hand clap games and London Bridge and a few others. It was so much fun. The second night I was there a few of us girls, Erin, Holly, and myself, brought our sleeping bags to the top and slept under the stars! It was so beautiful! I told them I wished I could sleep with my eyes open to watch the stars all night longJ Then in the morning we woke up to see the sun rise. It was gorgeous! The whole weekend was so relaxing and enjoyable.
I know this has gotten a little long, but there is so much more that I want to share with you, like conversations I had with people, learning their outlook on life and their world views and perspective of things. Its so amazing to learn the difference between people.
Now, I am back in school, back to the routine of normal school work, and I can’t get into it!!!! I hope all of you have had a good week/weeks and like always I would love to hear from you!
P.S. Did I mention how grateful I will be to use a washing machine! It just took me over an hour and 45 minutes to wash 12 pieces of clothing, 5 of which were underwear and socks!!!! God Bless the washing the machine!!!!
liquidice076@yahoo.com
4 comments:
It's great to read your overview of your time away!! I can't wait to talk to you to hear it in person! There's good to make up for the not-so-good. And I hope to see pictures of camping and Sipi Falls!
Love you! Mom
washing machines....hmmm....you were excited when you were 4, too! I remember putting stickers on the dial so you'd know where to turn it to start it! I was always amazed that you didn't fall in as you carefully stuffed the clothes deep into it.... and now the excitement returns!! Haha!! Mom
you didn't mention chicken gizzards!! Did you get any? If not, I saw some in Publix last week (seriously!!) so I can cook 'em for you when you get home!! :-0 tee-hee
I know you probably talked to your mom already-but I got to hang out with her last week!!! We were in marco island for spring break. I got to see Sarah too. funny story, sarahs car broke down while she was on her way to see us...poor sarah:) I hope you are keeping a journal while youre there. when you started talking about the LRA I was like "wow, I know all about them b/c of my involvment with Invisible Children." its crazy stuff, but when you actually see the situation its obvious that it becomes so much more personal.
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