Dear family, friends, and secret blog stalkers (I know you're out there),
Okay so maybe I'm the worst blogger in the history of bloggers. It's been almost a month since I last wrote haha. So let's see. I need to tell you about my rural homestay. I told you we went to Kapchurwa, an area in Eastern Uganda in the mountains. First of all, the weather was absolutely marvelous. For the first time since I've been here, I slept without sweating. The nights were gloriously cool and it rained every day. The area if breathtaking. Several days, my sister and I along with Alex and Taryn (two USP students who lived less than a minute from me) and their sisters went hiking and saw gorgeous waterfalls and streams. Our favorite spot was on top of a hill where we could see for endless miles while we watched water cascade over a waterfall right below us. One day the clouds opened up and the sun hit the waterfall just right producing the most fantastic rainbow I have ever seen. I can't even begin to describe the beauty to you. It was really a great week. Having Alex and Taryn near me helped with the loneliness. I had a 17-year-old sister named Tabitha who adored me. Her English wasn't the best, but we made do. There was a lot of smiling and nodding involved. My Momma was a teacher at a primary school nearby and my Father owned a little shop in the village center. He spent most of his time going back and forth from our village to Mbale, a big city about an hour from where we were, and securing goods and transport to bring the items back to his shop. We also raised cows, pigs, goats, and chickens. The main crops are Matooke (related to the banana family but it tastes more like a moldy potato in my humble opinion) and coffee. I had coffee for almost every meal and it was beautiful. At the end of the week we even went on a tour to see how the coffee is grown, harvested, winnowed, pounded, roasted, and then boiled. It was really cool. We made our own! My family in Kapchurwa was also a first-time host family like my family here in Mukono. The only problem this caused was having my family treat me more as an honored guest and not as a family member. The first day I went to fetch water down at the spout with my sister and carried the tiny 5L gerrycan back up the hill on my head (okay I tried and soon gave up but its the thought that counts, right?) while my sister carried this 25L giant barrel on her head. I couldn't even lift it. That day I also washed some dishes and sorted some rice. But after that, my family took to saying "No no! You sit!" whenever I would ask to help. They wouldn't even let me peel the matooke because my "hands would dirty". When I asked to go carry water again Tabitha would always say "Eh Rachel the sun is too high for you! You sit!" Then I would bring out my clothes to wash and Tabitha would look at my towels and ankle-length-skirts and say, "Um Rachel these are too big for you. You sit! Please! Let me do for you." Towards the end of the week my protests became weaker and weaker. There was no use. So I did a lot of..... sitting. Sitting. And reading. And sitting. And journaling. And sitting. But it was a good week to practice the art of just being. And I got to have some great conversations with Taryn during our 5-hour periods of sitting while our sisters ran around doing this and that.
Also really interesting is the issue of gender issues. Kapchurwa is one of the only tribes/areas in Uganda that still pretty openly practicing female circumcision or FGM as its so fondly named. This practice is illegal in Uganda and declared inhumane by the UN but it is a main part of the culture in the area where we were. Along with FGM were other gender-role issues that really bothered me. Here's an excerpt from an email I sent a good friend about what I experienced:
"Gender issues at my rural homestay were even worse than what I've experienced here in Mukono area. Kapchurwa is like a bad "woman-make-me-a-sandwich" joke. The women have to kneel to greet the men. And the men eat out of different dishes and even sit at a different table at mealtimes. When it's not planting or harvesting season, the men literally do nothing. They sit. All-freaking-day. While the women carry gallons of water up the hill on their heads and spend all day sweeping, washing clothes, washing dishes, or cooking in the smoke-congested kitchen. I asked my 18-year-old cousin there if he wanted to help me peel matooke and he laughed at me and said that was "woman's work". I almost punched him in the face. So I asked him what a man's work was and he was like "....to eat. and have pleasure." So needless to say, slightly angering. But even weirder that the women don't seem to mind. Like they've never known differently so they honestly don't complain or yearn for freedom."
As someone who views herself as pretty independent and a free-thinker, a lot of the things I saw during my rural homestay were frustrating. But we're cautioned not to see Western culture as "right" and Ugandan culture as "wrong" or "backwards". But where is the line? One of my coordinators here was saying that she's lived in Uganda for 4 years and still isn't comfortable with the fact that she sometimes needs to kneel to men while a Ugandan man will never ever ever EVER kneel to a woman. She was saying that even if she lived here the rest of her life, that fact would still bother her. The view of women here can easily escalate into the men seeing them as more of property, especially since they literally "buy" the women from her parents in the practice of bride price. Seeing women as property, in turn, can lead to beating and other forms of abuse. Not good.
Since rural homestays nothing much has been happening. I returned to my family in Mukono and life is good. Luganda is over so I have very little homework besides reading for African Literature (which I'm LOVING) and some small assignments for Faith and Action. This leaves me with a lot of time to hang out with my family and other USP students and go into Kampala and things like that. I'm liking the slow pace of life here. I'm not at all ready to go back home.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Nothing to Say?
It's been a while since I posted and I apologize. The truth is, it seems as if there is nothing new to write about. Although I'm sure this is not the case, that's how it feels. At the beginning of our time in Uganda our director, Mark Bartels, told us that after only a few weeks here we wouldn't be noticing the same things or experiencing the same "new and overwhelmed" feeling. At the time I thought him crazy. I thought there was no way I'd ever get over the "what-the-heck-I-definitely-don't-belong-here" feeling. But now I'm definitely finding his words to be true. I'm totally comfortable with the fact that I'm currently living life here. Now the crazy boda-bodas (taxi motorcycles that are strictly forbidden to USP students because of the recklessness of their drivers) that drive WAY too close to pedestrians don't phase me. Monkey sightings are no longer exciting. The 25-minute hill from my home to school doesn't seem so tiring. Taking two full showers a day is no longer overkill or a bore but a necessity and a delight. I actually think I'll continue to take cold showers when I come home to the States simply because that is the norm for me now and it feels fantastic.
Today I had to write a "Midterm Self Assessment" about what I've been learning and experiencing through "Faith and Action in the Ugandan Context", the main class taught by our director that every USP student has to take. I chose to write about what I've been learning about the Christian response to poverty and suffering through the readings. So far we've read "Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger" by Ronald Sider and then "When Helping Hurts" by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. I would strongly dissuade people from reading "Rich Christians". Although renowned and very well-known in Evangelical circles Sider uses beat-you-over-the-head guilt as his primary motivator for US Christians getting involved in the world poverty situation. I'm not a fan of guilt or obligation as a motivator. I have been really struggling with "When Helping Hurts". This book has made me question a lot of the "poverty alleviation" actions I've been involved in, even all the short-term mission trips I've been on. Anyway for my Midterm I dealt with some issues from both books, threw in some Tim Keller sermon excerpts on social concern and called it a day. We'll see how Mark liked it.
As I told you in my previous blog, I am now living full-time with my family until mid-April when we leave for Rwanda. This has been such a blessing. I was away from my family for about 5 days in the process to pack and get the okay from the directors and my Momma was overjoyed when I finally was able to return. My brothers went off to boarding school, but my younger cousins have arrived to go to school here in Mukono. Clara is four and is hysterical. She adores me and insists on sleeping next to me on my twin mattress every night. I swear she puts off more body heat than an adult grizzly bear. James is 8 and is currently obsessed with Bloon Tower Defense 4 on my iPhone. He's so sweet. I also have another cousin, Honor, who's 22 and studies at Makerere University in Kampala, the oldest university in East Africa. So he comes to spend a lot of weekends with us. A few days ago we added another family member, Gertrude, who's our "help" from the North. She does all the cooking and washing and cleaning and caring for my younger cousins so that my sister Matilda can focus on looking for a job. Speaking of Matilda, today she and I made a cake for Momma's birthday. She's 53 today :)
Here's a way too large picture of Matilda making the cake :)
Here's the top! I did the writing :)
Last note. Tomorrow I leave for Kapchura, a district in the East. I'll be staying there for 10 days for "rural homestay". Eight of those days will involve living in a hut with a family. Then all the USP students will come to Sipi Falls for a retreat and breakdown of what we experienced on our homestays. This promises to be an interesting experience. First of all, it's a week without school, without internship, and without Internet. Apparently 80% of the Ugandan population live like we're going to live for a week. Thus when we talk about experiencing the real Uganda, it doesn't get any closer than this. So I'll be out of contact for a good while, but I promise to have lots of interesting stories upon my return!
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Raw Outpourings
Oh man. I am exhausted. A big group of us just returned from Jinja this afternoon where we had been hanging out this weekend. On Saturday we went white water rafting all day on the Nile. That was an experience, let me tell you. Though I've been rafting a significant amount of times in Colorado, nothing could have prepared me for this. We were hitting class 5 rapids and one time we accidentally spun into a class 6 rapid - which is declared "unraftable" for a reason. We flipped the raft twice. Not gonna lie, I thought it was over for me more than once. So much water. And so little air. To understand how ridiculous it was, check out some of the pictures on facebook that I'm recently tagged in. In a couple of them our raft is literally vertical in a sea of pure white. Anyway. I feel like I've been hit by a train in regards to soreness and depleted lung-capacity but otherwise I'm fine. It was so amazingly fun, after the initial terror. Then this morning a good amount of the group went bungee jumping. Yes, they purposely free-fell off a platform over the Nile with only a stretchy rope attached to their ankles. You can guess how quickly I opted out of that one. No thank you. All in all, it was a very retreat-ish weekend complete with hot showers and hawaiian pizza for dinner. Glorious.
Classes are going pretty well. It seems like we have a lot of homework but in reality, we have a severe lack of motivation. We're in Uganda. Studying is not high on the list. Actually Mark, the USP Director, said if he had it his way we wouldn't have to take classes here at all. But he realizes if we weren't getting school credit for this, most of us probably wouldn't be here in the first place. So it is what it is. My classes are all pass-fail, as in JBU will only take the credit and not the "grade" so as to not compromise their academic integrity or something. So I'm not planning on worrying too much. In Faith and Action we just finished "The Primal Vision" by John Taylor about the integration of the Gospel and African Traditional Religion. It was super good. And my African Lit class is wonderful. Our professor is a little old Ugandan man named Dr. Patrick and he's so funny. And intelligent. He's studied here in Africa, as well as the UK and America. My Luganda class, which at first was fun, is now dread. This language is too hard. I'm gonna declare it right here and now. Instead of having just masculine and feminine endings for the nouns like Latin or Spanish, Luganda has 8 different "noun classes" that divide up the nouns into totally arbitrary groups all with different endings. AND then all adjectives or possessives of any kind have to match the noun class endings. Like, they would say "Maama wange" (my Mom) but "mukwano gwange" (my friend). The two "my"s are different because Mom and friend are different noun classes. Thus Luganda is a lot of memorization. Also, my family here doesn't speak Luganda because they're from a different district in the North. And actually most UCU students come from the West and don't speak Luganda either. So my practice of the language mostly comes at my internship. Anyway, this coupled with the fact that the class is 2 hours a day, 3 days a week, makes me very grumpy. The class is over in 2 weeks and I absolutely cannot wait.
My internship..... oh boy. A lot of frustration, but it's only been 2 weeks. I keep telling myself to take some deep breaths and be patient. So far my partner Rhiannon and I have thoroughly cleaned and reorganized the library, played with the kids in the playroom for multiple hours on end, and sat in on some "classes" at the school. We wanted to observe some classes so we went into a classroom after lunch where the kids appeared to be waiting for their teacher to return. We thought she had stepped out to talk to someone or maybe make some copies. So we waited 10 minutes...20 minutes...30 minutes.... 45 minutes....1 hour....2 hours total! The kids were in the classroom. Alone. For two hours. On a school day. These were like 3rd graders. Some sat and were quiet. Others were going wild. It was unbelievable. Rhiannon and I sat there in disbelief. The next day, we went in to observe a different classroom (2nd grade) and the same thing happened except the teacher finally showed up after an hour or so, did some quick grading, and then dismissed everyone. We've been offered no explanation, and the kids say this happens all the time. I have no words. The lack of structure is very evident. Rhiannon and I were told that this experience would be as good as we make it. We keep being told we need to "take initiative". But honestly aside from standing up and teaching the class myself, I'm not sure what kind of "initiative" I'm supposed to be taking.
Last piece of news before I drag myself off to bed. My home family is fantastic. They're so fantastic, in fact, that even though our two-week homestays were supposed to end Friday, I've decided I want to stay with the Bilaks for the rest of the semester. My Momma and sister kept dropping hints that they wished I could stay longer, and they would make plans for me to come back and visit often. The more I thought about it and prayed about it, the more I felt that this was where I needed to be. So I flat out told my Momma I loved living with them and asked if I could stay. She of course was delighted. I talked to the USP staff and I'm supposed to having another meeting tomorrow to seal the deal. They wanted me to take this weekend to think about all my options, such as staying with them 3 nights a week and staying on campus 4 nights and splitting it some way. But when I thought about it and talked to my Momma, we agreed that that would be too much work carting my stuff back and forth and not enough stability. I need to pick a location to live and stick with that. Honestly, I'm less homesick when I'm living with my family and I'm interacting more with the Ugandan people and culture when I'm there compared to living on campus where its easy to get distracted by other Americans, my own secluded room, and the internet. My family offers me a stable safe-haven and I'm gonna take it. Plus, the thought of leaving them makes my throat constrict. They've been SO good to me and I've learned more than I believe I would staying here. So I'll keep you updated on the final verdict, but I'm pretty sure this is the new plan. This would make me an "IMME" student with no dorm room, but access to "IMME Quarters" which has very fast internet and 1928347 outlets in a building specifically designed for those of us living full-time with families who need a place during the day on campus to chill and do homework since we have no dorms. That's another perk.
Hope everyone is well at home =] Miss you guys.
Classes are going pretty well. It seems like we have a lot of homework but in reality, we have a severe lack of motivation. We're in Uganda. Studying is not high on the list. Actually Mark, the USP Director, said if he had it his way we wouldn't have to take classes here at all. But he realizes if we weren't getting school credit for this, most of us probably wouldn't be here in the first place. So it is what it is. My classes are all pass-fail, as in JBU will only take the credit and not the "grade" so as to not compromise their academic integrity or something. So I'm not planning on worrying too much. In Faith and Action we just finished "The Primal Vision" by John Taylor about the integration of the Gospel and African Traditional Religion. It was super good. And my African Lit class is wonderful. Our professor is a little old Ugandan man named Dr. Patrick and he's so funny. And intelligent. He's studied here in Africa, as well as the UK and America. My Luganda class, which at first was fun, is now dread. This language is too hard. I'm gonna declare it right here and now. Instead of having just masculine and feminine endings for the nouns like Latin or Spanish, Luganda has 8 different "noun classes" that divide up the nouns into totally arbitrary groups all with different endings. AND then all adjectives or possessives of any kind have to match the noun class endings. Like, they would say "Maama wange" (my Mom) but "mukwano gwange" (my friend). The two "my"s are different because Mom and friend are different noun classes. Thus Luganda is a lot of memorization. Also, my family here doesn't speak Luganda because they're from a different district in the North. And actually most UCU students come from the West and don't speak Luganda either. So my practice of the language mostly comes at my internship. Anyway, this coupled with the fact that the class is 2 hours a day, 3 days a week, makes me very grumpy. The class is over in 2 weeks and I absolutely cannot wait.
My internship..... oh boy. A lot of frustration, but it's only been 2 weeks. I keep telling myself to take some deep breaths and be patient. So far my partner Rhiannon and I have thoroughly cleaned and reorganized the library, played with the kids in the playroom for multiple hours on end, and sat in on some "classes" at the school. We wanted to observe some classes so we went into a classroom after lunch where the kids appeared to be waiting for their teacher to return. We thought she had stepped out to talk to someone or maybe make some copies. So we waited 10 minutes...20 minutes...30 minutes.... 45 minutes....1 hour....2 hours total! The kids were in the classroom. Alone. For two hours. On a school day. These were like 3rd graders. Some sat and were quiet. Others were going wild. It was unbelievable. Rhiannon and I sat there in disbelief. The next day, we went in to observe a different classroom (2nd grade) and the same thing happened except the teacher finally showed up after an hour or so, did some quick grading, and then dismissed everyone. We've been offered no explanation, and the kids say this happens all the time. I have no words. The lack of structure is very evident. Rhiannon and I were told that this experience would be as good as we make it. We keep being told we need to "take initiative". But honestly aside from standing up and teaching the class myself, I'm not sure what kind of "initiative" I'm supposed to be taking.
Last piece of news before I drag myself off to bed. My home family is fantastic. They're so fantastic, in fact, that even though our two-week homestays were supposed to end Friday, I've decided I want to stay with the Bilaks for the rest of the semester. My Momma and sister kept dropping hints that they wished I could stay longer, and they would make plans for me to come back and visit often. The more I thought about it and prayed about it, the more I felt that this was where I needed to be. So I flat out told my Momma I loved living with them and asked if I could stay. She of course was delighted. I talked to the USP staff and I'm supposed to having another meeting tomorrow to seal the deal. They wanted me to take this weekend to think about all my options, such as staying with them 3 nights a week and staying on campus 4 nights and splitting it some way. But when I thought about it and talked to my Momma, we agreed that that would be too much work carting my stuff back and forth and not enough stability. I need to pick a location to live and stick with that. Honestly, I'm less homesick when I'm living with my family and I'm interacting more with the Ugandan people and culture when I'm there compared to living on campus where its easy to get distracted by other Americans, my own secluded room, and the internet. My family offers me a stable safe-haven and I'm gonna take it. Plus, the thought of leaving them makes my throat constrict. They've been SO good to me and I've learned more than I believe I would staying here. So I'll keep you updated on the final verdict, but I'm pretty sure this is the new plan. This would make me an "IMME" student with no dorm room, but access to "IMME Quarters" which has very fast internet and 1928347 outlets in a building specifically designed for those of us living full-time with families who need a place during the day on campus to chill and do homework since we have no dorms. That's another perk.
Hope everyone is well at home =] Miss you guys.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Family
Let me tell you about my fantastic family here.
Momma is the head principal at a vocational school for vulnerable girls in Kampala, the capital. She's been doing this for 10 years. The girls at her school come from rough backgrounds. They come to her school and choose a course to do, such as tailoring, culinary arts, computer sciences, and more. Momma completed her bachelors degree at UCU, where I am, in Social Work and Social Administration. She's now completing her graduate work at a university in Kampala in Human Rights. She has a passion for those who don't have a voice and is especially interested in gender related issues, sex trafficking, and child labor. She decided to go on and get her masters because she constantly tells the girls at her school that they have rights and value simple because of their humanity. She told me, "How can I tell the girls about their rights if I'm not even completely sure what they are?" So her coursework now outlines things such as the UN Declaration of Human Rights and things like that. She's an incredibly hard worker and I love talking to her, hearing about her heart for those in need.
Matilda is my sister. She's 23. She completed culinary arts training at her Mom's vocational school and she's incredibly good. I've been eating very well while I've been here. She's an amazing cook. She showed me pictures of the cakes she's made. She used to do catering for weddings and things, making 10 cakes for every event since Ugandan weddings tend to be big and never-ending. But lately no one can afford luxurious cakes so she's looking for a job. She's really fun to talk to. She hopes to go to university after she has enough money and continue something in like restaurant management.
Tony is my brother. He's 15 but acts much older. Within my first few minutes of encountering him he chopped off a chicken's head for dinner without so much as a second glance. He's more quiet and serious, trying to pull off the macho man of the house type role. Honestly, he's pretty successful.
Deo is my other brother, 13 years old. I called him "Del" for the first week because of the Ugandan English accents here haha. But he didn't even notice because they sound so much the same. Deo is so sweet. We've been playing a lot of cards. I taught him how to shuffle the cards and do the bridge. He practices a lot haha. He also calls clubs "flowers". So funny. He's like, "Rachel did you put down that 8 of flowers?" Deo is so thoughtful. The first day I arrived he asked me if I liked novels. I said yes. That night he appeared with a copy of "Silence of the Lambs" that he had dug through boxes to find for his sister.
I also have an Uncle that's living with us, recovering from a stroke. Then I have an Aunt and her 1-month old staying for a few days, and then her two children will move in with us tomorrow because though they're from northern Uganda, they live here during the school terms so they can go to the better schools here. My brothers leave for boarding school in Entebbe tomorrow. I'm gonna miss them. To be honest, my family is pretty wealthy. My house has 4 bedrooms, 2 bath, 2 sitting rooms, and a covered garage. We also have indoor plumbing and eat meat multiple times a day. But even so, my Momma constantly reminds her kids to take NOTHING for granted. We pray at every meal for those who are less fortunate. And my siblings work.... a lot. They clean constantly and Matilda spends hours in the kitchen preparing every meal since Momma is at work all day. Momma has drilled into them that a hard work ethic and good morals will bring success. Actually most Ugandans believe that. Everything is achieved by toil and sweat. I'm not gonna want to leave them at the end of this week. Not at all.
My internship is going pretty well so far. I've spent several hours reading over the case files of the kids and learning a lot about how most children come to Chain and some of the challenges they face. Dorothy, my supervisor, hasn't really been around this past week. Hopefully that will chance. Other than reading, I've just been hanging out with the 15 or so children who are currently at Chain. Most of them at still with their guardians on holiday since school doesn't begin for them until tomorrow. So this next week will be much better with school in session and most of the 106 kids present. My first day the children totally ignored me and I was sure I was doomed for failure. The second day, they acted as if I was their best friend. I have no idea why. They rushed to greet me. Instead of ignoring me and speaking Luganda to eachother, they spoke English so I could understand. They grabbed my hand and pulled me around, showing me their beds and their possessions and their lunch, everything. We hung out in the chapel and played musical chairs while I played the bongo drum, not well I might add. Then we went to the playroom and they taught me how to play Ugandan cards and Ludo, which is their version of Trouble! (the American board game with the dice in that popper-bubble-thing, you know?) Then I taught them some outside games like Mother-May-I, which I changed to "Wangi?" which means "Yes please?" in Luganda. Next I wanted to teach them Red-Light-Green-Light...... but how do you teach children who have never before seen a stoplight what those words mean?? So once again, I changed the game to some simple commands in Luganda - come. slow. stop. Haha. All in all the first week went really well, and I was able to get most of the children's names down.
Lastly, today my Momma took me to Kampala and we went shopping at the bigger grocery stores. My heart lept when I saw brand names like: Kleenex, Tresseme, Doritos, Lays, Oreos, Pringles, Crest, and more. Amazing what a little familiarity will do for the soul.
Today I wished with all my heart I was at Trinity. My family is Catholic. Another adjustment.
Momma is the head principal at a vocational school for vulnerable girls in Kampala, the capital. She's been doing this for 10 years. The girls at her school come from rough backgrounds. They come to her school and choose a course to do, such as tailoring, culinary arts, computer sciences, and more. Momma completed her bachelors degree at UCU, where I am, in Social Work and Social Administration. She's now completing her graduate work at a university in Kampala in Human Rights. She has a passion for those who don't have a voice and is especially interested in gender related issues, sex trafficking, and child labor. She decided to go on and get her masters because she constantly tells the girls at her school that they have rights and value simple because of their humanity. She told me, "How can I tell the girls about their rights if I'm not even completely sure what they are?" So her coursework now outlines things such as the UN Declaration of Human Rights and things like that. She's an incredibly hard worker and I love talking to her, hearing about her heart for those in need.
Matilda is my sister. She's 23. She completed culinary arts training at her Mom's vocational school and she's incredibly good. I've been eating very well while I've been here. She's an amazing cook. She showed me pictures of the cakes she's made. She used to do catering for weddings and things, making 10 cakes for every event since Ugandan weddings tend to be big and never-ending. But lately no one can afford luxurious cakes so she's looking for a job. She's really fun to talk to. She hopes to go to university after she has enough money and continue something in like restaurant management.
Tony is my brother. He's 15 but acts much older. Within my first few minutes of encountering him he chopped off a chicken's head for dinner without so much as a second glance. He's more quiet and serious, trying to pull off the macho man of the house type role. Honestly, he's pretty successful.
Deo is my other brother, 13 years old. I called him "Del" for the first week because of the Ugandan English accents here haha. But he didn't even notice because they sound so much the same. Deo is so sweet. We've been playing a lot of cards. I taught him how to shuffle the cards and do the bridge. He practices a lot haha. He also calls clubs "flowers". So funny. He's like, "Rachel did you put down that 8 of flowers?" Deo is so thoughtful. The first day I arrived he asked me if I liked novels. I said yes. That night he appeared with a copy of "Silence of the Lambs" that he had dug through boxes to find for his sister.
I also have an Uncle that's living with us, recovering from a stroke. Then I have an Aunt and her 1-month old staying for a few days, and then her two children will move in with us tomorrow because though they're from northern Uganda, they live here during the school terms so they can go to the better schools here. My brothers leave for boarding school in Entebbe tomorrow. I'm gonna miss them. To be honest, my family is pretty wealthy. My house has 4 bedrooms, 2 bath, 2 sitting rooms, and a covered garage. We also have indoor plumbing and eat meat multiple times a day. But even so, my Momma constantly reminds her kids to take NOTHING for granted. We pray at every meal for those who are less fortunate. And my siblings work.... a lot. They clean constantly and Matilda spends hours in the kitchen preparing every meal since Momma is at work all day. Momma has drilled into them that a hard work ethic and good morals will bring success. Actually most Ugandans believe that. Everything is achieved by toil and sweat. I'm not gonna want to leave them at the end of this week. Not at all.
My internship is going pretty well so far. I've spent several hours reading over the case files of the kids and learning a lot about how most children come to Chain and some of the challenges they face. Dorothy, my supervisor, hasn't really been around this past week. Hopefully that will chance. Other than reading, I've just been hanging out with the 15 or so children who are currently at Chain. Most of them at still with their guardians on holiday since school doesn't begin for them until tomorrow. So this next week will be much better with school in session and most of the 106 kids present. My first day the children totally ignored me and I was sure I was doomed for failure. The second day, they acted as if I was their best friend. I have no idea why. They rushed to greet me. Instead of ignoring me and speaking Luganda to eachother, they spoke English so I could understand. They grabbed my hand and pulled me around, showing me their beds and their possessions and their lunch, everything. We hung out in the chapel and played musical chairs while I played the bongo drum, not well I might add. Then we went to the playroom and they taught me how to play Ugandan cards and Ludo, which is their version of Trouble! (the American board game with the dice in that popper-bubble-thing, you know?) Then I taught them some outside games like Mother-May-I, which I changed to "Wangi?" which means "Yes please?" in Luganda. Next I wanted to teach them Red-Light-Green-Light...... but how do you teach children who have never before seen a stoplight what those words mean?? So once again, I changed the game to some simple commands in Luganda - come. slow. stop. Haha. All in all the first week went really well, and I was able to get most of the children's names down.
Lastly, today my Momma took me to Kampala and we went shopping at the bigger grocery stores. My heart lept when I saw brand names like: Kleenex, Tresseme, Doritos, Lays, Oreos, Pringles, Crest, and more. Amazing what a little familiarity will do for the soul.
Today I wished with all my heart I was at Trinity. My family is Catholic. Another adjustment.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Picturesque Experiences
I thought this would be a good time for an blog of pictures. So here we go.
This is Sabiti, the all-girls dorm where I live. My window is the 2nd from the right on the bottom floor.
This is my best friend here =] Her name is Darlene and she's from Rwanda. Here, she's sitting on my bed in my room.
This is the "d.h." (Short for dining hall) where we eat all of our meals, which consist of:
Breakfast - Two rolls and if we're lucky, one boiled egg.
Lunch - Rice, Beans, Posho (white corn meal mixed with water), G-Nut Sauce (sauce made out of peanuts, which in Uganda are called g-nuts or ground-nuts and are sketchily colored hot pink....I'm not even kidding. So the G-nut sauce is purple), lumonde (sweet potato), and abumonde (Irish potato). And if we're lucky, a slice of pineapple. And if we're really lucky, two bites of beef.
Dinner - See lunch ^. Except without the pineapple or beef.
Also. There are two "break teas" during the day, one at 10 am and one at 4 pm. During break tea we drink hot black tea or milk tea. Both are extremely sweet and delicious.
Okay so the pictures each take about 15 minutes to upload, and patience is not my forte haha. So I'm ditching the picture idea. So sorry. Maybe another time when I have hours and hours to spend on this process.....
But at least now you have an idea of where I live and what I eat. That said, this past weekend, the USP directors took all the American students to Jinga, which is about an hour northwest of Mukono. We thought we were going on some sort of "retreat", but we had no idea what that included. It turned out that they took us to a resort right on Lake Victoria. It was BEAUTIFUL and included all sorts of gorgeous palm trees and flowers and a swimming pool! With concrete bar stools built into the pool so they would serve you soda as you were swimming! We slept in huts that were furnished and had actual toilets with actual toilet paper provided (we don't
have access to these things at school, or for that matter, most anywhere). The showers had hot water (another thing not available in most of Uganda). For meals, we had fresh fruits such as watermelon and pineapple and vegetables like avocado and tomato and meat such as pork and fish. I don't want to spend too much time describing the resort, but the point is, it was luxurious. We walked around with our mouths hanging open most of the weekend. So we spent time laying out (more like burning) and reading and relaxing. It was a great weekend of bonding with the other students and having a chance to get away. Then we took a boat ride out on to Lake Victoria and were shown where the Ugandans believe is the source of the Nile River. That was pretty cool. To the right is a picture of my friend Eliana and I at the sign marking the spot (yes, you get one last picture).
So we returned from Jinga and spent the rest of the week going to classes, doing a bunch of homework, hanging with our friends, etc.
Some new things. Yesterday I did laundry for the first time. They hand-wash and hang-dry everything. It was not necessarily overly difficult work, strenuous yes but managable. The problem is simply the amount of time it takes to wash even one article of clothing. I'm not looking forward to doing that the rest of the semester. So yesterday I washed and hung my clothes out on the public line..... and then completely forgot about them. Didn't cross my mind once all day until this morning. Earlier today I finally remembered my clothes and went to get them from the line only to find that they were missing. I couldn't find them anywhere! I asked around and people gave me sorry glances and told me they bet my clothes had been stolen. You're not supposed to leave them overnight or for long periods of time for that reason. Dejected at my first major blunder, I walked back to my dorm and decided to seek comfort from Darlene, my best friend here who lives across the hall (see photo above). I went to her room and the first thing she said to me was "Ahhhh Rachel how are you I have been looking everywhere for you because I have your clothes!" Darlene helped me wash yesterday and then, knowing that I would probably forget my clothes, had gone back to the line a few hours later and taken them down for me to ensure no one else took them. Her thoughtfulness and sincerity blows me away.
Other new things. Tomorrow I leave for a two-week home-stay. This means for two-weeks I will be living with a Ugandan family and walking to and from school. I am incredibly nervous, which I have been told is "okay". It will definitely be a different lifestyle than the one I have been living for the past two weeks, hanging out on campus at night. For these next two weeks, most of my time and meals will be spend with a single family. I have been told that for many, this is their favorite experience in Uganda. We'll see. This also means that my internet will be even more limited since I will not be on campus to access it at night and during the day it is pretty much unavailable since the classrooms (the only place we can get wifi) are in use.
Lastly. Tuesday I begin my internship, one of the main reasons I am in Uganda. I will be working at Chain Foundation, a home for orphaned, abandoned, and former street children in the Mukono area. Chain houses 106 children and also has a school on its premises that enrolls about 300 kids each semester, both from Chain itself and from the surrounding community. I'll be working with Dorothy, the head social-worker. Out of the 106 children Chain houses, 42 of them are blind or a Visually Impaired Person (VIP). I might be working closely with these kids. You can pray for discernment in choosing what I want my internship to look like as my responsibilities and work are completely up to me. You can check out the foundation's website at www.chainfoundationuganda.com.
That's all for now. Its 1:25 am Uganda time and I'm exhausted. Tonight the Honors College at the school hosted a welcome party for USP and after a formal dinner and introductions, we had a dance party. Not a "spontaneous 2-minute" dance party, but a full-fledged Bruno Mars and Shakira dance party. The Ugandans laughed at our dancing, which mostly consisted of the typical jumping up and down and waving our hands haha. Then they taught us some of their dances. Good times. My feet hurt.
Later.
This is Sabiti, the all-girls dorm where I live. My window is the 2nd from the right on the bottom floor.
This is my best friend here =] Her name is Darlene and she's from Rwanda. Here, she's sitting on my bed in my room.
This is the "d.h." (Short for dining hall) where we eat all of our meals, which consist of:
Breakfast - Two rolls and if we're lucky, one boiled egg.
Lunch - Rice, Beans, Posho (white corn meal mixed with water), G-Nut Sauce (sauce made out of peanuts, which in Uganda are called g-nuts or ground-nuts and are sketchily colored hot pink....I'm not even kidding. So the G-nut sauce is purple), lumonde (sweet potato), and abumonde (Irish potato). And if we're lucky, a slice of pineapple. And if we're really lucky, two bites of beef.
Dinner - See lunch ^. Except without the pineapple or beef.
Also. There are two "break teas" during the day, one at 10 am and one at 4 pm. During break tea we drink hot black tea or milk tea. Both are extremely sweet and delicious.
Okay so the pictures each take about 15 minutes to upload, and patience is not my forte haha. So I'm ditching the picture idea. So sorry. Maybe another time when I have hours and hours to spend on this process.....
But at least now you have an idea of where I live and what I eat. That said, this past weekend, the USP directors took all the American students to Jinga, which is about an hour northwest of Mukono. We thought we were going on some sort of "retreat", but we had no idea what that included. It turned out that they took us to a resort right on Lake Victoria. It was BEAUTIFUL and included all sorts of gorgeous palm trees and flowers and a swimming pool! With concrete bar stools built into the pool so they would serve you soda as you were swimming! We slept in huts that were furnished and had actual toilets with actual toilet paper provided (we don't
have access to these things at school, or for that matter, most anywhere). The showers had hot water (another thing not available in most of Uganda). For meals, we had fresh fruits such as watermelon and pineapple and vegetables like avocado and tomato and meat such as pork and fish. I don't want to spend too much time describing the resort, but the point is, it was luxurious. We walked around with our mouths hanging open most of the weekend. So we spent time laying out (more like burning) and reading and relaxing. It was a great weekend of bonding with the other students and having a chance to get away. Then we took a boat ride out on to Lake Victoria and were shown where the Ugandans believe is the source of the Nile River. That was pretty cool. To the right is a picture of my friend Eliana and I at the sign marking the spot (yes, you get one last picture).So we returned from Jinga and spent the rest of the week going to classes, doing a bunch of homework, hanging with our friends, etc.
Some new things. Yesterday I did laundry for the first time. They hand-wash and hang-dry everything. It was not necessarily overly difficult work, strenuous yes but managable. The problem is simply the amount of time it takes to wash even one article of clothing. I'm not looking forward to doing that the rest of the semester. So yesterday I washed and hung my clothes out on the public line..... and then completely forgot about them. Didn't cross my mind once all day until this morning. Earlier today I finally remembered my clothes and went to get them from the line only to find that they were missing. I couldn't find them anywhere! I asked around and people gave me sorry glances and told me they bet my clothes had been stolen. You're not supposed to leave them overnight or for long periods of time for that reason. Dejected at my first major blunder, I walked back to my dorm and decided to seek comfort from Darlene, my best friend here who lives across the hall (see photo above). I went to her room and the first thing she said to me was "Ahhhh Rachel how are you I have been looking everywhere for you because I have your clothes!" Darlene helped me wash yesterday and then, knowing that I would probably forget my clothes, had gone back to the line a few hours later and taken them down for me to ensure no one else took them. Her thoughtfulness and sincerity blows me away.
Other new things. Tomorrow I leave for a two-week home-stay. This means for two-weeks I will be living with a Ugandan family and walking to and from school. I am incredibly nervous, which I have been told is "okay". It will definitely be a different lifestyle than the one I have been living for the past two weeks, hanging out on campus at night. For these next two weeks, most of my time and meals will be spend with a single family. I have been told that for many, this is their favorite experience in Uganda. We'll see. This also means that my internet will be even more limited since I will not be on campus to access it at night and during the day it is pretty much unavailable since the classrooms (the only place we can get wifi) are in use.
Lastly. Tuesday I begin my internship, one of the main reasons I am in Uganda. I will be working at Chain Foundation, a home for orphaned, abandoned, and former street children in the Mukono area. Chain houses 106 children and also has a school on its premises that enrolls about 300 kids each semester, both from Chain itself and from the surrounding community. I'll be working with Dorothy, the head social-worker. Out of the 106 children Chain houses, 42 of them are blind or a Visually Impaired Person (VIP). I might be working closely with these kids. You can pray for discernment in choosing what I want my internship to look like as my responsibilities and work are completely up to me. You can check out the foundation's website at www.chainfoundationuganda.com.
That's all for now. Its 1:25 am Uganda time and I'm exhausted. Tonight the Honors College at the school hosted a welcome party for USP and after a formal dinner and introductions, we had a dance party. Not a "spontaneous 2-minute" dance party, but a full-fledged Bruno Mars and Shakira dance party. The Ugandans laughed at our dancing, which mostly consisted of the typical jumping up and down and waving our hands haha. Then they taught us some of their dances. Good times. My feet hurt.
Later.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
So Much to Say. So Little Time.
It has only been a week since I last updated, but it feels as if at least a month's worth of activity has occurred. I think this is due to the incredible amount of change I've experienced in such a short period of time coupled with the fact that my internal clock is totally out of whack. I'll try to give you a brief summary.
We arrived in Uganda on Friday night at 10:10 pm local time, but due to 4 students losing their luggage and having to deal with the British Airways people, we didn't end up leaving the airport until after 1 am. Then it was an hour ride from Entebbe, where the airport is located, to Mukono, where Uganda Christian University (UCU) campus is located. Then we had to unload and find our dorm rooms, which put us finally getting to sleep at about 3:30 am. It was a very surreal experience because it was dark and so we couldn't actually see this new environment around us.
Saturday Orientation began at 8 am. We dragged our very confused bodies out of bed and down to the Uganda Studies Program (USP) classrooms for several hours of talk on health, classes, emergency cellphones, gumboot sizes (rain boots), and cultural do's and dont's. Don't sit on the ground. Don't walk while eating. Don't carry your toilet paper around in plain view.
Sunday was campus church. I had no idea what to expect but it was a very, very good experience. The service was very much like that of Trinity in the traditional order. Call to worship with some songs. Then we are reminded of our sinfulness and called to confess our sins which we do corporately and then silently. As we confess silently we are interrupted with the assurance of our forgiveness found in scripture. Then we greet those around us and engage in more worship with song. Then the Word is read and at the end we are told "This is the Word of the Lord" to which we respond "Thanks be to God", just like at JBU. It made me smile. We also say the Apostle's creed. A lot of similarities. The teaching was very, very good. The Vice-Chancellor of UCU spoke. He's pretty cool. Anyway, most Ugandans in this area are Anglican, which explains the liturgical similarities. So church was good.
Then some of the US students wanted to go into Mukono and check out the town, which we did. My friend Elizabeth and I went together and stopped and talked with a lot of the locals, which was really cool. Then we heard some loud Jesus music and stopped to investigate. We stumbled upon this church and the greeter, who took her job very seriously, literally ran like 20 yards across a field to come and tell us how welcome we are and how glad she was to see us. So we ended up staying, for about 2 more hours. It happened to be on a day when the pastor was literally anointing others to be ministers in the church so that was cool to see. The Ugandans are incredibly fervent and passionate in their worship, whether that be in praying or in preaching or in singing or in dancing or in clapping. It was unlike anything I've ever remotely experienced. Then in the middle of the service two Ugandans grabbed Elizabeth and I and told us to run. So we did. We started running back to campus and in the middle of our run it started raining, hard. They got us safely on campus to a shelter. That's one example of how caring and thoughtful Ugandans are. They, unlike us, were watching the sky, noted the oncoming rain, saw we had no transportation and no umbrellas, and got us back home before we were stuck for several hours in Mukono with no way to return. I spent the rest of the day with Halima and the other friends I had made at that church and it was so good. Halima asked me, "Rachel how do they dance at your church?" To which I responded "Uh........." She then asked about clapping and vocalizing and was completely aghast when I tried to explain my church practices. She said, "So you don't dance, you don't clap, you don't yell, do you just stand?" She said she wouldn't like to go to church in America then and I tried to explain that every church was different but that was lost on her.
I need to cut this short, but I'll just say that since Sunday I have been going to class, going to more orientation, but mostly hanging out with my Ugandan friends. They are incredibly nice and a huge blessing. They are eager to talk to mzungu (white people) and help us when we fail utterly at being culturally adept. I have a lot to learn. But the people here never cease to astonish me with their generosity and sensitivity. If you walk into their dorm room the Ugandan students immediately greet you with your name, grab a chair and force you to sit, and offer you whatever food they have, whether that be porridge or biscuits (cookies) or water. One of my friends went and collected newspapers from around campus with which to line my dresser and helped me organize my whole closet. Helped is really not an appropriate term. Essentially I sat while she unpacked and hung everything neatly, making sure every item I brought had a place. She saw that I had put my clothes directly onto the wooden shelves, which were apparently not clean enough, and immediately said "Oh Rachel! Oh no. Let me do it for you. Here. You sit." The newspaper lining was for cleanliness of my clothes. Cleanliness is HUGE here. We are encouraged to shower multiple times a day. The Ugandans hand wash and then iron all of their clothing to ensure they look pristine at all items. The cultural rule "dont sit on the ground" is simply because the ground is dirty and not for sitting. They carry around a hankerchief and constantly wipe their faces free of oil and sweat, as well as wiping every chair they sit in before sitting to make sure they do not dirty their skirts or trousers. Anyway. More culture later.
It has been incredible so far. I'll keep you updated.
We arrived in Uganda on Friday night at 10:10 pm local time, but due to 4 students losing their luggage and having to deal with the British Airways people, we didn't end up leaving the airport until after 1 am. Then it was an hour ride from Entebbe, where the airport is located, to Mukono, where Uganda Christian University (UCU) campus is located. Then we had to unload and find our dorm rooms, which put us finally getting to sleep at about 3:30 am. It was a very surreal experience because it was dark and so we couldn't actually see this new environment around us.
Saturday Orientation began at 8 am. We dragged our very confused bodies out of bed and down to the Uganda Studies Program (USP) classrooms for several hours of talk on health, classes, emergency cellphones, gumboot sizes (rain boots), and cultural do's and dont's. Don't sit on the ground. Don't walk while eating. Don't carry your toilet paper around in plain view.
Sunday was campus church. I had no idea what to expect but it was a very, very good experience. The service was very much like that of Trinity in the traditional order. Call to worship with some songs. Then we are reminded of our sinfulness and called to confess our sins which we do corporately and then silently. As we confess silently we are interrupted with the assurance of our forgiveness found in scripture. Then we greet those around us and engage in more worship with song. Then the Word is read and at the end we are told "This is the Word of the Lord" to which we respond "Thanks be to God", just like at JBU. It made me smile. We also say the Apostle's creed. A lot of similarities. The teaching was very, very good. The Vice-Chancellor of UCU spoke. He's pretty cool. Anyway, most Ugandans in this area are Anglican, which explains the liturgical similarities. So church was good.
Then some of the US students wanted to go into Mukono and check out the town, which we did. My friend Elizabeth and I went together and stopped and talked with a lot of the locals, which was really cool. Then we heard some loud Jesus music and stopped to investigate. We stumbled upon this church and the greeter, who took her job very seriously, literally ran like 20 yards across a field to come and tell us how welcome we are and how glad she was to see us. So we ended up staying, for about 2 more hours. It happened to be on a day when the pastor was literally anointing others to be ministers in the church so that was cool to see. The Ugandans are incredibly fervent and passionate in their worship, whether that be in praying or in preaching or in singing or in dancing or in clapping. It was unlike anything I've ever remotely experienced. Then in the middle of the service two Ugandans grabbed Elizabeth and I and told us to run. So we did. We started running back to campus and in the middle of our run it started raining, hard. They got us safely on campus to a shelter. That's one example of how caring and thoughtful Ugandans are. They, unlike us, were watching the sky, noted the oncoming rain, saw we had no transportation and no umbrellas, and got us back home before we were stuck for several hours in Mukono with no way to return. I spent the rest of the day with Halima and the other friends I had made at that church and it was so good. Halima asked me, "Rachel how do they dance at your church?" To which I responded "Uh........." She then asked about clapping and vocalizing and was completely aghast when I tried to explain my church practices. She said, "So you don't dance, you don't clap, you don't yell, do you just stand?" She said she wouldn't like to go to church in America then and I tried to explain that every church was different but that was lost on her.
I need to cut this short, but I'll just say that since Sunday I have been going to class, going to more orientation, but mostly hanging out with my Ugandan friends. They are incredibly nice and a huge blessing. They are eager to talk to mzungu (white people) and help us when we fail utterly at being culturally adept. I have a lot to learn. But the people here never cease to astonish me with their generosity and sensitivity. If you walk into their dorm room the Ugandan students immediately greet you with your name, grab a chair and force you to sit, and offer you whatever food they have, whether that be porridge or biscuits (cookies) or water. One of my friends went and collected newspapers from around campus with which to line my dresser and helped me organize my whole closet. Helped is really not an appropriate term. Essentially I sat while she unpacked and hung everything neatly, making sure every item I brought had a place. She saw that I had put my clothes directly onto the wooden shelves, which were apparently not clean enough, and immediately said "Oh Rachel! Oh no. Let me do it for you. Here. You sit." The newspaper lining was for cleanliness of my clothes. Cleanliness is HUGE here. We are encouraged to shower multiple times a day. The Ugandans hand wash and then iron all of their clothing to ensure they look pristine at all items. The cultural rule "dont sit on the ground" is simply because the ground is dirty and not for sitting. They carry around a hankerchief and constantly wipe their faces free of oil and sweat, as well as wiping every chair they sit in before sitting to make sure they do not dirty their skirts or trousers. Anyway. More culture later.
It has been incredible so far. I'll keep you updated.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
The Floodgates Unleash
Tonight, for the first time, I cried about Uganda.
Over the past year-and-a-half as I have been hoping, wishing, exploring, deciding, and committing to this study abroad trip I have felt nothing but anticipation and excitement. As I have informed countless people of the opportunity with which I have been provided, I have heard many statements along the line of, "Oh my gosh, Rachel, that is going to be an amazing experience!" to which I always reply, "Yes, yes it will!" The thought of spending four months in Africa is initially exhilarating. I have been so exicited and so crazy busy that I have hardly had time to stop and catch my breath. The last few months have been a flurry of plane tickets, confirmations, vaccinations, prescriptions, packing, shopping, more packing, and not surprisingly, more shopping. Between the search for the perfect passport holder, to the hunt for the misplaced electricity adapter, the ordering of a plethora of books for the semester, and more, I really haven't had the chance to actually think deeply about what exactly I have gotten myself into.
Today, I hit two decades of age. 20 is like a fourth of my lifetime, assuming I live to be 80. My head is still spinning with the ramifications of being old. Despite the crises of my new elderly status, my birthday was filled with joy as people who care about me really took the time to tell me and show me how much they do. After the celebrations were over it hit me that many of those people I will have very little contact with over the next semester when I am in Uganda. Phone calls and texting are out of the question due to expense. Email, Facebook, Skype, and other forms of internet communication will be very dependent on the quality of the WiFi I have and the amount of free time I have. I am anticipating both to be minimal. As someone who thrives on connection and close relationships, this is more than slightly unnerving. Tonight, it really sunk in.
My friends. My family. I'm going to miss them. A lot.
So tonight, alone in the aftermath of my birthday celebrations, I cried. I cried for the events and milestones in others' lives I am going to miss. I cried for the way life is going to continue on here in Dallas and at JBU while I am 8,500 miles away. I cried for the transition to a new university, a new dorm, a new country, and a new way of life. I cried for my lack of even acquaintances in this strange and unfamiliar place across the pond. I cried for my soon-to-be lack of a washer and a dryer. I cried for my upcoming minority status, one whose skin color will make me stand out from all the rest as a foreigner in an instant. I cried in confusion and anxiety and disbelief. Where the heck did I get this crazy idea anyway?! What was I thinking? I can't believe this. I literally do not have any idea what I'm doing.
But there is Someone who does.
Over the past year-and-a-half as I have been hoping, wishing, exploring, deciding, and committing to this study abroad trip I have felt nothing but anticipation and excitement. As I have informed countless people of the opportunity with which I have been provided, I have heard many statements along the line of, "Oh my gosh, Rachel, that is going to be an amazing experience!" to which I always reply, "Yes, yes it will!" The thought of spending four months in Africa is initially exhilarating. I have been so exicited and so crazy busy that I have hardly had time to stop and catch my breath. The last few months have been a flurry of plane tickets, confirmations, vaccinations, prescriptions, packing, shopping, more packing, and not surprisingly, more shopping. Between the search for the perfect passport holder, to the hunt for the misplaced electricity adapter, the ordering of a plethora of books for the semester, and more, I really haven't had the chance to actually think deeply about what exactly I have gotten myself into.
Today, I hit two decades of age. 20 is like a fourth of my lifetime, assuming I live to be 80. My head is still spinning with the ramifications of being old. Despite the crises of my new elderly status, my birthday was filled with joy as people who care about me really took the time to tell me and show me how much they do. After the celebrations were over it hit me that many of those people I will have very little contact with over the next semester when I am in Uganda. Phone calls and texting are out of the question due to expense. Email, Facebook, Skype, and other forms of internet communication will be very dependent on the quality of the WiFi I have and the amount of free time I have. I am anticipating both to be minimal. As someone who thrives on connection and close relationships, this is more than slightly unnerving. Tonight, it really sunk in.
My friends. My family. I'm going to miss them. A lot.
So tonight, alone in the aftermath of my birthday celebrations, I cried. I cried for the events and milestones in others' lives I am going to miss. I cried for the way life is going to continue on here in Dallas and at JBU while I am 8,500 miles away. I cried for the transition to a new university, a new dorm, a new country, and a new way of life. I cried for my lack of even acquaintances in this strange and unfamiliar place across the pond. I cried for my soon-to-be lack of a washer and a dryer. I cried for my upcoming minority status, one whose skin color will make me stand out from all the rest as a foreigner in an instant. I cried in confusion and anxiety and disbelief. Where the heck did I get this crazy idea anyway?! What was I thinking? I can't believe this. I literally do not have any idea what I'm doing.
But there is Someone who does.
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