Homestay!

I am currently on a two week home stay, where I am living with a Ugandan family in the town of Mukono, within walking distance of the university. I share a room in the house with another American USP student, and the family we are staying with is pretty big. There are five children, (Daphne, Desmond, David, Douglas, and Denise) their mother Rebecca, and Rebecca’s sister. Ananias, the father, is currently working in London, but frequently calls to check up on the family. There is a pretty consistent schedule in the household…everyone wakes up before eight, Mama or Daphne washes dishes from the night before, they walk to the market to purchase food from the market, start preparing lunch, and the boys or their aunt walk down to the well to fill up the jerrycans with clean water. They eat lunch around three, then wash dishes, prepare food for dinner and tea time, we have tea (with a snack) around 7:30 while watching the family’s favorite Spanish soap opera, then bathe the children with the water that just finished boiling. We finish cooking dinner and eat around 10 or 10:30 at night. Since yesterday, though, me and the other USP student Kristen have been going to class all day, so we don’t get home until around tea time. It is a 45 minute walk between home and campus through the town of MukonoThe children are all wonderful and a lot of fun. Daphne, who is 11 years old, is extremely intelligent and helps translate everything for us and teaches us how to wash our dishes in their special routine. She is leaving for boarding school next Monday though. Desmond (9) and David (5) are a handful, but are both super observant. Douglas is very rambunctious, and doesn’t really enjoy wearing clothes very often, and Denise is one of the calmest and quietest toddlers I have ever met. Yesterday, the family all sat down and watched the inauguration of Obama together (the local news station was airing CNN for it), and Douglas kept running around saying “obamaobamaobamaobamaobama”! Many Ugandans and other Africans I have met are very excited about our new president, for several reasons. In Uganda, there has been a long history of corrupt presidencies, and their current President Museveni has been in power for over 20 years. Also, Africa very rarely has a peaceful transfer of power, so America’s peaceful process of handing over control of the country is fascinating and inspiring to them. Another aspect is that there is a lot of tribal prejudices in this country, so they really understand the significance in the election of a black man in America.

The family has also been teaching us how to cook some traditional Ugandan foods, like matoke, posho, and japote (I probably spelled all of those wrong), over small charcoal stoves outside. The home consists of two buildings, the main house which has all the bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, and a bathing room. Behind the house there is a small building with three rooms, a kitchen, a storage room, and a playroom. The latrines (a stall with a hole in the ground) are separate from the house too. That is a challenge in itself because every time I go, I pray to God to spare me from the cockroaches that live in there! Every chore that would traditionally be relatively simple in the U.S. is a long and drawn out processes with many steps. For example, at home, to take a bath you just step into the shower. Well, here, they have to walk down a hill to a well, fill a jerrycan with water, lug that back up the hill, boil it over a charcoal stove, carry it into the house, pour it into a basin, fill it with some cold water to even the temperature, then you just splash the water from the basin on you to wash. So, the day is very long, but it really makes you appreciate the final product when it takes so much work.

I also got my service project assignment this week, but it wasn’t my first choice, which was to work with Off-tu. I am now going to be serving on campus, either at the day care or the children’s library, so I am looking forward to starting that in two weeks. My classes are going very well, and I am finally feeling very comfortable in my schedule here. The Ugandan Honors College students at UCU are really accepting and are so friendly and helpful. I have gotten to know a couple of girls on my hall really well, like Viola, Trisha, and Agatha. I am very healthy and am enjoying the food here. Well, I am heading to lunch now (rice and beans again!).
I will try and post a photo on here tomorrow, when I have an hour or two to spare!

Mzungu! ("white person")

It is the end of another day in Uganda! I had my first African Literature class today, and our professor is probably my favorite so far. I also just finished the novel "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver, and I really think EVERYBODY should read that book. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to read quality literature. Plus, a lot of the descriptions are applicable to aspects of Ugandan life and scenery. It is an incredible novel about the lives of the female members of the Price family, who are missionaries living in the Congo in the 1960s. It also delivers an excellent commentary on the involvement of missionaries and the Belgians in the Congo, and vividly describes the culture shock of the girls coming back to America after a life in Africa. Really, its amazing.

Anyway, tomorrow we are heading into the city of Kampala tomorrow for the first time, and Saturday I am moving in with a family to spend two weeks with them. I will be walking to school everyday, but eating and sleeping at the house in Mukono. Also, we signed up for service projects today. My first choice for the semester is to work with the Off-tu mission project, which goes into Kampala every Tuesday and runs a ministry with street children in the city. I'm not sure if I will get that one, but I am hoping for that. Thanks for everyone's prayers, and talk to everyone later!

First blog from Uganda!

Hi everybody! It is Sunday afternoon here in Mukono, and I just got back from walking around in the town with a group of students (mostly American, but we went with some of the Ugandan students too). All the little children stared and waved at us, probably because we looked like a silly parade of white people. I arrived at Entebbe airport on Friday morning, where I met two other USP (Uganda Studies Program) students, and we waited in the airport for about 12 hours until the rest of the students arrived. That night we drove about an hour and a half to the Uganda Christian University campus and received our housing assignments. I am in the Josephine Tucker dorm building with my roommate Beth. We have a view overlooking the rest of the dorm buildings and some of Mukono, since the building sits high on a hill. We had orientation yesterday with the USP staff, and did final registration for our classes. I am taking African Literature, Faith and Action, Democracy and Human Rights, East African Politics, and Ugandan Politics. Classes start early tomorrow morning! Here are some random thoughts from the time so far:

The Ugandans are incredibly friendly and helpful, and will come up to us in the dining hall just to sit down and chat.

It is pretty hot here, but definitely tolerable. It is the dry season, so the dirt is really dusty and makes all of our feet tannish-red during the day.

We have all been drinking a ton of water, which we get from clean water taps around campus.

So far, we’ve only had rice and beans for each meal, but it is actually really tasty, and they usually give us more than we can even finish.

The internet goes in and out, along with our electricity.

I usually share my cold shower with some crazy big grasshopper, a couple moths, and some flies.

It is extremely beautiful here, with amazing green trees that I’ve never seen before. On campus, there are beautiful brightly-colored birds, monkeys, lizards, and a rooster that occasionally sits in our dorm lounge with us.

Overall, it is amazing here, with the incredibly friendly and outgoing people, and the scenery. Thanks for everyone’s prayers, I am very safe and comfortable. Talk to everyone later!

Leaving Soon!

I leave in about five hours to go to Newark airport! I have an overnight flight to London, and I get there at 9 in the morning (their time). I have a twelve hour layover, so I'm going to go into the city and see some high priority spots (i.e. Abbey Road, Westminster Abbey, and maybe Buckingham Palace). Then I have an 8:55 pm flight to Uganda. I get to Entebbe airport at 9 in the morning, their time. I'll have to sit in the airport and wait for the other students to arrive at night, then I'll continue on to school. There's a lot of waiting in airports over the next two days, so I'll definitely get some reading done!

Thanks to everyone who has helped me prepare over the past couple of months, and who have been very generous with their money, helping me get to Uganda. I will miss everyone a whole lot, and I will keep everyone in my prayers! To everyone at Eastern: have a great semester and summer, and I'll see everyone in the fall!