my first slaughter (and other random stories from africa.....)

HOLY COW! to anyone who sent me a card through ms. quinn thank you soooo much! it totally made my day. i sat in my room and cried a lil (yeah yeah....laugh it up), but i really do miss you all so much and it was so good to hear about what the Lord is doing in your lives! you really encouraged me and blessed me so much! i can't wait till we're all reunited in the fall.

and i guess i should say sorry its been so long since i’ve written. i was super busy for a while, and then i got behind on posting and then whenever i wanted to catch up i just got overwhelmed..so here i am. a month away with lots to say (woo...i’m a poet and didn’t know it).

anywoo....here goes a bit of catching up.

1 of the most pivotal events since i last wrote was going on a rural homestay. we went to soroti. its on the east side of uganda, as north as the us embassy will allow us to go. it’s a beautiful part of the country. there are rolling hills dotted picturesquely with brick/mud, thatched-roof huts. if you ignore the huts and banana trees it could almost pass for sc’ary county....it made me miss home a lil.

anyway....we traveled all around this village in the middle of no where dropping students off. every place was new and exciting. lots of animals, children, and cheering mothers crowded around the bus. i was one of the last ones to get dropped off and i was starting to get really excited. finally margaret (our ugandan secretary/organizer) turned to me and informed me i was next. the next question she mumbled was something like....i hope you don’t mind being rural. ;-) haha....do i mind being rural? i’m from sc’ary county, darn it!

so finally once passing over some rough roads (probably completely impassable for a car when it rains) i arrived at my homestay. my compound was tiny and quiet. there were a few chickens running around and 1 old lady and 1 old man. our program intern diana (my roomie for the trip) and i unpacked our stuff into our own private hut (two roomed, very spacious). we sat down on wooden folding chairs and sat...and sat...and sat. finally i struck up a conversation with the old man. i complimented the hut and asked him lots of questions. eventually he got up and left, and the old woman explained he was just a neighbor....OOPS.

so yeah....the first night was pretty awkward. constance (our host mom) fed us lots of food and neighbors began to visit. mama constance has 4 children (all of whom are at boarding school) and her husband works in the city as an engineer, so she is at home by herself a lot. which...at first...really disappointed me. i was so psyched to see the way the african (extended) family relates (some kids even got to be with polygamous families!!!), but instead I got stuck w/ 1 old lady! poop....however, to my surprise this ended up being an amazing experience. while i expected it do be a boring 5 days, we constantly had visitors and went visiting. i may have not gotten to see the family interaction i expected, but i definitely got to see the way an african community relates. you see...i saw how mama constance cooked for the neighbor boys. and i saw how they plowed her fields for her. and i saw how the women came together and planted and cooked when someone needed them. and you see....the craziest part was that it wasn't weird or a nuisance or a tit for a tat, as most americans would expect....they just did what needed to be done.

once we went and visited 1 of mama constance's friends. she was a beautiful widow left struggling with boatloads of children. when we went we were immediately invited to walk into their fields and pick dodo (kinda like spinach) for our supper. when we were finished we sat down under a tree with some older women. the women greeted us kindly like we were royalty and then went on with their work (since they couldn't understand our conversation, which was in broken english). and as i may have forgotten to mention....as we walked we were followed by a trail of children (one of which i made cry....but that's another story). anyway....the thing i wanted to mention was that the old women were sitting there effortlessly shelling g-nuts (g-nuts=peanuts....i may have also forgotten to mention that soroti is the g-nut capital of uganda....MMMM....be jealous, dad). soooo....where i was heading with this is that this one little girl, who just happened to follow us into the compound sat down and starting shelling the nuts too. she didn't ask if she should help or if she could....she just did it. next a few shy highschool boys came and gigglingly greeted us. they were a bit nervous due to our shiningly white skin and "difficult accents." but we had a nice chat. after talking to this family for a bit we decided to head home. then....this family (who seriously had nothing) gave us a bag of eggs. it was so humbling. i later learned (after several visits) that in africa when you visit you always leave with a gift. this was so weird for me as an american. i mean....visitors get diddly usually. if anything...a visitor might bring her/his host a nice dessert or something.....but really....visitors aren't super welcome and certainly aren't celebrated or specially honored. its funny how many families dropped their planting entirely when we came to visit. i can barely drop my homework when someone comes to visit me at school. what a shame. in africa the phrase 'what can i do for you' isn't one of service its one of being in a hurry.

mmm....so yeah....my time with my host family was amazing. it was a lil rough at first since the intern i was with already knew some ateso (their language) and customs and so she showed off a lil (haha....love you diana louise), but once i got over being showed up (oooh, competitive me) i loosened up and was myself....and then the fun started.
so there are so many good stories to tell, but i already think this is going to be a long entry so i'll cut it short and just give some highlights:
--we had a party (and i was mama constance's host in training....which meant i:)
--cooked (on a wood fire in a tiny hut....talk about sore eyes)
--killed a chicken (yup....chicken is party food and somebody's gotta do it)
--led the dancing (ow ow....yeah that went over...um...well)
--learned how to plant and shell g-nuts
--saw how to use a ox-drawn plow (i wasn' t allowed to help....its a boy's job only)
--talked to mama constance's hubby on the phone several times and finally met her lively daughter, carol
--visited several neighbors (including the old man i talked to the first night....who i think was trying to hook us up with his son paul)
--went on a boda boda ride to a neighbors
--drank tons of milk tea w/ milk straight from the teet
--sou soused or short-called (peed) and long called (you get) in a latrine
--bathed under the stars (yup...it was gorgeous. one cloudy night i looked up and watched a shooting star glide between think grey clouds....i'll never forget that moment)
--experienced what a terrential down pour really is
--drank more soda than i've ever drinken in my life (soda is a sign of prosperity and western influence)
--went to an ateso church service (where much of the offering was given in crops which were then auctioned off)
--carried a 20 liter jerry can ON MY HEAD (yeah....its hard. thats like 20 nalgenes)
--bathed from a basin in a brick box (bathroom)
--ate unripe mangos off the tree (nope...i'm not a fan)
--washed dishes in pots
--i had hot chocolate and jam and noodles!!!
--i saw a lot of breasts (yup....there are lots of kids....thus lets of breast feeding)
--i saw monkeys and learned how to make charcoal
--i saw fireflies!!! (yeah....that was one of those....ahhh....i love home and here and God....thank you for peace moments)

so yeah....it was soooo much fun. when i left i was really sad (diana cried....always showing me up)....haha, but i am so thankful for that time and all the friends i made.
after our homestays we all got back together and swapped stories. i guess some people had an awful time....got really sick....almost died....rats, etc. i felt really bad after how amazing mine was.

shoot....i have lots more stories to tell, but i think im gonna stop here because im being eaten alive by mosquitos!

butt! i suppose i should say that it is almost official now that i'll be staying in uganda for another 3 months to work at an orphanage! i can't wait!!! more on that later!

may God's peace and love abound in yoru lives!