Lesson 8: Climb Every Mountain



So, you know that cool mountain thing here in Mbale? Mt. Wanale? Yeah, I climbed that.  It was pretty awesome.  The not-so-awesome-part was waking up at 5:45 AM to get ready for our hike.  An early start time is very necessary, as this allowed us to ascend the mountain in the shade.  Otherwise, you’re climbing in the heat of the day on the equator. Not advisable. 

We followed a main road up quite a distance toward Mt. Wanale.  It was a little intimidating, marching towards this huge chunk of rock sticking seemingly straight up into the air.  There’s no switch-backing on the foot paths; you just go up.  The paths start sloping up gradually, so we stopped to take a breather on top of a large rock before the hiking got very intense.  Even from the base of Wanale, you can look west and see all of Mbale laid out before you.  The town of Mbale is at about 1161 meters (about 3700 feet); Mt. Wanale’s elevation is about 2320 meters (about 7300 feet). 

The paths go right by houses and through fields.  The people who live in these houses on the mountain are incredible.  While I was huffing and puffing to climb up the paths, they were passing me carrying huge loads of bananas or jackfruit balanced precariously on top of their heads.  Walking up the mountain is no problem for them.  Me…well, I was traveling “pole pole,” or “slowly, slowly” in Swahili.  No matter, I made it to the top, and we had a great time relaxing in the pools by the waterfalls in the shade of the eucalyptus trees.  We sat on a rock outcropping and took a bunch of pictures before beginning our descent.



I do not like coming back down.  When you’re going up, your goal is always in sight.  Even if you’re tired, you can pump yourself up by saying, “Every step I take brings me closer to the top!” Coming down means putting more distance between you and the awesomeness you just achieved.  Going up, you are not thinking about how far you could fall.  On the return trip, you’re constantly peering down the steep incline and pondering exactly how far down you could slide. Also, you encounter some interesting obstacles.

    This is a ladder.  It was made by cramming a bunch of sticks together in order to climb a twenty foot section of rock.  We climbed down slowly and nervously, one by one.  The Bugisu people climbed up two or three at a time, balancing matooke, sacks of onions and bundles of sticks on their heads. Very impressive to watch.

    The other fun part of the descent was sliding down paths covered by gravel and loose dirt.  Our approach was to sit down on our butts and alternate scootching and sliding down the paths, much to the amusement of the Bugisu onlookers. 

    Eventually we reached the bottom of the mountain and made it back home, where we enjoyed hot showers and a cold Coke.  A Friday morning well spent!



Lesson 7: Consider the Rats of the Kitchen

There is a rat in our kitchen.

It’s been hanging around for a while now.  One night I even heard it rustling around in my room, which resulted in the worst night of sleep EVER.  The next day, we didn’t have any poison on hand, so we made some of our own by crushing up some acetaminophen and mixing it with peanut butter, in hopes that the rat would consume enough of the drug to induce liver failure.  This was to no avail, as it’s still around as of this morning.



One night after an especially harrowing rat sighting, we decided to call in our askari (guard) Benard and ask him to catch it and kill it.  So Benard grabbed a pointy stick and proceeded to poke around in the kitchen, moving things around and searching for our unwelcome guest so he could impale it.  While Jennifer and Emily helped Benard search for the unwelcome rodent, I camped out in the living room, not really keen on watching what was going on.  After a few minutes of poking around, Benard gave up, saying that he was “failing the duty.” (I love Ugandan English.) We thanked him for trying, and expressed our desire that the stupid thing would just die.  This is when Benard gave a little impromptu sermon that went something like this:

You know in the Bible, it says “consider the lilies of the field” and “consider the birds of the air.”  These things, they do not work, but God, He provides for them.  Even this rat, it is not working, but you are to provide for it.

Although we appreciated his take on the situation and all had a good laugh together, we later replaced the acetaminophen-peanut butter mixture with actual rat poison.

The next morning, I traveled to Kitale, Kenya to visit the children’s home.  This was my first time crossing the border into Kenya.  If Jennifer and Linda hadn’t been there to tell me exactly what to do, I probably would have just drive right through it.  My favorite part of the border was standing in line with a bunch of Africans to get my Kenya visa.  Next to the window for the Department of Immigration was a box that read, “Suggestions, Compliments and Anti-Corruption Box.” 

Everyone else on the trip was going to do actual work; I was just along for the ride so I could play with the kids.  This made for a pretty enjoyable trip.  I even got a souvenir sunburn from Kenya to take home with me!  The kids were so sweet.  Eleven-year-old Josephine took my by the hand and gave me a grand tour of the 5+ acre compound, including a game of volleyball, basketball, and teaching me a few songs.  After a long day of work for everyone else, we had a fabulous dinner at Karibuni Lodge, which was concluded by some absolutely fabulous tiramisu.  A great time was had by all, and the peaceful election in Uganda allowed us to travel home safely on Sunday as planned.

    This is a picture of me and some of the girls at the children's home.  They did a great job of styling my hair, didn't they?



Lesson 6: How to Build a Church



This past Friday morning, I set my alarm to go off at 6:40, and in keeping with my morning habit of hitting the snooze more than I should, I was actually out the door for a run at around 7:15.  While I did not have to run through a herd of cows, I did pass a lot of children on their way to school.  Most smiled or acted shy, and some shouted “Mzungu, how are you?” as I ran past.  Today, I had a bunch of kids start running with me, which is new.  By the time we arrived at their school, I had 6 kids running behind me in their matching mint green school uniforms.

Once I got back home, I sat down to some breakfast and the Great Gatsby.  Jennifer let me know that Vince and Shawn were headed to the village in a few minutes and wondered if I’d like to come along.  Answer: of course! So I hopped in the shower and tagged along for the first viewing of an informative video on the ministries that the Mbale Mission Team supports in a town about 45 minutes from Mbale. 

Shawn Tyler is one of the team leaders of MMT, and was kind enough to teach me quite a lot during the village visit, especially about building construction, which I would now like to pass along to you!  When I first saw a church building out in the village, all I thought was “mud building with doors and glassless windows.”  After a little lesson from Shawn, I now understand that there is a lot more to buildings than that.

First off, the builders use poles cut from trees to make the framework for the walls of the building.  Then they make mud bricks from the surrounding area to set within the wooden poles.  When this first layer is finished, more mud is spread onto the bricks to fill in the cracks.  Then a third application of mud is used for the outer layer.  This mud is taken from a river, where the dirt is finer, and results in a smoother finish. 

The roof of this church was made of iron sheets, provided by New Testament Churches of Christ.  The advantage of iron roofs over grass roofs is they do not need to be replaced every four to six years like grass roofs.  However, they are a lot noisier during the rainy season.  There is a gap of about four to five inches between the roof and the wall; this is to allow the hot air inside the church to rise and leave the building, keeping the congregation much cooler.  Additionally, other vents can be built into the walls if necessary.  There were only two windows in this church, and they were small and high up on the walls.  This is both less expensive and more secure.  There are two doors into the church; one is at the back of the building, to be used by the congregation.  The other is on the side of the church near the front, for the church leaders, pastor, or special guests.  There were no doors on this building, just open doorways, so the location of the entrances are determined by the direction the rains come from.  Since the rain will come from the east (more or less), the congregation’s door faces west to keep the rain out.  The floor is made by mixing mud and cow manure and spreading it over the dirt floor.  While it’s rather smelly at first, over time it hardens and forms a sort of natural linoleum that can be swept up easily and prevents a perpetual dust cloud from residing within the building.

On Saturday, Emily and I took the opportunity to visit the Tyler’s compound to visit their new litter of puppies.  A grand time was had by all, especially the puppies who enjoyed chewing on whatever they could get their sharp little puppy-teeth on.  This weekend is our quarterly meeting, so there are multiple families from teams all over Uganda staying with us until Monday. In preparation for the dinner on Sunday, the teacher house grated 3 wheels of cheese and cooked six pounds of ground beef.  (That’s a lot of cow.)  We had a few friends over for dinner, and played some games in the dark, due to the lack of power.  The president was in town for a few days, and the power company was very careful about keeping the power on while he was here.  Now that he’s left…I doubt they care quite so much.

Anyway, now that we have power again, I can post this blog and show you a picture of the cool lizards we have here! Aren’t they awesome??? This one was probably about a foot long.  We also saw a dead snake that had been hacked to pieces that was over a meter long.  I didn’t take a picture of that.

 

This is a video of me playing with the kids in the village during the eyeglass clinic from a few weeks ago.  Bubbles are super fun, no matter what continent you're on!



Lesson 5: Uganda Grows Super-Onions

         

 So after a month here in Mbale, I’m starting to feel pretty comfortable.  I’m getting into a routine of setting my alarm really early, hitting snooze about three to four times, then rolling out of bed for my morning run.  It’s quite essential to run in the early morning, as it’s ridiculously hot here during the dry season.  So I do my 2ish mile loop of walking and running at about 7 AM.  My goal is to be back up to five miles of running by the end of my stay here and be ready for a 10k once I’m back in the states.  Of course, running here is quite different from running back home.  You share the road with bodas, pikis, cars, other pedestrians…and cows.  A few days ago I ran through the middle of a herd of 25 cows that were ambling along our road.  Not exactly a common occurrence in the States.

            I’m becoming more useful when it comes to planning meals and cooking, although I see no reason to bake anything sweet when our house-worker Irene produces such delicious banana bread.  I’ve learned to follow high altitude baking instructions, as when the air pressure decreases due to the 3800 ft elevation in Mbale, it takes less energy for water molecules to escape their liquid state and turn to water vapor, resulting in a drier baked product.  I’ve also discovered that the onions are much, much stronger here than any I’ve encountered at home.  Chopping for just under 20 seconds had me crying so hard I had to leave the house to get some fresh air.

            I’ve been to the village three times now; once for the eyeglass clinic, once for a funeral, and once to visit a local church on a Sunday.  I’ve eaten quite a lot of rice and beans, g-nut sauce and matooke, as well as goat, which is pretty good.  I’ve sat in on a Tuesday office meeting with the team, and helped our sweet bookkeeper Mary Beth with payday.  I’ve been to every single community Bible study so far, and actually led the discussion this Sunday night.  (I decided we should talk about friendship- this is the clip I showed at the beginning of our discussion. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_NmCh42hZM)  I’ve toured the Good News Productions International office, and this week I hope to sit in on the women’s sewing ministry and get a tour of CURE, which treats Ugandan children for hydrocephalus.  Next month I’ll be helping out with children’s worship at church and teaching a lesson on Jacob, and on Tuesday I’ll add another four students to my classes as the Proctor family returns from Texas to join the Mbale Mission School for the semester.  I guess you could say I’m keeping pretty busy!

            In my spare time, Emily has started to give me violin lessons, which is super tricky.  Now I understand why beginning string players sound so awful.  My hand starts to cramp up when I hold the bow for more than 30 seconds.  Once the container for the Northam family makes it through customs and gets to Mbale, (we’re praying it doesn’t get stuck there for a month) I plan on borrowing the trumpet inside the container and getting my chops back into shape.  I also like to sit around and read, which there’s plenty of titles to choose from in our MMS school library, including a bibliography on Charles Darwin, which I found particularly interesting.

            The photo is of Mt. Wanale, taken from across a field about a half mile from our house.



Lesson 4: Hello, My Name is Mzungu

Tomorrow marks my one-month anniversary of living in Uganda!  I’m happy to report that I love it here, although some parts are more enjoyable than others.  It’s pretty weird being one of the few white people, or mzungu, in the country.  To give you an idea of what it’s like, think about walking from your home to the downtown part of your city.  Imagine walking up and down all the streets.  If you’re lucky, you may see two or three other white people.  Maybe.  On the four hour drive from Kampala to Mbale, I saw one other white person.  It’s very different from anywhere that I’ve been before!

Because we mzungu are so few and far between, we get stared at a lot.  Or, if you go to the market, you receive a lot of attention from people selling things.  Most of the time, as you’re weaving your way through traffic and people’s wares, you’ll be accosted by frequent calls of “Mzungu! Mzungu!” to buy anything from shoes, to pots and pans, to padlocks.  Once, as Jennifer and I were making our way through the market, people guessed that we were from the US, from China, and from India.  What makes this even funnier is that Jennifer is blonde, has freckles, and super curly hair. China? I think not.

Mzungu are shown a great deal of respect here, which sometimes makes us Westerners feel pretty uncomfortable.  For example, during our visits to church out at the village, we are shown the place of honor, right at the front of the church where everyone can see our shining, bright-white faces.  I attended a funeral in the Bududa district with a friend as a cultural experience, and we were shown the places of honor- meaning the older women who were already sitting down near the casket stood up to give us their seat.  Women will also greet you by kneeling to shake your hand.  It’s a very humbling experience to be shown such a great deal of respect by women so much older and wiser than me, simply because I am white.  They live a life so different than mine, and so much more difficult.  I should be getting on my knees to greet them!

Greetings are a huge deal here!  To not greet someone is considered very rude.  The longer you spend greeting someone, the more polite you’re considered to be.  Asking them how they are is the bare minimum; asking about their health, their family, etc., is a nicer greeting.  Handshakes are important; two-handed greetings are more respectful than one-handed greetings.  For example, placing your left hand on your right arm as you shake someone’s hand is a good way to show respect, and waving hello with both hands is friendlier than waving with only one.  I’m getting used to coming to Sunday morning Bible class and shaking hands with everyone in the building!  Not exactly how we do things in the States, but I’m becoming a fan! It’s definitely helped me learn a lot of names.

Church service is similar to that in the states, but in more languages.  We sing songs in English, Swahili, Luganda, Lugisu, and I think in Atesso as well.  I don’t really understand a whole lot yet, but here is one of the songs we sing in Swahili:

Hakuna mungu kama wewe (3x)

Ee we mungu wangu

Na sema, “Asante!” (3x)

Ee we mungu wangu

Translation:

There is no God like you

Yes, you my God

I say, “Thank you!”

Yes, you my God

            Even the English here is different.  Ugandan English actually has its own Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugandan_English).  Some important ones to remember: when giving directions, “turning” is replaced by “branching.”  Also, the word “trousers” is used instead of “pants,” as the latter means underwear.  This made for a hilariously awkward conversation between Jeanie and the tailor. Jeanie asked that her tunic be made a bit short, as she was going to wear pants under it.

            Of course, there are other things that just aren’t quite the same as they are back home.  For one thing, our power likes to go on and off as it pleases.  Our longest power outage since my arrival has been three days, enough to spoil all the food in our fridge and to induce the necessity of a few cold showers.  It’s not so bad though; we have dinner by candlelight and play Canasta.  The thing that drives me crazy about not having power is temporarily losing the ability to look stuff up online, like how much potassium is in a watermelon, the frequencies in Hertz of various music notes, or how to play the cello.

            Once the power came back on, I was able to access the necessary resources to teach science today.  We talked about the changing of the seasons, the tilt of the earth as it orbits the sun…and Groundhog Day!  Only two of the five kids in my science class had heard of Groundhog Day, which I could hardly believe.  We got out the globe, found the approximate location of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania and talked about how Phil would be crawling out of his hole in about four more hours (we’re ahead of Eastern time by 8 hours) and looking around for his shadow.  Then we took great care in creating our groundhog masks to celebrate this wonderful holiday.

A very Happy Groundhog Day from all of us at MMS!