Lesson 15: Sunday School Stars

          On Saturday, April 2^nd Natalie, Jennifer, our guard David and I took a trip just outside of Mbale for a village visit.  We drove for about 30 minutes before we met Benard, one of our guards, by the side of the road.  He then directed us to his church, where we arrived right on time at 10 am.  Of course, this being Uganda, we were the first ones there.  It was a Saturday morning, and so most people were out in the fields working instead of in church.  The few members who were there showed us to the places of honor at the very front of the church, and we were led in some songs of praises until more members came in from the fields.

            After singing, the pastor encouraged the members to share testimonies with the church.  The most interesting testimony came from a boy about 12 years old named Job.  He was a very charismatic little guy with a great smile.  Job praised God for his health, because recently he had been very sick. He was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia, but was now feeling strong and was happy to be in church praising God.  After this, the children’s Sunday School Choir came to the front of the church to sing for us- and we were all blown away!  Job was the leader of the choir- he’s the kid with the amazing voice wearing the blue shirt in the videos.

            In this last video, you can see Job’s acting skills.  Since they sung this song in Luganda, David had to explain to us what was going on in this song.  Job’s character in the song had killed the two boys kneeling in front of the choir because they were following God.  The girls who lifted up the boys were angels who took their bodies up to heaven.  However, Job doesn’t understand what happened and is totally bewildered when he can’t find the bodies.  Interesting kids song, huh?

Lesson 14: Calling All Termites

            On April 1^st, I was able to tag along with my roommate, Natalie, to watch some of her students compete at a track and field day outside of Mbale.  Natalie is the program coordinator at Lulwanda Children’s Home, which cares for over 100 orphaned and abandoned children.  (Check out Natalie’s blog at http://www.natalierolfe.blogspot.com/ and learn more about the Lulwanda Children’s Home at http://www.ugandaorphans.org/about_lulwanda.htm/ .)  On this day, Lulwanda’s best track and field competitors were traveling to a nearby school to run, jump, and shotput their way to victory!

            After giving me a quick tour of the children’s home, Natalie drove her car up to the on-site primary school.  Kids dressed in track uniforms that read “Texas” on the back swarmed around her car and crammed themselves into the backseat, excited for their big day.  We turned onto the main road, talking with the boys about who would run the fastest.  Natalie turned the car onto a side road, and proceeded to drive along one of the worst roads I had yet seen in Uganda.  I think she spent more time driving through the grass fields along the side of the road than on the road itself.  We inched carefully past matooke fields and farmers who waved cheerfully at the car full of African children and two mzungu women until we finally arrived at the school grounds. 

            When you think of a track and field meet in the states, you typically think of a 6 or 8 lane rubber-coated running track, complete with a nicely kept grassy area for field events, and perhaps a set of bleachers.  In Africa, you have a big, flat area with the grass worn where the track is located, and a few lanes spray painted onto the ground for the shorter distance sprints.  At the start of the day, each of the schools had their competitors line up while the officials addressed the crowd.  (They spoke in Luganda, so I had no idea what they said.  It didn’t really matter; most of the kids either couldn’t hear them or weren’t paying attention.)  All the students then sung the national anthem, and then prepared for the first race, which was the senior boy’s 10k, or 25 laps around the track.

            Watching the events was fun, but the best part was watching the onlookers.  Check out this video of the girls cheering for their classmates.

            Sprinting events were exciting to watch.  However, it got a little bit too exciting when the javelin event started.  The javelins were landing uncomfortably close to the crowd.  Thankfully, Natalie convinced the the askari (guard) in charge of maintaining order that the crowds needed to be moved away from the javelin event.  This particular askari kept the kids in order by running around with a switch and threatening to beat the kids with it if they didn’t move.

           

            Long jump was another fun event to observe.  I’ve never watched a long jump competition in the states, but I imagine it would be run a little differently than it is here.  The kids run and jump into a tilled plot of soil similar to in the states so that you can measure the distance from the point of take-off to where they landed.  However, to measure the distance traveled, the “officials” in charge (teachers from various schools) hold a long, crooked stick over the point where the jumper landed, then place a twig with the student’s name on the side of the plot of soil to mark their jump.  Very precise.

            The most interesting part of the day wasn’t even a track and field event- it was the calling of the termites!  At the end of the dry season, after a few rains come and soak the earth, the termites, or “white ants” as they are sometimes called, fly up out of the earth to mate.  In Uganda, termites aren’t so much of a nuisance as they are a snack.  The kids love to eat them, and so they try to encourage the shy termites to come out by calling to them.  Listen to the kids cooing to the bugs in this video:

The kids put pieces of plastic over the termite holes to trap the bugs, then popped them straight into their mouths for a quick and easy snack.  Regretfully, I stuck to less adventurous cuisine that day, so I can’t tell you what termites taste like.

Lesson 13: African Aerobics

           When you spend four months in Uganda, you are presented with some interesting opportunities.  For me, one of the most exciting to date was African aerobics class.

            For those who have never opted to participate in an aerobics class in the states, allow me to take a minute to fill you in.  First off, the class will probably consist of entirely females.  The class will last an hour, consist of a ten minute warm up period, a half-hour work out consisting of either a floor routine, step aerobics, or a combination of the two, followed by mat work or weights, and finally conclude with a ten minute cool down.  The entire class will be set to upbeat remixes of semi-current pop songs, and your instructor will typically take great care in calling out the upcoming moves.  That’s the typical American aerobics experience.

            Hop on a plane, jet across the Atlantic, and make your way to Mt. Elgon Hotel’s African version of aerobics, Mondays through Thursdays starting at 6:30 PM.  While your plane ticket may cost 2,500 US dollars, you’ll only pay 5,000 Ugandan shillings for this incredibly rigorous workout. (That’s less than 2.50 US dollars.)  When you enter the thatched-roof dining room, be prepared to start right away, because there is no warm-up included in this program.  As you start a step-touch routine, you’ll notice that the number of men in the room greatly outnumber the women.  You’ll also notice that the music being played is Christian worship and praise songs sung in English, and the tempo is somewhere between 20 and 40 beats per minute faster than any workout music used in North America.

            Now that you’re starting to work up a sweat doing the step-touch, pay special attention to your instructor.  Can you figure out what he’s saying? Neither can I.  You will hear him yell out a series of numbers in English that may or may not have any meaning.  You will also hear him say the word, “Loop! Loop!” multiple times, which means he’s going to start doing some ridiculous turning step that will be repeated so many times you’ll want to puke before he decides you should perform the step the same number of times in the opposite direction.

            Once you get into the groove of a certain step, you may notice that the power has gone out, meaning you and the fifteen other aerobicizers will be left grape-vining in the dark with no music.  Don’t worry, your instructor will yell out for you to continue as he fumbles around in the dark, waiting for the generator to kick on, at which point the lights will come on and the music will resume.  Also, do not be alarmed if the instructor gets tired and leaves the room for some fresh air, or to take a phone call.  Simply continue doing whatever you were doing.  He’ll be back soon!

            All in all, I've greatly enjoyed this unique opportunity to experience aerobics abroad.  It's a great workout, and I love going with my roommate on Thursday nights!  I would definitely recommend Mt. Elgon aerobics to anyone looking to get in shape!

Lesson 12: Ronda alla Kenya

            

           Up to this weekend, the closest I’ve ever been to a rainforest was Rainforest Café.  Although being surrounded by animatronic gorillas and experiencing a “rainstorm” every 20 minutes can be fun, the real thing is by far much more exciting.

            This week, all the women on the Mbale Mission Team packed up for the week, left the kids with the guys and drove across the border to the Kakamega rainforest in Kenya for a women’s retreat.  After five hours of driving along pot hole infested roads, stopping for potty breaks and waiting at the border for an hour, we arrived at the Rondo Retreat center just in time for lunch during an impressive downpour.  It was absolutely incredible!  We were served an amazing roasted-tomato pasta dish in a beautiful dining room while the skies unburdened themselves for about 30 minutes.  It was raining so hard you almost had to yell to be heard from across the table!  After the rain stopped, the sun immediately came out and we were free to wander around.  

           I felt like I was Eve in the garden of Eden- except I was fully clothed.  The grounds looked immaculate, with gorgeous trees and flowers popping up all over the place.  The scent of fresh rain was more fragrant than any fabric softener I’ve ever purchased by the same name.  There were short walking paths venturing into the forest, leading to small waterfalls and fish ponds.  While you were walking, you could observe butterflies, birds, and even monkeys!

 

          These colobus monkeys were enjoying their lunch and kindly agreed to get together for a group photo. 

       The second morning of our retreat, I joined veteran bird-watcher Linda and our guide, Ben, for a bird walk.  I’ve never tried bird watching before, but I figured it would be a shame to pass up the opportunity.  It was so cool!  We walked around the paths in the forest just outside of the retreat center.  Ben knew the name of every single bird we saw.  Even if he couldn’t see the bird, he could identify it by its call.  He could even imitate birds and call them over to us!   Once I got the hang of the binoculars, I managed to spot a whole bunch of birds.  I can’t find our exhaustive list from this week, but here are some sketches and a few names of what we saw:

After the bird walk the same day, we took a hike up an extinct volcano in the middle of the rainforest.  Hiking was a bit exhausting- not that the terrain was difficult, but the altitude of more than 1530 meters/5020 feet meant oxygen wasn’t exactly as plentiful as I was used to.  Going through the forest was beautiful and quite informative.  Ben was our guide again, and pointed out many different plants that were used for medicinal purposes.  He even showed us a leaf with a super rough texture that’s used as sandpaper!

            The hill itself was quite steep, but the hike was well worth it.   The top is a great place to look out on the entire Kakamega rainforest.  Nutrients from the volcanic soil have been washed off the hill, so the larger trees don’t grow there, meaning there’s nothing much to obstruct the view.  Check it out!

     All in all, it was quite a wonderful week.  If you ever find yourself in Kenya, go check out the Rondo Retreat Center!  I guarantee that you'll love it!

Lesson 11: Mawadge is wot bwings us togeder tooooday…

Today I attended my very first African wedding!  It made me very glad the wedding I will be a part of in May is an American wedding.  They’re much more expedient.

            I’ll take this opportunity to fill you in on some cultural East African stuff that may (or may not) help you understand why weddings are so different.  First off, Americans with a western mindset are time oriented.  When you plan a time to meet, you mean that precise time.  If worship starts at 10 AM, the song leader starts worship at 10 AM.  When you get a wedding invitation in the states, you know precisely what time the ceremony will start (and you wouldn’t dare be late to a wedding).  Africans approach time quite differently.  They are more event-oriented than time-oriented.  If worship starts at 10 AM, you can show up at 11, or 12…or a little later than that.  As long as you were at church for part of the service, even just the tail end, it still counts as “going to church.”  Things don’t necessarily start at the time previously agreed upon; it starts when everyone gets there.  Part of this is due to the unreliable transport available here.  Very few individuals are wealthy enough to own their own car.  Most people depend on catching a boda or piki, or walking.  The other reason to wait until people are there is that…well, if no one’s here, no one is ready to get started! It’s quite simple!

            Today’s wedding was scheduled to start at 10 AM.  But no one was actually there when it started.  In fact, the groom didn’t get there until about 1 PM.  We stayed home until we got a text at noon from our friend who was the wedding photographer.  She told us the groom was on his way and the bride was about 15 minutes away, so we safely beat both the groom and bride to the church.  When we pulled up to the church, we were still one of the first people there and were able to select some excellent seats from which to watch the proceedings.  As we sat and waited for things to get started, we attempted to carry on a conversation while shouting over the music blaring through the church’s sound system.  That’s another difference between African weddings and American ones: they’re extremely loud.

            While waiting for the groom to arrive, the minister of the Mbale Church of Christ got up and made his first speech of the day (I lost count of how many he made in all), and then encouraged someone in the congregation to lead us in praise songs.  One of the ladies of the congregation, Jennifer, started leading us in “This Is the Day That the Lord Has Made.”  We were doing just fine singing unaccompanied; however, in keeping with the African Loud Wedding theme, the man running the sound turned on a drum beat using the church’s keyboard…the tempo he selected was about 40 beats per minute faster than what we were singing.  We kept our original rhythm for awhile, completely at odds with the drum beat, until the guy turned on the keyboard and started playing some pre-recorded loop of music in a completely random key.  It was absolute musical chaos!  Jennifer was leading a call-and-answer song, and struggled to shout above the drum beat and random keyboard piece.  The congregation was shouting back to Jennifer over the keyboard blasting away through the sound system, and the guy in charge of sound was totally oblivious to the fact that the key we were singing and the key of the keyboard were completely at odds!  But everyone was having a great time!  One of the team members (a music major) made us all laugh by commenting we should all pray for the power to go out!  Eventually we started a new song that more or less fit the key of whatever was coming out of the sound system, and everyone had a great time clapping their hands and dancing around until the bride and groom finally arrived.

            The groom was escorted in by a mob of people, which I think was comprised of church and family members.  I took a short video of this part of the ceremony.  Everyone was just so happy!  The music was blaring, and people were free to clap and dance and ululate to their heart’s content!  It was much more animated than any wedding ceremony I’ve attended state-side.  The groom and his family were seated, more speeches were made, and eventually the bride arrived.  It took her about 15 minutes to actually make it from her vehicle to the front of the church building, mostly because she and her party had to perform a special “bridal walk,” which can be described as walking as slowly and as rhythmically as possible.  She was beautiful in a white gown with a long train that was constantly being adjusted and straightened out by her very attentive bridal attendant.  Once she finally made it to the front of the church, everyone was seated for another round of speeches, and then the minister delivered a short sermon and proceeded with the vows.  It took them a while to get out of the church building, and everyone went over the reception area for more speeches. 

I left before the actual reception was finished.  Here’s a timeline of how the wedding went:

10 AM: “start”

12 PM: Most mzungu arrive, some Africans already present

1 PM: Groom arrives

2 PM: Bride arrives

2:30 PM: Ceremony starts

3:00 PM: Vows completed, ceremony ends

4:00 PM: Bride and groom arrive at reception for more speeches

4:30 PM: Cutting of the cake

5:00 PM: Elise sneaks out because they’re still doing more speeches and gift giving, and she’s getting hungry.

All in all, it was a great afternoon.  Hooray for holy matrimony!

Lesson 10: Water Conservation as a Necessity

I believe this is my eleventh week in the Pearl of Africa.  We’re still in the dry season, although we are all eagerly anticipating the arrival of the rains.  Various people around town speculate that the rains will come late, which means a draught and bad news bears for everybody, especially the farmers here in Uganda.  The past week, many team members had problems with their water supply.  The houses here in Senior Quarters have water tanks filled by the main line, along with one or two taps directly linked to the main line. This makes it easy to check if you have water or not.  Lack of water is a pain.  You can’t wash your hands, you can’t take a shower, you can’t even flush your toilets without a significant amount of extra work.  When the water is off, you fill jerry cans full of water wherever you can get it.  For team members, that meant visiting our school house and filling their jerry cans at our outside tap.  The teacher house is at the bottom of a hill in Senior Quarters, so we enjoy a more dependable supply of water with better water pressure.  Our waterless team members can then ration out their jerry cans for cooking, handwashing, and toilet flushing.  Other families had water flowing through the main line, but didn’t have sufficient pressure for their water tanks to be filled.  This issue could be solved by hiring someone to climb the ladder to their water tank and fill it with jerry cans by hand, or by hiring the fire department to fill their tank for them.

Of course, the mzungus have it easy compared to many Ugandans.  While taking a piki to church for choir practice, I passed a woman balancing a 20-liter jerry can full of water on her head.  It was lacking a cap, so she had stuck a banana in the opening to prevent the precious liquid from sloshing out.  She had a small child strapped to her back, and was carrying a bag over her shoulder, slowly making her way up the hill.  It is incredible what I can take for granted, both in America and living here.  I expect water to flow out of my shower head at a certain rate and at a certain temperature; anything variance and my day is off to a bad start.  Living here and seeing the hardships all around me is definitely a humbling experience.

Lesson 9: Ding Dong, the Rat Is Dead!

Sunday morning started with me discovering a dead rat in our kitchen sink.  BLEAH.  I’m having difficulty finding the right words to describe just how horribly affronted I was that this unwelcome rodent had the audacity to crawl into our sink and die there…anyway, at least the thing is finally dead.  We have Natalie to thank for that one; she purchased a new rat poison by the name of “Rat Tears.”  The peanut butter flavor variety was highly effective, I suppose.

So about halfway through my visit here in Uganda, I finally got a chance to sit down with one of the team leaders for my cultural orientation.  In a way, it’s helpful to wait a while before experiencing this orientation.  This way, you get to observe and process things, and also hear other people’s stories.  These events suddenly make much more sense in the light of the information you glean during the orientation. 

After two months of living here, I thought I was starting to get the hang of how things worked.  I mean, obviously there are differences between an American and a Ugandan, but we’re still people.  Surely we have some common ground; the same physical need for food and water, the need to be loved and accepted, a desire to belong, etc.  About four minutes into the cultural orientation, my view of American/Western culture and East African culture was blown wide open. 

Let’s start with communication.  First of all, there are dozens of different languages spoken in Uganda.  Of all of these languages, I know about three useful phrases in Swahili, which is spoken more in Kenya than Uganda.  I was given a sheet with common phrases in six of the more commonly spoken languages here in Mbale.  Take a look at Luganda:

Wasuze otya, Ssebo? (How did you sleep, sir?)

Osiibye otya, Nyabo? (How is the day, madam?)

Nsanyuse okukulaba (I’m happy to see you)

            When I attempt to muddle my way through these greetings, it sounds something like “Waaaah-sooo-zay oat-yah, saaaaay-boh?” When I asked for some help from friends at choir practice, their greeting sounds like, “Wasoozotiasaybo?”  I don’t know where that “e” at the end of “wasuze” went, but apparently it’s not essential for a proper greeting.  This makes me very appreciative of all the Ugandans who have learned to speak English.

            Now, let’s talk about style of communication.  Think for just a minute of what makes a “good communicator” from a Western mindset.  I think of someone who can clearly state their opinion.  They don’t confuse their listener, and they are direct in their requests, sometimes taking great pains to ensure they are properly understood.  They are also succinct; I tend to be easily annoyed by individuals who talk and talk and talk and take too long to get to the point.  In African culture, direct communication is viewed as brash, rude, and detrimental to the relationship of the person you are communicating with.  All demands and requests are “hidden” in indirect communication.  Africans tend to talk around the subject at hand; it is the responsibility of the listener to decode the message and decipher the true meaning behind the speaker’s words.  Indirect communication may drive Westerners crazy, but for Africans, it is a high art form. 

            Part of the reason behind all this indirect communication is the different ways Westerners and Africans view relationships.  Westerners tend to value truth above relationships; we want to know the truth, no matter how bad it hurts.  Africans value the appearance of the relationship.  If the truth is going to upset a friend, they will lie to preserve that relationship.  For example, if a worker is raking leaves outside the house and accidentally breaks a window pane with the end of their rake.  If you storm outside and yell, “What did you do?!,” they will lie to you.  They think you are angry, and they don’t want you to be angry at them for what happened- that would damage the relationship.  Instead, they may tell you that a kid threw a rock at your window and broke it, but they chased them away.  To an African mind, telling the truth means upsetting you and threatening the status of your relationship.  They lie preserves the appearance of a happy relationship.

            Now think about how just these two differences affect communication between a Westerner and an African.  (And these are just two differences! There are so many more!)  The amount of lies and omitted information make it nearly impossible for the newbie missionary to fully understand what is going on.  You must constantly evaluate what “cultural lenses” you are using the view the situation, because they are most certainly going to be different from the cultural lenses of an African.  Even after just these two examples of culture differences, I hope you can begin to grasp what a difficult task working as a missionary here in Uganda can be.

            

On a lighter note, I’ve included a wonderful letter the teachers received from one of our youngest pupils.  Annalise wrote us a letter (delivered to us in the form of a paper airplane) during our Wednesday night devo after she had received her report card.  I guess she thought it would be appropriate for her to return the favor and report on the school  before her family took a few days off for vacation.   

Also, the additional picture is of the waterfall at the top of Mt. Wanale.  Emily and I climbed Wanale for the second time this week.  We climbed it in a much shorter span of time and were considerably less sore than after last week's hike!