How I am Finding Life in Uganda

There are some things I’ve noticed that just work differently here in Uganda…
When traveling there are no fast food restaurants to eat at; instead, you pull over on the side of the road and buy chicken on a stick and/or whatever else they are trying to shove in your window.
When taking a bus from one place to another, it doesn’t stop at gas stations for toilet breaks; instead it pulls over at the side of the road and folks just get off and take care of things there.
Traffic laws are more like guidelines.
…except that the bigger object gets the right of way (i.e. a bicycle over a pedestrian or a truck over an SUV)
Remember to get toilet paper from the dispenser on the wall outside of the stall before going inside the stall.
Expect to hear “Mzungu! Mzungu!...” many times when leaving the compound.
Locking the door is a 3 minute process. Deadbolts? No. We use 3 hefty masterlocks. Slam the mini hand door shut and shove 2 iron latches into place using all our might then lock each. Unlocking it can be longer, depending on how long it takes to find the keys and then match them to the correct lock. This is a loud, long, strenuous process.
Greetings are important. A greeting can last 30 minutes. How is you? How is the day? What do you go by? How is your family? Where are you coming from? What are you doing in Uganda? How are you finding Uganda? You are most welcome here. How long have you been? You shall extend your stay? Where are you going just now? I shall escort you. To Africans, this is friendly... not at all sketchy.
Even government buildings can be dark and sketchy. There may only be a sign above the door at the end of a dark hallway that merely says, "Immigration Services"
African English uses more present tense verbs where they don’t really seem to fit. Example: “Are you having any room?” instead of “Are there any rooms available?” or “Are you knowing?” instead of “Do you know?”
In Mbale eating out is a 2 hour process, at least. Yes, even for beans and rice.
Don’t have high expectations. For example, don’t expect to have power so that when you do it is a pleasant surprise. Or, don’t expect the store to have something so that when you get there and they say “It is finished” (“We’re out of that”) there is no let down.
Everything takes longer here. Everything.
Instead of security systems, there will be a person sitting outside the door with a big machine gun. If it’s a really nice place, there may be more guards stationed throughout the store with batons.
Machetes are used to cut the grass.
Thus, seeing huge guns and machetes everywhere daily is no longer surprising.
Imported American cereal costs around $7, if not more.
To do laundry you must factor in weather, power, and time. Is the power on so that I can wash? When does it seem like it’s going to rain today so I can be sure to take my clothes off the line? Even just filling the water in the machine takes a while. It’s kinda like a whole day process.
Make sure the water filter is always full and that the filtered water container stays full.
Going to the mall, movies, and grocery store in Kampala is really exciting.
Make sure to have a flashlight nearby at night. Also, use one when walking from the light switch to the bed at night so that I can get my mosquito net tucked and placed just right.
Planning to go out to dinner involves many plans to make sure we’re not out when it’s dark without a ride.
When going into the bathroom, watch out for frogs. When opening doors, watch out for falling geckos. Also look out for jumping spiders, spiders, roaches, and bugs of all sorts. There is always something crawling on the wall or flying around the room. If it’s big, assume it’s a gecko (or at least hope so).
If you have a fear of bugs, get over it and smash them, esp. mosquitoes.
My roommates and I are so used to not having T.V. that even when we do, we sit and talk or sit in silence staring at a blank screen.
Exchanging money through a barred window in a shop run by Indians that sells… ? (tin or eighteen other things) is no longer shady. It’s normal. And, when the exchange rate goes up, the whole team gets an SMS (text message).
Our team communicates more through text messaging than any other form when not physically together.
Movies purchased in Uganda are bootleg. Despite selling bootleg copies everywhere, the guard at the door of the movie theatre has to take any cameras and store them in another room while you watch a movie. And, even the bootleg copies have a little blip about piracy sometimes…?
Bicycles can be used to transport anything. Need to get a stack of 10 mattresses somewhere? Need to transport a tank (or 3) or petrol? Need to transport a coffin? A family of 4? Yep… anything.
Life works at a different pace in Africa. Slower.
The phrases “That’s so African” or “This is Africa” make complete sense to me and I say them daily, at times multiple times within one day.
“You (Westerners) have watches, but you have no time.”
Uganda is indescribably beautiful. God often reminds me when I look out my window just how awesome He is. I look at the mountains or the greenery or the bright blue sky and think, “I can’t believe I live here.” More often than not, the beauty of the land and the beauty of the people make the above differences feel more like an adventure than an annoyance or inconvenience. It’s not better one way or another; it’s just different. As you can see, I’m adjusting more to the culture here… or at least, learning better how to function in it.

Actually caught up

I didn’t have any excursions this past week, but there has been a lot going on within the team. Several of our team members joined a group from the States for a survey trip to Sudan where they also taught a course (not sure the topic). The group that flew in is considering mission work in Sudan; since some of our team is familiar with that particular area, they guided the trip, so to speak. They are all supposed to get to Mbale Tuesday evening. I haven’t heard much about the trip other than the class went well and they’ve been safe. There is always something going on here, either emotionally with various team members or trips or visitors. It’s never boring, and I don’t think there is ever a “settling down” of things for the team. This week in school is midterm (already?) and the week after that is fall break. All of my students are going to have tests this week (that I need to be writing) and I have things to grade so that I can calculate grades. After fall break I’ll be starting new topics with each class… though I’m not sure what exactly yet for most of them. I am looking forward to break. Two of the teachers and I are hoping to go to Gulu for most of the week. We’re gonna spend some time in Kampala where we can go see a movie and go to the mall (that has a bookstore!). The aunt of two of my students lives in Gulu and works with a few different non-profits there. I called her a couple of weeks ago and she was very excited about us coming. That night, however, her father passed away. My students’ mother hasn’t returned from Gulu yet, so I don’t know what our plans will be yet. When I talked to her we talked about us helping out at a school for orphans (over 1,000 students) and visiting an IDP camp. She said there is an endless list of things we can do there. Whatever we’re interested in there is something there that we can do relating to that. If we don’t go over fall break, I plan to go the next chance I get. I am really excited about going. I know the trip will be extremely difficult emotionally, but worth it. My students’ mother said that everyone should go there to experience first-hand the heart-break and devastation in the area; she said it is very heart-wrenching. The other two I am going with don’t know much at all about the area or the history, so I am doing what I can to prepare and educate them. I’d like to go by the Invisible Children office there, too… but we’ll see. Of course I can’t say for sure, but I doubt this will be my only trip to Gulu. I can’t begin to describe how cool it is that I’ll be able to serve for a short amount of time in the area that re-ignited and reminded me of my passion for Africa 3 years ago. God’s plans are so cool. If we don’t end up going this time, though, I have faith that God will use the week for great purpose, even if it is just rest and a short trip to Kampala.
Please pray for me as a teacher to serve my students with joy the best that I can; pray for my students’ family in Gulu that I mentioned (the Mutonos); pray for our trip to Gulu; pray for us to empty ourselves so that God can fill us with his Spirit so that we may humbly do the work of His plan. Also, I’m beginning to feel a bit homesick. I’m not near the point of wanting to give up and go home, but I am frustrated with various things and I miss home. Please pray for me and the situation. It may sound odd, but I truly do feel the prayers of those who go to God on my behalf and I cannot begin to express what that means to me.

Sunflowers

On Saturday the 4th, I went out to a village with Heidi. Heidi works with the woman’s ministry here and goes out to different villages nearly every day to teach them. I tagged along to see what she does, visit another village, and be around Africans. That particular day she was teaching them about greed, which is a difficult thing to teach here for multiple reasons. There were about 15 women there and that was a pretty decent number. Heidi taught her lesson and Beatrice translated for her. She has different translators for the various regions since there are so many languages spoken around here. I didn’t have much interaction with the ladies she taught because just after she finished they brought us our food for us to eat by ourselves. In some areas around here the custom is to leave the visitors to eat privately so that they do not feel embarrassed to eat as much as they want. In other areas, the hosts will join the visitors… just varies. Although I wasn’t there long, I really enjoyed the morning. The drive out to the village was beautiful… completely indescribable. There were fields of huge sunflowers. Heidi and I decided to trudge through a muddy field with lots of underbrush to get to the field that was just across from the church. I fell, walked out of mu shoe because it stuck in mud, and we were both covered in needles from one of the plants in the underbrush we trudged through. Pretty much it was all for a picture, but it was fun. We definitely provided entertainment for the Ugandans that watched us wondering what the mzungus were doing. It was also a great morning getting to spend time with another teammate and get to know her better. Relationships with team members are beginning to deepen and I am very thankful to be part of a really great team.
More falling geckos… last week at our community ladies’ Bible study two geckos suddenly fell from the wall and landed on Melissa’s head. She immediately jumped up because she didn’t know what it was. One of the geckos clung onto her long hair as she swung it around trying to get it out. Eventually they both scattered away and we refocused on our study. You never know what’s gonna come falling down on you or flying at you or crawling on you or what you’re gonna step in here… kind of a metaphor for life here, too.

Like cold water to a weary soul

Sunday the 28th I went to church with Ian in one of the villages outside of Mbale. It was the first time I’d been to a village here. Much like AIDS orphans day I felt very at peace sitting in church with the Africans. Our church in Mbale is great, but it has a lot of Western influence. An African couple and a Kenyan man that is a student at MTI went with us. The Ugandan woman sat next to me and translated songs and various other things for me. That was nice to know what they were singing, even though I couldn’t sing with them. It is so beautiful to listen to people praise God in a foreign tongue (or several as is the case around here) and look out beyond a church building that is nothing more than a thatch roof and supporting logs to focus on God’s beautiful creation. One thing I must say about Uganda is that is a very beautiful land. I try to keep these things in mind and remain aware of God’s awesome presence when I get fidgety sitting on a wooden bench a couple of inches off the ground because the service is so long and half in a language I don’t know. This particular Sunday was a special day. We had a few boxes of bibles from the World Bible Translation Center to give out and a few churches had gathered at this church to receive new Bibles. It was such a humbling experience to be a part of. The people were so grateful for new Bibles. The preacher at that church really needed a new Bible; sections of his blew away as we were sitting in church. Many of the people either had no Bible or had one much like the preacher’s. They were so grateful. I have 3 Bibles that I brought with me… we all have many Bibles at home and they are so easy for us to get. Here, people in general don’t have that kind of access. It was humbling. One lady even did the excited yell thing that Africans do (I don’t know how to describe it for those of you who have no idea what I am talking about). I love to hear them do this. I said I was going to learn how to do it before I left Mozambique, but I didn’t. Though it won’t be the same at all as hearing an African, I still plan to learn how to do it. The day was not a typical service at all (I was told), but it was still so great to go out to a village and worship there. After church, they feed all the visitors (including the visiting preachers) a really nice meal that was actually quite good. It was a good morning. “Like cold water to a weary soul / is good news from a distant land.” Pr 25:25

de Nile

On the 15^th of September some others and I went to Jinja for the day. We took a private hire taxi to get there (took about 2 hours or so). We went mainly to get out of Mbale for the day and go to the craft market there. There is a much better craft market in Jinja than in Mbale. We ate at the Source Café, which is run by the CofC team in Jinja. There is so much more craft stuff here than what I saw in Mozambique. I didn’t buy lots of things, but I did see a ton that I want to get before I go home. For the most part, the afternoon was rather uneventful and it was nice to get out of Mbale for the day. On our way back we decided to go to the source of the Nile River. It was overcast and started to rain while we were there, but it was still beautiful. Julie and I are planning on rafting the Nile at some point… kinda scary, but should be fun. As of now, we don’t know when we’re going to do it. We want to find more people to do it with us and most people on our team or that we know in town have already done it or just don’t want to. I don’t have much to say about the day, but I wanted to at least mention it. It was way cool to go to the source of the Nile. And, it will be way cool to say I’ve rafted the Nile. On our way back, it was raining very hard. The a/c unit in our taxi didn’t work, which meant that the defrost was useless. The windshield stayed fogged up most of the way home. I tried to wipe it off with a conga pretty frequently, but it didn’t seem to help much. I was very thankful when we the sun came out a bit and we could see through the windshield. The driver didn’t slow down much at all for the rain (and lack of vision of the road). I’m pretty sure we were all praying very hard silently that God would get us safely back to Mbale. Our driver decided to stop and buy dinner for his family on the way back. He got some fish. This isn’t too odd, except that he hung it from the front of the car on the way back… at least we didn’t have the fishy smell in the car.