Fun family adventures resume!

                It’s been two months since either Muigai or I have traveled outside of Kampala, a record since we arrived in Uganda!  It’s been nice having a small break from our “fun family adventures,” but this month we are hitting the road again.  We spent the day in Masaka yesterday (about 3 hours south of Kampala) and will be headed to Jinja (less than 2 hours) in the upcoming weeks.  In addition, Muigai will travel to Soroti (about 6 hours north) and also Hoima (3 hours west).  Then, in mid July we head to the US for three weeks!

                This was our second time traveling to Masaka, and there is something about this region of Uganda that I love, so I was looking forward to the visit.  We have a strong partnership with the Catholic Diocese, and one of the Fathers, Father Peter Paul, is a good friend and advisor of MCC. 

                The reason we were traveling to Masaka is to meet the host family of one of our volunteers who will be arriving in August.  We have a one year volunteer program for young single adults where they volunteer with one of our partners in Uganda and live with a local host family.  One goal of the program is to enable our volunteers to really immerse in the culture and understand what life is like in that context.

So early yesterday morning we strapped the kids into their seats and headed off to Masaka.

We stopped for a quick breakfast of katogo along the way…katogo is cooked banana stew with beef and rice, a common breakfast in the central region of Uganda.

Nathan waiting for his breakfast

Masaka town

We passed through the main town of Masaka and drove about 20 minutes into rural Masaka where we met Rose, a retired schoolteacher who will be hosting our volunteer.  Hospitality is extremely important, especially in the rural areas, and we quickly realized we shouldn’t have stopped for breakfast along the way.  Rose gave us each two bananas, a bread roll, a large queen cake (like a muffin), two hard boiled eggs, and a large mug of tea!  This was meant to be a mid morning snack, not a meal.




Rose has several agricultural projects on her land, including fruit and vegetable drying (with a solar dehydrator), rain water harvesting, chicken rearing, and pig rearing.  Natalie, who loves being outside, was in her element and happily entertained seeing the animals and playing outside while the adults talked.

Rose's compound

Piglets - Natalie and Nathan had a great time chasing them and trying to catch them but the piglets were too fast

Playing with a "ball" made from plastic bags and string

After visiting with Rose, we went to the Diocese for lunch and then visited the school where our volunteer will be working.  St Jude's Secondary School is only two years old and struggles with a lack of resources, but the staff are committed to building and improving the school regardless of the challenges. 

St Jude's Secondary School

After that we packed everyone back in the car and headed back home to Kampala, passing through the equator on the way back. 

I don't know what I was thinking wearing a white shirt to the village!  We were all covered in dust by the end of the day

Things I'm learning in Uganda #7 - Dancing is always appropriate!

      One thing that I love about Ugandan culture is the way that music is so seamlessly incorporated into so many aspects of life.  Singing and dancing are a part of most occasions, regardless of how serious.  As somebody who is musically challenged (at least when it comes to singing) I appreciate the complete lack of self consciousness associated with singing and dancing and the related lack of biting and sarcastic comments about other's abilities.  Music and dancing are joyful, community activites that everyone should join in regardless of their ability, and everyone is too busy enjoying the moment to analyze the skills or lack of skills in others.

      A great example of how music is incorporated into various occasions was at our recent Annual General Meeting.  Two of our partners, Susan and Solomon, have done some singing together and have even created a CD.  They had an opportunity to share a song with us to close the meeting which included a lot of energetic traditional dancing from their region.  Everyone clapped along and cheered, and I couldn't help but think how something like this would be so out of place in an Annual General Meeting in the US.  But here, in Uganda, where dancing is always appropriate, it was the perfect way to end our meeting. 

Crazy cat video and the kids

I was planning to write about the final storyteller from our AGM, a shy, motivated, and intelligent Ik girl who was awarded a full scholarship to a University in Kampala, but I left my notes in the office.  So instead, enjoy this short video of our crazy cat.

This video makes Natalie laugh and laugh.  Our cat will attack anything that moves.  Two days ago I found a lizard head on our carpet.  Just the head.  I’ve found two squirming lizard tails in the past week and she also attacked a bird recently, leaving feathers all over our dining room.  Crazy cat.

And a few recent pictures of the kids:

Nathan’s favorite thing these days is music, and every time he enters the sitting room he heads straight to the CD player and turns on a CD, then he and Natalie dance and laugh together. 

Our church recently had a special service at the beach, so here is a picture of Natalie with Lake Victoria in the background.

 

Surprising storytellers

   As I was busy trying to get the laptop and projector set up for our Annual General Meeting, I noticed two young girls enter the room and head toward the back.  I was surprised to see them because the meeting was for our partners, who are all adults, and I was curious about who they were and why they were there.  I was even more surprised when I found out that they had offered to come share their stories as beneficiaries of Mengo's HIV/AIDS Clinic.  Here are their stories:

Monica (left) is currently 13 years old and is in seventh grade.  As a young child, she was thin, had a poor appetite, and was generally very sickly.  One day her mother took her to Mengo to be tested for HIV and she tested positive with a very low CD4 count.  Her mother explained to her what it meant to be HIV positive, and started taking her to Mengo regularly for treatment.  She also joined the Mengo clinic's childrens club and Mengo sponsored her and paid her school fees all the way from first until seventh grade.  In Monica's words, after several years of treatment she is now, "healthy, good looking, and ok."  Her advice to us?  "Everyone should go and get tested.  If they are positive, they should take good care of themselves.  If young children are positive, they should give them treatment and take good care of them."

Asumpta (right) is 15 years old and is an orphan.  Her father died when she was only 2 years old, and her mother died when she was 4 years old.  After her parents died, Asumpta and her siblings went to live with her uncle and his family.  When her sister noticed she was sick all the time, she took Asumpta to Mengo where she tested positive for HIV.  She was enrolled in their program and started taking ARVs.  Once she started treatment, she stopped getting sick, was able to attend school regularly, and joined the adolescents club at Mengo for HIV positive teenagers where she learned that "it's not a crime to be positive."  Through the adolescent club, she has learned skills, gained self confidence, and has learned how to live positively.

I was so inspired by the courage and confidence displayed by these young women.  In Uganda, HIV/AIDS is still stigmatized and many people are ashamed to share their status with their spouses and families, let alone in public (I did get their permission to share their names and picture).  For these two young teenagers to share their stories with a room full of adults was both inspiring and surprising.  We are grateful for the work that Mengo has been doing to restore the health and give hope and encouragement to young women like Monica and Asumpta.