So this morning when Mary brought breakfast up she had cold milk. The milk was boiled last night, and then in the fridge over night. That was a very nice surprise. The aforementioned milk actually came from our cows out at the farm. That is kind of exciting.
The plowing is nearly finished (they plow it once, wait a week, then plow it again) so late this week or next week we/I will be planting the test plots int he "gardens." There aren't fields here they are all gardens. That is also exciting.
Today I am meeting with 2 groups of young people age 17-24. We will be doing a small group bible study/ discipleship class for the rest of my time in Mbale. I am rather excited about this. This is what I've really the sort of thing that I have wanted to get started since I arrived here. This week is not when I would have really chosen to start it, since I'm trying very hard to get my sermons written for next week. I have one finished. If you would like to read through it to see what you think/provide ideas I'd be most happy to let you do so.
Also I have found out that when I was in Entebbe I did not talk to/fill out the paperwork with the correct people. This is not so excellent. The people we talked to claimed they were the right people, but then called me again yesterday saying I need to do different paperwork. This might mean that I must travel back to Entebbe again.
On Sunday Mary's church was an interesting experience. We got out of the taxi along the main road, and then walked straight up those very large hills. We then hike for about 3 kilometers. Then once I was very hot and sweaty we arrived at church to which we were late. We had missed the bible study portion. Which started at 9. I arrived at about 10:15. We then entered praise and worship portion. The singing and dancing lasted about an hour. Then there were 3 separate choirs. Each sang one song. Then we went to "intercession" where everyone prays for about 15 minutes. This is not the standard congregational prayer in the US where that pastor prays for the congregation. Everyone is standing up, walking around, and praying out loud. Sometimes yelling and or crying.
Then we hiked 2/3 of the way down and we ate at the house of Moses. Moses is a convert from Islam. He has 3 wives, and one of his wives has 10 children. I don't know about the others. "We don't often count children."
We then got down to the road. Got a car to take us back to Mbale. We had a journey of about 40 minutes ahead of us. Mary and I were sharing a bucket seat in the front. I was leaning over at about a 45 degree angle leaning against the driver's seat. In this way all of my weight was on about 2 inches of seat. My leg went numb in about 10 minutes. When we got to Mbale this caused a bit of an issue. I thought it was asleep, but I did not realize the extent to which it was numb. I stood up, but could not get my leg to stay straight at the knee or the ankle. Then, at the perfect moment I got a head-rush so that I could no longer really think straight either, so focusing on staying upright did not occur. I the fell flat on my face. Which I'm sure was a rather hysterical moment of all of those who were there to watch. They probably thought, "Wow what has that crazy mzungu been drinking?!" I tore a hole in the knee of my trousers. I also was bleeding some. I then proceeded to Calvary Temple where I preached for the second time that day. This time to the youth there. That was a pretty good time. Some of these youth will be the ones with which I will be working this afternoon. (Mom, this sentence originally ended with "with" but I corrected it just for you.)
Okay, I feel as if I have rambled sufficiently to make you fall asleep, I have decided my blog is perfect for just before going to bed. You can use it this way, also as bed time stories for children. Although they won't like it because it will bore them, but if you keep reading they'll be dead asleep in no time.
I must now get to work on my sermons. I have decided I MUST finish one per day this week. I did this yesterday, but I had that one 1/2 done to begin with. So I better get to it if I'm going to make it for the rest of the week.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Warning... This is a long one.
SO, I have not written for almost a week. Sorry about that. I actually was doing stuff this week.
Sunday I had a journey to Kapchorwa. That was pretty fun. The word Kapchorwa actually means home of friends. This was a rather apt name for the place. The people there were excellent. The views were quite awesome. The Mt Elgon National Forest/Park thing starts right there and goes over into Kenya. The service was rather long. We were there for 3 hours before I started teaching. The service was roughly 5 and a halfish hours. Then when we were leaving we met 3 young fellows who are aspiring musicians. That was a good time. They were funny and friendly chaps. They played for us. They were pretty good.
On Monday I was trying very diligently to work on my messages for Spiritual Emphasis. This is not going all that well. One of my spiritual gifts is procrastination. One of my other spiritual gifts is not writing. That puts me squarely at struggling.
Tuesday Kennedy and I went on a vagabondage around town in search for an importation permit. We went here and there and everywhere and finally found the proper person with the answers. The answer was that we needed to travel to Entebbe. That was not such great news since that is about 5 hours from Mbale.
Anthony and Sarah had a friend at their place this week. Her name is also Sara. They all went to seminary together, and Sara spent the last month in Soroti. So she spent a few days in Mbale before going back to the US. On Wednesday afternoon I went to Sarah and Anthony's house for supper with the 3 of them. We had pizza and no bake cookies. This may have been the most fantastic meal I've ever eaten in my life. Not that I don't enjoy African food, but it is pretty much all the same. A rather tasteless starch with a good soupish thing poured over the top. The best part was having mozzarella cheese. This cheese was made by Jerome. (A dutch fellow that is now a resident here since 1989. He came first as a missionary. He now has a Ugandan wife and dairy farm. He also owns a cafe in town where he sells his goods. He is a pretty cool fellow.) The next best part was the no bakes. Most Africans are not real big on sweet things. There really isn't such a thing as dessert, except something like... bananas... Speaking of bananas I will almost definitely will not be potassium deficient after this trip.
Sunday I had a journey to Kapchorwa. That was pretty fun. The word Kapchorwa actually means home of friends. This was a rather apt name for the place. The people there were excellent. The views were quite awesome. The Mt Elgon National Forest/Park thing starts right there and goes over into Kenya. The service was rather long. We were there for 3 hours before I started teaching. The service was roughly 5 and a halfish hours. Then when we were leaving we met 3 young fellows who are aspiring musicians. That was a good time. They were funny and friendly chaps. They played for us. They were pretty good.
On Monday I was trying very diligently to work on my messages for Spiritual Emphasis. This is not going all that well. One of my spiritual gifts is procrastination. One of my other spiritual gifts is not writing. That puts me squarely at struggling.
Tuesday Kennedy and I went on a vagabondage around town in search for an importation permit. We went here and there and everywhere and finally found the proper person with the answers. The answer was that we needed to travel to Entebbe. That was not such great news since that is about 5 hours from Mbale.
Anthony and Sarah had a friend at their place this week. Her name is also Sara. They all went to seminary together, and Sara spent the last month in Soroti. So she spent a few days in Mbale before going back to the US. On Wednesday afternoon I went to Sarah and Anthony's house for supper with the 3 of them. We had pizza and no bake cookies. This may have been the most fantastic meal I've ever eaten in my life. Not that I don't enjoy African food, but it is pretty much all the same. A rather tasteless starch with a good soupish thing poured over the top. The best part was having mozzarella cheese. This cheese was made by Jerome. (A dutch fellow that is now a resident here since 1989. He came first as a missionary. He now has a Ugandan wife and dairy farm. He also owns a cafe in town where he sells his goods. He is a pretty cool fellow.) The next best part was the no bakes. Most Africans are not real big on sweet things. There really isn't such a thing as dessert, except something like... bananas... Speaking of bananas I will almost definitely will not be potassium deficient after this trip.
After we ate we played speed scrabble. I found out that this is not my spiritual gift either. I did make them feel better about themselves though, so that is good.
Then on Thursday we went on a most fantastic adventure. Sarah and Anthony had heard of this game park called Pian Upe (Pee-on Oopay) at the Uganda Wildlife Authority. You would think that the folks there would be well versed in their parks, but we were in for a surprise. We found a private hire driver and a vehicle to whisk us to this location (about 2.5 hours away from Mbale). We even found one with a nice vehicle for taking on the game drive. We then get to the park at about 9:00. This is where the problems started.
When we arrived the people there told us a different price than what we heard in Mbale. In Mbale they said just 20 dollars for a guide. At Pian Upe they said 20 per person, plus 20 for a guide. We got them to accept 60 total since they told us wrong. Then we get back in the car. Along with the guide. They also wanted to send us with 2 more guides (all toting AK's) but we didn't have room so we just went with one guide. Her name is Susan.
We take off down the road, and then she tells us we've driven past the entrance. This should have been warning number 3 that we should not go. There was no road through the game park. She had us just driving out accross the bush through 7-10 foot grass. "Don't worry this won't last long and we'll make it to the road" Susan says. About 100 yards later we make it to the road. This "road" looked much the same to us as the non road did, perhaps we don't have the highly trained eye that Susan does. We then drove for about 1/2 an hour this way. Sarah was having massive allergy attack. Sara was getting car sick. We didn't see any animals. We got the $20 guide fee back but lost 40 bucks on entry fees. We also lost the money on the private hire. We did have a good time though.
Friday I went with Sarah and Sara to Kampala. We took the 6:30 bus. This cost 10000 Sh. Which is roughly $4.90. The trip was 4ish hours. I then met Julius in Kampala and went to Entebbe. I got my stuff done for importing "soya beans" from Brazil. We then went back to Kampala. This journey is about an hour by taxi. We then ate lunch and met the Sara(h)'s at the African Craft Village. There is some cool stuff there. I got a few things. Then we came back to Mbale. Well Sarah Systma and I did. Sara stayed in Kampala because she was going on a real game drive today and then leaving the country in a couple of days.
I saw more Mzungus in this trip than I have seen in the past month put together. Some looked like they could live here, but most were touristy, wearing shorts and looking a bit foolish. When at the craft market I wondered how many Mzungus just go in there and buy stuff for the price they are told. That would be rather a silly thing to do.
Hmm... so today I am trying to do my sermons... see I'm working on them very hard? Then I am going to a church here in town to do stuff with the youth there. I am probably going to be working with them during the week now so I'm excited about that.
Tomorrow I am going to Sironko District again to Mary's church. Anthony and Sarah said that when they went to this church that it was the longest service they've ever attended. Well I have probably rambled long enough for today. Hope none have slipped into a coma whilst reading my random musings.
I still cannot upload pictures here. Sorry about that.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Things That Bother Me
In today's episode we will explore those things in the culture and in general that bother me, but that is just where I'm starting. I tend to get sidetracked in my copious ramblings.
The first thing is the sexism. This isn't something that manifests itself in the government or really obvious things like that. It took me a while to notice. Really it didn't hit me until this last Sunday in Kopwin. After church (in every church I've been to) everyone comes and shakes my hand. The women will always kneel when they shake my hand. The first few weeks this didn't bother me as much, but in Kopwin elderly women were getting on their knees to greet me. This I did not like. Then when we were getting ready a man's daughter came to talk to him. The entire time they were talking (he was sitting in a chair), and she was on her knees to talk to him. This too was not really okay with me. The thing that really started me on this tirade happened last. When we stopped at the aforementioned person's house on the way back to Mbale the man's grand daughter came to say hi to her grandpa, and he forced her to greet him from her knees. This is when I took offense. The girls here are taught that they are inferior from the age that they can walk.
Second is racism/tribalism. Here the different tribes are considered different races. It is easy to know one's tribe because each tribe has their own language. The tribe that is most despised is the Karamajong(sp). They have some interesting habits and beliefs to be sure, but when they come to cities they are ridiculed and outcast. Their tribe believes that all cows that are ever born belong to them. If you have a cow you stole it from them. So it is "okay" for them to steal cows because they owned them to begin with. They also tend to wear... nothing... and well yeah its rather an awkward situation I'll agree but still, let's be nice to these lost folks.
Racism is also against us mzungus. Since prices are very rarely posted the seller sets the price which is then up to bartering. (I'll get to bartering in a moment.) Mzungus are often quoted a price that is 3-10 times higher than the actual going price of the good, and often cannot get the price to come to a reasonable level. Some time we just don't know the price, but often we do. Anthony and Sarah, who have been here for about a year are pretty good at getting the price to a manageable range, but things like bodas (motorcycles for hire) are very bad about this. A ride that should cost about 500 shillings will be charged 1000 or 1500. I'm not mean enough to make them pay what I know to be the right price too often (I should work on that).
Also, no matter how long a mzungu is around he/she is a guest. This is very frustrating to Sarah and Anthony. The staff at the school still call them visitors, when they have lived here for a year, I digress.
Bartering: so perhaps the reason we are no good at bartering is because we do it honestly. The staff were talking at break about one of the pastors/professors at the college bought a pair of shoes. He spotted the ones he wanted and made a big show of how they were terrible and not nice. The shop keeper/street vendor then defended them. They went back and forth. The pastor kept up the charade. Acting that it was painful to wear etc. and then proceeded to buy the shoe for a low price. We (mostly Anthony but I was trying my best to help them see as well) were trying to show them that this is being dishonest, and to be honest about what dishonesty is: lying. They kept trying to play it off as "culture" but some saw what we were trying to get across. Just because its "culturally acceptable" does not make it right to do. That goes for every culture.
Girl next door: My neighbor has a daughter of about 2. She is very cute. This is not the problem. The neighbor also has a hired maid. The maid is 13ish. She takes care of Esta, cooks, cleans, etc. She does not go to school. When my neighbor takes Esta and goes home to the village for the weekend she leaves the maid here by herself. This is also not okay with me. So I do my best to give this girl plenty of my stock of chocolate. I don't know what good this does her, but we laugh much together. I'm not ever really sure what we are laughing at since we have about 15 words in common.
Crazy dreams: I have never really had many dreams that I can remember, but every night I have very vivid often strange dreams. I have heard that of malaria medication before. I think it would be a bad idea to just stop taking my malaria pills because of the dreams... haha
Tomorrow I'm off to Kapchurwa with Julius. This will be my first Anglican experience. We may go hiking at Sippi (sp) falls there after the service depending on time etc. The school is very empty right now. The diploma students are on midterm break. There are only 4 students here. That is really all that I know. Oh I'm struggling to write my sermons for spiritual emphasis. I'm trying to determine what I am comfortable teaching about, and what things need to be taught about from what I have perceived as their spiritual deficiencies. That is a story for another time... You can ask me about that if you'd like, but I shan't ramble about that to the world.
Love and blessings. Thank you for your continued prayers and support!
The first thing is the sexism. This isn't something that manifests itself in the government or really obvious things like that. It took me a while to notice. Really it didn't hit me until this last Sunday in Kopwin. After church (in every church I've been to) everyone comes and shakes my hand. The women will always kneel when they shake my hand. The first few weeks this didn't bother me as much, but in Kopwin elderly women were getting on their knees to greet me. This I did not like. Then when we were getting ready a man's daughter came to talk to him. The entire time they were talking (he was sitting in a chair), and she was on her knees to talk to him. This too was not really okay with me. The thing that really started me on this tirade happened last. When we stopped at the aforementioned person's house on the way back to Mbale the man's grand daughter came to say hi to her grandpa, and he forced her to greet him from her knees. This is when I took offense. The girls here are taught that they are inferior from the age that they can walk.
Second is racism/tribalism. Here the different tribes are considered different races. It is easy to know one's tribe because each tribe has their own language. The tribe that is most despised is the Karamajong(sp). They have some interesting habits and beliefs to be sure, but when they come to cities they are ridiculed and outcast. Their tribe believes that all cows that are ever born belong to them. If you have a cow you stole it from them. So it is "okay" for them to steal cows because they owned them to begin with. They also tend to wear... nothing... and well yeah its rather an awkward situation I'll agree but still, let's be nice to these lost folks.
Racism is also against us mzungus. Since prices are very rarely posted the seller sets the price which is then up to bartering. (I'll get to bartering in a moment.) Mzungus are often quoted a price that is 3-10 times higher than the actual going price of the good, and often cannot get the price to come to a reasonable level. Some time we just don't know the price, but often we do. Anthony and Sarah, who have been here for about a year are pretty good at getting the price to a manageable range, but things like bodas (motorcycles for hire) are very bad about this. A ride that should cost about 500 shillings will be charged 1000 or 1500. I'm not mean enough to make them pay what I know to be the right price too often (I should work on that).
Also, no matter how long a mzungu is around he/she is a guest. This is very frustrating to Sarah and Anthony. The staff at the school still call them visitors, when they have lived here for a year, I digress.
Bartering: so perhaps the reason we are no good at bartering is because we do it honestly. The staff were talking at break about one of the pastors/professors at the college bought a pair of shoes. He spotted the ones he wanted and made a big show of how they were terrible and not nice. The shop keeper/street vendor then defended them. They went back and forth. The pastor kept up the charade. Acting that it was painful to wear etc. and then proceeded to buy the shoe for a low price. We (mostly Anthony but I was trying my best to help them see as well) were trying to show them that this is being dishonest, and to be honest about what dishonesty is: lying. They kept trying to play it off as "culture" but some saw what we were trying to get across. Just because its "culturally acceptable" does not make it right to do. That goes for every culture.
Girl next door: My neighbor has a daughter of about 2. She is very cute. This is not the problem. The neighbor also has a hired maid. The maid is 13ish. She takes care of Esta, cooks, cleans, etc. She does not go to school. When my neighbor takes Esta and goes home to the village for the weekend she leaves the maid here by herself. This is also not okay with me. So I do my best to give this girl plenty of my stock of chocolate. I don't know what good this does her, but we laugh much together. I'm not ever really sure what we are laughing at since we have about 15 words in common.
Crazy dreams: I have never really had many dreams that I can remember, but every night I have very vivid often strange dreams. I have heard that of malaria medication before. I think it would be a bad idea to just stop taking my malaria pills because of the dreams... haha
Tomorrow I'm off to Kapchurwa with Julius. This will be my first Anglican experience. We may go hiking at Sippi (sp) falls there after the service depending on time etc. The school is very empty right now. The diploma students are on midterm break. There are only 4 students here. That is really all that I know. Oh I'm struggling to write my sermons for spiritual emphasis. I'm trying to determine what I am comfortable teaching about, and what things need to be taught about from what I have perceived as their spiritual deficiencies. That is a story for another time... You can ask me about that if you'd like, but I shan't ramble about that to the world.
Love and blessings. Thank you for your continued prayers and support!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Fun Facts
So, even though I cannot get the pictures to upload I believe that I can use my spiritual gift of rambling to inform you of some other tidbit (Fun Facts or FF's) that I have not yet made you aware of.
The first FF (the first is actually an FFF I suppose) I will share with you is the names here. I know I mentioned that at baptism they receive a Christian name, but I would like to share just how Christian/biblical they are.
Many are not too outrageous, or obscurely biblical like Julius, Paul, Simon, and Peter. There are some that just make me laugh; Eunice, Zipporah, Amos, Emanuel, Simeon Peter, Solomon, Absalum, , and my absolute favorite is Bathsheba. This is Zipporah's mother. When she said her name I had to have her repeat it, and try very hard not to giggle a little bit. Who would actually name their daughter that. If you are not aware of what I'm talking about, see 2 Samuel 10, and then all of the zany hi-jinx that ensue because of her and David's shenanigans.
I now just introduce myself as David because it saves the locals much confusion if I do this. I am then claimed as those named Solomon's father. There are also many references. It is kind of fun, and definitely interesting.
This week there is a class on Romans going on with about 40 pastors from around the country here at the school. One of them just came to my room and we talked for about 2 hours. I shared with him some illustrations and he got very excited. It is very encouraging when I get to see people learning more about God and thinking about Him in a new way.
So another FF is about how things are pronounced. Some of them are hard to understand and other things are just funny to hear. The following list are a few of my favorites.
Squirrel = Skwee-ree-all
Clothes = Clo-thez
Mosquitoes = Moss-kwee-toes (one of my favorites)
Park is the exact same as pack, which gets confusing when you are talking about a car and how it is parked... or packed... or... yeah see the problem?
Brandon=Braidon, Bran, Brando, Br... what?
Wilson= Weelsone
There are many other fun words, but right now I cannot think of them. Sorry.
The up side of the words is that you can sound things out very easily since each vowel only has one way of pronouncing it, and they don't use C's, Ph's, Q's, or any of those sorts of nonsensical letter (combinations).
FF's about my time. Right now I'm spending much time preparing for "spiritual emphasis." This is a 3 day period where the students here at the PTC emphasize in spiritual growth. There will be 6 sermons in these three days. Guess who got selected to give 5 of those... Yeah you guessed it, Dr. Suess. Oh wait... no that's not it. Its me... so I'm working on that.
The farm stuff I believe is going to be limited to the test plots and the elephant grass silage tests. So, I'm also still attempting to find a ministry in town that does things during the week that I could help at. I have checked at Missions Moving Mountains, but I would like to find one that is more discipleship/evangelism than paperwork.
The students finish their midterm papers tomorrow and will be going home for the rest of the week. This means that I will be alone... So as I was typing that I realized alone... with the 40 visiting pastors which is more pastors than student pastors... so actually not alone at all, just kidding. Really I was seeing if you were awake, good job you passed.
Also, because I am rather bored just studying during the day I welcome emails. It is most lovely to hear what is happening in your lives (well I am speaking in the present tense because my Mom does this... Thanks Mom!)(oh and Amy and Sarah do from time to time also Thanks!), but the rest of you are encouraged to join in the pen-pal game. Then you can ask questions and things because its not really strange for me any more so I don't really know what you would find of interest.
Okay, I will let you get back to your lives, and I am going to bed, because... well I am tired. Good night/morning/afternoon/what ever time of day it is when you read this. God bless!
The first FF (the first is actually an FFF I suppose) I will share with you is the names here. I know I mentioned that at baptism they receive a Christian name, but I would like to share just how Christian/biblical they are.
Many are not too outrageous, or obscurely biblical like Julius, Paul, Simon, and Peter. There are some that just make me laugh; Eunice, Zipporah, Amos, Emanuel, Simeon Peter, Solomon, Absalum, , and my absolute favorite is Bathsheba. This is Zipporah's mother. When she said her name I had to have her repeat it, and try very hard not to giggle a little bit. Who would actually name their daughter that. If you are not aware of what I'm talking about, see 2 Samuel 10, and then all of the zany hi-jinx that ensue because of her and David's shenanigans.
I now just introduce myself as David because it saves the locals much confusion if I do this. I am then claimed as those named Solomon's father. There are also many references. It is kind of fun, and definitely interesting.
This week there is a class on Romans going on with about 40 pastors from around the country here at the school. One of them just came to my room and we talked for about 2 hours. I shared with him some illustrations and he got very excited. It is very encouraging when I get to see people learning more about God and thinking about Him in a new way.
So another FF is about how things are pronounced. Some of them are hard to understand and other things are just funny to hear. The following list are a few of my favorites.
Squirrel = Skwee-ree-all
Clothes = Clo-thez
Mosquitoes = Moss-kwee-toes (one of my favorites)
Park is the exact same as pack, which gets confusing when you are talking about a car and how it is parked... or packed... or... yeah see the problem?
Brandon=Braidon, Bran, Brando, Br... what?
Wilson= Weelsone
There are many other fun words, but right now I cannot think of them. Sorry.
The up side of the words is that you can sound things out very easily since each vowel only has one way of pronouncing it, and they don't use C's, Ph's, Q's, or any of those sorts of nonsensical letter (combinations).
FF's about my time. Right now I'm spending much time preparing for "spiritual emphasis." This is a 3 day period where the students here at the PTC emphasize in spiritual growth. There will be 6 sermons in these three days. Guess who got selected to give 5 of those... Yeah you guessed it, Dr. Suess. Oh wait... no that's not it. Its me... so I'm working on that.
The farm stuff I believe is going to be limited to the test plots and the elephant grass silage tests. So, I'm also still attempting to find a ministry in town that does things during the week that I could help at. I have checked at Missions Moving Mountains, but I would like to find one that is more discipleship/evangelism than paperwork.
The students finish their midterm papers tomorrow and will be going home for the rest of the week. This means that I will be alone... So as I was typing that I realized alone... with the 40 visiting pastors which is more pastors than student pastors... so actually not alone at all, just kidding. Really I was seeing if you were awake, good job you passed.
Also, because I am rather bored just studying during the day I welcome emails. It is most lovely to hear what is happening in your lives (well I am speaking in the present tense because my Mom does this... Thanks Mom!)(oh and Amy and Sarah do from time to time also Thanks!), but the rest of you are encouraged to join in the pen-pal game. Then you can ask questions and things because its not really strange for me any more so I don't really know what you would find of interest.
Okay, I will let you get back to your lives, and I am going to bed, because... well I am tired. Good night/morning/afternoon/what ever time of day it is when you read this. God bless!
Monday, June 7, 2010
A Taxi, Like a Church is Never Full.
It has been a long week my friends. Last week we were trying to get everything figured out for what I will be doing. This, like the road in Uganda, was not exactly smooth.
Then on Saturday I taught some of the students to play Ultimate Frisbee. This was interesting for a couple of reason. First because they had never seen or heard of a Frisbee before. Secondly, most of the rules come from American football and basketball. Two sports which they don't really play. After quite some time though we got it all worked out and it was a blast, very hot and sweaty, but a blast none the less.
Most every evening I go on a walk with Julius or Emanuel. That will soon change however because the degree students are now on holiday. Julius is staying around for a few more days to get some assignments done. On these walks we often go to town, or if you walk away from downtown there is another market district. Those are our most common destinations. On these walks I get lessons on the language, education system, Muslims, their families, or pretty much anything that comes up. They also are very interested in learning about the United States.
One of the strangest things to me is the stark contrasts in development here. Nearly everyone has a cell phone here, but they still plow using bulls. In kampala you can be in a big department store with escalators and things, walk for 15 minutes out of town and you find a village of mud and grass thatched huts where the children run half naked, but don't worry their parents have cell phones. Some things take leaps forward, other things are still the same as they have always been. There is still nothing to do with trash here besides a) throw it on the ground (most common) b) pile it and burn it.
On Sunday I went to Sironko with Julius. I taught at the church there in the morning. The service lasted from 9:00 Am to about 12:30 PM. Then the church had a lunch. (have I mentioned that eating utensils are not preferred? They only use them in the big cities especially when mzungus are around.)That was probably the largest vat of rice I had ever seen in my entire life.
Church music here is interesting. It is usually started by one person, in front, in the audience, doesn't matter who. They just start clapping, or singing and everyone comes in and soon we have 4 part harmony going on with all kinds of clapping rhythms, some people bring their own drums and things. They also change languages frequently. Worship happens in usually 3-4 languages in every church. They will have the native language of the local tribe (35 to choose from in Uganda), Luganda (the largest tribe in Uganda)(The tribe is actually called Buganda, it is a kingdom tribe, so they have a king, and he usually doesn't like the Ugandan government because it means his power is very limited. Its rather odd and interesting.), Kiswahili (the language of Kenya so if any Kenyans are in the house, or if they speak Kiswahili and not the local language), and English. The last two are for people that are not from the area. Most people here, if they are educated, know the local language, English, Swahili, and some know Luganda as well. So they switch mid song between languages. That is interesting.
The songs always have a leader, because most of them are changed depending on how the Spirit leads. In this way it not uncommon to have a song last 5-15 minutes. They just sing one song a bunch of times differently instead of singing different songs. This is nice for the white guy who only speaks English. He can almost get some of it by the end. Although I can't always even tell if they are singing in English so he doesn't get it all that often.
Next Sunday I am off Amuria (Ah-moo-ree-ah), I think I'm going to Amuria. I'm not positive on that one.
A few more fun facts. Brandon is hard to pronounce, so many call me Wilson but the other day someone was looking at my driver's license and now people are starting to call me David. This is because it is easy and it is a Christian name. Here everyone goes by a tribal name until they are baptized and then they are given a Christian name. They therefore feel that I should be called by my Christian name, plus it is easier for them so... I'll go with it.
I went to a football game today. That was fun and exciting. I never really liked soccer much before but I think I could get into it.
I am working on finding something to do during the week. I have contacted another missions org here in Mbale. I may work with them and I may come up with something else yet I don't know. I'll keep you posted.
I attempted to attach pictures, which would make sense of the title of this blog. If you remember last week I mentioned taking a taxi built for 12, carrying 21. This week there were 28 people in it. That was full... it was during this time that I wished that Africans used deodorant. I will try the pictures again soon.
Then on Saturday I taught some of the students to play Ultimate Frisbee. This was interesting for a couple of reason. First because they had never seen or heard of a Frisbee before. Secondly, most of the rules come from American football and basketball. Two sports which they don't really play. After quite some time though we got it all worked out and it was a blast, very hot and sweaty, but a blast none the less.
Most every evening I go on a walk with Julius or Emanuel. That will soon change however because the degree students are now on holiday. Julius is staying around for a few more days to get some assignments done. On these walks we often go to town, or if you walk away from downtown there is another market district. Those are our most common destinations. On these walks I get lessons on the language, education system, Muslims, their families, or pretty much anything that comes up. They also are very interested in learning about the United States.
One of the strangest things to me is the stark contrasts in development here. Nearly everyone has a cell phone here, but they still plow using bulls. In kampala you can be in a big department store with escalators and things, walk for 15 minutes out of town and you find a village of mud and grass thatched huts where the children run half naked, but don't worry their parents have cell phones. Some things take leaps forward, other things are still the same as they have always been. There is still nothing to do with trash here besides a) throw it on the ground (most common) b) pile it and burn it.
On Sunday I went to Sironko with Julius. I taught at the church there in the morning. The service lasted from 9:00 Am to about 12:30 PM. Then the church had a lunch. (have I mentioned that eating utensils are not preferred? They only use them in the big cities especially when mzungus are around.)That was probably the largest vat of rice I had ever seen in my entire life.
Church music here is interesting. It is usually started by one person, in front, in the audience, doesn't matter who. They just start clapping, or singing and everyone comes in and soon we have 4 part harmony going on with all kinds of clapping rhythms, some people bring their own drums and things. They also change languages frequently. Worship happens in usually 3-4 languages in every church. They will have the native language of the local tribe (35 to choose from in Uganda), Luganda (the largest tribe in Uganda)(The tribe is actually called Buganda, it is a kingdom tribe, so they have a king, and he usually doesn't like the Ugandan government because it means his power is very limited. Its rather odd and interesting.), Kiswahili (the language of Kenya so if any Kenyans are in the house, or if they speak Kiswahili and not the local language), and English. The last two are for people that are not from the area. Most people here, if they are educated, know the local language, English, Swahili, and some know Luganda as well. So they switch mid song between languages. That is interesting.
The songs always have a leader, because most of them are changed depending on how the Spirit leads. In this way it not uncommon to have a song last 5-15 minutes. They just sing one song a bunch of times differently instead of singing different songs. This is nice for the white guy who only speaks English. He can almost get some of it by the end. Although I can't always even tell if they are singing in English so he doesn't get it all that often.
Next Sunday I am off Amuria (Ah-moo-ree-ah), I think I'm going to Amuria. I'm not positive on that one.
A few more fun facts. Brandon is hard to pronounce, so many call me Wilson but the other day someone was looking at my driver's license and now people are starting to call me David. This is because it is easy and it is a Christian name. Here everyone goes by a tribal name until they are baptized and then they are given a Christian name. They therefore feel that I should be called by my Christian name, plus it is easier for them so... I'll go with it.
I went to a football game today. That was fun and exciting. I never really liked soccer much before but I think I could get into it.
I am working on finding something to do during the week. I have contacted another missions org here in Mbale. I may work with them and I may come up with something else yet I don't know. I'll keep you posted.
I attempted to attach pictures, which would make sense of the title of this blog. If you remember last week I mentioned taking a taxi built for 12, carrying 21. This week there were 28 people in it. That was full... it was during this time that I wished that Africans used deodorant. I will try the pictures again soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)