Day 23 - Mailing List?

My hands are so sticky with Jackfruit (Ffene) that my computer is getting gross.  I’ll have to clean it this week.

Amanda & I are up at our getaway place again- the playground.  It’s nice, but it’s getting late & I’ll have to start walking home soon.  It’s summer here… I’m still adjusting to the heat.  A lot of people have been sick lately. I guess the change in diet and temperature can really mess with the way our bodies work.  I haven’t been sick yet though!

The weekend was pretty good.  Mama took me to this baptism for a little girl… it lasted all day Saturday, about 7 hours.  The service was 3-4 hours long & the party afterwards (Luganda speeches, ect.) lasted another 3 or so hours.  But they served us soda! Coke, yum!  And it was good to spend some quality time with my Mama.

So everyone & their Taata has been receiving mail today!  Mom sent me a letter last week & it was simply wonderful.  It seems that the postal system is pretty reliable after all! Every time someone gets mail a sort of party bursts out of all the USP students.  There are choruses of, “Oh! Who is it from?” from basically everyone. My address is the first post in this blog.  If you DO really want to send me something in a pretty Manila envelope here are some flat things that would be really nice to have:

-       Flavored juice packets

-       Dental floss (feel free to pull it right out of the container it make it fit)

-       Stickers!

-       Thin, cheap coloring books?

-       Mints! Peppermint ANYTHINGG.

-       Tasty instant coffee? That tastes good? (Poured out into a plastic bag?)
-   Cheap empty photo book
-   CANDY. Anything sweet.
-   Headphones!!!
    Ear Plugs

  
     But more than anything I could just use some love :)

TODAY:

1)   “That man goes to church every Sunday, but he also is a witch doctor.  He has two gods. And he has three dogs.” – Dorris

2)   “He has offered to give us a cow for your hand in marriage!” - Dorris

3)   “What the heck! Life is just so random here.” – Amanda Morris

Day 20 - Liberation Day

It’s a National Holiday today!

It’s been quite relaxing really… this morning the interns made us breakfast & we chilled at our leaders house farther up on campus.  It’s really beautiful up there.  They served us a ton of great food like Chapoti & scrambled eggs, black beans & guacamole, apples & pineapple, and coffee cake.  There was also coffee & tea & juice.  And they didn’t kick us out until after 11a.m… it was really great to fellowship & just learn about each other.  One of our interns, Julie, played the guitar for us :) So quite a good morning I’d say.

I thought of this video today & I thought it might bring a smile to those keeping up with me on this journey… enjoy!

Day 18 - Practicum

Aleda, Rob, & I went to our practicum site today... The Child Development Centre.  Basically, I love Compassion.  To everyone out there who sponsors a child through Compassion International, you have seriously supported a great program.  I’ll let you know more when I actually meet the kids, but what I gathered from the woman in charge is that the program is well put together & seriously focused on all areas of development. Each of us involved will be working with a certain age group in the area of development that we choose.  :)

Last night while I slept a huge cockroach crawled over my legs.  Me & my mosquito net we’re a tangled mess, but never fear!  I grabbed that sucker in a rag & threw it out the window.  It was about the size of a cell phone, no joke.

“Where are you going princess? said the man with a smile.  She couldn’t remember someone asking for a long while…” –Leaving Lonely by Paul Alan

Day 16- The Long Walk

It’s Sunday!  Church is about 20 yards from my house… needless to say I’m getting my exercise.  In church this morning my dad asked me to read the daily scripture in front of the congregation.  I was definitely nervous, but I think I did all right.  Cool thing though- the specific scripture that I was reading was 1 Peter 2:1-8.  If you pull out the Word you’ll find that it’s all about the Living Stone.  It was a beautiful moment for me because it related perfectly to the song that I carried with me here to Africa, White Owl by Josh Garrels.  I definitely plan to meditate on 1 Peter this semester.  I’m still learning… this is just the beginning of my long spiritual walk, but I’m so excited for the journey.

Tonight all of the woman of our area (about 20) came to our house to meet & pray, or in the case of tonight, to learn how to make Chapoti!  It was so much fun!  Chapoti is a sort of fried bread that is usually taken for breakfast.  The women insisted that I help make it with them, so I did!  They’re pretty good, but so many carbs! Ah.

The power was out again tonight.  It goes out about 4 nights of the week.

Day 15 - To Be Ugandan

Mama said to me, “Today you are Ugandan.”

Oh my, you might say.  Wow, how quickly you’ve settled into the culture.  You & Africa are two peas in a pod!  But hmm… no, none of those things are very true.  Today Mama said that I am “Ugandan” because:

1) I washed all of my clothes by hand (a task that took about 2 hours)

 &

2) I carried baby Mary in a blanket tied to my back.

Do I feel African?  I don’t really know, but carrying that precious baby around in a blanket was wonderful.  We can cross that off the bucket list now… or maybe I shouldn’t just yet, & find another baby to hold. Hmm.

This is my first weekend at home.  Everyone stayed at the house all day.  It seemed pretty normal, pretty chill.  I’m still being waited on constantly, still served first, still treated like an American guest.  Hopefully things will get better…

Today Mama also said, “You ate all of your lunch! Now we know how to make you eat… you must work very hard so that you are always hungry!”  Referring to my laundry.  Speaking of which, I still need to iron it all. Blahhh, it’s fine!  But it’s not... wrinkles are an absolute no-go here.

Have I mentioned that Ugandans bathe twice a day?  Casey Rees I will not lose my sense of hygiene after all, no worries there.

I have an immense amount of reading to do for Monday… I just read 65 pages of one book & I still have similar amounts of reading in two other books.  At Eastern I might have just not done the reading for class, but I’m learning a lot about Spiritual Disciplines & also about cross-cultural ministry.  It’s very interesting & I am really looking forward to putting it to practice. 

Nicole, are you reading “Celebration of Discipline” for your Theo class?

This post is LONG, but I have two more things to say before I peace out… Today I painted my family’s nails!  Good things I brought all of my nail polish from home, because I have a LOT of sisters! & I even painted Mama’s nails a lovely blue… picture this… trying to paint your host mom’s nail’s for the first time with four little faces pressed in close to see you at work while you’re sitting on the concrete slab outside of the back door.  A chicken is prancing around at my feet (I think I’m afraid of chicken) and the baby is pulling/eating my hair.  Under the circumstances, I think I did a pretty good job!

Second thing, my practicum site! CHECK THIS OUT- I’m going to be working at a Child Development Center that compassion sponsors as part of their after school program.  I’ll be working with compassion kids! Oh my guys :)

Thanks for reading my blog.

I think that if you really follow it you might understand a little bit of how I’m changing & growing while I’m here. I love youuu.

Day 14 - KAMPALA

We went to Kampala today! The city was fun… My younger sister Sarah went with us, along with Amanda’s sisters Sarah & Kevin.  Kevin is a girl’s name in Uganda, interesting, huh?  I didn’t buy much… just a postcard & some yummy frap coffee drink.  I was really, really missing my little sister today though.  I kept thinking to myself, “Ah, Alex would love this!” or “Man, I miss shopping with MY sister…”

I love you Alexandra Nicole :)

Today’s Struggles:

1)   I can’t ask Sarah if she likes these earrings or those sandals because then she lights up & asks if I mean for her… & the time she was looking at the cheap watch.  The man said, “10,000 shillings” (aka- 5 dollars) and Sarah said okay & gave him the 1,000 that Mama had given her.  He looked at me & said, “She wants this watch but it seems that she does not have the money.  I didn’t buy that watch.  USP was very clear that giving money creates a boundary between those that we should be building relationships with… instead I paid for transportation, coffee, & pizza for both of us.

Today’s Best:

1)   … that coffee frap.  Seriously, I was starting to get desperate.

2)   Mama bought me another Mango Juice box to go with my dinner!  Never had a Mango juice box? Don’t worry, I’m stocking up.

3)   LIMBO!  Ah… it was great.  My sister’s & I like to dance & play lots of games that don’t require material things, aka: clapping, spinning, & singing games.  But last night I realized that you don’t need anything material to play limbo!  Best day ever!  It was such a hit, not to mention that I’m a limbo champ.  The girls & I played for awhile but then Mama said, “And me?” BAHHH, so good!  Mama totally limbo-ed! After all of the cheering she said, “Ah, I am getting so old!” Which reminded me of my momma back home… Neither of you are actually old of course, silly moms.

I love you momma :)

TODAY:

1) ME- “Sarah, what do they say?”

     SARAH- “Haha, they say if you give us that Muzungu we will surely marry her.”

Day 12 - BAHH

So my Mama is very insistent on getting me to school on time.  By on time I mean, usually by 8 o’clock.  Now today my classes started at 11 o’clock… so maybe you begin to see my problem.  Ah but you don’t.  Let me tell you about this morning…  So Mama says that the Reverend cannot drive me to school today & it is already 7:30a.m, so I will be late.  She ushers me out the door, calls my sister, & we walk down to the road to catch a Taxi (aka- church van style transportation).  I insist that I have plenty of time to walk to school, but Mama is not convinced.  When we cannot catch a Taxi she finally agrees to let Sarah & I walk.  Not even half a mile down the road this Taxi starts yelling to Sarah & I… this is kind of normal, being white at all.  But soon this guy is standing in the open doorway of a moving vehicle belting, “WE HAVE A PLACE FOR YOU!”  Sarah starts laughing because of all the attention I’m causing.  Eventually the Taxi pulls over & says that someone has already paid for us. Basically my Maama paid the Taxi, pointed us out to the driver, & they had been chasing us down ever since. 

When I finally got to school it was about 8 o’clock… I had 3 hours until class. Hmm.

Day 11 - Birthday

AFRICAN BIRTHDAY!

Everyone here is really good about birthdays.  All of the USP students sang to me when I came in around 8a.m, the interns took me out to lunch, and a couple girls here bought me coffee candies & chocolate.  Amanda waited in line for goodness knows how long for the shops to open so that she could surprise me with my favorite coffee candy :)

A few girls also made my cards & stuck them in my locker. 

So it was a pretty good day.  Lot’s of facebook messages wishing me a happy Ugandan birthday, that’s for sure!  ALSO.  A whole bunch of people wrote me letters for the book that Hayl, Cole, Meggie, & Gill put together…. Oh my.  That was the best present ever.  There were so many letters that I was reading it all day long!  It was so encouraging & to be honest I don’t think I would have really enjoyed my birthday without it.  Thanks everyone :)

My host family didn’t really celebrate the day… I’m not sure if they knew that it was my birthday.  In any case, I don’t think birthdays are as big of a deal here as they are in America. They certainly don’t celebrate birth-weeks anyways! Haha.

So that was my day.  It was all right & I definitely felt the love, even from across the ocean.  I miss you guys! Blog you later!

Day 10 - Procrastinating

So we got back from our trip to Jinja yesterday & when I walk up to our house my little sisters run out to greet me as usual.  Except it was Sunday (my dad here is the Reverend) so there were a lot of people around the house.  Patience & Aidah ran to hug me along with another little girl that I didn’t know.  I figured that she was just some cousin or other relative.

While Mama was walking me to school today I decided to ask who the girl, Doris, was in relation to our family (She had spent the night, so I knew she was family).  To my legitimate surprise my Mama laughed & said, “She is my daughter!”  Immediately my mind starting running to things like a previous marriage, an illegitimate child, ect… but nope. Doris was in boarding school & no one had bothered to mention her.  Naturally I asked my Mama if she had any more children hidden away, but she just laughed & said no. 

“Inhale,

Breathe steady,

Exhale.

Like you’re ready

If you’re ready or not.”

*By the way Cole, I read that last night & yeah… no comprende.  But I REALLY like all of my letters… they’ve been incredibly helpful.

I can hear the “This is Africa” song playing from somewhere far off on campus…

I should definitely be doing homework right now, I have a TON of reading, but there is one really important story that I forgot to blog about.  Last week, maybe Thursday, my sister Sarah asked me if she could borrow my blue pen before I went to school.  When I came home she returned it to me & told me that she had written me a letter… Guys, it was one of those things that people always tell me but I never see coming.  In my mind I’ve only made mistake after mistake here.  I’m constantly offending & stepping on toes.  I’ll show you the letter when I get home, but basically it said something to the effects of,

 “Dear Sister Jess,

Thank you for coming to live with our family.  You are very good to us & we are happy that you decided to come.  You are very selfless and a beautiful person, I am very happy that you are my sister.  Not everyone is so selfless, only caring about themselves.  I will miss you when I go to boarding school this month, please come visit me on my visitation days.  I have nothing to give to you, but I pray to God that He will bless you very richly all of your days.  That is all I can give, but I think it is enough for you.  Please keep this letter to remember me always, your sister Sarah.”

You guys say that I’m always showing Jesus, but really it is hard for me to see it in myself.  Know that I am being encouraged here, even as I would be at home with you.  Please continue to pray for my family & my adjustment to Ugandan culture.

Love you guys.

Day 8 - Tourist

We’re spending the weekend at Jinja, the source of the Nile.  Not only are we at the NILE RIVER, we are at a beautiful touristy resort with an amazing swimming pool, great, familiar food, COFFEE (ptl!), toilet seats, and enough free time to take advantage of the incredible equator sun.

So I’m getting a good tan & I’m pretty high on caffeine. Mhmmmmm.

Also, there is an unnecessarily high population of cats here.

Day 6 - Learning

I woke up this morning & my father had me read him a verse of scripture.  After I read it he thanked me for my choice & taught me about the importance of having God as our foundation and our stronghold.  He said that we can get lawyers and we can consult doctors, but can any man protect us from losing a child? Or provide for our families?  We need God to go before us & to protect us… It was Psalm 19.

Later on during the day Amanda Morris & I went to tea & we met a Ugandan student named Immanuel.  He was telling someone about a story from the Bible.  Eventually the person he was talking to had to leave & Amanda & I were left there to listen to him speak.  He was so excited, jumping from one story to another!  Amanda & I couldn’t get a word in the whole time.  After about an hour he finally paused long enough for us to ask his name… & then he continued.  One thing I really noticed about the way he told Bible stories was how he narrated what he assumed was happening behind the scenes all along…

“And there was the lame man! He heard that Jesus was in town & he knew that this was his chance to be made whole! So he had some of his friends carry him there on a stretcher, but when they got to where Jesus was- it was full!  They couldn’t get into the door there were so many people! 

So the friends said, “We must just go home.”

But the lame man said, “No!! Try the window!”

But it was locked, so he said, “Try the roof!” 

And the friends said, “We can’t go through the roof! That is some mans roof! Who will be the one to pay for it?!” 

And the lame man said, “I will pay for it!” 

Because the lame man knew that if he was made whole he would be able to work and then pay for the roof, but if he did not see Jesus he would never work…”

So I learned a lot today… about the Bible.  About people.  I think I can see now that it is indeed easier for the poor man to belong to the Kingdom of God.  Never did I see so much hope in the story of Jesus & the lame man before….

& I certainly never thought to ask who would be paying for the broken roof.

Day 5 - Bonding

My siblings here are all very nice.  They send me on my way to school in the morning and they greet & welcome me when I come home.  I like them very much.

The younger girls, Patience & Aida (? I’m not quite sure how she spells it) dance around the kitchen with me.  Just a simple thing I taught them… spinning in circles and things.  They enjoy it.  I also brought out my notebook & crayons for them to color in which was a lot of fun & also VERY good for my ethnography research paper that I am going to have to write.  The girls took turns writing out words in Luganda for me in a way that I can understand (like: way-ba-lay. Aka: thank you).  It was very good of them and interesting to see what they choose to teach me.  We took a few pictures on my camera as well… they’re all up on facebook now.  I’ll have to be careful with my camera; no one, not even Mama seems to understand that it is easily broken and scratched.

I also had my first class in Luganda today.  It was pretty good. I learned how to say, “How was your night ma’am/sir?” and “Thank you” and “Good.”  That class is crazy though- 6 hours of class time every week! Hopefully I’ll pick it up quickly, my family is ALWAYS speaking in Luganda around me.  They really don’t know much English.

Except my 9-year-old sister Patience did read me a children’s book in English today! SO CUTE.  I hope I can get her to do it again on camera… She love’s having video’s of herself speaking.  She says to me, “You take the camera & ask me the questions!” But you don’t hear the accent in those words, so let me spell it out for you…

“You take ze cam-air-a and isk me ze quest-on!”

The accent is one of the best things ever.  Well, it’s tea-time! Got to get me some sweet tea before class :)  Thanks for reading my blog, comments welcome!

Day 3 - Sunburn

Breakfast, again, was excessively large.  But the tea is still really good & sweet.  I’ll need to go to the dentist as soon as I get home.

Reverend drove me to school today, which is awfully nice of him because otherwise it’s a 40-minute walk.  Hopefully I am able to learn the route eventually though… I want the experience of walking though the crazy, hectic streets of Mukono.

Today I sat by my favorite fountain on campus & did some of my reading & journaling.  It was lovely.  There was a bright blue lizard there to keep my company.  I was also just told that I have some killer sunburn on the back of my neck. My response? No one at home has sunburn!!!!! If there’s anything I am perfectly comfortable with here, it’s the weather.

TODAY

1)

USP STUDENT – “T.I.A…. This is Africa!”

2)

MARK (Advisor) – “Americans are like fire trucks here.  They are uncommon, people stop & stare, and they get the children excited.”

3)

Ida – “Sista, dance with me!”

Day 2 - Sister Jess

I moved in with my family today.

The names of my family:

Reverend

Mama Jennifer

Sister Irene

Sister Sarah (14)

Sister Patience (7)

Sister Ida (5)

Sister Mary (9 Months)

We also have a cow & 4 goats.  I asked Sarah if the cow had a name, but she just laughed a little.

I have my own room, but the girls all share a room so we’ll see how long that lasts.  I am treated very well in my household, almost to the point of royalty.  So we’ll see how long that lasts. Hopefully not long at all.

Two major bum factors of the evening: food & toilet

FOOD:

There was simply SO MUCH. And I’m the only one who had to eat so much.  We had Teatime around 6:30… that includes some very yummy (very sweet) tea & a bread sandwich.  Now get rid of your American picture of bread. A piece of this bread was about the size of my face.  And Sister Jess was given the thickest pieces.  After Teatime I had my bath (with my bucket & water, which went unexpectedly well) & then we had dinner.  Was I hungry? Didn’t matter, because the family had spent all day preparing dinner.  Essentially I was served two huge plates of food & a bowl of tomato like soup. 

My meal consisted of… ½ plate of pasta, 2 potatoes, ½ plate of Mattock (smushed, cooked bananas), a chicken leg, a few pieces of beef (REALLY GOOD), and my soup.

So I failed miserably in the respect department because I could not finish even half of my dinner, though I ate about 10 bites fully aware that each might put me over the edge.  It is the afternoon the next day & I am still full & feeling slightly sick. I’m not eating lunch in the hope that I might be able to clean my plate tonight.

TOILET:

I successfully peed in the latrine.  Problem? Soon after I went to bed I had to go again. So I went outside to the latrine & the Reverend said that they would give me a bucket for my room at nighttime because it isn’t safe to go outside.

Casey Rees, I would appreciate your understanding in this situation.  Girls got to pee when a girls got to pee, & I don’t care how often I have to go throughout the day- I’m not using my night pail.

TODAY

1)

“You are most welcome Sista!”

2)

SISTER SARAH - Laughing

ME- “Sarah, what do they say?”

SARAH – “They say, Muzuko (white girl) come play ball with us!”

3)

In the dining hall (an open area w/ tin roof)…

USP STUDENT – “African rain!!!” Runs to catch some water in her hands.

GIRLS AT TABLE – “All the Ugandan students are staring like “Crazy white girl, never seen rain.’”

Day 1 - First Impressions

           Today was full of adventures.  I suppose it started when we got off the plane around midnight.  We drove through the capital city, Kampala, and arrived at our campus in Mukono around 2am.  To our dismay breakfast was at 8am.

            Breakfast was very good. It consisted of some fancy fried bread, triangle things that tasted like vegetable egg rolls, sausage, and plenty of fresh fruit.  There was also instant coffee, which I’m pretty sure is expensive, so they must’ve been giving us a treat to keep us on our best behavior.  Caffeine only lasts so long, however, and it was only a few hours before we were just as tired as sleep-deprived, jet-lagged, college students ought to be. 

           

            After breakfast was our review of Ugandan etiquette, followed by class registration, IMME overview (aka- homestay do’s and don’ts), and a tour of campus.  CAMPUS IS HUGE- at least compared to Eastern.  I doubt that I’ll ever see all of it because over half of it seems to be hidden away in random tropical forests.  It’s gated the whole way around though, so they say we can’t get too lost.

            For lunch we had rice, potatoes, and beans.

            For dinner we had rice, potatoes, and peas.

            We get dropped off at our host families’ houses tomorrow, and they say that our families will provide more variety in our meals.  As it stands tonight, I’m about to go to sleep under my sexy mosquito net that hangs above me like a canopy of clouds. Everything seems to be going well so far… I can’t wait to get some real sleep.

TODAY

1)

USP Student - “Ladies first.”

INTERN - “Not in Uganda.  Men go first as a sign of respect.”

2)

IMME Advisor - “Squatty Potty” – quite literal description of my future toilet

3)

MISSIONARY  Brian – “Once you’ve been here for awhile you’ll start to pick up a Ugandan accent.  Well not a true Ugandan accent, but what I like to call the “American trying to speak to Ugandans” accent.”

ADDRESS

SEND ME A LETTER?

Jessica Strom, Uganda Studies Programme
Uganda Christian University
P.O. Box 4
Mukono, UGANDA


**Send all mail in a small manila envelope!