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.