Rural Homestays

March 1 (three days ago) marks two months since I left for Uganda. I have been here for two months and falling in love with Uganda (and the people) a little more everyday. I've been slacking so I'll catch you up. 

I was in Rural Uganda for 7 days living with a family.

We had about a six hour drive in that I spent with a majority of off-campus students. It was a great time to get to know people that I don't get to see very often. The van ride was full of Heads-up, laughter and ice cream we bought at a gas station (and shared with very tiny wooden spoons).


That week, I learned how to work incredibly hard. Ugandan women might be the strongest people I know. This past week, I was up before the sun every single day (I left my watch behind, I'm trying to truly embrace "African Time.") My host mom, Toto Helen, wanted me to learn everything in a week. I think we might have gotten close.

Some background to this experience. I was living in Serere, Uganda. I put in my last post that I would be staying in Soroti. I was wrong- Toto Helen told me that it has only been it's own district for about a year. My Ugandan geography/history education is a bit behind :) They speak a different tribal language than is spoken in the central region (where I am now).  They speak Ateso, if you want to greet in this language you say "yoga." That is about the extent of my Ateso. I lived on a compound- communal living is huge here. My two brothers and my uncle each had their own structure and my two sisters (19 and 10) had their own structure. I lived in a different structure with my host mother (fun fact she is a twin mother and was beyond excited to here I was a twin).

I was dropped off Saturday at probably around 10 or so. We got straight to work washing the dishes. This sounds like an easy enough task, until you realize there is no running water. You have to haul water in jerry cans to where ever you want to do dishes. This is a job. Ugandan's really dont have a need for a traditional gym. The bore hole  (where you get water) pump is basically a rowing machine. I felt it for the next couple of days let me tell you. After you get water from the bore hole you have to push the jerry cans in a wheel barrow over many bumps.

House that I lived in.

Always welcomed with open arms.

On Tuesday, my brother (21) took me on a hike. I am out of shape (you will hear this at least 3 or four more times in this blog post....but I seriously need to start exercising and start eating less chapati and Rolex). We first went to a farm that was raising fish in a pond (and other random animals) We then went up this steep hill. I was breathing so heavy, but I made it. It was cool to see the landscape and get out of the compound for a bit. We took a detour on the way back and he showed me the prisoners gardens. The prisoners are used for manual labor in Uganda, so if you don't want to do something you hire prisoners. I asked Dan more questions on where the money goes and who gets it but he wasn't really sure. It was an interesting thing to see- they wear yellow shirts and shorts and are very rarely accompanied by guards. It was unsettling for me at first, but Dan assured me the punishment only gets worse  if they escape. I decided not to thing about it too much but rather just trust him.

I forget what day it was, but Toto Helen and I played a little bit of dress up while I was there. I was dressed in the two different types of gomesi (the traditional African wear- ps. don't judge my spelling I very rarely see Luganda written out).

This picture and the picture below are both the traditional style of dress. 

In general, I did a lot of cooking with my mom. I got to explore the gardens and see what they all planted. Also I did a lot of house chores and basically did whatever they were doing or what they would do on a normal day. 

This is sorghum. You must beat it with a stick and then thrash it in order to use it.

This photo is most definitely staged. I was so bad at thrashing. She took my picture and took over....which is definitely a good thing!

I learned a lot during homestays. It was a really long week in which I learned that I was not cut out to be an Ugandan housewife in rural Uganda (though I did have a couple guys imply they would love to marry me so I could stay there- I politely declined).  I'm all blogged out- but I'll soon post about my trip to Sipi Falls and my safari!

I couldn't figure out how to take a picture of the stars well. However, they were beautiful. Absolutely no light pollution what so ever. However I'm afraid you'll have to be okay with this picture of the moon.

Midterm:

After writing my midterm, I realized what I have learned this semester. Rather than retype it to be interesting/blog worthy, I decided to copy and paste it. Sorry for it not being the most interesting thing you will ever read, but it's what is on my heart right now.

If one asked about the characteristics of a social worker, ’relational’ would be bound to come up. As a senior social work major, relationships were something that I thought I had looked at from different viewpoints. I simplified all I  learned about relationships into talking, listening, and coming along side someone However, relationships are allowed to look different. It is not always about talking or even about listening. Sometimes relationships look like presence and showing up.
    There is an intentionality about Ugandan culture and the relationships that are formed here. Upon arriving at my Ugandan home, I am asked how I am in at least three different ways by everyone in the family. If one looks at the few greetings I have learned in Luganda, the intentionality is made even more clear. No one has taught me a simple “hi,” instead I was taught greet someone with “how are you?.” It is typically followed up by then asking them how their day has gone. While this occurs in the United States, we have the ability to greet and not invest in the relationship. We can say hello, not ask any questions and leave.
    There are many examples of the intentional nature of my Ugandan relationships. One of the main relationships that sticks out is my Ugandan roommate. I had gotten sick during the first month here and I was in the room sleeping. My roommate would wake me up to check that I was doing okay. She did not just ask how I was feeling only if she happened to make eye contact with me; she purposefully sought me out to ask how I was doing.
    I had an interesting conversation after that experience with my host mom about what it means to live with communal intentional relationships. Her point was why would you want to be alone when the worst is happening to you? She said, that for this reason mental health looks different in Africa because they do not let you suffer alone. Though I know mental health is bigger than not letting people be alone, it is a starting place. It reminds me of Compassion, where is says “what really counts is that in moments of pain and suffering someone stays with us (Nouwen, McNeill & Morrison 1983).” We study relationships in social work from the view point that we will not always have the answer or words to make them feel better. Through watching intensional relationships here, I  am realizing we have the start of an answer; it comes down to presence.
    Nothing has made this more clear than the time that I have spent with my host family. One Saturday, I went over to spend time with my family and learn about their catering business. I  was not helpful, if anything I  got in the way. Right before I left, my mom thanked me for my help that day. Once I expressed feelings of of being unhelpful, my mom disagreed and said that showing up was enough. My family valued the fact that I wanted to be part of the family, even though I  am not the most helpful member. I  have learned so much through the relationship with my family that I  could never have learned on my own. Growth happens through relationships, not being on my own. I  do not always learn about culture or my family by asking every question that I  have, though I  do ask a lot of questions. In contrast, I learn the most by being there and being present. My sister does not speak English, but I  have discovered that joy is a universal language. It’s a language that speaks volumes without ever saying a word; however, you need to show up to see it.
    Uganda and America are very different places and often we do not understand each other. Though despite the differences, there is a universal need to be a part of something and have people support you. Engaging makes you apart of something bigger. This has been the largest learning curve here. It is easy for me to stand back and observe. Though there is growth through observation, it will only get me so far. Being an observer will not help me build relationships and will leave my global education lacking.  The semester would be a waste if I just tried to gain as much head knowledge as I could in the short months I have left.  This semester is about being intentional with my learning and my relationships. This semester is about valuing the people who have come into my life. This semester is about being present and engage with the rich culture of Uganda.
     Though I have studied relationships for the past three and a half years, I  have room to grow. I will probably never feel comfortable waking up my roommate if she is sleeping, but I can to make the extra effort to ask her questions instead of running in the room, grabbing whatever I needed and leaving with only saying hello. Though I will probably never be an actual asset to my family when they are cooking, I can be present. I  can take steps in the right direction in growing my relationships while I  am here.  I  will also be able to carry these into my social work profession. In the International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, it shares that BSW students who study abroad have substantial shifts in perspective (2012). I  am noticing this already and am excited to see how much more I  can grow as a social worker this semester.
    God designed relationships across all the cultures. He is a relational God. He strives to have a personal relationship with us. I am learning through Ugandan’s how to have a relationship that is meaningful, valuable and intentional. These traits will also translate to my relationship with my heavenly Father. This is the biggest take away of all of them. I have learned that being present is import with people and even more important with God. It’s not about knowing exactly what he is telling me to do. It’s not about praying and asking him the right questions. It’s about seeking him first and growing within his presence

Calm before the storm

This week has been much calmer than most of the other weeks. I don't have terrible much to say.

I was incredibly blessed to not be sick this past week as so many of my social work friends. There are ten in my class and if I'm right I believe only two of us did not get sick. I was blessed to be one of the healthy ones, many thanks to my prayer warriors at home! I was sick during the first couple of weeks, but I'm so thankful it was literally a 24 hour bug and I was back to "normal" the next day.

This past week was full of meetings at ROTOM in which I learned how to take minutes. AKA I learned that being a secretary or a transcriber is most definitely not my calling. I learned a lot about the company and what goes into being a nonprofit.

Today (Sunday) was a very chill day with my family. I went to church and hung out at home. Unfortunately, a lot of the clan was busy and out of the house today. However, the one of the best parts of having a large family is there's still lots of people to love when people are gone. One of my brothers took me to see all the rabbits and I got to hold a baby rabbit that was literally born this morning.

Next week promises a very busy schedule- midterms are due (crazy right!?!), I'm heading to Kampala to get my visa and on Friday, I am leaving to rural home stays.  This is basically the equivalent to our spring break- I will have no classes or readings during this time. I will be living with a family for about 6 days in rural Soroti (the east part of Uganda).

Prayer Requests:

• Pray for midterms. There is a lot of papers due next week
• Pray for the family that I will be living with. I am so blessed by my Mukono family- pray that I have an experience just as amazing in Soroti.
• Pray for the health of the girls who got sick and pray that the rest of us continue to be healthy (especially over rural home stays). 

A Full Weekend

Friday I got to go home overnight. My brother came and picked me up (it was after our curfew so I couldn't walk home).  My cross cultural social work group running late and  I couldn't contact him to tell him I was going late, yet he waited over a half hour to make sure that I could come home.

It was so good to go home and see my family again,. To my surprise, three more children are in the family. My mom says that she collects people like candy, if that doesn't describe her amazing heart I don't know what will.  I told her that her true calling is social work, she just laughed. They are my mother's nephews and nieces (yay more girls!). They stay at the house during school. Ugandan's have a very long holy days break. My brothers have to go back to school tomorrow. They have mixed opinions on whether or not that's a good thing. I told them Americans went back over a month ago, my brother said he wanted at least another month.  We played cards and talked, I'm always so blessed to be around my family.

Saturday morning started very early, by six o'clock almost the entire house was awake! We began the job of butchering the chickens for the catering event. If you do not want the details, please skip to the next paragraph. I got to help, which had a considering learning curve but my brothers were nothing but patient explaining what exactly I needed to do. I was offered the knife, but declined so I just held the chicken while my brother cut the head off. I would like to state that chicken with it's head cut off is very realistic. I really thought it was more of a joke but you really have to hold on tight for a good while after that. The next thing was to put them in hot water, this makes it much easier to take off the feathers. I am very slow at taking off the feathers, I'm also not incredible at it. My brothers would probably lie to you and tell you that I was very helpful, but I will be the first to admit I probably slowed them down. I then was given the knife and told that I had to cut off the feet at the "knee joint" (not really sure if this is accurate chicken anatomy). The next step was my brother  gutting the chicken. He would give me the gizzard, which I cut in half, emptied and cleaned. That was my morning, I think we did between 8-10 chickens. I'm not exactly sure.

The event we were catering for was a family get together. It was fun as the family hosted a USP friend. Once we started cooking, I was given the job of peeling potatoes (they call them Irish's). That was one thing I could do without much instruction :) After a bit of time, I started following my brother around so he would teach me things. I "helped" with frying the chicken. Namely I stood around and he let me stir once and take them off. Fun fact about cooking here, it was all done over a fire. It was so cool to watch them cook for that many people and they just used some bricks (to make the pots stay a good distance from the fire), long pieces of firework (as it would burn in the center they would move in inwards, kinda hard to explain) and really large metal pots. I also learned how to make rice, which again I mean I stood around and watched them.  An interesting part of the event was lunch was supposed to be made for one, but we didn't end up serving until five thirty. I got to serve the chapati.  I also got to sample everything- big fan.  I had to head back to UCU shortly after that so that I could make the seven o'clock curfew.  That wraps up Saturday, unfortunately I forgot to take pictures.

Today, I went to Kampala for the first time. The first step is to find a taxi- this is not difficult when you are a muzungu. There were four of us on this adventure and none of us had been to Kampala before. It takes about an hour to get twelve miles because of traffic and road conditions. A taxi is not what you would think in the states- you flag it down the same, however it's basically a twelve passenger van that you stuff full of people along the route. It's a pretty good time had by all. We made it and then went to the African craft fair. It was pretty cool, but there is a lot of pressure to buy and to walk into the shops. I got a couple of cards for 2000 shillings, a skirt for 30,000 and a gift for a person...It sounds like a lot of money but a quick calculation is take off three zeros and divide by 4. It's not exact but it works well enough. Negation is not my strong suit, but you need to try it here or you will be WAY over charged. Even negotiating, I probably still got over charged.

We then found a coffee shop- the fast has finally been broken. It was legit the greatest thing.  We then headed to Cafe Java. It's basically an American restaurant. A great change of menu from rice and beans. I got a Philly cheese-steak and a chocolate milkshake. 10/10 would recommend.  Then we headed home in a taxi.

On our way back we hit a pothole, the trunk popped open and a lock box fell out. It was super funny, probably not to the person whose stuff feel out....but it was funny to us. We were laughing and talking the whole way home, we almost didn't get off the taxi on time. Luckily, Susanna caught it just in time.

It was an adventure filled weekend, but it has been one of my favorites here in Uganda. I got family time, I got to hang out with my new friends, I got American food, and I got coffee.  I also withdrew money for a safari, so I'm pretty pumped about that.

p.s. this is my home town

The First 100 Hours

Today I was calculating how many hours I had in my internship out of the 400 that is needed to graduate. I realized that I am 25% done with my internship, I have exactly 100 hours. ROTOM has one of the kindest staffs that I have ever seen in a office setting. They care so much for each and every jaja we take care of (jaja means grandmother or grandfather and I'm probably spelling it wrong). They care for each other just as passionately. Most importantly they care for their relationship with God. We have devotions at least three of the days that I'm there (I'm there for sure four days a week) and there is not a single day that you cannot feel his presence where ever I am for that day.

For those curious what I do:
-Some days I'm in the office sorting pictures for donors, updating lists, typing reports from the field or creating new lists.
-Some days I go to Katuba Carepoint- it is a program for grandchildren and it helps with their education. I help the children write letters to their sponsors, do arts and crafts and have admired the children doing a traditional African dance. They wanted me to join them, but my hips do not move like that.
-Some days I go and visit the jajas that are in the program. Most of them do not speak English, but joy is universal. We always pray before we leave if they let us. It's always an blessed day when I get to go.
-Yesterday I went to the field and was able to do home assessments on new profiles. Basically, I wrote how many rooms, dirt or cement floors, condition of the roof, if they had a kitchen or a pit latrine. The rest of the questions needed some more knowledge of the language, maybe by the end I can be more help.

I've made it this far and now three hundred hours doesn't seem so bad after realizing how quick the first one hundred went. Classes are good, I enjoy the social work seminar. It's a chance for me to hear about all the other internships and what they are learning. It's amazing how quickly these girls became friends that I know have my back if I have a rough day in the field. I miss my Dordt social work friends, but I am equally blessed here.

In other news, this weekend I am heading back to my families house because on Saturday there is a catering event. This means on Saturday I will learn to butcher a chicken. I do not think I will actually do the butchering, but my brother wants me to learn and who knows it could be a good life skill? I'm hoping to learn how to make a lot of other Ugandan food (CHAPITI!!!) but am unsure what we are making exactly.   Whatever it is, I'm just happy I get some time with my family and that they are so willing to not just call me family, but treat me like family. This helps make Iowa and family not seem so far away. 

List of Things I've Learned:

1. How to do laundry by hand. So far I haven't had any stains that my Tide stain remover pen hasn't been able to get out, but knock on wood. (Seriously though I'm in love with my tide pen).
2. How to play cards with my brothers. These past two weeks have been dominated by playing cards with my brothers when I get home, their favorite game is called pick three. It's kinda similar to Uno, but there are a few more rules.
3. I  know at least three ways to greet people and how to respond (if they use those three greetings). It's not a whole lot, but it makes people smile when I  try.
4. I  learned how to drink tea. My host family does not make the tea with milk like I    previously explained, it's black tea. I  drink it maybe four times a day, I  think I'm going to miss that part of living at home. However, I'm seriously ready for American coffee...it's been 25 days.
5. I learned that it's okay to make an idiot out of yourself dancing with Ugandans. My brothers put on music and I  tried, but I'm not a dancer at all. They enjoyed me trying I  think. It was then my turn to teach them, so my brothers learned the "Cotton Eye Joe" last night and it was so fun to not be the one who can't dance (seriously though my brothers have moves.)
6. I've learned how to cross the street without getting hit by a boda.
7. I've learned to appreciate long walks from Mama's house early in the morning. The Ugandan sunrise is totally worth it.
8. I've learned a ton about African culture and clans. Apparently, my brother is from the royal clan.
9. I've learned to respond to Hannah, Anna, Anne and Nakato. Apparently Hannah is difficult. I've also learned to respond to Hannah Banana. I  taught my mom that one on accident, I apologize to any other Hannah's who will live with my family in the future. However, I  enjoy it as my mom uses it as a term of endearment.
8. I learned how to make mashed potatoes, greens, and ham the African way. Last night my brother wanted to try Dutch food. So we made "stamppot", so it's kinda African Dutch food.

Oh Brother....so many more brothers.

I  have 10 new brothers (or more or less but I  lose count all the time).  You read that right. My brothers are not all related- we have some cousins, uncles and absolutely no relation in that mix. However, they all treat me like their sister. They are not the only people treating me like family, I  also have three sisters and a mom. Again the three sisters aren't biological sisters to each other. It's very confusing, but we all live in the same house and love each other. That's what matters right? I'll draw you a family tree sometime, it's incredibly helpful.

We live twenty minutes from school, which means I'm 20 minutes shy of the recommended daily exercise (I walk there and back). We live on a rabbit farm, which is really cute until you see them without their skins on...meat is very fresh here. I  think this is the first time I've seen the animal I've eaten (not the rabbit yet, just chicken so far). My brother says he'll teach me to butcher a chicken sometime. They teach me all sorts of great life skills like how to say hello, do my laundry and the meaning of money.

That's about all the update I have time for (got to start walking home before it gets dark- a strict seven pm curfew). Pray for the family who takes American students in every semester and loves each and everyone of them as their own- they have been the biggest Ugandan blessing.