Hi Everyone!
So…we didn't go to the bush… yet. Some logistical things fell through and so we are hoping to go in November.
We still are leaving for Nairobi on October 20th for mid-point debrief and will back in Lira October 26th.
I thought I would update you some things we have done lately and give you a bit of an understanding of the culture here in Uganda.
– The last day of the anniversary at Victory Church equalled a march around Lira. About 200 Africans and our team marched around the city for 2 hours. We sang praises to God and waved leafy branches. It was quite an experience to say the least.
– Our latest ministry opportunity has been at Fountain Primary School. Instead of playing with the children (and getting beat up by the little ones) we were given the task of painting a mural on the walls along the edge of the grounds. My team has been rocking at drawing everything from the human digestive system to leaves and flowers. It's all educational so the teachers can teach from the wall. We are probably going to be spending another few days there until we finish.
– On one of our off days half my team went to a hike a nearby mountain. It was walking straight uphill on flat slanted rocks and free climbing to get to the top. It was exhausting but well worth the view. We could see a 360 degree view of everything. It was absolutely breath-taking.
Other random facts about life here:
– My name here is Daniell-a. When I try to prounounce Danielle they think I am saying Daniel and are confused as to why I have a boy's name.
– Nobody believes I'm 22. I'm constantly asked my age and then asked if I am deceiving them. This includes the children. They don't believe me. They tell me I am small and point and laugh at my feet.
– I'm not a huge fan of doing laundry by hand. It also tends to rain often so letting it dry on the clothesline takes forever. So I rarely do laundry…
– Showering is also a bit of a time consuming process and is usually cold, so I rarely shower either.
– The weirdest food I've eaten has been the g-nut paste with cassava (sweet potato/root). It is a mixture of ground up peanuts and some sort of porridge. It's the texture of… thick, bumpy, cream of wheat?
– I love mandazi (sweet roll/dough ball) and chapatti (mix between a tortilla and pita bread) and have eaten way too much of both.
– The Alpha staff are some of the sweetest people I have ever met. They are also some of the hardest working people I have met. Oh, and they are all between the ages of 18 and 25
– I've been learning some of the local language from some of the boys at Compassion. I can now count to 20 in Lango and say a few basic phrases.
– Time here is irrelevant. If you are walking to work and run into someone you know it is more important to have a conversation and catch up then to be on time for work. People and conversing is more important than time. There are pros and cons to this. It's better than the American culture where everything is done fast and nobody has time for anybody but themselves. It's not fun when you are waiting to be picked up and the driver says he is coming… and he comes 3 hours later.
– Tea time is also very important here. Here tea = coffee and chai = tea. We have it in various forms and it's very important to stop whatever you are doing to "take tea".
– Babies are handed off to anybody to be taken care of. Especially us. Children even as young as five are holding babies and caring for them.
– The little grocery stores here are owned by Indian people. Indian music is usually playing and most stuff at the store is in Arabic.
– We have real toilets but we don't flush our toilet paper. The system can't handle it so we have a wastebasket for all of our TP.
– Ugandans don't have a sense of personal space or a filter. They say whatever they are thinking and they get very close and personal. It's also completely normal to see two guys holding hands. Here it is a sign of friendship.
– There aren't many traffic rules here. Walking, bicycles and boda bodas (motor bikes) are the most common ways of transportation. You also see people transporting anything and everything on their bikes/bodas. People, live chickens & goats, water jugs, wooden beams, TVs, etc.
– Ugandans like to be clean if at all possible. The girls at Fountain Secondary School told us they shower 3 times a day. They were quite shocked to find out some of us hadn't showered in days.
– The dirt here is red (like GV, Texas) and you can never be fully clean. The dust hangs in the air and you can sometimes feel it in your lungs.
– There seems to be a bit of a hierarchy here. You can see it among those who are better off compared to those who are poor. You can also see how children and women submit to men. Often women/children will get on their knees when shaking our hands or the hands of men.
– Children here are taught to be independent at a young age. You see a child trip and fall, bursting into tears but nobody will come to their comfort. They learn to be little adults by the time they are five.
Be praying for my team as we travel back to Nairobi. Our last bus ride lasted 31 hours and we were stuck at the border. Hopefully this time will be smooth sailing.
Also pray that we could continue to find opportunities to do ministry when ministry doesn't work out as planned.
Finally, prayers for our health and against sickness for our team would be awesome!
miss you all!
love.
