The Family Mukwanya

~I write this to you as Nakiganda Kjersten Joy Karlsgodt Mukwanya~

Last night Shannon and I asked Julius to give us Uganda names as most of the people in our group have been named by their families. So there it is! Here in Uganda one can have up to 12 names. Julius laughed as he told us that your parents give you a name and then your grandpa may or you chose one when you get older or anyone in the family may decide to tack another name on the list! So I became Nakiganda. It comes from the totem of the Mukwanya family... They have a few names to select from. There totem is that of the cheetah. It means someone who treasures and wishes to preserve culture, a nice person to meet, and an exciting person to live with! My sister Judith named me it because I keep asking her to teach me Luganda and take interest in how they live their lives! Mukwanya is the family surname which means organizer, which is good because my papa is a headmaster! I have now become part of a whole new family!
The great thing about Uganda is they consider anyone in their clan to be family. Let me tell you about the people that live in my home. First, when our coordinator dropped us off at my home she said, "Oh man you guys got the crazy family!" To which I did a fist pump and exclaimed YES! The family consists of Papa Julius, Mama Edith, Jiajia, Stella, Difas, Mark, Judith, Simeon, Michael, and Rachel. Oh and Curly, Larry, Moe, and Erwin.

PAPA JULIUS- Wow this man makes me laugh. He is loud and jolly. Papa speaks very good english and has traveled in Europe and so often asks to compare Europe to America. He loves talking about my garden at home. One of the first things he said to us when we came is that God had given their family the opportunity to have two more children and they were excited to be able to have us in the family. Julius is always joking. Two of my favorite quotes from him are, "I could never be a Muslim. They have to fast during Ramadan. I would eat." and also, "If you don't eat the food in front of you when there are starving people in the world, Jesus will punch you in the face." This was after our discussion about how people in the world are anorexic. I was worried about meal times because they say in Uganda the males don't talk during meals. Julius chats the whole time!

MAMA EDITH- Mama is a nurse at Julius' school. The greatest thing about her is her laugh. She is always laughing. Especially when Julius tells a story. She totally surprised me one day by coming in and joining us during a spontanious dance party. She speaks english pretty well, although isn't very good at forming sentences. When I ask a question she doesn't understand she will scream, "JUDITH COME HERE! I don't understand this girl!" It makes me laugh. She is always making us eat, which is great. She says that women need to give birth to children and can't expect to do that if they are so skinny!

JAIJIA- My grandma. She doesn't speak english and sits on a mat and watches us. I love her. As soon as we met I felt a little connection. I learned how to say good night and hello so I can talk with her. She sometimes will surprise me with one or two english words. One day she was taking tea with us and poured her tea into a saucer to sip out of instead of the mug. I looked at her and started laughing. She looked back at me and laughed so hard she wasn't able to drink. I made her a bracelet and now she wears it. She also surprised me by taking place in a random dance party. She could shake her hips!! I great her everyday when I get home from school and try out my new Luganda words. It makes me miss my grandma!

MARK- the oldest biological son, he is Judith's twin and left for boarding school last week. He spoke great english and is 19 years old. He was very fun to be around as he takes after his father. Most nights him and the boys would watch a movie, or he would be out with friends as Judith says, "boys can never sit still for very long." I miss him at home and am waiting to go visit him at school!

JUDITH- my muganda wange. That means sister. Judith is the member of the family that we have the most contact with, at least that was before school started. She is Mark's twin so also 19. Right now she goes to school from 7-10 or so but will be done in October. We share a room and she taught us how to do everything. She is SO funny. One of my favorite things to do is tease her and she is constantly whining about me 'disturbing her' in a fun way. Her favorite thing to exclaim is, "You're serious??!!??" I save all my culture questions for Judith.

SIMEON- the last of the biological children. He is 13 and very quiet. I would ask him many questions to which I would usually get about one word answers. He was just starting to warm up to us when he also went to boarding school. Sad. His smile is to die for!

STELLA- a 23 year old cousin who I call my sister. Since Judith went to school I spend all my time with Stella. She is great. Sometimes she doesn't understand what we are saying but mostly understands. She loves to tease us. Stella does all the work during the day and will sometimes steal my shoes or shirts to clean them or iron them when I'm not looking. Yesterday she taught me to cut pineapple and couldn't get over how quick I learned. As if I've never used a knife. She is impressed by how much I can eat! :) Next year she is going away to be a teacher.

RACHEL- another cousin who was orphaned about six years ago. She is 14. Super quiet!! She doesn't usually eat with us and is not one to step forward. Sometimes she will bust a dance move. I will have to work on empowering her. First step is getting her to take tea with us. She also does all the work in the house.

MICHAEL and DIFAS- The boys who are still in the house. These two don't say much and aren't around often, but are both nice and don't speak a ton of english.

SHANNON- Shannon is my host sister from Delaware. We were both placed in the family. Lets just say we are very different and are learning as much from each other as from our family! She was raised in the suburbs and is into literature. She had never seen a chicken and isn't very fond of such things as the squatty potty or eating Ugandan food. But she is funny and we are able to have a lot of fun together!

LARRY, CURLY, MOE- our little kittens who just this day killed their first mouse. The family rejoiced while Shannon and I ran away. We named them as the family doesn't do such things.

ERWIN- the gecko that hangs out on the wall during tea. When we told Stella the name she thought it was hilarious!

There you go the Mukwanya household!!