A Week in the Country

It has taken me all day to get up the drive to write this blog. I don’t even think I’ll be able to finish it in one sitting! That how life goes when there is so much to relate! The motivation level for school work has dropped to about nothing among the IMME students after a week off. You know how it goes when the end is near. Who wants to do homework in a little building with only one window and 14 people that we have been hanging around with all semester?!? Let me give you an answer, no one. But in the words of my father, “This too shall pass.” I will now try to tell you about all the excitement that the past week held.
We were brought to our host families on Friday night. The IMME group was in a region called Kapchorwa which is on the slopes of Mt. Elgon near the border of Kenya. It was gorgeous and full of green vegetation and hillsides alive with waterfalls. On arriving I was dropped off on the road with my mom, Miriam, and sister, Lillian. We walked down through a banana tree plantation on a little path that I had to duck to get through and emerged at the place I would call home for the next five days. Talk about a view! The house was on the edge of a cliff. I had two waterfalls in my backyard. Our pastures went all the way to the edge of the cliff and on looking down I could see miles of green farmland and banana plantations. There were monkeys that lived in the trees surrounding us. As far as the compound, it was large, about the size of my front yard at home, on the North side of the driveway. There were two houses, one more permanent and the other only finished with mud and plastered with cow dung. The one served as the kitchen and had a room for the herd man and one for the girls. The other house had Miriam’s room, a sitting room, and my room. That is right I had my own room. It was nice and dark so I slept like a baby!
My family consisted of Miriam who was the main English speaker, Lillian (24) who spoke only very minimal English, Juliet (12) the house help who spoke no English, and Michael (18) who looked after the cows and also spoke no English. I received the name Cheritech which means ‘born when the cows were coming home’ since I was born in the afternoon. My father lived and worked in Kampala while my other 5 siblings were at boarding school in Kampala. I was so impressed with Miriam and her ability to do everything and run the whole farm. She was, in my mind, the Connie Pearson of Africa. She was a hard working individual who always finds the joy in life. I was really bored for the first couple of days because when Miriam would go to town I had no one to talk to! I read two and a half books as well as sat in for hours on conversations I understood nothing from! Oh well, all part of the experience I guess. When we went for walks village people would come up to me and wonder what the heck a mzungu was doing in their village! I even got offers for marriage despite my apparent inability to dig or cook. People would ask my mom what types of food I ate, if I could carry a hoe, or do any work. Seriously they think we have machines for everything. One lady asked a girl in our group about a machine we have for washing ourselves. She said, “I hear you just stand there and a machine cleans you!” The girl replied, “No. We still scrub ourselves.” The African replied, “Oh good. I was wondering how it got all the cracks.”
My days went a little like this… I would wake up around 7:30 and read until tea at 9. For this morning tea I was crammed full of milk tea, bread, jam, and biscuits. Two mornings I helped milk the cow which attracted the attention of all the college boys who lived on the compound adjacent to us. I smiled and waved at the many whistles, all the while thinking in my head, “Seriously. I’m just milking a cow. Keep watching I might do a trick!” After tea I would bathe in the interesting bathroom, which I will tell you about later. Since it is really cold in Kapchorwa they always heated the bath water which was nice. After bathing I would usually read for a couple more hours until lunch. After lunch the afternoons were full of hikes or visiting friends. The gardens were a good mile away and so we visited them. I got to make coffee one morning. Let me tell you it does not smell good for 5/6 of the process and is a ton of work to harvest! She wanted to send some home with me but it didn’t dry in time. It would get dark at about 7 and we would move into the kitchen and hang out until an 8:30 or 9:00 supper. Then I would go to bed. It was nice going to bed so early!
On Monday my sister Winnie (18) came home from school and it was such a blessing because she spoke English very well. She had never spoken to a white person before and I found myself answering some of the funniest questions. We have a bad rep in the world! Among the questions were: Are there black people in America? Did you bring that jerry can of water from America? Does it have special medicine in it? Are there poor people in America? Are there farmers in America? Have you ever seen a chicken? I thought all white people were like the ones I see in soap operas. Are the teenage kids like they are in the movies? Are you going to get a new boyfriend here? Why not? Don’t you like black people? Who cares you’re in Africa! Oh and so many more…
One of my favorite moments was one night waiting for supper and watching the conversations going on. There were four different languages flying around with Miriam the only one able to understand it all. The local language is called Kupsabine and that is what Lillian and Juliet spoke. Winnie grew up in Kenya and speaks Swahili. Michael only spoke Lagisu. I only spoke English. The only one who spoke them all was Miriam. It was fascinating.
All in all my experience was ok. I had many offers to bring my family back and to live in the mountains… So if anyone is interested I know how to get you some land!
On Wednesday morning I packed my things and waited for my fellow Americans to come pick me up. I heard Justin Struik coming running down the path and was so happy to see friendly faces! He ran and gave me a hug and I couldn’t help but think how comforting it is to receive a hug from a friend after a long and lonely week! I can’t imagine what hugging you all will be like when I first see you!
We loaded up in the van and went to lunch at a local place and there I saw Kiersten for the first time and we literally talked twenty miles a minute as everyone was telling the stories of their experiences. We had many people from our group had trouble with medical issues while away and I was thankful that all you people back home have been praying so hard for me! After lunch we went to Siroti where the USE students in our program had their stays. The night was filled with debriefing and storytelling. I couldn’t help but smile as all the people from the city related their experiences about their eyes being opened to the fact that people actually have to work for their food and there is so much that goes into it before it reaches the grocery store. I guess this is where I insert the song “Thank God I’m a country girl!”
We spent the next couple days in Siroti which was hot and so I didn’t really enjoy my time there very much although it was covered with many games of Rook. Justin Lane tried out a couple new partners in a quest to try to find victory. I must admit that he has found some success with Justin Struik. Don’t worry Kiersten and I talk strategy many times a day and therefore the wins are hopefully going to stop for the Justin’s. During our two nights there God put on an amazing lightning show for us. It was beautiful and the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed. We sang a couple hymns and filmed it so make sure to ask to see it when I come home.
On Friday morning we headed back to Kapchorwa as an entire group to stay at Sipi Falls which is a great waterfall in Eastern Uganda. The rooms were a little less than glamorous, but hey what can you do! On Saturday some of us went for an all day hike from the top of the set of three waterfalls down to the bottom. It was beautiful and really muddy. People were slipping and falling and sinking in mud. I enjoyed it and took many pictures. At one point the trip was so steep we had to go down a ladder. It was also an extremely muddy point in the trail. There were many little African children who followed us and tried to help the girls down and make sure we weren’t slipping. Personally they were driving me crazy. Not like I’m independent or anything. They kept stepping on my shoes or hovering and squeezing my hand. Sigh. I just feigned the language barrier thing and pretended I didn’t understand the constant statement of, “give me your hand.” Add that to the vocab list for young children. “What is your name? How are you? Fine. Give me your hand. Give me money.” The phrases I hear the most here. I really did enjoy the hike and it felt good to sweat again and feel the muscles burn in my legs. Ha someone remind me of that in a couple months during my training for basketball.
I feel like now would be a good time for the toilet trauma section although it may have to be modified to bathroom trauma as that is what a bathhouse is called here!
- Day one at rural home stay: I was lead to a bathroom that had no door and cracks in the walls. I hung my towel over the doorway which was great until I realized I had to dry off. Let’s just say my clothes were pretty soggy as I just put them on.
- Day two: I brought my work skirt and used it as a towel because it was Sunday and I didn’t need to wear it that day.
- Day three: I literally rubbed my body against the towel while it was still hanging up. It wasn’t the most effective, but did help a little.
- Day four: I did the rub technique on the top and then just wrapped the towel really quickly around my waist.
- Day five: Almost decided to “throw in the towel” on my efforts toward privacy and rip it off from the door. Instead I did the waist wrap again and when I stepped out saw Michael working in the garden right outside. Thank you Jesus I didn’t go through with my irrational thoughts.
- Random Toilet Trauma: I had to pee in a shack that didn’t have a hole again! I’m getting used to that though and I learned that it is totally normal to double a bathroom and a toilet for ‘short call!’
As for other updates on the world of Uganda most news revolves around the election. For all of you who were wondering who would win the presidential election I want to let you know I have known along with Africa for the past four weeks. Newspapers here are a little biased and I cannot wait until I no longer have to hear about misinformed political insights. Oh and Kenya is having a national holiday tomorrow because an African is now the president of the United States. I wonder if Obama has ever been to Kenya. Also we were eating today in the canteen (Justin Struik took Kiersten and me out for her birthday and Justin Lane came along) and Justin S didn’t eat his greens. Here anything green is called greens with no specific names. These particular greens were very bitter. The waiter asked in amazement, “WHAT you didn’t eat your greens? These are greens from Kenya the greens of Barak Obama!” Justin replied coolly, “I don’t like them.” Seriously.
Ok well that is about all that has been going on in my life. Except that Judith and Rachel my sisters both have malaria. It is pretty serious with Judith and I keep hoping that she will get better soon. The people in my family don’t really sleep because they are all taking care of her and coming into my room all night long. A little fun fact about culture here is that no one cares if you are sleeping and will turn the light on and leave your door open all night long. I got out of bed yesterday at 1:30am to shut the light off. I want to tell my family the healing power in letting the girl sleep!
Well that is about all I have to say besides sorry for the delay in posting this! We have had about an hour of internet connection a day for the week. Frustrating, but such is life here I guess. I miss you all and send you some love and heat from Africa.