Connected

I am going to tell you about a few of my days, and then I will talk about what they mean to me.

Tuesday: Today I went to the school and graded for teachers.  It was mostly uneventful, but I enjoyed it.  When I got home, I ate lunch, and then found out we had no water in the jerry cans (which is a normal occurrence, because we haven’t had running water since day one, except for one afternoon for a couple of hours).  Today I had to wash my clothes, desperately.   I had been putting it off for days, because of the lack of water.  I thought that maybe the water would miraculously arrive when I needed it most.  When it didn’t, Ruth, Kakuru, and I went to the well to fetch water for washing my clothes.  When we arrived back, Ruth helped me wash my clothes, and after quite some time they were drying on the line.

Wednesday: I went to St. Agnes again this morning.  In the Baby Class I taught the kids how to color in a flower.  (They learn how to do this every day, because they’re 3 or 4 years old, so I wasn’t really doing anything new or exciting for them.)  After break, I went to the Primary 4 class, as normal.  When I arrived Teacher Liberty told me that I would be teaching the lesson today.  It’s quite standard for people here to tell me last minute that I will be speaking publically.  So, I have gotten used to being put on the spot, however I was still nervous.  I had 50+ students looking at me waiting to hear about the Lowest Common Multiple in order to compare fractions.  It has been awhile since I studied these things, so thankfully Liberty had a lesson plan prepared, and I taught off of his notes.  After school, the ladies of the house and I did a study on John chapter 2.  Once that was over, David asked me to accompany Joseph, Conrad, Ruth, and Moreen to the garden to harvest beans.  I was reluctant.  I have done the farm thing when I worked with CLD, and it definitely wasn’t my favorite thing to do.  But, I went anyways.  It ended up being really fun, because while I was there I asked Ruth to retell John 2, and she didn’t leave out a single detail! 

Thursday: Today David and I went to Bushenyi, which is a neighboring district of Mbarara.  It took about an hour and half to get to the village because there was a lot of road construction.  Our destination was about a 20 minute drive off the main road.   It was so peaceful in Bushenyi, there were banana plantations everywhere I looked, pineapple plants, sunflowers, sugar cane, coffee plants, and much more.  We pulled up to the church and school that Elijah (a Ugandan board member of JOAC) and Jane (his wife) have started.  As I looked beyond the school there were hills and valleys in every direction.  It was still morning when we arrived, so the cool breeze blew on my face as I looked at the beautiful scenery.  Breakfast was ready for us.  It consisted of scrambled eggs, bread, and the BEST chai tea I have!   After breakfast we got a tour of the school.  I ended up teaching the Primary 1 class for awhile.  I taught English greetings, numbers, and we practiced the alphabet.  This school is nothing like St. Agnes, or anything in the states.  There were two fortresses, one of which was split down the middle to host two P.1 classes, and the other was split in quarters for the P.1-P.4 classes.  There is little funding for this school, but it was great to see the passion the teachers had for these kids to learn. After visiting with Elijah, Jane, and their family, I was given a live chicken as a parting gift.  We stuffed our vehicle with matoke, potatoes, bananas, sugar cane, and this chicken.  I couldn’t imagine killing it and eating it for dinner… what I couldn’t imagine happened.

Friday: I woke up to the chicken’s cock-a-doodle-do.  This made my heart for its life fade away, and I began to grow bitter towards the chicken.  It was going to be killed either way, today, but thankfully I didn’t mind too much.  Watching the scene definitely wasn’t my favorite part of being here, but it comes with the territory.  When I woke up, I went for a run, and got ready to go into town to take Moreen out on a date!  We got some snacks and walked around in Mbarara town.  It is important for me to take each of the girls on a one on one adventure before I leave.  Moreen really enjoyed it, and so did I.  When we got back, we ate lunch, and watched Conrad kill the chicken-something I hope one day to forget.  After that David, Joseph, and I watched sermon called “How Great is Our God” (http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1849169).  It was so powerful! Then the ladies and I studied John 3.  We memorized John 3:16 together, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”  This verse is the main theme of this chapter, and it was exciting to watch the girls grasp this concept.  It is not by the good works that we do, but by believing in what Christ has already done.  We ate the chicken for dinner.  Having meat at dinner time is very rare because food prices in Uganda have gone up, so all the kids thanked me for the chicken… even though I had very little to do with the gift.  In the evening, like most Friday nights, David, Esther, and I went to see Joseph perform in a Jazz band.  I asked if Emmanuel (Emmy) could come with us.  He really enjoyed the night out; aye, I love when these kids smile.  It melts my heart.

Now, here comes in the connected part.  I want to pick out three stories, and share about how I have connected with them. First, I fetched water for a need.  I never have to do this in the states.  Water is readily accessible.  Yes, this wasn’t the first time that I went to fetch water since I have been here, but it definitely the first time I have HAD to.  As an American that lives comfortably, I never feel connected to water.  I can always turn the faucet and water will always pour out (with the hot/cold option).  I have to admit, it was frustrating having to fetch water to wash my clothes.  It was no longer a choice for me, but it was mandatory.  I began to think of the things I think I NEED in the states.  I survived fetching water; though I did fall in the mud little bit, because I am still klutzy in Uganda.  I don’t NEED my faucet to spring forth water for me at every moment in the day.  I will survive.  I don’t NEED a washing machine… I am not saying that I would like to live without those things forever, but they’re definitely not NEEDS. Of course, a water source is a need, but it doesn’t have to be in every room in a house.  Secondly, I was connected to the beans I ate for dinner this week.  I went to the garden and helped harvest them.  My job was to remove the pods from the stems and put them in the bag to bring home.  So often I have no idea where the foods I eat come from.  But this week I have experienced the knowing and retrieving.  While in Bushenyi, Hannah (one of Jane and Elijah’s daughters) grabbed pineapple from the pineapple plant, cut it up, and served it to us.  I knew where it came from, and I ate it moments after being removed from the plant.  How often do we experience this type of consumption?  It is really hard to live like this in the states, but I will commend anyone who tries to only eat food in which they know the sourcef-it’s nearly impossible.  The third thing was the chicken.  I don’t eat meat all too often because I love vegetables, but I am definitely not opposed to meat-eating.  I was given a live chicken as a gift.  This has never happened to me in the states.  I had no clue what to do with the bired, and frankly I was terrified of it.  I watched, from a distance, the process from receiving the chicken, bringing it home, killing it, plucking its feathers, cutting and cleaning it, and cooking it.  Especially when I am at school, and eat from the school cafeteria, I rarely see how things are prepared.  I felt totally ignorant, because I didn’t know how to prepare a chicken from start to finish.

It’s hard to live connected in a society that is so disconnected due to the “necessity” to save time.  Since I have been here, I have learned to appreciate the moments for what they are, slow down, and be less concerned with the amount I have or have not accomplished.  Life’s not about me anyways, right?  Let us live connected to the people we love, the places we love, the food we love, the things we love, and most importantly the God we love.  If we do, we will learn to love and appreciate them even more than we thought possible.

Another plug for the JOAC blog: JOACuganda.blogspot.com