Rural Visit - Friday

Copied from my diary:
February 5th 2010

This morning we packed up our things for the rural visit. Faith arrived early and so we left around 10:45am. In the van with us were Faith's friend, Jude, her brother, Innocent, and their driver, Patrick. Ryan, Morgan and I piled into the back and we were on our way. The village we went to was in the Masindi district about a four hours drive away. It is not Faith's village, but her mother (called "Mama" by everyone), started the village for victims of the war to get a new start. They also started a school for all of the children in the area so that they wouldn't have to walk hours to school in the morning. so basically we were staying as guests in the village her mother started.

On our ride we stopped at a roadside market and filled up the van with fresh produce. We were given money to buy a gift for our hosts, so we asked Faith what we should get. She said that it must be from our hearts, so we thought and then suggested that we might buy them a chicken. Faith and Jude burst into laughter and we weren't sure why. At one point we reached a place where the roads were getting repaved so there were more than 150 speed bumps in a row. It took forty-five minutes at least of being bounced in the air before the bumps were over. I tried to sleep most of the way but couldn't. Faith asked me if I wanted a blanket because it was cold...I have no idea what she was talking about because even though the temperature dropped a few degrees, it was still hot and sticky for me.

We turned off the main road and started driving down a dirt path. The van straddled the path and there was tall grass on either side. We drove for at least a half an hour trying to avoid ditches in our path. It was so amazing to realize that we were in the middle of nowhere, in Africa. Wow. I picture myself on a path in the middle of Africa, then in my mind I zoom out (just like on google earth) and saw the African continent in my mind and couldn't believe that this is where I am. We finally pulled up in the middle of a cluster of huts. We got out and saw a table with a group of middle aged villagers eating. We greeted each other and they seemed very excited to meet us. Everyone was so gracious!

Us girls are sharing a hut. It is very nice. The walls are made of brick and concrete with a thatched roof overhead. There are four beds and a plastic table and chair set, and a wardrobe used as a cupboard. The men nailed frames to our beds for our mosquito netting to hang on. Walking around we immediately noticed the animals. Aside from chickens, a crazy looking rooster, ducks, huge turkeys and bunnies, there were more than fifty goats running around. They were absolutely adorable! I love goats, especially the little babies that make that silly "maaaaaaa" sound. We realized then why Faith had laughed when we wanted to buy a goat as a gift... they seem to have plenty as it is! On our way back from the outhouses, Ryan asked a woman if he could help her pound millet. She let him take the big stick and pound at it for a few minutes while laughing hysterically at his efforts. She said he must not have ever worked in the garden or used a hoe, because he was so weak. haha. Poor Ryan. But we all had a good laugh over his switching of traditional gender roles.

Morgan, Ryan and I wandered down a path that lead away from the cluster of huts. On both sides were tall grasses that were almost as tall as us. The setting couldn't have felt more remote. I was thinking about how different and awesome this experience is in comparison to if I was at Messiah right now carrying out my normal routine. We soon noticed that we had company. Three adorable young boys were shyly following us from a safe distance. We waited for them to catch up, but they were bashful and came very slowly. The three of us tried to talk to them, with almost no success. It was a very awkward moment and we comment that we were glad that nobody else had to witness our difficulties trying to communicate with the boys. Embrace the uncomfortable, right? We finally gave them high fives, the universal sign of friendship. :)

Patrick adn Innocent joined us, and we soon came upon the schoolhouse that they had built. The building was made out of tin sheeting because the first one they had built had been grass and had burnt down. We were welcomed in to the classes by a very friendly teacher. There were fifteen children sitting at their desks waiting for him to write up their homework. On the board were some math problems and a bar graph. It looked like the same education I received at that age. In the second classroom we went in to, all of the children stood up to greet us. I shook hands with the few in front of me, but then all of the kids came over to shake my hand. When they shook my hand they would also go into a bow/kneeling position as a sign of respect. Outside, the teacher told us that they had been told that we would be coming at eight in the morning so all the children had prepared performances for us, but it was now almost five and time for them to go home, and half of the students had gone home at lunch anyways. We felt terrible, and assured the teacher that if we had known we would have left early in the morning to get there on time.

We continued walking and came upon a church with a group gathered outside. They came over and greeted us with the customary words "You are most welcome!" They showed us the church and told us about their growing ministry. The leaders were Dallington and Margaret. they were so kind to us and we said we would come on Sunday.

When the kids got out of school they all came to our huts and stood in a cluster acting very shy. We tempted them out of their shyness by making a jump rope out of a goat rope. They loved it when I took their picture and then showed it on the digital screen, it had them giggling and poking fun at each others facial expressions. I took tons of pictures. We went to the rusty swing set and slide and played some more. One girl was so cute and I just wanted to bring her home with me. I wish we could stay longer than the weekend to play with them after school again.

Faith called us back for a small meal in our hut. It was yummy sausage, ground nuts, and bananas. faith said it was just a snack and that we needed to save room because it would be rude to not eat anything the villagers offered us.

We helped bring the goats in which was a lot of fun for me. The goats are tied to the tall grass to graze, so we untied them and brought them back to their pens to be tied up. I think a few of the village boys set their goats free on purpose because it was funny watching the white people run after them. At the end I got to hold one of the baby goats in my arms. Now I am having dreams of becoming a goat farmer in the middle of the African bush..

We drove to pick up two policemen that would keep watch over us at night. I don't think it was necessary to have guards, but they don't take chances with their white visitors because we might tell other people that its not safe to come or give money.. Makes sense. We built a fire between our hut and the boy's hut. Then we told stories, shared superstitions that were funny from our culture and theirs and laughed. We were served another meal, that was very good ( a lot better than the Ugandan food I had at a restaurant a few weeks ago). I liked the sticky millet bread that is cut using the edge of a bowl. During the day we used a solar panel to collect light to power a bulb for our hut while we got ready for bed. Now I am sitting in bed writing because I can't lay down right away after taking my malaria pill. I can't wait to play with the goats tomorrow. Goodnight!