Rural Visit - Sunday

Rural Visit - Sunday

Sunday February 7th 2010

We thought that we were going to go to the 7am church service at the community church, but when I woke up at 6:30 to get ready, nobody else was up and it was still dark outside. Faith wanted to leave as early as possible for our ride back to Kampala, so around 9am she sent us to a different church. We got to the church halfway through the service and everyone stared as we walked to our seats. We sung a few closing songs that were cool. Everyone had such beautiful voices, and there was a lot of clapping and happy yelling. We got introduced to the congregation near the end. After the service, we were invited back to the Priest's office to talk with him. He was very friendly and welcomed us to the community. On the way back, we stopped at the community church for a few minutes. We were welcomed inside and participated in saying some prayers. Then we said goodbye and went back to our huts. Everyone within our cluster of huts came for a big family picture with us. Then some children arrived and we gave them the sandals we had bought for them. I really wish we had also bought some clothing to give out because so many of them were wearing torn and filthy clothing. One boy had only a pair of old corduroys on and they were so ripped that he had tied them to his legs to keep them in place. Heartbreaking.. Whereas back in the States I am always buying new clothes and feeling like my fully stocked wardrobe is lacking something. How lucky I am to have more than one pair of pants.

It came time to say goodbye and load into the van. Every was hugging us and asking us to please come back to see them. Agnes, one of the school teachers that I didn't get a chance to talk to much grabbed my hand and didn't want to let me go. She lead me to her little house, which was just a room in the school building that had a mattress on the floor. She gave Morgan and I pictures of her and then we took one of all of us on our camera and she asked if we could give her a copy. I hugged the elders and they were all so sweet. Somebody turned on the van radio and the grandmother I was trying to take a picture with started dancing and it was so cute! We got on the road and I cried a little bit as we pulled away from the village because I was so overwhelmed by the love that we felt there. I slept most of the way back. It rained which cooled everything down nicely.

Back at the house, I was so excited to see all my friends again. We had some good outhouse stories to tell and everyone was talking at once about how much they loved their weekend. We all wanted to go back. The whole group went to our director, Grace's, house for dinner. We had a really fun debriefing meeting where we got to hear a lot of really good stories. Our consensus was that Africans know the real meaning of hospitality. In the USA we often consider guests a burden. Here, guests are treated like it is an honor to have them around. We were welcomed into the family and shown amazing love.

I had THE BEST weekend ever. I wish I didn't have to live in the city. Our semester would be so much cooler if we were in the village. Though I am really happy to have running water, real toilets, showers and internet.