Here is a brief recap of the last few days:
Monday -
- 7:30- 11:30am - NSambya babies home...carrying wood, chopping wood. Took me about an hour, but I finally got the hang of splitting wood. Unfortunately, I only got to spend a few minutes with the kids today....had to do the more manly jobs....
- 3-4pm - Visit to J's house (my sponsoree) and praying with her family
- 7-10pm - "Everything" skit performance at Kyambogo University...we did a great job and we were asked by the minister to perform the skit at both Sunday services. I was "the boyfriend" who strayed the girl from Jesus initially....Ha!
- On an interesting note, when we finished our skit, there was a guest speaker who was invited to preach that night. He was a pastor from some church in Uganda and began preaching about devil-worshipping, an "underground" society of human flesh eaters and blood drinkers, and exorcisms he claims to perform. Then he introduced a young girl of about 17 who gave her testimony. She told us she was in the underground society and said the following things (it was hard to understand her, so these are just some of the statements I picked up in the 20-30 minute talk:
- she named popular Ugandan songs with hidden meanings that were supposedly written by devil-worshippers. For instance, there is a popular song that says "You're my bread and butter" and she claims it was written by flesh eaters to their prey. This part of the testimony went on for about 10 minutes until the preacher came up and told her to move on.
-she claimed her friend witnessed a talking snake.
-she spoke about how the fashion label D&G is an organization of the devil...also, anything with snake print. Also, beyonce and shakira have snakes in their bellies which make them dance the way they do.
-finally, she mentioned how the devil constructed a machine in the sky which captures many Christian prayers before they reach God.
Apparently, some of the things she was saying are Biblical possibilities, but it seemed that the pastor was playing off African spirituality and witchcraft fears....maybe for his own means...I am not sure. Either way, the situation presented a different side of African culture that I was not privy to previously.
Tuesday -
- 8am - Devotions; 9:30am - 1pm Well cleaning and ministry to people around the well; 3pm - trip to visit my sponsoree's home - See my previous blog and pics posted for the well cleaning and sponsoree discussions.
- 7pm - Introduction of EAC volunteer Jeff at concert at Kyambogo University. James, Felix, Jeff, William, Emily and I took boda-bodas to the University. A boda-boda is a motorcycle taxi.....apparently you can fit 3 people on them....no not kidding....but we only rode 2 to a boda boda. It was mine and James' first time on a boda boda, so we rode together....no helmets, no seatbelts...just a smelly driver, myself and James crammed together on a boda. Once again, standard operating procedure here in Uganda....we have a saying at the house - TIA (This is Africa).
As far as the introduction went....basically, I was asked by a Ugandan volunteer, W. Jeff, to introduce him as he was headlining an assembly for "freshers" (Ugandan/British term for freshman). Ugandans are incredibly expressive...the normal introductions have the congregation yelling, etc. So, I did my best...I learned that everytime you say "Praise the Lord", the congregation will yell "Amen", so I added a few of those at the beginning. All in all, it went ok and Jeff was happy.
Wednesday -
- Normally we would go to Katalemwa, but only half of us got to go as one of our buses broke down. So, I stayed back and helped clean up the house. The fact that I actually cleaned up a house will come as the largest surprise to my parents and any person who knows me well...but I promise it is true.
- After the other group returned, a few of us went to the craft market. I bought the only souvenir that I have wanted... a great wooden and cowhide Ugandan drum that is sure to annoy everyone on the flight home....I paid 33k Ugandan shillings for it (roughly $16 US dollars).
- James and I were responsible for dinner, so we made pasta with meat sauce that was quite good (ok..maybe that will be the largest surprise). Really, we just cranked up the music and turned the kitchen into a disco for 2 hours.
Thursday -
- 7:30-11:30am - Sanyu Babies Home - My first trip to Sanyu Babies Home (we always have a choice between Sanyu and Nsambya---Sanyu is much more organized...Nsambya is basically a free-for-all. But, I found out today that babies are babies...no matter what and unpredictability is constant.
So, after a brief tour, I somehow wound up ushering the toddlers (more than 20 babies from the ages of 2-4) from breakfast to "potty time".....yes. So, I herd the kids together and shuffle them into the "bathroom" which is a large tiled room with about 30 mini red, blue, and green plastic toilets on the floor. I then had to strip the kids and hand off their clothes for washing. Once naked, the kids pretty much knew what to do...though choosing a toilet and who you want to sit by proved to be a difficult decision for some...a little like a combination between buying a car and choosing the best lunch table in junior high. There definitely were cliques...the bad kids migrated toward the back corner by the outside door, the younger kids stayed closer to the hallway, and the middle of the room were relatively well-behaved.
Here I am, alone, in a room with over 20 toddlers. Initially, everything appeared to be going well. That did not last long. The next 30 minutes of my life was where my support team's prayers helped me the most this week....I said NO (Nay-da) a lot and the kids understood when it was said with authority.
Once through with their "business", the tots were required to stay seated until it was their turn for a shower (one at a time). At this point, chaos ensued.....the bad kids started hopping/shuffling in their plastic toilets...almost as if the thing had wheels....playing bumper cars with their toilets, getting close enough to pinch their neighbors, etc.
I began tending to one of the quieter younger kids, turned around and noticed an empty toilet in the back by the outside door....Great...we have a streaker. I run outside, grab him and seat him back in his perch...he thought it was really funny. By the way, outside is a courtyard where they hang clothes...no risk of actual escape.
I seated the streaker, but heard a chant coming from the quiet kid corner. Looking over, I see about 10 kids with clenched fists, moving both arms up and down in unison and chanting a phrase with 3 words in Lugandan (local language). I had no idea kids this age could put together phrases, let alone organize a Solidarity Union in the matter of 10 minutes. I could not understand what they were saying, but I am sure it was something like "My Body, My Potty". Lucky for me, there must have been some fighting amongst the union leadership, because the chant died down after about 30 seconds.
I heard giggling again from the bad corner, turned around and found that one of the streaker's fellow gang members now decided that drinking the contents of his neighbor's toilet would be a good idea. No, not kidding. He literally tilted the toilet up like a bowl of soup and began drinking. I yelled NO but he just giggled as the liquid gurgled out of his mouth. I did eventually get him to stop, but then had to turn around as other kids began getting off their toilets and moving around. Basically, anytime I turned to one part of the room, toddlers from the other side would get up and run off .
The "drinker" even began pushing "the juice" on his friend...peer pressure apparently applies to toddlers because although the friend said "yucky", he still stuck his hand in it and tasted it multiple times.
My voice got sterner and sterner and I eventually got the room under control just in time for showering. I took the kids one at a time to the shower and then carried them from the shower to the drying area for the next few minutes. After that, I mopped the "bathroom", helped scrubbing laundry and then had a much needed break to get chipatis (basically Ugandan tortillas).
- 2pm-4pm - Remand Home - The Remand Home is the most spiritually challenging activity we participate in at EAC. It is basically a youth detention center, housing 13-17 yr old boys and girls. Some may have committed a petty crime, some murder, or others nothing at all (wrongly accused or otherwise). At EAC, we put on a loud, exciting praise & worship session that the kids love. After the singing, we pray, play games, and then someone gives a mini sermon. I was chosen to organize a game...and thanks to Courtney's dream and some help from Emmay, I chose limbo which went over surprisingly well.
At the home, I have befriended Canaan and Andrew. Canaan was involved in a group who vandalized some things at boarding school. He was saved in the Remand Home and we share our favorite Bible verses. He is supposed to get out this week...I have been praying that he does. I have not really figured out what Andrew did...I know his friend died, but he has not really explained why he has been sent to the Remand Home. Anyhow, he was in very low spirits. The mini-sermon was about Jesus' joy and maintaining joy even through the toughest situations. We three met after the sermon, and I prayed with all I have for both of them. I gave Andrew a bracelet one of the neighborhood kids had given me to remind him of Jesus' love and joy. He finally smiled.
- 8-10pm - Another announcing job for W. Jeff at a different local university Freshers' week. Edith, Diana, James, Anna, and I took a taxi to the University. We walked around, ate sausage and chips, and joined the Christian Union celebration. The introduction job went much better this time around...James helped out by shouting multiple times during it...
After Jeff sang, the emcees asked me to get up and say "two words". I had no idea what he meant....so, unplanned, I went up and gave a mini-testimony...everyone was impressed...the Holy Spirit spoke through me, thank goodness...and I was able to touch some members of the crowd and my housemates. I "messed up" one of the ministry leaders...I think that is a good thing though in Ugandan slang.....
More to come about the rest of the week in an additional blog post...
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