A Walk In My Ugandan Shoes...

I've been in Uganda a little over 2 weeks now. While I am finally starting to grasp come cultural concepts, others seem as far fetched as finding a Dunkin Donuts around the corner of my house, and no one in Uganda even know what Dunkin is so you could see the potential problem here. Before I go on to explain some of those cultural details, I want to tell you how my typical day looks.

From Sun up to Sun Down

     - I wake up at 7 in the morning, get dressed and head outside to brush my teeth. Then I walk back inside and get ready for tea time (breakfast). My breakfast is served with tea and varies from the world's best eggs to bread with butter or peanut butter to "donuts," which is basically a kind of cake.
     - After tea I head off to school. It's an all up hill walk which usually takes me about 12 minutes unless I walk Ugandan speed. Then, it takes a little closer to 20 minutes. I mostly have classes in the morning. Lunch is served at 1 (beans, rice, matoke, and pineapple if we get lucky!). After lunch, if I don't have class, I do some homework or walk to the market. I return home anywhere between 6 and 7.
     - As soon as I get home, I bathe before the sun goes down. Then it's tea time again! After tea, I hang out with my family, neighbors, or other relatives. Sometimes, I even help cook dinner! (I hope you're proud of me Mom!!) Before dinner, we gather together as a family and read scripture and pray. For all my family and friends, my host family here always prays for you! Dinner is served anytime between 10 and 11. After dinner, I brush my teeth and head into my room to get ready for bed.

On Tuesdays, my day is a bit different. At 1:30 I leave campus and go to my practicum site. My site location is called Off-Tu Missions. It's a mission organization ran by Germans. The goal of the mission is to take children off the streets in Uganda and give them a Christian environment to live in. Some of the children were abandoned as infants while some slaved daily to find work in the slums to eat left over food from the plates of local resteraunts. The organization is also closely connected with local churches and community events. My first time at Off-Tu was last Tuesday. In America you often see commercials or compassion adds for children such as the ones found in this organization. It's one thing to sit in your home, on your comfortable couch and see the faces of these children through the screen of your television, but it's a completely different atmosphere when these children are actually sitting on your lap sharing the true heart-felt stories they call their lives. My job at Off-Tu is to be involved in as much as possible, playing with the children and getting involved in schools, churches and the community.

  **AS A PRAYER REQUEST**
    The children at Off-Tu are very few compared to the children that are still abandoned and left in the slums of Africa to fend for themselves. If you happen to get a chance to pray for the children of Off-Tu and those not fortunate enough to be pulled from the slums, I would greatly appreciate it. One day justice will be served for these kids, but for now, all they need is love and for some, the only love they'll encounter is the love of Christ. Thank you.


Before I go home, I do have some goals that I want to incorporate in my typical day...
     - I want to be able to fist bump the security at the entrance gate to campus. So far I've only gotten to greeting them in Luganda.
     - I want to be best friends with the ladies at the fruit stand. They give you the best fresh fruit salad for only 1,000 shillings..which is less than 50 cents!
     - In Uganda, the phrase "What's up" is typically only used for people who have "swagger," so I want "what's up" to become a normal greeting in my family.

Cultural Confusion

Many times I find myself conversing with a Ugandan and have to use all the power that's within me from getting up and leaving the conversation. In one of my classes, I've been learning about the way Africans view themselves. They have a spiritual connection with every living and dead thing. For everything that happens, there is an internal motive behind it. For example, I heard a story about a tree falling on top of someone's car here in Mukono. The American response would probably be something like, "Oh dang! That person has really bad luck!" But here the typical response would be something like, "Oh wow, he must have done something to make the ancestors mad!" or "A witch doctor must have put a curse on him.." The way African perceive the world in which they live is extremely spiritual and some what philosophical. I am partially really intrigued by it but mostly I am utterly confused.

 

This view of oneself plays out in many of my conversations here with Ugandan people. For example, so many people have asked me if Obama was really a devil worshiper. My 17 year old sister accused Hannah Montana of being a devil worshiper as well. Many believe American hip-hop music is music worshiping the devil. Also, the terrorist attacks of 911 were brought up and my sister said that America must have done something really bad to make the possessed men drive planes into those 2 tall buildings. As I try to explain that Obama and Hannah Montana aren't in fact "devil worshipers" I see confusion all over my family's faces. It seems that here, there is a strong distinction of either being Christian or being of some dark forces from either the devil or your dead ancestors. Even typing out this blog post, I am finding difficulty in explaining the cultural differences. I feel like I could spend the rest of my life living in Africa and still not fully comprehend the cultural lenses they are looking through.

 

Apart from the view of oneself, there are many English phrases which have totally different meaning in Uganda that caused for much confusion my first week or so. For example..

 

     -"Let me come" = "I'll be back"

     -"No, That's ok" = "Yes" or "Good"

     -"What course are you taking" = "What is your major"

     -When you ask someone how their day is and they respond with "fine" it really means they've had a great day.

     -There's also no such thing as saying "hello" in Uganda. People will automatically ask "how are you"

 

As the days continue to fly by, I am finding more and more joy in being here. While it is still a rough road, God has and never will give me more than I can handle. I want to challenge you all to think of the blessings you have in your lives, and when you feel you have little or feel you need more, remember that the fact that you have a home with walls and windows with glass, a bed, cold water and family and friends that love you. Here in Uganda, the people realize they may not have much, but they do know they have the presence of the Lord and that He is with them daily. I've been realizing that the presence of the Lord is truly all we need. No "thing" can compare to what the Lord has done and given to you. I am praying for you all daily. I miss and love you!

 

 

SEVEN SECOND VERSION!

I have a daily routine. Pray for the children. Ugandan culture is mad weird.