Mzungus, Boba Bodas and Matoke

I’m in Africa y'all! 

It’s been super rough, but I’m doing better..thanks to Jesus of course! I arrived here Thursday the 3rd super late at night. I spent the night in a hotel, woke up for breakfast at 8 and headed off to the town of Mukono, which is where I live with my host family and where my school is. I pulled up to the gate where my family lives, and 4 little kids came running out to great me and grab my stuff. I had to use all that was in me not to cry. The little boys were the cutest things in the world and the girls had the most precious smile.

Let me just interupt by saying that I cannot tell you every detail of what happened, but in only the four days I’ve been here, I am changed forever.

So anyways, I walk through the gate to my new home and right away im surrounded by children. There were so many precious faces! I believe my family (the Kitto family, pronounced "Cheeto") has 6 kids, but I’m not sure. There are many kids living in the house and all day long kids are coming in and out of the gate. All of the kids are wonderful and so energetic. The 6 kids are from youngest to oldest, Jonathan, Deborah, Ruth, Bengiman, Dickson and Ireene. Johnathan is 2 and all the does is rub my skin. I guess they don't see many "Mzungus," which is what white people are called here. Everywhere I go, all the children point and yell "MZUNGU!!!!"

So what exactly does my home in Africa look like? Let me tell you! I do have a room to myself, which makes me feel bad since all the children are crammed into only 2 bed rooms. have a room to I'm basically living out of my suitcase and a few nails are in the wall to hang some of my clothes. There’s electiricity some of the time and some of the time there isn’t. There are no toilets or showers. The if I need to use the bathroom, I use the latrines which are tiny rectangle holes in the ground. I bathe outside too..from a collection of rain water that I poor into a bucket. Dinner is served between 10 and 11 at night. Then we go to bed.  I’ve been eating the weirdest food. Some of it is good, and some I’m already sick of. The most interesting is called matoke. Everyone here has a “garden” of banana trees, so to make matoke, you cut down banannas and then cut down the bananna leaves. You take the banannas and lay them on the leaves. You then take bananna fibers that you peel from the leaves and tie the leaves around the banannas. You cook that over a stove for an hour and then you squeeze all the juice out. You cook it for another hours and squeeze the juice again. Then you eat it! It taste good, but I can’t eat too much of it.

Honestly the heart of the people here is beautiful. They have nothing compared to the lives we have. The children have been wearing the same clothes since I got here. But every night we pray, and spend at least 20 minutes thanking God for all the blessings in our lives. The Kitto family is always smiling. Despite their “poor” life, these people are extremely rich with qualities of life that Americans don’t have. My first night with my family, I cried myself to sleep. The first time I called and heard my moms voice I cried like a little baby. I’m not really sure why I keep cried so much though. Part of me thinks it’s because I miss home, part of me thinks it’s because I know this is where God wants me, part of me thinks it’s because I’m seeing how blessed I am, even by the simple things.

Overall, I’m having a great time and as always, Jesus rocks. On my flight here, I felt Jesus telling me that during my time here, I’m really going to be seeking deeper levels of the his heart, so I’m excited to chase after that!

As always, I appreciate all your prayers, and likewise I am praying for you all daily. God bless!

Here’s some quick fun stuff!
There are monkeys on my campus
 I woke up to a HUGE beatle being eaten by ants next to my bed. YUK!
The tea is delicious! It's made with the cows milk owned by my family.
 I have a 15-20 minute walk to school..all up hill
Boda bodas are motorcycle type things..they’re scary and everywhere!
Cows are like deer are in the states..they’re dang everywhere!
Church here is AMAZING! So much dancing and singing :)

 

 

 

Seven Second Version..

I'm in Africa! My first night sucked. But now I'm happy and am surrounded by beauty. Yay!