Day 19: Kasese, repairing 1st house

On November 28th, Tuesday, we repaired a soil house for a widowed lady who had over 6 children. We hope to repair another house on Friday. The hike up the mountain was quite steep. We are at a high enough elevation that my ears pop just in the motorcycle ride up to the school.  The hike to this lady's house was even farther up so I think I was getting less oxygen, or I'm just out of shape. ;)

The house needed new roofing for a section of it and to re-sod the siding. The repairs we made were far simpler than I imagined. Walls were repair with simple mud and the metal roof were attached with only a few nails. Construction here does not have to hold up to any sort of standard as weather is mild.

I hoed up dirt with the rest guys, often out pacing them to my surprise (they kept stopping to talk). Joshua, Nickson, one guy on the side walls and the guy who did the roofing were hard workers, and kept working the whole 2-3 hours we were there. The others - not so much.

One thing about the projects here is that they don't plan ahead so much.  For example, they waited until we got to the top of the mountain  (the house was located on the school Road but higher up) before sending someone into town (where we JUST came from) to get the supplies. An hour project back home can last a half day here just because of organization.  Plus we had maybe 8 guys plus me, plus two women drawing water from a river for the mud.  Supplies were cheap though, for which I was glad.

Once I was done digging dirt I played with some of the lady's children while the guys continued. (Too many cooks in the kitchen, if you know what I mean). I didn't bring any toys and without an interpreter I couldn't teach them any games. The children were young and shy so I entertained them with my phone.  They only seemed interested in the camera part so I taught them how to take silly photos. Lady in photo is th fee owner of the house. She was smiling almost the whole time I just happened to catch her in a weird moment. I would have taken another one but didn't want her to feel awkward. 

Day 18: Kasese, rest and house work

Monday, November 27th. As decided on Sunday I didn't travel into the mountains today but rather took one more day to get over being sick and do some "house work".   I hand washed clothes again. I only can do a few pieces at a time before it gets too much for my hands (and mind- boring!) to take. 

In the evening, Joshua and I cooked our own supper. Note the condition of the kitchen in the photos. It looks like a coal pit. Dirt floor, dirty cardboard topped cement counters, no cutting boards, only one knife (thank goodness I brought a pocket knife from home), and three pans to cook with. No refrigerator. Whatever you buy or make you have to finish eating that day.  Wrong food supplies in the stores. It's a challenge for sure. 

Photos: I'm frying up frozen ground beef. Joshua is making spaghetti the Ugandan way (with cooking oil, onions and tomatoes)

I also included two photos I think I forgot to post last week. Coffee tree (yes they're green first!) and road by KRISTI SCHOOL FOR ORPHANS. 

Day 17: Kasese, rest

For Sunday, November 26th, I decided to rest up to hopefully be ready for tomorrow's projects. It was disappointing to miss church and their fundraiser for their church building expansion but I was exhausted. I slept off and on through the day, hand washed a few clothes, read my Bible & prayer time and worked on my blog. 

I did hear later that the church raised like 5 or 6 million ugx (about $1,500) -I'll check on that number to be giving accurate info. So perhaps it's good that I wasn't there.  Muzungu (white person) presents tends to stifle local giving. The mindset is that "he/she is rich, they should give, not me". Nothing unique about that.  Even in the United States we often wait for someone else to lend a hand first.

I didn't take any photos today. It was decided that since I had been sick and the next day was scheduled to be a work day repairing a house that we would push that back to Tuesday. For Tuesday we didn't have anything scheduled anyway so that works for me.  I was also able to buy the Pastor a meal while him and I discussed plans.  I had asked him if he was hungry. He said yes, but the price was too much at the restaurant where I was at. The prices were about 10,000 -15,000 ugx ($3 to $4.50).

Day 16: Kasese, malaria and hot springs

On November 25th, Saturday, I woke up knowing I was sick with Malaria but it wasn't bad until the afternoon. In the morning we walked around Kasese a bit and Joshua worked in the music studio some more.  While I was waiting outside the studio, I chatted with the owner about different religions in the area.  I casually laid out some of my church's beliefs and my own.  The owner told me he was Baptist and went to a Baptist Church in Kasese. We talked about the Baptist General Conference and statements of faith.  We appeared to agree. 

The studio owner also showed me grasshoppers (see photos) which I have been seeing people catch and eat around here. Apparently it's quite popular and they even name them as they catch them: King, Queen, Workers, and Soldiers. They prepare them by pulling off the wings and legs while they are still alive and then they are ready for the fry pan. 

Also while I was there I tried to gather some little girls for fun fingernails polish session but they were too shy and didn't understand my English. Oh well, I plan to use a few nail polishes and glitter stencils I brought with me to treat the little orphan/foster girls at the school party on Saturday.

I was somewhat frustrated getting malaria as I had been faithfully taking my anti-malaria pills daily. Also frustrating is that two local guys I work with here, trying to show they care, kept visiting me for almost half a day. They thought they were caring but entertaining them is not what I want to do while I'm sick. It's not like I can sleep in my bed in front of visitors. I tried to indicate that I needed rest (alone) but culture barriers prevented my message from getting across without being rude so i let it go for now.  I love my alone time and need it to recharge myself for the week.  By the end of the day I felt quite sick.

Nickson persuade me to go to the Hot Springs as it was scheduled for today. I was sick but I went anyway because "No" was apparently not an option. So Joshua, Nickson, and I went to the Hot Springs, where you could supposedly swim so I brought my swimsuit. Unfortunately, it reminded me more of a Russian bath house than a welcoming tourist attraction as I gathered from the information I was given.  Maybe I'm just shy but I could not bring myself to "bathe" in a small pool of somewhat murky water filled with only guys.  The only girl who was in there left soon after I arrived, and she was local too. 

Joshua didn't swim either but Nickson did.  I was so disappointed  because I Love swimming. But oh well, I was sick anyway.  Although the Hot Springs was supposedly known for its healing properties, it was not enough to persuade me to change my mind.

Day 15: Kasese, 2nd school day with youth

November 24th, Friday was the last day of teaching for the week and we have planned to only do a half day since we needed to deliver the other 4 gift "baskets" to the elderly ladies after class. We arrived at 10:30am but couldn't teach until 11:30am because people attending were not on time.

I taught the whole group together. It started raining hard at about 1:20 PM and I could not continue since no one could hear my interpreter over the rain on the metal roof. The plan was to stop at 1pm but I wanted to finish with the topic I had started. Once the rain let up i finished as soon as I could while still doing a good job.  The class ended up progressing until 2:30pm, unfortunately.

Next we delivered the 4 gift "baskets". We had to hike a long distance  (15 minutes maybe but I was starting to have a sore throat) to deliver 2 of the baskets. Again since it was getting late and people were hungry having not eaten anything since breakfast, we gathered 2 ladies in one house. 

One basket had to be delivered separately.  The rain had prevented one lady from making the journey.  If you look at the photos you will wonder how anyone  that age made the journey! I have a lot of respect for the elderly here in Uganda.

This time I shared the gospel with the elderly. I was nervous and hoped I didn't sound all knowing or prideful or made them feel less because I definitely respect them.  I used a method my mom taught me and put my own twist on it. Since they are in the mountains, I used that to create a picture. I'll summarize it below:

"In the beginning God created man and woman to have a close relationship with each other. Man and woman sinned they had to move off God's mountain to another mountain that was not good.  Now there was a big valley between God's mountain and man's mountain. In the valley there was sin. Sin prevented man from crossing over and God, being holy, could not leave His mountain. But God longed to be close to man again and have a relationship with him. 

So God sent His only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross to provide a bridge for man to cross over.  But man had to choose to cross over.  He had to accept that he sinned and he needed to believe that Jesus was God's Son and that he was the only way to heaven. He needed to choose to cross the bridge.

Everyone has to make that choice.  God wants a relationship with everyone so He told all God's to go tell everyone about His love.  I made that choice and now God  told me to share about His love whether in United States or traveling. Theses gifts are just something small that my church raised money to present to you to share God's love. "

Something like that.  Probably less elegant than that at the time.  Anyway then I presented the gifts. We needed to carry one basket back to give to the 4th lady who was located next to the church. I shared with her about the same story, praying all the time that what I said would be helpful. She seemed to agree so she might have been a Christian. I wish I could have heard their feedback and engaged in a conversation but each time I was whisked away by the Pastor, who was interpreting for me. At least they heard the Way.

Day 14: Kasese, 1st school day with youth

November 23rd, Thursday. Today is Thanksgiving back home and I miss the traditional food and celebrating with family but it was a good day. I taught the "youth" today topics on money management  (details in wise spending, saving, and giving, business/income issues) and on cross cultural training.  The "youth" were ages 15 to 40's. Not exactly all youth in my mind!

For the first half I took the older "youth" (adults) and taught on money while Joshua took the younger youth an taught on God, addictions and teen life. 
I wish I could have attended his talk because from what I heard of it it was really good. Towards the end both groups gathered back together for me to teach cross cultural training. Because of time I was only able to give a overview on the definition of culture (shared values and beliefs that lead to characteristic behaviors) and discuss the difference between universal, cultural, and personal behaviors.

Afterwards the youth (who were mostly girls) invited us to play "net ball" with them.  But the girls were disorganized, switching from volleyball to soccer every couple of minutes so I sat back and watches the guys play soccer. It was fine because I was tired anyway, I think I taught for 3.5 hours straight. I think it was good for the some of the teachers and interpreter to have some fun after a long day.  (See photos)

I also was happily sharing my banana with shy children that showed up from the ophan school. The school is located right next to the church, which is where I teach all of my classes because it is the biggest room. These children are much more reserved than the other Ugandan children I have worked with.  They are also more responsible with classroom supplies. I even got back all the coins I used for the money games, which I didn't think I would.

Day 13, Kasese, 3rd school day with children

November 22nd, Wednesday. Unfortunately I was still having some stomach issues but good enough to decide to teach today.  This would be my last class with theses children so we finished up on money topics such as making wise spending choices.  I had the little kids first while the older when for "football"

For class, we set up a pretend market place with 5 shops selling various "food" items: cassava (sticks) at 500 shillings (sh), potatoes (large rocks) at 300 sh, bread (medium rocks) at 400 sh, tomatoes (coffee beans) at 200 sh and rice (small pebbles) at 100 sh. Then I assigned 5 shop keepers for each food item.

By the way, around the school is a bunch of coffee trees with coffee beans all over the group.  It was neat to see them in there "original" form before all the packaging. I didn't know they are green first!

A group of children were assigned to gather the supplies from outside for the pretend market.  I wanted to let them all gather the supplies together but the class sizes was too large for that to be done in a organized, timely fashion. (Younger group was about 88 children one day, and older group was about 60 children with usually only one staff member to help/interprete for me)

Then we used leaves as money and each child got 5 leaves (1 leaf = 100 sh) to use at the market.  The leaves worked perfectly for money being long, green and shiny. The instructions were to buy whatever they want but once the money is done they had to go sit down (teaches money is a limited resource). They also were to use all the money they had. This allowed me to demonstrate good business management as the shop keepers counted up the money at the end and it showed (as I predicted) the middle prices goods sold the best. 

I taught other economic topics too such as if all things are equal a lower priced item will sell better than the same item at a higher price. I explained this after the whole class was given 3 leaves/money to buy a packet of crackers. My only instructions were 1) they can only buy one packet of crackers and 2) to spend their money wisely.  Three "shop keepers" were selling the exact same cracker packets but at different prices. At the end, I asked the shop keepers to show the class the amounts they earned.  The one who has her crackers priced at 100 sh made the most sales.

After class with the young ones, because the other group was not finished yet, we went outside and I taught them how to play "duck, duck, chicken" (they don't have geese here). They were delighted. Even the staff commented on the game. Simple game in my mind but big impact here. 

Day 12: Kasese, 2nd school day with children

November 21st, Tuesday, we taught the same children but this time I took the older group first and taught them a longer lesson in money management. It's hard to teach through an interpreter. There are multiple languages spoken here including Luganda, Congonese, English  (but my accent appears to be difficult to understand), Swahili and others.  In my lesson I try to include a Bible verse related to the topic I'm teaching each day, although I'm not sure how much the really young ones understand anyway.

As the day progressed I started not to feel well with an upset stomach and cramps. The pastor was convinced it was something I ate.  Today we were supposed to visit the 3 elders who's gift sets we had packed last night so after school we started trekking up the mountain on foot. It seemed like forever and about half way up, feeling weak, I wasn't sure I should continue but the elderly ladies had already been told we were coming and I really wanted to do this.  God and my friends helped me to which I'm grateful.

Because I was feeling sick the elderly ladies were called to meet at one location rather than visiting them at there individual homes which I would have preferred.  I kept praying that I would have some wise words to share the Gospel with them but as the time drew near for us to share with them I was drawing a complete blank. But I need not worry because when the time came God gave Joshua not me the words to share and he beautifully outlined the gospel and God's love and why we were giving the gift sets (to illustrate "some small love vs. God’s big love").

Then I knelt down and presented the gifts to each lady. I knelt because it provided the best advantage for reaching the gifts but as I progressed I realized that cultural I was doing something very meaning to them. Kneeling in Uganda is the respectful way to greet an elder or any "higher up" person. Isn't God amazing like that?  He takes my practical side and uses it for his purpose; He takes my weaknesses as an opportunity to let others share His love.