Week 3

Thursday - January 26

First, I was mistaken in my posting re the videotaping women - they were not BRR but BFR, Be Free Revolution. If you are interested, check out their website.

I have been having some very intense dreams - this could be a side effect of the malaria meds I am taking. Anyway, last night's dream was about the loss of childhood innocence and my part in that loss. I woke with a great sadness and the realization once again of how grateful I am for the forgiveness given me by the Grace of God. It also brought to mind the story I heard yesterday from one of the pastors. His wife's mother was the first wife of her husband with whom she had 5 children. The husband took another wife who proved to be barren. This 2nd wife became fearful of being abandoned and was very jealous. One day she prepared food for the children while their mother was away. The youngest child was playing in the banana plantation. When the youngest child and the mother returned home they found the other 4 children laying on the ground vomiting - they all died of the poison they had ingested in their food. The extended family derided the husband so the point that after the burial, he took his 2nd wife and went to Kenya, abondoning his 1st wife and only surviving child. That child is now the wife of this pastor. Recently, this woman's father and his 2nd wife returned to Tororo. The father had a bicycle accident and needed to be taken to the hospital. The pastor counseled his wife that as they are Christians they needed to forgive the father and his 2nd wife and come to their aid - to care for them in their old age. I ask myself, could I live my faith the way these people do?

Friday - January 27

Spent the a.m. waiting for my internet connection to send 2 emails to the 2 people who will be joining us in March. Also worked on lesson plans. Getting the emails sent took 2 hours. Anyway by the time I left at 1:30, they were on their way and my lesson plans were ready.

It took a while, when I reached Smile Africa, to get all of the ladies sorted out so thay they were in the correct class at the correct time. We got off to a rocky start as we had children disturbing us with much noise and running in and out. The English class is huge so to give everyone the attention they need will be a challenge. I am going to use an interpreter this time in that class as it is too hard with so many. We got through a greeting, "God bless you" and "please" and "thank you".

I made the same mistake with the writing class that I did the last time when I started teaching. I didn't plan enough. Also, it really is a challenge not to have a chalkboard. I borrowed a white board from my daughter-in-law which works but not half so well as a blackboard would. The white board is small and I need to keep erasing AND it is hard for all to see. Oh well - we will make do with what we have.

Saturday - January 28

Spent the morning housekeeping: cooking, laundry, cleaning the floor, emails and also did some lesson plans for Juba.

Juba is undergoing a flurry of activity to prepare for the opening of the new school term on Monday. Rooms are being repaired, repainted, blackboards are being painted - their blackboards are concrete with blackboard paintm all over a cross between adobe and kiln-fired bricks, which they use for construction. The boys' dormitory is being constructed along with the kitchen. The girls' dormitory has been enlarged with new beds. It will be a small miracle if all is ready by Monday morning.

Pstr. Alex and I will team teach the women at Juba. He has an English class and combined Reading & Writing class. I worked on alphabet names and sounds with both classes. The English class is doing very well. They all wrote their names and he has them doing written homework every class period. When it was time for the Reading & Writing lass to end they wanted to continue and were disappointed I would not be there Wednesday when Alex holds his next classesm but I can only be there Saturdays as the rest of my schedule is filled. Working with those women and Alex put a smile on my face and most especially in my heart.

Sundaty - January 29

In my nine visits to Uganda, this morning I experienced a first - a Ugandan had to wait for me, a muzungu (what we foreign whites are called). We were supposed to be ready at 8:00 to with with Pstr. Peter to Buwendo where he was going for the first time to a newly planted church. When he knocked on our gate my clock read 5 minutes to 8:00. He came in and had to wait those 5 minutes. We were ready at 8:00 but his clock was 5 minutes ahead of ours. Anyway, it was a first and we all had a good laugh.

The village is to the east of Bugiri on the Kampala road. The dirt road into this village was very bad. It will be impassable during the rainy season. This poor village is without a school, any medical care and most importantlym a clean water source. They have put up a frame structure for their church, roofed with a plastic tarp, with walls of the same. However, it was lovely to hear the druming, singing, praying and preaching with no sound system hurting one's ears. As this was Peter's first visit (the "overseer") he was dressed ceremoniously in a kanzo (a long white dress, long sleevedm with some embroidery at the neck and down the front; under were his suit pants and he wore his suit coat over the top. He was the guest preacher of the day. The whole premise of his sermon was so simple and yet deeply profound: What is worship? Worship is loviing God above all things and living accordingly. I love listening to him preach for the homely little examples he uses. He pokes fun at himself and also at his listeners in such a gentle, non-judgemental way, that they laugh and agree, "yes, it is true" and understand how they are asked to improve in responses to God's great love for all of us.

After the service was over, Sue and I, with the help of the men present, fitted the little girls with pillow case dresses from Hope 4 Kids' Dress a Girl Around the World program. It was crowded, hot and little ones cried, but all were joyful and anxious to have their photos taken. We had a small bag full of matchbox cars which the littlest boys received with happy smiles.

Finally, we were served a meal of rice, chicken, beef, soda and kalo (a soft, dough-like bread made of cassava flour, millet and a little sorghum). I don't like the texture and the flavor is very bland. They pinch a piece off and use it for dipping in their other food. Finally we bid them all good-bye and started the long, dusty, HOT journey to Tororo.

The road between Bugiri and Tororo goes through an area where a fairly large troop of baboons live. They appear to be ranging over a much larger area and many are seen along the road. They are coming closer to the villages. Peter says this is because there is no food in this dry time of no rain - they will start raiding the villages for food. This is very scarey! I would hate to fight a baboon over food - they are viscious and could easily kill a man let alone a child.

Peter forgot to get gas in Bugiri, so the next small town we came to, he purchased gas by the liter - literally 2 plastic bottles of a liter each which got emptied into the gas tank.

We arrived home about 4:30, ready for a shower and something cool to drink. Altogether a really great day!!

Monday - January 30

Both Sue and I went to True Vine - the first day of the new school term. Lots of confusion, small attendance (no school fees probably being the reason) and long meetiings of adults. Sue ended up working with 3 teachers of the "baby" classes (3 and 4 year olds).

I met my group whivh had a new personm one who did not show up, one that came late, and 2 that arrived after we had finished our Bible Study/Prayer time. I then proceeded to work with individuals who had made appointments. The first was Margret who is struggling to learn to speak English. I was able to get her to understand using some Swahili phrases and then added learning the names for body parts (this is helpfu when they go to the clinic when no one speaks their tribal language). Next I worked with a man whose spoken English is quite good but he can't read at all so we started with the ABC's. Then a young man who reads fairly well, but who needs help to improve his writing came and finally Sarah arrived. She is a well-educated woman. I let her read the Wangerin book on my kindle for an hour while I went outside and discussed the map I had brought along with Pstr. Aggrey. Pretty soon, Rita arrived, overseer for the True Vine widows, to take me to see Jaja (grandmother) Andera. However, she had failed to arrange transport so we never got there before our ride home arrived.

Just finished dinner when the power went off so said "lala salama" (good sleep) early.

Tuesday - January 31

Washed all the floors in the a.m. after Sue left at 8:00 for her return to True Vine. Then got a call from Pstr. Peter who wanted to leave for Wikus 2 hours early as he and 2 others had some things to attend to there

When we arrived in the small village of Sonim the children were about to be fed their porridge (gruel of posho, finely ground corn) as part of their being at school. So many of the little villages struggle to educate the children. There were several adults of varying ages helping, trying to make a difference in the lives of these children.

My classes at Wikus went well. We are still getting acquainted - getting used to each other's accents, style of teaching, etc. James insists on all the formal classroom politeness. I believe we are all adults togetherm learning together so our styles are very different. I told the students they did not have to stand to answer questions and to please call me Bonnie and not Madam. After the 5th person still called me Madam, I said it made me feel old. The reaction to that was general laughter which was good. I think we can have fun while learning. I want them to feel equality and not be in a one-down position just because there is a student/teacher dynamic.

Wednesday - February 1

Here we are already in February. Went to Smile Africa early to save Peter some gas. As Ruth had let a church borrow her chairs, which were not yet returned, the ladies had to sit on the floor. I was very pleased with the Reading class. They understood the exercise I had given them for their homework. I now have over 30 for the English class. It really is too big. To give all the ladies an opportunity to speak takes a long time to get around the class. I did think of dividing them into 2 groups of 15, one on Wednesday and one on Friday but that would create problems for Jane who is teaching Mission Character Development during the same time slots. Each lady has 2 classes to attend each day she comes. Finally, my Writing class - some did not understand the homework assignment. It is hard to get them to tell me when they don't understand and get them to ask questions. To them it is very impolite to say no, and to ask - so it is a bit of frustration I have not yet discovered how to overcome.

We had Alex (the cabbie) take us to the Prime Hotel for dinner this evening. What a treat!! I had some dry white wine and fish tika masala and chips masala. Both were delicious. They usually do a nice job with their Indian dishes.

There is a sizeable Indian population in Uganda. They were orginally brought in by the British to build the railroad in the 1800's so their ancestry in Uganda is quite old - like min in the US. Some of the Indian food has become standard fare for all of Uganda such as samosa (deep fried pastry filled with a variety of meat and vegetables) and chapati (a flat bread).

Thursday - February 2

Sue reminded me it is Groundhog Day - I doubt whether the shadow/winter connection works here. The other problem is I don't believe there are any groundhogs. It is also the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple.

We drove to Busowa. In the countryside they are preparing their fields for planting by the long-discarded method in the US of "slash and burn", so there is much smoke mixed with all the red dust. In Tororo the dust from the cement factory is also added to that mix so that the air is really thick.

I had new students in Busowa which I had expected so it was a lot of review for the first students who joined the class. I was delighted to see one of my former students, Lillian, my African madonna. In 2010 I had taken a photo of Lillian and her baby that turned out to be one of my favorite photos

Just a side note - once again we have been without power about 22 hours.