My Dear Friends,
Hello & Greetings from Uganda!!
I hope this email finds you all well and I hope you had a good 4th of
July holiday. Though I don't normally do much to celebrate the fourth,
I must admit that I missed being in the States for it. Somehow, it
took on a different and more special meaning by my not being in the
States. I hope someone ate an extra burger, just for me because I was
surely craving one on the 4th! Haha. Another long email, but I
promise, it will be worth the read!
I'm not sure if I have mentioned these things before or not, but I
wanted to mention them to you. If I have already mentioned them,
please forgive me, but here are a few of my observations about the
Ugandan culture:
--Women typically kneel or bow when greeting men, as a sign
of respect. The children have even done it to Regina and me when they
present us with gifts or even give us back a crayon.
--Clapping is very common. They clap for everything! They
even clap after the elements have been presented and blessed.
--Women are not allowed to whistle. Seriously, it is
considered taboo. In fact, Br. Christopher almost had a stroke last
week when he heard me whistling. He told me I can't whistle since I am
a woman and found it funny/appalling that I was doing such a thing.
This made for an interesting dinner conversation; apparently when men
are "looking for love" they whistle to get the attention of and
attract women. So I've been warned not to whistle while we are in
town. Though Br. Christopher and Fr. Ambrose have both had fun with it
around here and whistle at me as they greet me. I've told them both it
is going to take a lot more than a nice whistle to get my attention!
--It is pretty typical for men and women to do things apart
from one another. In the schools, the girls and boys make separate
lines when we take them outside/inside for PE (and at other times).
Even in the church, oftentimes wives will not sit with there husbands.
Though there is not a clear separation in the church, there is
definitely a noticeable pattern as to where the women and children sit
compared to where the men sit.
--The women and children outnumber the men in church. In
every church/mission we have been to this has held true.
--The spirit of giving is no issue here. It is true that the
amount of money coming in can probably not compare to most churches in
America, but the fact of the matter is the giving is abundant here!
During the offertory in Mass, a basket is not passed around. Instead,
a person (or a few depending on the size of the service) stands at the
front of the church holding a basket. Friends, they even walk to give
their money to the church. They get up and walk to a basket and give
what they can. We've been to a few services where some, who I assume
don't have much money at all and are peasant farmers, bring in food as
their offering. They bring in bananas, tomatoes, potatoes…you name it.
If they have it to offer it, they bring it. This spirit of giving is
very much a result and act of faith.
Not something I have mentioned before, but at 5:45 every morning I
usually wake up to a Muslim prayer being broadcasted over speakers. If
that doesn't wake me up then the church bells at 6:30 do (I am usually
awake before these go off!). There are also a ton of animal sounds and
other noises that wake me up and even keep me up late at night!
Now, here are some key events from our week!
Last Saturday marked the 100th year of the ordination of the first
priest in Uganda. In fact, it was the first ordination of a priest
south of the Sahara Desert!! For this celebration, we attended a 4 ½
hour Mass, which was then followed by lunch, cake, and entertainment.
Since it was such a special year, ordinations of priests took place
all over Uganda yesterday. It doesn't normally happen on the same day
across the country, but this year was special. Unfortunately, we did
not see any ordinations; however, we did get the chance to see about
12 seminarians be initiated into the next phase of their ordination
process. 99.9% of the service was in Luganda, so I have no idea what
was going on but it was a wonderful moment to witness. Our friend
Thomas, who accompanied us on our first trip to Kampala, was one of
these seminarians! During the .01% of the service that was in English,
Regina and I were introduced and welcomed to the service. This time we
were introduced with our American names first and our African names
second, so I was introduced as Corey Namata. The whole congregation
seemed to love that we had been initiated into the community with
African names. We had several people come up to us and greet us, using
those given names. It was a long day, but a really cool experience.
We had another long day on Sunday, unexpectedly so. We went to
Chilbula, one of the missions, with Fr. Matthias. As usual, we were
immediately greeted and welcomed by a large number of people. Both
times we have been to a mission with Fr. Matthias he has made a point
to give us the Scripture verses ahead of time and even spends about
five minutes of his message in English so that we know the general
idea of his message. Regina and I both really appreciate this gesture.
One of the Scriptures was from Luke when Jesus tells a man to "let the
dead bury their dead" and then tells another man not to return home to
say farewell to his family. His message had to do with denying things
in order to follow Jesus. I really felt that in this moment, all the
things I had struggled with (especially in the beginning)—missing
things from back home including my car, my computer, good internet
access, and especially my friends and family—were things that I needed
to go without for a while. I needed to learn to depend on Christ
instead of depending on things and people that I normally depend on. I
needed to learn to be able to love God more so that I can love others
more fully. And though I don't think I have to live the rest of my
life without those things, I do think that I (we) have to be willing
to sacrifice those things in order to follow Christ. We must be
willing to go where the Spirit leads us and calls us, even if that
means going without things that normally give us comfort and going to
places that are WAY out of our comfort zone. God has promised us that
the Spirit will be with us wherever we go; this is a truth that I have
learned/been reminded of and have found a new kind of reliance and
trust in God. For that, I am thankful.
I mentioned in my last email that Fr. Joe had a friend coming in that
lives in the Durham area. We met Donna on Thursday night and spent
most of the weekend with her. She is such a joy and I am thankful we
have another connection in North Carolina. They were getting ready to
leave to head back to Entebbe, where Donna stays while she is here,
and she invited Regina and I to ride with them. We took her up on the
offer and made the 3 hour trip to Entebbe, where we had lunch at
Bethany House, a guesthouse that Fr. Joe's brother owns. We even got
to meet Fr. Joe's brother, Fr. Emmanuel. Up until January, Fr.
Emmanuel taught at Duke Divinity (12 years) and is the reason the
connection exists between the two places. It was great to meet him and
to spend a bit of time with him and others at Bethany House. I hope to
be able to reconnect with Donna once we are back in Durham.
On Monday we took the opportunity to go to the market, which comes to
town on Mondays in Luweero. Br. was delighted to take us and show us
the busy and fast-paced area. They sell produce, clothing, shoes,
suitcases, etc. Some of the shoes and clothing is secondhand and some
of it is new. Most of the people here seemed to focus their buying on
the secondhand items; I imagine they are much cheaper than the new
items. Of course, because we are "mzungus," everyone kept trying to
get us to buy stuff. They assume that because we are white we are
rich. Br. had to tell a few people that we were students from America
and are not rich! Br. bought a jackfruit for us, which we have been
waiting to try. It is a local fruit (I will have to show you pictures
later); before opening it up it is green and a bit rough and bumpy on
the outside. The size varies. When we tasted it later it had a bit of
a rubbery consistency and tasted a bit like a honeydew melon. It
wasn't a bad rubbery consistency, just different, and the flavor was
pretty good!
On Monday we also received some gifts from one of our classes. They
brought us flowers (a sign that they love us), made a cow (before they
knew what my clan was!!) out of a banana flower, and made a doll out
of banana fiber. I LOVE the doll out of banana fiber! The cow is also
special. They were very delighted to find out what African names we
had been given. I even met a girl in P4 whose name is also Namata!
As we are walking to and from classes throughout the day, we often
have children run up and greet us. Sometimes they give us the sweetest
hugs and sometimes the grab our hands and walk beside us. These are
some of my favorite moments. As I was thinking about this and really
appreciating these moments, I envisioned a moment where Jesus sees us
returning to him; the moment when the lost soul finally surrenders
their heart to Christ; the moment when the lost sheep is found; the
moment when the prodigal son returns home. I just had this picture of
Jesus running up to us, embracing us in the sweetest most victorious
hug we have ever received, and then taking us by the hand and walking
right beside us. What a sweet picture to envision; at least, it is for
me.
On Wednesday, as we were walking back from teaching at St. Cyprian,
we walked into a soccer game between St. Jude and another school. We
were IMMEDIATELY greeted by some of our students, who were calling out
our African names!! We spent some time watching the game. I somehow
ended up sitting on the ground with a circle of students around me;
some were playing with my hair, some were touching my skin, and others
were teaching me Luganda. There is no way I will remember all the
words they threw at me, but I will keep this joyful moment in my heart
for a very long time. St. Jude won, by the way!!
I felt my first earthquake!! Two actually. According to the US
Geological Survey's Website, the two earthquakes occurred in Lake
Albert, which is a couple hours west of us. The first one occurred at
10:30 pm on July 3rd and the second occurred at 1:30 am on July 4th.
(So both on July 3rd USA time). The first one registered as a 5.7
magnitude and the second a 5.4 magnitude. I was awake for the first
one and woke up to the second one. We also felt a small aftershock
about 30 minutes after the first quake. It was an interesting
experience. Luckily it was not strong enough to cause any damage or
need for us to worry. As we were reading the paper for Friday, there
were apparently 25 other countries affected by minor earthquakes, all
this past week.
Yesterday (Friday, July 5th), we headed to Jinja! We left the parish
at 6:30 am and didn't return until almost midnight, so it was a very
long day!! Jinja is home to the source of the River Nile; it is there
that the River flows out of Lake Victoria, its main source. It took
us about 3 hours to get to Jinja; once in Jinja we headed to Bujagali
Falls. When we arrived at Bujagali Falls we were quite disappointed.
Not too long ago a Dam was constructed and this caused the falls here
to be covered up. There was very little movement at this point; in
fact, the only fall we saw at this point was me! That's right, ladies
and gents, this girl slipped and fell, belly down, into the River
Nile!!! I had given my camera to Regina to take a photo of me standing
just in the water (I was wearing my chacos, which inevitably failed
me); I saw some rocks that looked promising and began to step into the
water. It wasn't long until I was slipping and couldn't catch myself.
I'm not sure if there was just that much algae on the rock, if I took
a wrong step, or if I stepped too fast. Regardless, I was going down.
Pretty much my entire body from the stomach down was submerged, but I
managed to catch myself with my wrists and keep a good part of my
chest and head above water; I was just trying to make sure I didn't
hit my head on the rock. I finally got a good grip on the rock and
Bro. Chistopher was there with his hand extended waiting for me to
grab hold of him, so I finally reached out for help. Once I realized
that I was able to stop myself and began to get out of the might River
Nile, I couldn't help but laugh. I even told Regina to take a picture
of me climbing out of my ridiculous situation. We had a good laugh
about it, after examining me to make sure I was okay. Brother was
concerned about my ribs and kept checking to make sure they were okay.
My ribs are fine. However, my whole body is pretty sore now. My wrists
are sore, where I managed to catch myself; I have a decent bruise/knot
on my shin, a few bruises on my knee, and a few scrapes on my feet,
legs, and arms. But, really I am fine!! It will make for a good story,
to be able to say that I fell into the River Nile. Who does that?! I
promise, I'm not normally accident prone. In fact, I'm usually the one
to go off the trails when hiking, to step into water, etc. But put me
in Africa and things like fainting and falling into rivers happen.
After the disappointing view at Bujagali/Corey Falls, we headed to
Itanda Falls. These falls did not disappoint. I believe they said they
were grades 6-8. They were pretty intense, but they were beautiful to
watch and to listen to. We spent some time taking in the view,
enjoying the coolness next to the river, and even watched a young man
fish in the rapids. After Itanda Falls, we headed into town and walked
a bit. Pretty much every town looks the same, with the various shops
and supermarkets. After our time in town, we headed to the Source of
the Nile Gardens. The most touristy spot is on the east side of the
River, at a Leisure Center. However, after doing some research and
talking with our friends here, we decided to avoid that. Basically, it
is way over priced and then they want to take you on a boat road to
the actual source where Lake Victoria meets the River Nile; however,
we were told that it was very disappointing and not worth the money.
We were also told that the Dam had affected the bubbles (yes, you go
to the spot and there are bubbles; this is where they say "here's the
source of the Nile!") and they are very little if there at all on some
days. So, we decided to take in the view on the west side of the
River. I think we had the better view. We were at a higher elevation
and could see Lake Victoria emptying into the River Nile. This is were
the Speke monument is (he's the guy that first named the source back
in the 1800's) and there are steps leading down into the River. Yes, I
did stand in the river at this point and yes, Brother stepped in ahead
of me to make sure it was safe!! We even saw some monkeys running
around the area, so that added some excitement to the already exciting
day.
We headed out from Jinja about 3:30 pm, which would have put us back
at the parish between 6:30-7:00 pm, depending on traffic. About an
hour outside of Jinja, Fr. Ambrose's car started to make a squealing
sound (this was after hitting a pretty large pothole in the
road—Ugandan roads are HORRIBLE!!). So, we pulled over to see what the
problem was. Two and a half hours later, two mechanics showed up (they
came from Luweero, which was about two hours from our location). It
took three and a half hours for them to fix the problem, a water pump
and the timing belt, and then we were finally on our way back to the
parish. It was a bit frustrating and tested both Regina and mine's
patience. We did manage to catch a beautiful sunrise that we might
have otherwise missed. However, the main problem came when it started
to get dark and thus very difficult to see the engine. No streetlights
in Uganda!! There was the occasional vehicle passing by, but the road
we took was a less driven road as we were trying to avoid the traffic
jams of Kampala. At one point, I looked up and noticed a sky filled
with beautiful stars. And while I know that all of Uganda could likely
see these stars, it was like a dome of stars had been placed over as
to provide a little bit of light (the moon was nowhere to be found)
and to remind us of God's presence with us. It was a sweet, sweet
moment in the midst of frustration and tiredness. Once the vehicle was
fixed, the mechanic stayed with us until we had reached Luweero to
make sure the problem had been fixed. We arrived at the parish just
before midnight and were greeted by Fr. Matthias, who had waited up
for us to return. They even kept the food from dinner warm so we could
have a bite to eat; Regina and I were very thankful for this as we had
only had a pack of crackers and a fiber one bar to eat all day.
So, that has been our week!! This was a rather exciting week between
the earthquakes, my River Nile fall, and the car breakdown alone. I am
thankful for all of these experiences and am VERY thankful for today's
day of rest. The only thing we have on the agenda is dinner with the
Sisters!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your prayers and well
wishes these past 6 weeks! I can't believe that I will be home in just
4 weeks. Though, I am pretty excited about this!! I look forward to
updating you again next week and to hearing from some of you!!
All my love,
Corey Namata
