Hello, Dear Friends!!!!
I cannot believe that I am writing you about my 8th week in Uganda.
This means that I only have two weeks left here. It's a bittersweet
thing for sure. Anyhow, I hope this update finds you all very well and
that you are enjoying your summer. I am looking forward to seeing you
all in about TWO WEEKS!!
Here are a few things I want to share with you all from our week:
One highlight of my week was sharing my love of peanut butter banana
sandwiches with Brother. For breakfast we always have bread, and
usually peanut butter, jelly, and/or honey is available. Peanut butter
it is for this week! So, using the wonderful Ugandan bananas and the
"gnut butter" (groundnuts=peanuts) I made a peanut butter banana
sandwich for breakfast this week. Brother Christopher saw us eating it
and I challenged him to try it; he enjoyed it and said it was "very
good!" :)
On Wednesday we attended a celebration for the resident priest at St.
Cyprian College. He will be leaving next week to spend the six years
in Rome teaching at a seminary there. This is a HUGE honor, as you can
imagine. They were not only saying goodbye to him, they were also
congratulating him and celebrating this wonderful accomplishment. It
was only six years ago, that he helped support the Sisters' vision of
starting St. Cyprian College and is viewed as the main reason the
school exists today. Without his support and hard work the school
would not have taken the shape it has to become the school it is
today. It was a wonderful celebration to attend and great to see how
much he meant to both the students and the staff there.
On Friday we took the opportunity to walk around the village just
outside the parish walls. We didn't have much interaction with the
people we visited, which I found to be a bit disappointing, but it was
nice to get out and to see how people are living in the villages. Most
people in the villages are peasant farmers, that is they grow what
they eat and likely do not have any other source of income. Some of
them sell their produce at the market in town, but many of them live
far enough away they cannot reach the major streets so they rely on
neighbors to buy produce from them. It isn't uncommon to walk around
the village and see a stand, made from thick sticks, with produce
ready to sell. Some also sell chapati (the flatbread type stuff that
Regina and I like so much!) and samosas (a fried shell, often with
some type of bean in it; we like these too!). Though, the further into
the village we walked, the less of this we saw and the more we saw
women and children working in the fields. Most of the men were gone, I
suppose they had jobs elsewhere or were tending in a different area.
It was a hot four hour walk, but it was good to be able to experience
a bit of community life. With every person we met, we were welcomed.
From my observation, most were not aware we were coming; not all the
homes we stopped at were Catholic parishioners. Some were
Presbyterians, some were Catholic, and some were Anglican. Despite
them not knowing we were coming ahead of time, they were all very
receptive to us and welcomed us without hesitation.
That's about all. The electricity has been out ALL day here (Literally
from 6:30 am to 6:45 pm). Needless to say, I've gotten a lot of
reading done today!
I can tell it is going to be difficult (and exciting) to leave Uganda
in just a couple of weeks. This week, I kept looking at the kids and
couldn't help but think about how much joy they have brought me and
how I will miss seeing them. Next week is our last week to teach; our
last week will be spent reflecting, resting, packing, and saying our
final goodbyes.
I cannot thank you enough for all of your prayers, your words of
encouragement, your emails, etc. I could not have made it through the
past 8 weeks had it not been for all of your support. I'm looking
forward to seeing you all when I get back to the States. Be looking
for one more update before we leave!
All my love,
Corey Namata
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