The mission team here has set up something known as "bonding." It involves being dropped off in a village to live with a family for a few days. An African village basically looks like the picture that we all get when we first think of Africa. Mud huts. No electricity. No running water. No toilets. Extremely primitive. All of the interns that come to work with the Mbarara team go through this, and for the past few months, I've heard about what a great experience it is. So of course, Desarae and I jumped at the opportunity when we heard that we had a week off of school.
Our journey began on Sunday morning by going to a village for church with the Fouts. We went to the church in the village of Kasana, but the congregations from Kishenyi and Barere were also meeting there because it was a goodbye to the Fouts. Church lasted from 11:00 to 4:30. There were 8 different speakers and 8 different sermons, all of which were in runyonkore. It was a long day of sitting on hard wooden benches, being extremely hungry, and not understanding a word of what was said. There was one speaker who would throw in random sentences in English, and that helped to keep me engaged for awhile. At one point he got very serious and said, "Now, I need to speak this from my bottom." It's amazing how much that saying can be changed with you leave off three important words at the end of it. Renee, Des, and I got a serious case of the church giggles at this point. You know, when you're not supposed to be laughing so it makes it even harder to control. Yeah, it was bad.
As I was sitting there feeling hungry, tired, sore, and frustrated that I couldn't understand anything, I was also completely amazed at these people. Many of them had walked an hour or so just to get to church. They hadn't eaten since the morning, if they were lucky enough to get a meal then. They worshipped with such joy and energy, and they never seemed to tire. Renee made the point that we as Americans are so ruled by our stomachs and by our watches. When we get tired or hungry, we tend to tune out the preacher, close our Bible, and reread that church bulletin one more time. These people could worship God for hours. They could study his word for hours, and they do. It was an incredible thing to witness, and one that I hope I won't soon forget.
I feel like this post has the potential to get pretty lengthy so I'm going to try to quickly summarize the next few days. After eating lunch (at 4:30) of matooke and goat soup, we set off on foot with Bernard (He actually pronounces his name Bennett, but his name is actually spelled Bernard. So just read it as Bennett ok? :) Bernard has worked for the Fouts for 10 years, and he has very proudly hosted many visitors in that time period. We were thrilled to get the opportunity to bond with him. He is 57 years old, and so full of life. He is a great guy and we always enjoy getting to see him at the Fouts. He's very good about making us greet him in runyonkore so we were looking forward to the ways he was going to challenge us in the next few days.
We wanted to experience everything with Bernard, so we walked home from church just as he had walked to church that morning. He took us the long way so that we could see the Barere church building. We walked for 2 hours straight that night, finally arriving at his house at 7:30, right as it was getting dark. It was one of the most beautiful walks of my life though, and I really enjoyed it. I was so excited about what we were about to experience that I could have walked a lot longer, I think. Still, I was very excited to finally reach his home and get to meet his family. His wife's name is Midias, and they have 5 children who still live at home. Sylvia is 13, Christine is 7, Dan is probably around 4, Franco is 2ish, and Nicholas is probably around a year old. We were immediately welcomed and made to feel very at home. I can't tell you how many times Bernard told us not to be shy, to be comfortable, and to feel at home. He was a great host.
We enjoyed our second straight meal of matooke and goat soup and then got to bed pretty early that night. There's not a whole lot to do once it gets dark in the village since there is no electricity, so the night's usually ended at around 9. We slept great that night and woke up early the next morning ready to experience a great day. We walked 1/4 mile to get water twice that day, which involved pushing 3 jericans of water in the oldest, most rickety wheelbarrow you've ever seen. I helped wash dishes and saw the Ugandan dishwashing process, which seems to be mostly counterproductive. Des and I chopped onions and sliced tomatoes and helped make the goat soup for dinner. (I've never breathed in so much smoke at one time.) We played with the kids and spent some quiet time with God. We enjoyed using the African version of a toilet. It's called a cho and it's basically just a hole in the ground. We had chai several times, and of course there was more matooke and goat soup...4 meals in a row to be exact.
The hardest part of the trip, the worst part for me, came Monday afternoon. We set off at 11:30 to go visit some people around the village. We walked around, aimlessly it seemed to us, for 2 1/2 hours. I sprained my ankle about a week ago, and it was killing me after walking around so much the day before. It was clear from the beginning that we didn't have a destination. We were just wandering around, stopping at every house we came to. (It kind of reminded me of some dear friends of mine who always struggled in leaving the student center at Harding. Bernard couldn't seem to pass one person without stopping, and he seemed to have a hard time pulling himself away from any conversation. You know who you are, and I love you.) We would all greet each family or person that we ran into, and then Bernard would proceed to have a 10 minute conversation in a language that we understand very little of.
It was during this time that all of this experience started to hit me. The things that I was experiencing weren't hard for me to do. Sure, I didn't really like eating matooke and goat soup at 9:00 in the morning for breakfast, but I could do that. I wasn't a huge fan of having to use a bedpan in the middle of the night instead of a toilet, but I did. I didn't love the lack of things to do in the village, the lack of entertainment that we Americans can't seem to live without, but I was making do. I didn't enjoy walking for miles and miles everyday, but it wasn't impossible. The experience in and of itself wasn't hard, but it became hard when it hit me that this is a reality for these people. I was coming in for a quick trip, 2 days to live their lives. This is their life every single day. They wake up every day, walk to get water so that they can live, and then spend each day doing pretty much the same things. Cooking for the day, cleaning the dishes from the day, wandering around the village greeting neighbors. Walking everywhere. They live their lives with no where to go and nothing really exciting to do. They live their lives without the comforts that we could never imagine going a day without. It just hit me that this is all very much a reality. They've probably never even heard of the internet, but I can't seem to go a day without it. Taking pictures with my digital camera and seeing their face on the screen was so thrilling to them. Having two mzungu girls in their house for a couple of days was one of the most exciting things they've experienced in a long time. It was a hard reality to grasp for me, and it's something I'm still trying to wrap my mind around as I'm sitting here in my comfortable apartment, with my internet running, and my toilet just a room away.
This experience was great, but this experience was also extremely hard. I'm so thankful for Bernard welcoming us into his home to share in his life for a few days, and I would do it again in a second. I saw God a lot in those two days. I saw him in the simplicity of their lives in the village. I saw him in the way that Bernard continually served us, giving us the best food (meat is only served on very special occasions), and giving us a chair while he sat on the floor. I saw God in the way that Midias served her family by cooking food all day long over an open fire in an extremely small, smoky room. I saw the face of God in the faces of these children. I saw the face of God in the people that I met in the village that day. I saw his face in the face of an old, Ugandan woman who could barely walk, yet knelt at my feet to greet me. I saw God's face in the joy in these people's life that certainly does not come from circumstances, but a joy that can only be found in him. It was an incredible experience that I wish everyone could enjoy.
We got back to our apartment at 8:00 Tuesday morning. I was exhausted, dirty, and so ready for the comforts that I had been missing. I wanted nothing more than to take a hot shower and check my email. Well, God had different plans for that day. We got home to find out that our power was off, and it stayed off until 9:00 that night. So instead of spending my day catching up with friends back home, and relishing in the comforts of my life, God continued my bonding experience. What an incredible blessing that was. Instead of filling my day with endless hours on the computer, I filled my day with endless hours with God. I spent a lot of time with him in prayer and in his word. I was able to process my experience a lot and allow him to teach me even after I thought the experience had ended. I'm so thankful for the times that our plans don't turn out the way we want, and God gently reminds us that his plans are always better.
I'm sorry this is so long. It just seems impossible to sum up such a full experience in just a few short paragraphs. I'm going to end with some pictures of my time in the village. There's a bunch more on my website, so make sure to click on one of the pictures below to see the others. I love you guys. Thanks for walking this journey with me.
2 comments:
Bets, thanks for always sharing in so much detail. It means so much to get to share in some of what you are seeing and learning. Your thoughts are beautiful! P.S.-I feel as though I might have been one of the ones receiving that shout out. It made me laugh. I love you!
Well written article.
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