"That's how we do it"...more on rural homestays

After a 6 hour bus ride we arrived in Soroti, Uganda at Margaret's house (a staff member for USP and one of the nicest ladies I know) for the evening.  Her home also serves as a boarding house for more than 50 children who attend the nearby school started by Margaret and her husband Samuel.  The evening consisted of a delicious supper and lots of games and dancing with the children. 
In the morning I was dropped off at a compound where I would be spending the next 6 days. I was greeted by an energetic, smiling woman that I would soon refer to as Toto (mama in Ateso) Helen.   Toto was committed to teaching me about Africa and African ways beginning and ending each task or story with the phrase, "That's how we do it."

Unfortunately, there is way too much to include all that went down over those 6 days (I wrote over 80 pages in my journal), but I will try to give some highlights from my journal...

Saturday (arrival day): "I'm sitting in the shade trying to take in these new surroundings.  Mama said, 'today you rest, tomorrow you can work.' All around is beautiful land and animals: goats, a calf, ducks and ducklings, many chickens and chicks, one sheep and this really crazy looking bird called a guinea fowl plus some cattle.  There are 5 mud huts with dirt floors and grass roofs, two buildings with concrete floors (I was the guest and therefore got to sleep in one of these) and of course the latrines." 

Here is one of the mud huts...the blue basins are used for bathing and the yellow jerricans are used for transporting water.

Sunday (day 2): I attended the English service at my church with my brothers Sam and Kenneth and my niece Brenda.  We left on foot as the sun was rising in order to make it in time.  After church, Sam and Kenneth took me to see the town from the top of a large hill...what a beautiful view! 

That night Sam took me to the swamp where the family collects water.  This was one of my favorite places on my homestay.  It is a community water source and so many people are together collecting water.  This place really opened up the story of Jesus and the woman at the well in a new way to me.  After collecting water I carried the 10 L jerrican back on my head....or tried to anyway...not easy!

Sam told me about killing a cobra one time that he came to collect water... scary stuff, eh?

Monday (day 3): "Today is Monday, I can't even remember the date (which is kinda nice- I also don't wear my watch when I am here).  Mama woke me up again this morning to a beautiful sunrise- oh how I love morning and evening here."

This day consisted of lots of chores and 'that's how we do it' from Mama.  She showed me how to take the cows for grazing...



She showed me how to sift millet flour...

Mama and I were both completey white after this job...covered in flour that is :)

She showed me how to cook various things with firewood...

Monday night we had fish for dinner which would normally be fine, but Mama handed me the WHOLE fish.  I looked at it for awhile and then said, "Mama, I don't really know how to eat this."  She laughed and began helping me to remove the fins and the scales (I was thankful I didn't have to eat that part), but then she handed me the head saying, "we eat all of this."  She meant it too because I watched as she sank her teeth into it chewing the teeth, skull, eyes and brain.  I wasn't quite as brave as Mama and I did remove the skull bones, but I did manage to eat the rest...although I must confess that I swallowed those eyes as quickly as I could! After supper Mama and I sat out on the porch.  She said, "this is the time for sitting and telling stories" and she proceeded to do so.  I love listening to her.

Tuesday (day 4): Today was a challenge physically.  I had pretty bad allergies (swollen and teary eyes, runny nose, etc) and had a little bit of a fever.  I experienced a lot of love from Mama who took good care of me.  In the afternoon I started to feel a bit better and Mama continued teaching me.

She showed me how to make paste out of nuts...

She showed me how to prepare their traditional greens...



Wednesday (day 5): I took some allergy medicine, got plenty of sleep and felt much better today.  We ate a delicious breakfast of tea, g-nuts, sweet bananas (they are really small) and pumpkin.  Breakfast was followed by dung collecting...yep you read correctly, dung collecting.  The 'mud' houses are actually dung and the walls are brick, but are also covered by dung.  After pouring a bunch of water over the fresh dung that we had collected (to make it go farther and easier to spread) we knelt to smear the kitchen floor and walls. 

Mama also taught me a song in Ateso on this day.  We had a blast singing together.  Later this afternoon the first rain of the rainy season came.  It started slowly, but quickly began to pour, even sending down hail at one point.  The kitchen roof got a hole in it as a result, but otherwise things were good and the thirsty ground quickly drank it in.  Before bed, my family took me outside to see the stars.  The rain had made the night sky a bit darker and with no city lights hazing the view the stars looked INCREDIBLE.  Its hard to describe their beauty- I don't think I have ever seen so many stars.

Thursday (day 6): My final day with my family. 

In the afternoon Mama walked up to me holding a pretty red and yellow chicken.  She said, "this one is yours, but since you can't take it back with you to America we will eat it together!"  Slaughtering a chicken is one of the greatest ways to honor a guest in this culture.  I felt so honored.  Mama laughed at all of my reactions...

That night the whole family feasted together... the meal is one of my favorite memories...it was so great to be eating a big meal with a big family...

Friday (day 7):  This was a day of prayers and promises to see one another again...if not on this earth then in heaven.  I will never forget my time with this family.