The title above is how we are greeted by all of the children we pass when we walk down the street. Bajungu is what they call white people.
The goodbyes were said last Monday afternoon. I was an emotional draining day but the Lord has definitely been giving the team the strength that they need. It was cool to see the MAF plane come (it is a small 4 seat plane). We have a long grass airfield here in Bundibugyo. I should get the chance to ride in one of these planes sometime while I am here. Since Monday I have just been teaching, doing team stuff, talking with neighbors, etc.
Since I do not have a lot to right about what I have been doing I thought I would write a little about what the culture is like here. In one of Michelle’s comments she asked me if I have met any Christian people and if I could tell whether or not they were Christians. I have met many Christians at church and some neighbors that are Christians. It is not easy to tell because for one I still do not know very much Lubwisi and because of the culture. Ugandans in Bundibugyo really struggle with changing the way that they live even if it goes against what God asks us to do. As you may know polygamy is extremely common here. It is very rare that a man only has one wife. Usually if a man only has one wife that could mean that he is a Christian but not always. The churches here have lots many leaders and elders because of polygamy. You can only be an elder if you agree to only take one wife, if you take a second wife you may no longer be a leader in the church (which is a very good and necessary guideline). Also, ancestry worship is huge. Some people have small little huts behind their house where they make sacrifices to their ancestors. They do this to protect their family from being cursed by other families. Many babies and young children where beads around their wrists and waists as a form of protection. Some people will not admit that they worship their ancestors because culture is changing but they still do because they are afraid not to and its what they have been taught to do. They also believe in witch doctors here. If someone is really sick some people will take that person to a witch doctor before taking them to the hospital. I still do not understand a lot of the culture and I have a lot more to learn, so keep that in mind when you read this.
Yesterday I met with Jennifer, one of the team leaders to talk about things and to pray. We will be meeting once a week. Her and her husband Scott are the two team doctors. Jennifer works at the health and nutrition center and Scott works and both the hospital her in Nuhuka (the area of Bundibugyo where we live) and the hospital in Bundibugyo town, with the pregnant women. Jennifer was telling me how she has already lost two children this week to different illnesses. She talked about how one of the mothers was so hysterical. I could not imagine being Jennifer and having to see this every week. She told me that when some dies at the hospital the family carries the body home to burry there. I could not imagine having to walk down the street carry my dead son or daughter. I have not seen this yet but Jennifer said that I will. I do not know how I will react when I do. It sounds like even the missionaries here have gotten used to death being extremely common here. I have not had to deal with very much death in my life so coming to a culture where people you know die all the time is very eye opening.
As I continue to write each week I will continue to share with you new things I learn about the culture and people here. Please keep all of these things in your prayers. I know that the Lord is working here and he loves the people here very much even if they are not living the way that He would like them to live.
I hope you are all having a good week so far and I would love to hear how you are doing.
Love,
Kim
What a day of celebration. Everyone wanted to come and welcome Pat's visitors. It was like a huge party in front of our house.
This is Scott Will and Pat watching the festivities. Below part of the Masso family is also enjoying the dancing.
I am always amazed at the way that they can move their bodies and feet. Believe me, they can shake their hips. I have tried and it is not easy.
Maybe I will try to dance for you when I return. :)
Above- Pamela and Joy, the two newest members of our team about to get on the MAF plane to head to Bundibugyo. Below- The Coast of Kenya
Dinner on the train. My first overnight experience on a train. It was a lot of fun.
The next two pictures are from the Christ School teacher retreat. I had a blast getting to know a lot of them better. Here we are at the source of the Nile.
These are some pictures that I took on Christmas Day. In my update letter I wrote about how one of the traditions here is to decorate the front of the houses and trees in front with different plants and flowers. If you look closely you will see the trees decorated with balloons and plans and then in the other picture the children have collected different flowers for decoration.
The next few pictures are from our team celebration. We had a nice mean together and a gift exchange.
Liana, Louisa, and Gaby opening their gifts.
One of the team meetings at the beginning of December the kids and teachers performed the Elf Boogie coriographed by Matt. In honor of his birthday and just to be silly. The kids had a lot of fun and the parents loved it! I tried to get a couple more pictures of it on here but no luck.
These are pictures of some traditional dancing. This took place at the WORLD AIDS Day celebration. The pictures continue on the next post. I don't know why the one pic copied so many times.
These pictures are from the World AIDS Day celebration. There was a group that came and performed some traditional dancing.
Pat had a table set up that promoted fighting AIDS. A lot of the women who have HIV made some beaded pins that mean Fight AIDS that were being sold.
Above is a picture of some of the mountains that are on one side of Bundibugyo. Below is a picture of some twins we saw when we were waiting for some bikers in the bicycle race.
Amy and I in the MAF plane. We just arrived right outside of Kampala. Boy were we happy to be on the ground.
Last Friday at the hospital in Bundibugyo town we had a Christmas celebration with the support group that Pat meets with each week. All the people in this support group are infected with HIV. We sang and even did some dancing. I got up with Biwah and did a little dancing myself. It was a lot of fun. Well, I hope you enjoyed these pics.
Pat, Amy, and I with some of the Christ School teachers.
Pizza night. check out the grasshopper pizza. I actally ate a piece too!
These are some pictures of when we stopped at Emberaro Lake on our way home from Kampala last month. There were so many zebras. Amy and I decided to ride on the roofrack so that we could spot the animals easier, plus it is just more fun.
Here is what we call the single group of the team, which will soon expand by two people in the next two months.
These are some of the Ugandan girls that come and visit us often. Left to right: Ida, Asha, and Ida. They speak a little English but not very much. This picture was taken down at the creek. This is where everyone baths.
This is a picture of one of the babies at the health center. He is 6 months old and is way under weight. This is a basket which they use to weigh the babies. If a baby is extremely malnurished He or She will stay at the hospital until they have gained a little weight.
Here are a couple of pictures of where I live. I will not always be able to put pictures on my blog because it took a really long time. This first picture is a picture of our Cho or otherwords it is our bathroom. This is located behind our house. You may be asking youself, Where is the toilet? Well, that is an excellent question. You see the little purple stick. If you lift that thing up, there is an extremely deep hole. It is quite an experience. I have to squat to use the restroom everyday. The funny thing is that we are the only house left with a cho. The rest of the mission houses have toilets inside their house. It is not so bad. The worst part is going at night and walking to it after it just rained, like this morning, in order to get to it I had to walk through 3 inchest of rain.
These next few pictures are of my house. The shower room, part of the living room area, the kitchen, and my bedroom. I tried to download a picture of the front of my house but it did not work, maybe next time.
Weel, I hope you enjoyed these pictures. Sorry that there is not very many. It is going to be hard for me to get pictures of Bundibugyo and the people because they do not like cameras here. They think that we are taking pictures so that we can sell them in the U.S. Well, my time is almost up. I hope you are all doing well. I am about to head to our team meeting which we have every Thursday. Until next time.