Home Stay Experience!

Today marks the end of my two week home stay, and I am back on campus with a greater perspective, appreciation, and an African name - Erica Louise Bowers Narweyiso.

The home stay was a great but challenging experience – like everything else has seemed to be!

I had a family of 9: 6 children, 2 parents, and their aunt all lived in the same house! Both my parents were Reverends and our house was located on the church property. Five of the kids were girls – Sarah (17), Doris (10), Patience (7), Aidah (6), and Mary (2). Their brother Paul was 19 and is a freshman at Uganda Christian University. The family had two cows and a lot of chickens (like 100) that were used for meat (I never actually saw the entire process of butchering the chicken, but our meals were enough proof that this took place on a regular basis!). They also had 2 cows used for milk, and a kitten (yesss!!) named “clever cat”.

I learned a lot during my time at their house! I was continuously struck with their hospitality. Wow – they took “hosting” to a whole new (somewhat uncomfortable) level. Since the moment I arrived, they were conscious of how I was feeling, where I was sitting, what I was eating, whether I was tired, wanted to play, needed to study etc. I realized very quickly that much of their culture is built on respect, and as the guest, they respected and cared for me in every way. Accepting their service was, in turn, respecting them.

This was a constantly humbling experience, especially as I began to realize how much sacrifice was involved in their hospitality. Providing me with a chair meant that only two others would be allowed a seat – the rest of the family sat on the ground. I was given a fork while others ate with their hands. Providing me with milk tea may mean that others will not get any. Breakfast in the morning required getting up earlier and going to the store. The list goes on… even now it is still hard to fathom their generosity – it really is incredible!

A little bit of context:

-          Their home was a 35 minute walk from UCU. I walked to and from school most days with other students in my program who were staying nearby. It was such a good experience getting more comfortable walking through town and trying new street food along the way! My favorite discovery is what I would compare to “steak fries” made out of plantains

-          There was no running water in the home, but you could get water from a tap outside

o   Drinking water was made by boiling huuuuggee pots of water on an open fire

-          The “bathroom” was outside in a wooden structure. I really did not mind it until one night I found a giant lizard/dinosaur in there!! (There were many times that I just had to laugh at how outrageously different things are here compared to the US – that was one of them!)

-          Cooking was done over coals or fire and the meals took literally hours to prepare

o   A traditional and popular dish is “matoke” which is made out of a plantain-like starch. Hopefully I can get pictures at my next homestay to display how ingenious this dish is – they use every part of the plant and vegetable in preparing and cooking it

-          The women/girls did all the housework and a majority of the outside work as well

A typical day involved getting up around 7am and immediately beginning cleaning and cooking. Sometimes laundry was thrown in the mix, but most of the day was spent on these two tasks. Lunch is the largest meal of the day (although they all have gigantic portions for all meals!) and was served around 1pm. Tea time was anywhere between 4-8:30pm; I never could figure out what variables determined the time. I feel obligated to mention “Mara Clara” – a highly prioritized portion of the evening. “Mara Clara” is a soap opera from the Philippines, translated into English and dubbed over in Luganda. With that combination, it was probably the funniest/worst show I have ever watched, but by the end of the two weeks I found myself actually enjoying it a bit – it was simply entertaining to see what these producers would throw in next, and almost the whole family would gather to watch. Dinner was generally not until 10, and bed time was directly after… that took some adjusting to!

I got home from school around 7pm and generally spent time playing with the girls. They showed me some local games and I taught them games like “red light, green light” and “down by the banks.” By the end of the two weeks, all the neighborhood kids were coming over every night to play with us. It was a lot of fun running around the property playing hide-and-go-seek tag (although the adults in the church often gave me kinda funny looks as I ran around with all the kids!). I also helped prepare dinners by cleaning dishes or cutting vegetables, but they never let me very close to the fire itself.

The culmination of all these elements often made me feel like I was playing the African-version of “house.” It was not until the beginning of my second week that I was sobered with reality. My host mom is one of the hardest working women I have ever met – she was always preparing, cleaning, or serving something. As I was there, her energy level started declining. She finally told me one night that she was going to the hospital to get medication for what she thought was malaria. She had never had malaria before, but her body’s inability to overcome the sickness pointed her to this conclusion. I still do not know what the results showed, but that night I seemed to come face-to-face with African life – sickness/hardship is prevalent; life is demanding. In spite of this illness, my host mom never stopped working because the family is intricately dependent on one another. Survival is fulltime job.

My hesitation in writing all of this, however, is that it seems to portray life as very primitive. And in a lot of ways, it is a whole lot simpler.  Although I perceive their life to be very difficult, this lifestyle is normal here, and in reality, they are an above average Ugandan family. Most importantly, they have true joy. Their dependency draws them into a deeper love and knowledge of one another. Each person has spunky personalities and ambitious dreams, and all work together to help make those dreams possible. I feel privileged to have been a firsthand witness to their very different but beautiful life. I also hope to go back and re-connect sometime before the semester is over!

As  I am back on campus, things get a little busier:

This weekend is/has been jam-packed! A few of us went to a concert Saturday night that happened to be on the roof of a shopping mall – so great to be under the stars! The entire event was quite humorous, though, because we arrived around 7 with the impression that the concert was going to start at 8. We were told that it was not actually beginning until 10, so we just hung out and played some pool. Finally comedians came on the stage around 10:30 (and talked about the “muzungos” (aka. us white people) for a while during their performance), but the warm up band didn’t start until 11! After about 3 songs we had to leave because our driver was scheduled to pick us up at 11:30… Bottom line: we never got to see the main artist!  Things like this seem to be a common occurrence here, so I am learning to embrace it!  

Where to next: My cross-cultural ministry practicum at Vision for Africa begins this week. I will be working with orphans in primary levels 1 and 2. I think this is the US equivalent of first and second grade, but I actually have no idea. I found out today that I will be helping the teachers in classrooms and running my own class for an hour! Wow– that was unexpected and I have no idea what I will teach, but it should be fun! Tonight we will be attending a 4 hour show of traditional African dances. Finally, we are watching the superbowl Monday morning from 2-6am! I’m looking forward to being relevant on something American, although I might fall asleep before the game ends…

Today also is the one month mark in Uganda – I can’t believe it!

Official Status: International Student

It's weird to think that I am an international student for the semester. But as UCU classes have begun, I think my status is official! This past week has been full of continued acclamation and finally settling into somewhat of a routine. 

We moved into our permanent rooms last week, and I was placed in Florence Hall – a house within the “honours college” section. I was also assigned to a single room, which initially I was bummed out about, but now I love it! It’s great to have my own space and not have to coordinate schedules or noise etc. It’s a small room with walls painted very blue! I have a desk, little bookshelf, and a pretty big closet (of course, this is the one time I don’t really need a big closet… haha). Anyway, I really like it and it is a big blessing! Hopefully you can get a better feel of what it's like by the pictures below. 

This is my blue room!

The view from out my window

This is the road leading up to my dorm - Florence Hall is on the right

My class schedule consists of 5 classes: Faith in Action, East African Politics since Independence, Spiritual Disciplines, Cross-Cultural Ministry Practicum, and Old Testament. Old Testament is the only class with other Ugandans - the rest are developed specifically for USP students.

 I went to the first Old Testament lecture yesterday and it was quite the experience! It was in an open air building (which is great because it gets a breeze through it! and occasionally some birds fly in which offer a great distraction) with about 150 other students. The lecturer is a very dynamic and passionate speaker who often asked for class feedback. Most of the time I could keep up, but there were definitely points when I had no idea what he was saying due to his accent and the different "verbage" he used. He also felt compelled to reference the 4 white Americans on a frequent basis which forced me to stay very engaged! He cracked jokes the whole time about anything and everything, and overall I am looking forward to that class. 

Here’s a little story to give an idea of confusions I encounter on a fairly frequent basis:

So along with the Old Testament lecture, all students are required to go to a smaller “tutorial” each week to discuss and get assignments. There is one other USP student in my tutorial and I am so thankful because we had some trouble in the beginning! We went to the assigned classroom and started double-checking that we were in the right place by asking “what course/class is this?”. We got different answers like dance, information technology, etc. Very confused, we headed back to the office to figure out what went wrong! Come to find out, “course” actually means (our version of) “major”. So we made the semi-embarrassing trek back to the classroom and to our seats, only to wait 25 minutes for the lecturer to come! The whole ordeal was quite humorous and needless to say, I have learned the importance of terminology. And just for your own peace of mind, “lecture” is word we were supposed to use – “What lecture is this?”

Small victories: Because this semester involves many foreign habits, I have found myself celebrating the small ways in which I have been acclimating. Here are a couple of these small victories:

Hand washing clothes: I did my first load of laundry this weekend!! I think it took about an hour and a half... wow! I had no idea it was that much work. I have a whole new respect for people here and a whole new appreciation for washers! The process goes like this - filling up a jug of water and pouring it over a few items in a plastic bin. The clothes are then scrubbed individually with a bar of soap and wrung out. After that first step with all the clothes (not to mention dumping and refilling water throughout the whole process), you have to get the soap out of all the clothes, wring them (which, after a while, really does make your hands tired!), and hang them out to dry. Once dry, you have to iron everything to kill any bugs that might crawl in your skin. I'm not entirely sure why it is as difficult and as time consuming as it was, but just trust me when I say that machine washers are really a blessing!! 

Passing people: Just as people here drive on the right side of the car and left side of the road, people also walk on the opposite (left) side of the sidewalk. I can’t even tell you how many times I have tripped people up by walking past them on the wrong side! But finnnaaallyyy I am adjusting to passing on the left and now I am even moving over unconsciously! Yay!

Relaxing: As those of you at Gordon know, I like productivity and efficiency. There is no such thing here. Which is probably part of the reason people tend to be laid-back! So this new approach to life has taken some getting used to. Not surprisingly, though, I have come to enjoy relaxing at different points throughout the day! My favorite spot is on my front porch because #1 it’s a very pretty view and #2 new people leave and join the whole time!

Where to next: Just as I am getting adjusted to campus life, we are starting our “local homestay” tomorrow morning! Basically, they are putting us all in separate houses throughout the local city of Mukono. For two weeks we will be staying with a Ugandan family and walking to/from school each day (this walk can be anywhere from 2-50 minutes). I am looking forward to this experience and better understanding of familial Ugandan culture, but also am anticipating some “character development” in the process! Prayers are accepted and welcome!

Arrived and Adjusting!!

It is officially the 4^th full day in Uganda, and already I feel like I have learned a ton! The unknowns are becoming a bit more “known” (which is a great relief!) and some of the aspects I was nervous about have become less unnerving. There is still A LOT to learn, though.

After 27 hours of traveling, I arrived in Entebbe, Uganda at 11pm on Thursday night with another 5 Uganda Studies Program (USP) students. All of our bags came (praise the Lord), and before we knew it, we were being driven to a nunnery/convent for our first night. They were good accommodations and the way the mosquito net was hung above my bed made me feel a little like a princess!

We spent the next day in Entebbe, wandering around the town, going to the shore of Lake Victoria, and getting to know one another. The other half of our 39 person team arrived late that night.

By Saturday morning the whole team was in the nunnery for breakfast and a (very brief) orientation. That afternoon we loaded up a bus and drove 2 hours to Mukono (the city that Uganda Christian University is in). The girls were put in temporary dorms for 3 days and wow… that may possibly have been the most shocking of the whole trip thus far. I was anticipating sparse and smaller dorms, but this took both of these descriptions to the next level. A single (and very small room was divided down the middle – a set of bunk beds, desk, and closet on each side. Basically, us 4 girls could hardly fit in luggage… so I was happy to hear that it was only a temporary room! Although I’m sure our actual rooms will also be very small, we will only be sharing with one other person. Hopefully we will be moving into these rooms tomorrow and will be able to unpack a bit.

Sunday, we went to the church service on campus – attendance was a bit sparse because the UCU students do not begin classes until next Monday, but it was fun to see their service and listen to the pastor speak about important Ugandan disciplines. We continued orientation that day and at night went to a “concert” on campus. It was a group of about 8 adults singing and dancing - so fun to see their worship!

Today (Monday) was the first day of classes and the syllabus was a bit overwhelming, but I think the class will be very beneficial for the semester. A couple of us ended the school day by going on a “mango hunt” after class. We were hoping the monkeys would be in the mango trees and knock the fruit down when they swung between limbs, but we had no such luck. Instead, one of the guys had to climb up there and jump on the branches to make the fall to the ground.  It took a bit of work, but was well worth it (especially because I didn’t have to do the climbing)! They were sooooooo good!!

Here is a bit of general information to help you understand/visualize a bit more:

The campus is amazing – situated a half mile from downtown, the university is on many acres of very lush green grass and huge trees which are contrasted beautifully by the orange dirt roads. UCU is on the top of a hill which provides a beautiful lookout to the surrounding hills and valleys.

The weather here is beautiful. I can’t say for sure, but my guess is that it reaches around 80ish in midday and cools a little bit at night. I would say the humidity is not quite as dry as CA but definitely not as humid as a MA summer. It’s a good in between, but can get a little hot in the middle of the day. I’m writing this at my favorite time of day – 6:30pm, when it cools down, the sun begins to set over the hills and the sunset starts to appear.

The food is good – it lacks in diversity or any sort of healthiness, but taste-wise it is more than manageable. Breakfast normally consists of bread, bananas, hard boiled eggs, and sometimes papaya or pineapple. Lunch and dinner consistently have rice and beans (which taste good) and sometimes has a nutty sauce that I like. Potatoes are another staple. This combination is supplemented with things like a coleslaw-ish salad, other foods that I cannot pronounce, and occasionally, some meat – normally beef. Needless to say, the diet is muuuuccchhh different than what I am accustomed to, but I think I can handle it for a semester.

There is street food available – “chipaties” (I have no idea on the spelling) are my favorite right  now. I would describe it as a thick, fresh tortilla that is grilled. They also make “rollexes” out of these chipaties – it’s scrambled eggs with peppers, cheese, and tomatoes, rolled in this “tortilla.” That’s all I’ve tried thus far, but I am happy with them.

The locals seem to be very welcoming, but we have not gotten a ton of time to meet them (especially because the students do not arrive until next week). The men are more friendly and will strike up conversation, while the women tend to be more reserved in the beginning. They are very nice and open up once you begin a conversation, though, and are always willing to help. I am looking forward to making friends with other students!

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading! I don’t know what capacity I will be able to blog this semester, but I hope to post fairly regularly (although they generally won’t be this long). I’m off to dinner!

I hope you are all doing well! Please keep me updated on you lives!