Rural Living

I returned yesterday from the rural home stay trip. I am posting some pictures and descriptions to give you a sense of the past week. Photo credits to Julie!

A typical scene in rural Uganda.

Our wonderful hostess and Ateso cultural guide, my coworker Margaret. She is getting ready to serve their traditional dish of atap, made of millet flour.

A special meal of rice, atap and chicken while making a visit.

Julie and I attempt to eat oranges the village way, no peeling involved.

Tea time in the afternoon.

Visiting Margaret's school and meeting the kids.

Finishing off the week in Sipi Falls, enjoying the lush scenery there.

The Simple Life

Simplicity brings joy and balance...Simplicity is an inward reality that results in an outward lifestyle. -Richard Foster

I have been thinking a lot about living simply lately. Partly, I have been reading the book Celebration of Discipline (where I got the quote above) which talks about simplicity of life and spirit. Also, our students have been studying poverty and simple living, so there have been lots of conversations with them. Lastly, Uganda lends itself to living simply and I've been reflecting on how to make it a life-long pursuit.

My life in Uganda has aspects of simplicty that I have chosen and others I have not. I don't have a car, my water is solar heated, I don't have a lot of opportunities for entertainment so spend time at home or with people on campus. I read a lot, enjoy the natural beauty, walk to work, don't have electricity all the time and cook using pretty basic ingredients. Living in Africa has naturally lent itself to some of these things, and I appreciate how my life is not cluttered with choices and endless options.

Tomorrow I leave for our program's rural home stays, the essence of simple living. The pictures in the post are some of the places and activties we'll be doing- riding along a dusty road together, being around Margaret's home, cooking over a charcoal stove, and hiking. There will be no electricity, bucket bathing, dark nights and open days. After these trips I am always excited to get back to my house and some of the things I have missed, it makes me appreciate some of the things I enjoy in my daily life. My question is always how to find the right balance- appreciating possessions, place or food, while not letting them be controlling or more important than people or God. Going to a rural area always reminds me of this, and the choices I have that many do not.

I will be gone for 10 days and I know I will both enjoy the time and be happy to be home. And maybe that is the point? To be content where you are and make intentional decisions about what you have. It would be easy if simple living looked the same to everybody, and we all felt peace about our actions, possessions and inner life. I know, though, that it is an ongoing pursuit through prayer, action and community that I hope I can keep living towards.

My Friday

On Friday I went to an "opening day" celebration for one of the sites where our students volunteer. There were so many things that were typically Ugandan about the event, I thought I would share it to give you an idea of different events I've attended in the past.

This celebration day was for a site called Acheru, which works with children with disabilities. We have worked with them for a long time but they relocated in the last year and were dedicating their new site.

The first thing that made it an interesting day was the rain. It rained for hours that morning. I knew when I woke up that morning and heard the rain that things would be delayed. When it rains in Uganda most things come to a halt, because so many people use public transportation and walking, people tend to just wait out the rain. The rain also made for a muddy day since, like most events, it was being held outside- see the picture above. Below is one of our students, Mary, making her way through the mud.

So, as I expected the event started late- by 2.5 hours. It was scheduled to begin around 11am and started at 1:30pm. During the waiting time people arrived, there was lots of talking and lamenting about the rain, but really no one was rushed or annoyed.

Once it started the event contained all the aspects of Ugandan ceremonies I have come to expect. First, as pictured below, lots of speeches. It is important that everyone is greeted properly, and that the right people are given a chance to speak to the group. There is always an MC who introduces the speakers- in this case there were several staff members, clients and donors.

After about 2 hours of speeches, along with some singing and dancing, it was time for lunch. This was 3:30pm if you are keeping track, but again, fairly typcial- often meals are served late in the day. The meals are always buffet style, pictured below, with a variety of traditional Uganda foods- matoke, rice, beans, beef, chicken, potatoes, sauces, fruit and always a soda.

We left after the lunch since it was time to return to campus but there were still several hours ahead- the arrival of the guest of honor (a government official), a tour, a tree planting and assuredly more speeches. Also, the cake----->
Every Ugandan event has a cake that is served to all the guests, as you can see it is often very ornate and decorative. This order of events would be true for weddings, graduation parties, welcomes and farewells, really any type of event in Uganda.

I enjoyed this event- I got to see lots of people there and I really like the site and their work. If this had been a few years ago I think I would have been more frustrated- the delays, the formality, the mud. But I knew what to expect, and even though it is different from most American celebrations I accept and appreciate the Ugandan-ness. I think one of the "skills" I have learned living in Africa is a tolerance for ambiguity (that is a phrase from a cross-cultural book we use). Usually I would like to know what time something will start, what will happen there- I think this is typical American trait. Ugandans have a high tolerance for ambiguity and after living here I have learned that sometimes it is easier to just wait, be patient and enjoy the moment- not be wondering what is going to happen next. This is a skill I hope I can carry back with me to the States and enjoy those waiting, in between moments.

Small Adjustments

From the States (above) to Uganda (below).

I am back in Uganda after my 2.5 weeks in the States. Between family happenings, speaking at schools and enjoying fall it was a full and good trip.

Being back in the States obviously makes me think about my move there next year. Overall this trip made me feel good about my decision to be in Uganda right now and the decision to move in June. I think this mindset is making me more aware of the big and small things I will need to adjust to, both in leaving Uganda and living full-time in the States. Here are a few stories from the past weeks of small adjustments I may have to make:

1) One day I was in the States I was thinking about what I needed to do that day. I wanted to do laundry and thought to myself- Well, I will do it if the electricity is on. It took me a few seconds to realize- Wait, the electricity is always on! My mindset was still trying to work around the constant on and off of power that I surprised myself by thinking that way in the States. (And yes, I know power can go off in the States during random hurricanes but it has been 50/50 lately in Uganda.)

2) One thing that is very important in Uganda is proper greetings. This usually includes shaking hands when encountering a friend or acquaintance and sometimes shaking hands upon departure also. In Uganda, if there is a room of people and someone new comes in, they will go around and shake everyone's hands. During my visits to schools I realized I was shaking people's hands a lot. This was appropriate for meeting new people but I was doing it at the end of meetings too, and realized that maybe that is not common in the US. Some people seemed kind of surprised. And I am still not sure, because it is so normal in Uganda, that it is hard for me to discern if it is normal in the States.

3) On my flights back from the mid-west, where I was visiting schools, I had a short layover in Minneapolis. I was walking briskly between gates and felt like I was walking in the opposite direction of everyone else, having to make my way around all the people walking towards me. Then I realized, I was walking the opposite way of everyone else because I was on the left! I quickly moved over to the right side of the concourse and was moving with the flow of traffic. It is a subtle thing (I think related to what side of the road we drive on) but Americans tend to walk to the right and Ugandans tend to walk to the left.

On my Amsterdam to Entebbe flight on Sunday I sat next to a woman who had lived in Sudan for 5 years. She moved back to the States 3 months ago and was now traveling for work. I asked her about how her transition back has been so far and she said, Some things she expected to be hard are not and small things she didn't expect have been difficult. I am wondering what other small things, like the ones I mentioned here, will come up for me.