I wish I had the ability to write an article where you don’t just read about my experience here in Lira, Uganda, but you feel like you are here right along side me.
I wish I could give you all the feelings that have come about within the short time I have been here.
Africa is awesome, the people are amazing and the country is beautiful. But, in order to see all the beauty, you may have to change your definition of beauty. Garbage lines the streets, they don’t use toilets, just holes in the ground (also known as squatty potties), the people here don’t use as much deodorant or perfume that we use in America. Its like the statement, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” because Africa is really beautiful. We drove almost 7 hours from the main city of Kampala to Lira and there were miles and miles of beautiful land. We passed the Nile River and its power and beauty were spectacular. We saw monkeys and baboons. We passed through towns filled with huts and shops.
They don’t have much here in Africa but they make the best of what they do have. We have not passed by many people who are not willing to greet or smile at us. There are some other “muzungus” or “munus” (whites) here is Africa but people have loved the opportunity to say hi to us.
Our hosts are amazing and has really took us in as their family. Its certainly not easy to bring in 7 strangers and provide and shuttle them around for a month. But we are all brothers and sisters of God and they love us and we love them, even though we are still learning so much about their culture.
Learning about their culture has been one of my favorite things here. I have so much respect for them after seeing what they must go through each and every day. Cooking is a lot different, bathing is a lot different, everything is different. Their kitchen consists of a small cement coal burning oven in a tiny hut with no ventilation other than the door. And they do all of their cooking off of this one small area. It is also on the ground so they must stay hunched over for essentially all the cooking. They get all their water from a well, so when we run out they, walk down to the pump, and lug the heavy bins back to the house. Laundry is hand washed in bins, and takes a lot of time to do. Dishes are handwashed as well. Its not easy work, but they never complain.
I love playing with the kids, love seeing them smile and laugh. Its fun to even just sit with them. My favorite, however, are the kids who did not want to come up to us at first, who wouldn’t smile around us. To see the transformation in their faces once they felt comfortable when we are around them is amazing. Within the first week we have played, done some martial arts, played some frisbee, did some tumbling and just run around. Now, anytime we walk out the door they are either calling our names or chanting “munu” and running up to us. Pure joy, that’s how it feels. There is no sadness around these kids because they have so much happiness and love in them that you cant help but to be happy around them. Yes, they have a lot less then kids in America, but they don’t know that. They know what they do have and they love to just have fun.
We have been doing some door to door in the community and crusades each night. It’s a blessing to be able to walk around and talk to all different people.
Its only been 10 days here in Lira, Uganda but we have learned so much and felt so much within this short time. I look forward to telling you more about our time.
