Soroti Homestays!!!

Hello hello! Well, I am now back on campus after our 10 day adventure. It was simply amazing! A lot went on so I think I’m going to just divide it into a few entries and update a new one everyday.

After a 7 hour or so drive, we arrived in Soroti district in the western central part of the country. We stayed overnight at Margaret’s house. Margaret helps out with USP and is the director of Honours College housing. Her husband is a Reverend and teaches here at the University. Both grew up in Soroti, so it is purely thanks to them that we had this opportunity to go to a rural homestay. Then throughout the day on Saturday, we each got delivered to our homestay.

I was one of the first to leave, and this time was alone without a partner. I was a little anxious to be alone, but also really excited to be able to have complete control over how my homestay went. We took a short drive on small dirt paths deep into the bush… and then pulled into an open space. In front of me were four decent sized huts made of dirt bricks and grass roofs. My new family flooded around the car to meet me. Immediately, my homestay mom, Florence, gave me a hug… at that point I knew it would all be fine. My family was (and is) so sweet.

Florence and her husband, Peter, are in their early 30’s. They have a daughter, Monica, age 9, and a son Aaron, age 3. Also living with them for the time being was Florence’s niece, Doreen, age 16. Let me just say that words can not describe how much I love Doreen. She was amazing. We shared the hut while I was there, so she was my roommate, and we talked about anything and everything. She is so smart, had great English, and was so eager to not only learn about me, but also teach me everything about the way they lived. She was SO great at helping me try things and teaching me how to wash, cook, peel, dig, and everything else I did.

But Doreen also breaks my heart. I soon found out that she was orphaned around 2^nd grade when her mom died of AIDS. She never knew her dad, so she and her older sister were left to live with my homestay family. Now the sister supports Doreen and pays her school fees- but apparently the sister wants to go back to school herself. So if that happens, Doreen has to drop out of high school and won’t ever finish. It’s awful. I don’t know what I can do for her or how I can help right now, but you better believe I’m going to figure something out.

After we said our hellos, I helped wash some dishes and chatted with the girls. Then Florence said she was going to a burial. I was very interested in seeing one, so I asked to come. It was about an hour walk in the sun (because they definitely don’t have cars, only bikes that the men usually ride). The burial/funeral was really sad… it was a 40 year old man who died of AIDS, leaving behind 3 kids and his wife. I couldn’t help but start crying along with all the other women there. We walked up for a final viewing, then right after, they closed up the casket and buried the body right in the back yard. Not to my surprise, the Reverend leading the service saw me arrive, and thanked “the white” for attending. We get specially recognized all the time, with is fairly frustrating for us because we as Americans realize we aren’t that different. We see ourselves as punky college kids, but the Africans here have such high regard for us- and a high regard that we don’t usually even deserve. I didn’t even know this man or his family, so I was pretty frustrated that they thanked me for coming.

Before dinner, the Doreen and Monica took me to fetch water from the “swamp” as they called it. It was really just an underground spring where many people in the surrounding area got water. We carried our jerricans (big plastic jugs) down, filled them, and then I carried it back on my head!!! The girls can all balance it on their heads, which is incredibly difficult. I had to hold it with one hand to balance, but it was still awesome. Carrying things on your head is just so smart! It’s so easy.

Later we had dinner- pork, rice, and at-top. At-top is this funny textured, globby “bread” made of millet and cassava flour, mixed with boiling water. Cassava is root that is the most common food in that area. As all the other foods here, its white and starchy without nutrition- but it fills their bellies, so I guess it’s good enough. We all ate with our hands, which is SO much fun. And since everyone knows my knife cutting skills SUCK, it was a blessing to be able to just use my fingers. The women also all ate on the floor in my family, which is very traditional. I’m still not sure how I feel about the gender differences here, so I’ll leave that topic for another time.

Their compound consisted of 4 huts- one was where the family slept, one was a guest house, one was the kitchen, and one was the sitting room with 2 chairs and a couch inside the hut. There was a “long call” latrine about 25 yards away (I’ll leave you all to figure out what “long call” means on your own) The compound is covered with animals- chickens, chicks, goats, turkeys, sheep, roosters, cats. And each one has its purpose, which is cool to see.

Before bed, Florence gave me a great mosquito net, so I felt very safe haha. We all prayed together, and then Florence, Doreen, and Monica taught me a song in their language, Ateso. Doreen and I talked for a while, before I fell asleep.

The best part about this whole trip was that a bunch of us put our watches and clocks in a bag and left them on the bus at Margaret’s. It was our challenge to ourselves to not care what time it was. So most of the whole homestay, I had no idea was time it was. What a freeing experience!

Look for Day 2 tomorrow…. So much more to come!