Hello Hello! Sooo sorry that I haven’t posted anything in ages. It got a little busy around here, especially now because of finals and stuff.
The weekend after our safari, we had quite the adventure. We went white water rafting down the Nile River! We conquered class 4 and 5 rapids, which America doesn’t even have anywhere. What a rush. We were in large rafting boats with about 10 people in each raft. Each raft had a rafting guide, all of who were SO fun. We hit about 6 sets of rapids, 3 in the morning, 3 in the afternoon. Before each set, we’d stop and prep, learning which way should be paddling and what path we wanted to take down the rapid. Then we’d go! There were waves like 10 ft high that would come and splash down over you. On rapid, someone fell out so we had to get her… then we were on the wrong side of the rapid… and then wound up going off a waterfall. When we got to the calm water, the guide looked at us, shook his head and said “yeah, I’ve never gone down that route before.” Not exactly what you want to hear from your experience rafting guide, but hey, we lived to tell the story, and that’s all that matters.
The following weekend was Easter weekend. Instead of sticking around here on our 4 days weekend, myself and two other students headed back to Soroti to see our rural homestay families in the village. I was thrilled to see Doreen again, along with the rest of the family. I felt so at home there in my lil hut, taking baths out of a bucket under the stars, and getting fed the chicken gizzard once again! My family was SO happy and honored that I came back to see them, because it shows that I like and respect not only them, but the entire village.
It is a tradition in Soroti, and maybe other places, that the youth of the church travel around the village all night long the evening before Easter. They go around visiting each home all throughout the night, singing, clapping, and gathering gifts that would be sold in church on Easter morning. I just gave some shillings, but other people gave chickens, potatoes, peanuts, flour, eggs and any other staple item they had to offer. The group of kids got to our compound around 2 am or so, so we got up and sang and clapped with them….this was right after I scared the crap out of all of them when I came out of the hut. They are usually shocked to see a white person anywhere, none the less in a hut at 2am in the dark on Easter evening. Since I was awake, I surprised my family and called them for Easter. It was around 7pm in Jersey and my extended family was all over, so I got to talk to so many people. It was great!
During the week, we’ve had a few day trip to the US Embassy in Kampala, as well as the Ugandan Parliament. We sat in on a parliament meeting, which wound up being on a pretty big topic about a TV station getting shut down because they are run by the opposing political party. It’s an issue we had read about in the news, so it was amazing that we got to here it actually debating in Parliament. The Embassy was okay too, but it was just a bunch of well-paid Americans who don’t really understand the issues in Uganda “on the ground” as we say. They are in their offices trying to give money and aid to people, while the real issues that we have got to see first hand aren’t being addressed. We got a really weak, sugar coated presentation that was like an American advertisement basically. Apparently they were completely unaware of the fact we had just spent 3 months studying these issues and also critiquing what the American government is doing about it. It also threw us off to step inside this gorgeous building and be blasted by air conditioning and have a restroom with real toilets… and even toilet paper! It was like twilight-zoning back to American for an afternoon.
Speaking of America, I’ll be home in 18 days!! I’m so excited to come home, but I’m also fairly nervous about the readjustment. I’ve just seen so much, and I’m afraid that being back in the States is going to be really hard.
I had my last final today, , getting my hair braided in an hour, a farewell dinner with our Mukono homestay families on Thursday night, then Saturday morning we pack up and move out for good. We then head to Rwanda for 10 days to study the genocide, among other things. Afterwards, we debrief at Lake Bunyonyi, a resort type place. Then we head back to Entebbe, spend a few days on the beach debriefing the entire semester, and then fly home! So I’ll see you soon! These next few weeks are going to be quite a challenge, so please keep me and the group in your prayers!
