Orphanage Adventures

August 31, 2007
Today was probably my favorite day so far. This morning our professor had his wife and daughter come to our class so that they could show us how Ugandans cook traditional food. They showed us matoke which is made in banana leaves. It was very interesting. Then we had tea with them after class.
This afternoon we went to the Jordan House orphanage in Kasubi and it was amazing. It was an unforgettable, life-changing experience. As we were getting out of the matatu, we were bombarded with children and their caregivers. They introduced themselves and hugged us one after the other. It was the warmest welcome I had ever received in my life. I could remember only a couple names because there were so many people. It was overwhelming, but absolutely amazing at the same time.
After that we took a tour of the small accommodations. We saw the church area, the girls’ dorm, and the boys’ dorm. They were small, but homey with the walls painted. All at once the girls came up to us and asked for us to write down our names. At first I thought they just wanted to be able to see it so they could say it to us easier. Then I saw what they were really doing. They drew pictures and wrote letters to us. They said things such as, “thank you for coming and for loving us.” They were so joyful and hopeful and thankful that I started to cry. I don’t really understand yet why I did, but I do know that they had me in awe of their innocence and beauty. Maybe one of the reasons that I cried was because they thanked us for loving them when all we did was visit them. They do not know us. They know nothing about us. Yet they feel loved just because of our mere presence. This made me realize how much of an impact we could have on their lives if just for a few moments. We could let them know how special and beautiful they are. We could hug them.
One of the girls asked if I had a sister and so she wrote a letter to her. I will have to send that to her. =) At one point a few girls asked me to sing for them. I did not know what to sing, so I asked them what their favorite song was. But I wasn’t getting any answers, so I sang ‘Come Thou Fount’ which is a hymn. There are a couple of girls who clung to me for most of the visit. They are Tracy and Silvia. They are sisters. One is 16 and the other 8. I played volleyball with some of the children. Afterwards I watched everyone interact. I saw some of the other students from my group playing soccer with the boys, a few girls were braiding Kirsten’s hair, some were singing to children, some children were singing to other girls, and others were taking pictures of and with the children. The children were eager to get a peak at the digital screen to see the pictures of themselves.
Before we left, they sang two songs for us. And man, some of those kids can sing. They swayed and clapped and snapped and smiled. Their faces were radiant. I knew that that was true joy.
Tonight was fun as well. We sat around while Caitlin played guitar and made up a couple verses about each person in the room. It was rather hilarious. Then we played apples to apples and that is always amusing. Next came the dance party. On came the music and white versions of the dancing we saw last Sunday. The kind where you really shake your booty. I have never been much of a dancer, but I still had fun making up my own dances along the way. Finally, we watched a few episodes of Scrubs and now everyone is tucked away in bed. Awww. =) So good night and I’ll write again when something really cool happens. =) I love you all!

Dance, Dance, Dance!

Sunday, August 26^th

We went to church with our cornerstone assistants at Calvary Chapel in Kampala. It was a rather westernized church and I would have preferred to go to one more traditional, with a true African beat to the music and people with soul, swaying to the music. But we will visit one of those later. It bothered me that the pastor was white. It seems like people’s own countrymen should lead their people. Maybe I’m just weird. Anyway, so after church we walked around town and went out to eat for lunch. We had hamburgers and fries. It definitely had a different taste and texture, but still was a pretty good hamburger. Then we went to a craft market and I bought some cool earrings for like less than two bucks. They are round and wooden with butterflies carved into them. They don’t sound as cool as they really look. =) Anyway, then later that day we went to the Ndere Cultural Center and had dinner there and witnessed 4 hours of dancing, singing, drumming, and sweet tricks. Those women can move their hips! One guy did a balancing act on a bicycle for like at least 20 minutes. It was also amazing. I can’t even describe it all to you. It’s definitely something you have to see for yourself. This helped me to appreciate the beauty of the Ugandan people, all African people and their culture even more than I did previously. I was overwhelmed with sadness over the things that European and American people have done to this amazing culture and their people in the past.

Toward the end of the program the MC of the program called out different nations’ names and the people who were from those countries went up and he shook their hands. Everyone stayed on the stage and then when everyone was down there he had one person say why their nation was the best. When we heard we were supposed to do that, the girl who was volunteered from our group shrank back because she did not want to say anything. But she ended up saying, “Because our nation invented coca cola.” It was pretty much ended up being a humorous event. Germany said it was because of the beer. Ireland said it was because of their beer and because of how green it was. Sudan said hospitality. It was amazing being on that stage with sooo many countries. It almost brought me to tears. Finally they put on some music and we all started dancing. All of us. From all over the world. It was sooo great. I don’t know if I will ever have an experience like that again. I don’t know many who can say they have done something like that. Many of us, during the dancing were trying to do a lot of the moves that the woman tribal dancers were doing, but we definitely were very white and incapable of looking as cool as them. But it was still fun. We were all in awe of the whole experience and I’m sure we will never forget about it.