Reunion in Kajjansi

Sunday, May 30, 2010

I finally made it out to Kajjansi to visit our family friends, Edward, Florence, and their children. It was about a two hour taxi ride from Lugazi to Kajjansi, so we set out early so we could make it in time for church. Kajjansi was much like Lugazi. A small village full of wonderful people and lots of poverty. We had an excellent time at church. It was district conference, and Edward, being the branch president, spoke in the meeting. The whole meeting was themed on service, "Have I Done Any Good." It was so humbling to listen to these talks and realize that service is important even to people who have little to give. I have learned so much from the humble example of the people here and hope that I will find a way to take what I have learned to heart and let it change my life.
"Have I done any good in the world today?" I hope that we can all find a way to brighten someone's day everyday.

After church we went over to Edward and Florence's humble home. They have a small home with a little sitting room and from what I gathered three bedrooms. The floors are cement, but there was a carpet rug in the main room, some chairs, couches, and a table. Their kitchen consists of a small table outside to prepare food on and a few charcoal stoves. Their bathroom is a small cement stall on the side of the house that acts as a joint shower/toilet. They don't have any running water, they shower out of a bucket, and I haven't quite figured out yet how you go to the bathroom if you have #2... luckily I didn't have that problem, haha, but never the less, it was an adventure to use it. All I can say is that they are one of the happiest, humblest families I have ever met. And despite their living conditions that we might consider shocking and unbearable, they are quite well off compared to many.

We had so much fun visiting, playing games, sharing stories, looking at pictures, and eating, eating, eating! We played Boggle with Edward's daughters Liz, Linda, and Grace. That is one of their favorite games. I brought a deck of cards and a bunch of plastic spoons and taught them how to play spoons. It was a riot! We had so much fun! We talked about memories from when Florence and Edward visited us in Salt Lake to be sealed in the temple. We laughed about how Edward tried to stand on the toilet seat and squat like it was a latrine because he didn't know how to use a flushing toilet... and how he was appaled that he could be arrested for throwing his trash out the window... He is truly an amazing man--amazing father, headmaster of his school, branch president, village chief--so humble, yet so respected. I could go on for days.

Florence is an amazing cook and takes pride in her cooking. She made an amazing Ugandan feast for us Sunday night. She was even so kind to dish up our plates for us, haha. She must think that all Mzungus have the appetite that Rob had when he was on his mission though because she served us so much food! Matoke, beef, potatoes, rice, noodles, cabbage... my plate was overflowing. Nicole's missionary in her licked her plate clean, I asked for a smaller plate and did the best I could, Suzanne is the smallest girl ever and did the best she could, but she hardly made a dent. It's offensive here if you don't eat all your food. We did the best we could, and it really was delicious, but the matoke was going to spill out my ears if I ate any more. I hope Florence understands!


Monday, June 31, 2010

This morning we visited Edward's school. It was the first Ugandan school I've been inside and I was shocked by the conditions. From what I've heard, Edward's school is fairly nice compared to most, but still it was shocking compared to the schools I grew up in. It is a secondary school so it's comparable to middle school and high school back home. Each class had nearly 100 students in it cramped into one small room on wooden benches with one teacher to teach all of them. They were literally sitting on top of one another. I don't know how they learn in conditions like that. The crazy thing is that they are all so smart. They are so dedicated to their studies and give so much respect to their teachers. They take their education seriously and are grateful for whatever they can get.

He showed us his library, full of books that Suz, Rob, family, and friends donated books to. It broke my heart. The library is literally a closet and half of the books were still packed in cardboard boxes because there is no room to unload them. They can't even use the resources that they do have because there is no space. I wish so badly that there was something I could do to help. Still, it is amazing to see how they can get by with so little and still accomplish so much.

Florence made another feast for us for lunch today. It was all the same food but encoco (chicken) instead of beef, which I was very grateful for. The chicken was delicious! (beef here kind of freaks me out--it is so chewy and fatty and when you see it hanging up on the streets covered in flies suddenly it is no longer appetizing). She picked up on our porportion sizes from last night... Nicole must eat a lot because she cleaned her huge plate last night. Suzanne must be starving because she didn't eat anything so I'll give her even more. Megan get's a medium sized plate. Thank goodness! haha. Proud to say I nearly cleaned my plate this time!

We had such a good day together. They are such an awesome family and I am blessed to have met them. Thank you Suz and Rob for bringing them into my life. They told me as I was leaving that they are planning to go to South Africa in July to be sealed as a whole family in the temple!!! Pray for them to make it there! They deserve it more than anyone!



We stopped in Kampala on the way home to go to a meeting. We went to ShopRite, the westernized grocery store, and it was a bit of a let down. I was really hoping for some granola bars or American treasures, but for the most part everything was the same as the little super markets, just cleaner, more organized, and bigger. The funny thing was though that when I was walking through the store I didn't feel like I really needed anything. I'm totally content with what I have. Sure I miss brownies and could probably down a whole tray if I had them, but I don't need them. There's so much that I used to think I needed that I've realized is totally unnecessary. Sure it's not entirely bad to have those luxuries, but it's kind of nice to live a simple life.

We had to take bodas (motorcycles) across the city to get to our meeting. Maybe I shouldn't talk to much about it... it was slightly terrifying! Traffic in Kampala is CRAZY! I will never complain about being stuck at a red light again. I would much rather have to wait at a red light than to have no lights at all and to play chicken with all the cars on the street. We weaved in and out of traffic (so illegal in america), I grazed my elbows and knees on a few cars, but we made it there safely. Whew! Not going to lie, it was pretty fun!