Obulamu

You may be wondering, what is obulamu found in Mukono, Uganda?  Is it the monkeys that we pass in the trees, the matoke (cooked, crushed up “bananas”) that we eat every day, or the brilliant colors of red and green splashed in every direction we look, or the beautiful people that we meet every day? Well, it means all of this.  In Lugandan, obulamu means LIFE, everything that I have described and more.  As I have been here, I have realized that I am going to truly experience life with all of its ups and downs – the weariness and frustrations of losing most of my comforts and having to learn everything from how to take a shower with a bucket to how to cook matoke, to the joys and beauty of gaining a whole new family, a family that has made me their beloved sister and daughter. 

Life in Uganda began on January 4^th, where I arrived into Entebbe airport at 11 pm.  It was hot and sticky and I was just plain excited to be there, but also pretty exhausted from a day of plane rides and a very strange sleep schedule.  The next day, after a morning of orientation and “preparation” to go meet my host family, I was dropped off at the gate of my host family.  While at first it was a bit awkward and hard to open up with them, after three days now I really feel like family as I have learned to just be in their presence, whether its sitting by a fire watching them cook, talking in the kitchen, or watching a soap opera.  I live with two sisters and one brother around my age (who are also in college), a younger sister (15), younger brother (12?), their grandparents, and countless cousins and aunts who drop by to say hi.  We live within walls, which contain mango trees, a house, a room full of chickens and an outside kitchen.  Then theres a little yard where my cousin continually rides his bike in circles without ever losing the fun in it:)  I have my own little room which is really nice - theres a bed, table, and shelves above me to put my stuff on.  The house is much more “normal” than I thought it would be - they have a tv, fridge, sofas, running water, and even a toilet.  While they may not be living in the poverty that I once thought of as either starving from lack of food or doing without any material wealth, their lifestyle is definitely one that is common among all of the poor in Africa.  The daily life of a women seems to be cooking and cleaning, as they cook over a fire and it takes hours to prepare it all.  And yet this life is so full of joys that I have already experienced.  I have sat on the ledge of the house at dusk and rolled out 25 torteias, I’ve woken up early and husked corn with laughter as they showed me how to twist it to snap the end off, and I’ve danced around my living room table to worship God, undoubtably messing up the rhythm and making everyone laugh.  While they don’t have much, they have already taught me in their prayers which we said just last night about passion and fervency for God.  They seem to really…know Him.  And I want that. 

I know this is going to be a beautifully stretching time, in which I will hopefully make really deep relationships and learn what is like to truly engage in another culture and love well.  The beginning was definitely a bit hard, but now I am seriously loving my family.  Last night I sat in the kitchen floor with all of my brothers and sisters (as I do at home) and just talked about different movies we had seen and realized that we had a ton in common!  We then shared pictures from home and they all crowded around, enjoying every picture I showed them of my beautifully big family – just like theirs.  We could tell our lives were so very different, and yet we now shared the same food and house, struggles and laughter, and above all - love for each other.  It’s crazy to think that I now have two families, and I know that at the end of these four months, I will dearly miss this beautiful family I have become a part of.