People in Uganda don't use lanes, really. When they decide to pass a vehicle they just do it, even if a car is coming. It's kind of a 'biggest vehicle wins' scenario. So if you are a bus you are the bully of the road and can just pass whenever you feel like it. Also, pedestrians do not have the right a way. It's basically a 'you better just get out of the way right away' mentality.
Once we got closer to SOS, our paved roads turned into small, narrow dirt roads. Damon kept remarking that the road had been fixed just recently and it was so much better than it had been. I kept wondering how much worse it could have been as the wheels hit rut after rut. We bounced and jiggled inside the vehicle, the shocks doing little to absorb the impact. Even when it didn't seem possible, the road got narrower and the tree limbs got lower. I was riding in the vehicle and I looked back several times at the bus, wondering how it was making it.
We finally arrived around 3 AM. As we grabbed our suitcases, I was taken aback by the sweltering heat.
All the young girls ended up taking the room with Olivia, whom she shares with Emma, the Cupps youngest child (I think she is four or five?). Emma and all the Cupp kids were bunking with their parents for the week and letting us take over their rooms.
Us older ladies took the Cupps' sons' room, which had four bunk beds. We set up two cots, too. Suitcases were everywhere, lining the hallway and tucked under cots.
The boys split up between the Cupp's schoolroom, living room and office.
I think we all finally got settled around 4:00 AM, but it was much later than that before many of us fell asleep. I tossed and turned, trying to adjust to the stifling, hot air and the many birds who like to chirp all throughout the night.
6:30 came quickly. We met Damon's wife, Jen. She was already busy in the kitchen, cooking the 100+ pumpkin scones that she and Olivia had prepared prior to our arrival. After eating our breakfast, we scurried about, readying ourselves for our day. We were leading the morning chapel service at 8:00 AM at Legacy Christian Academy, the school on campus that SOS runs for the village children.
The school's chapel is held in the church building on SOS's campus. I was not prepared for all the the beautiful dark-skinned children with huge white smiles. Solomon, their headmaster, was full of energy and fun. He bolted out songs and chants, and the children sang with all of their joyful might.
When it was our turn, some of our team went up front and did our 'color skit' that explained the Gospel based on the different colors green, black, red, white and yellow. After each team member read her/his part of the skit, our translator would translate the words in Lugandan.
The children sat so quietly, listening intently.
After the skit, we sang some songs with them.
Next, Solomon got up and spoke something to them in Lugandan (we soon realized he was telling them to welcome us!), and before we knew it, we were being swarmed by little people and hands giving giant hugs with smiles larger than their faces.
All across the room, you heard 'Welcome!' in the most beautiful, heavily accented, sing-songy voice.
Right then, I knew I was going to love this place.
Next, the majority of us separated and went into the six different classrooms to help the teachers for the morning. A few organizationally-gifted team members helped straightened and organize the school's office.
The children were so quiet and well-behaved in the classrooms. It was such a contrast to our own country's classrooms. I wondered if it was because Ugandans aren't used to being entertained by all the media and gadgets? Or is it because our kids just have so very much???
Soon, it was time for lunch:
Every day the students are served lunch at school. On this day we had beans and posho, a corn-based starch that reminded me of mushed up rice. Just like rice, it didn't have a strong taste. I thought the meal was delicious, along with the warm Lugandan tea.
Ugandans just scoop their meals up and eat it with their hands.
They gave us Americans spoons for ours.
That afternoon we had Field Day with the students.
We had four different stations that they rotated between: Sack racing, tug-of-war, parachute, jumprope/frisbee. Everything we brought we were leaving with them. They absolutely loved this parachute and couldn't get enough of it.
We brought the school this battery operated megaphone--Solomon was like a kid at Christmas with a new toy!
Every morning and afternoon Damon's wife Jen cooked for all twenty-three of us. The team members took turns helping her prepare the food. Since this is something I enjoy doing, I helped quite a bit throughout the week.
The village life doesn't have the convenience of a super market right down the street. To do their grocery shopping, they have to drive into Kampala (2 1/2 to 3 hours away). Even so, the grocery stores don't have the 'prepare quick' meals that we have in America. And some things are just super expensive (like cheese). Thus, not only does Jen have to make everything from scratch, she has to get pretty creative sometimes with her ingredients. By the way, did I mention that she is an extraordinary cook? It was a complete privilege and delight to eat her meals all week long, especially for us mamas who aren't used to having meals made for us!
On this evening, Jen was preparing chicken pot pie. I helped her cut up chicken and fruit for dinner while the rest of our team split up into vehicles and went into the villages, distributing flyers to invite them to the Agriculture Educational Day that SOS Ministries was hosting the following day.
I finished helping with dinner in time to go into the village with one of the later groups. Traveling into the villages for the first time and seeing the humble dwellings of the people affected me profoundly. This first day I also had a hard time knowing how to have a conversation with them. For one, we had a translator which is a little difficult getting used to. Secondly, I was so worried that I would do or say something offensive that I found myself not knowing what to say.
Many of the people on our team, though, had no problem comfortably talking away. One of those team members was my son, Joshua. He even had a villager try to give him a pigeon as a gift. Since he wasn't sure what to do with it, he turned it down.
As we convened around the dinner table that night, we shared our experiences. We spent time asking Damon and Jen a lot of questions and getting to know them and their four children better.
Since Olivia's birthday had been the week before, we brought gifts from her family and and had her favorite kind of cake for dessert: strawberry.
As I reflect back on this day, the two things that really stood out to me were how very joyful and full of love these children are who have very little materially. It brought to mind the words in Luke 12:15: "Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions."
This kind of life--one free of abundance, wealth and convenience--was being modeled right before our eyes.
The simple life.
It was a beautiful thing.
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