Jinja, the source of the Nile

February 3, 2009

I’m finally getting settled into the life of a Ugandan University student. I am no longer with my home-stay family any longer. Our last night was on Thursday night, the 29th. The day before, on the night of the 28th, Joy and I made an American meal for our family. We made Penne pasta with red sauce and garlic bread. It was pretty difficult cooking without electricity, it made me realize how much I’ve come to depend on electricity and modern technology. I really missed a stove-top, a microwave, and an oven while I was cooking over a tiny charcoal stove.

It took us about two hours to make a meal that would usually take about a half hour to make at home. We only had two charcoal stoves (that are pretty hard to keep at a steady temp.) The supermarket we brought our ingredients from didn’t have any Ragu (Imagine Africa not having tomato sauce!) so we used tomato paste, tomatoes, and onions. It turned out being rather tomatoey, the garlic bread was slightly burnt on the ends, and the pasta (which shouldn’t go wrong) was slightly overdone. But our family really enjoyed it and was really proud that their “American daughters” cooked them a meal. Our host brother and host father had thirds.

After our home-stay we were really happy to go to Jinja where the source of the Nile is. We came to a beautiful Ugandan resort. I roomed with a girl named Trisha from the Honours College. The intent of the retreat was for USP and Honours College (it’s where most of the USP students live with other Ugandan students) to get to know each other and become better friends. Anyway, Trisha turned out to be a kindred spirit; we had a lot in common. We even had appendicitis in the summer when we were 17 years old.

We played a lot of games to get to know everyone. We even played dodgeball, and you know that anything having to do with a ball and me does not work well together. My team was filled with people as talented as myself; we got out on the first round. I had fun taking pictures though.

It was wonderful eating a variety of foods. I’m used to beans and rice here at the university so when we had a buffet filled with chicken, chapati’s (Ugandan version of a tortilla), pineapple juice, fruit, and even more. It was a Ugandan heaven.

I went to the source of the Nile on a little boat and saw where some of Gandhi’s ashes were spread. I saw a giant lizard that made me wary of ever swimming in the Nile. I was also warned never to go to the bathroom while swimming in the Nile because of dangerous parasites that can infect you urinary tract. Apparently it is very common.

We came back from the weekend relaxed and ready to embrace Ugandan life once again. I was invited to go to a Ugandan wedding on Valentines day with a reception to follow. It should be really fun though I’ve heard they’re really long and usually spoken in Luganda. Nonetheless, I will be able to say I’ve experienced a Ugandan wedding and reception.

I hope you all are having a blessed day. I’ve heard it’s been really cold lately. Same here, it’s about 63 degrees and I’m wearing a sweatshirt. Ugandan temp has transformed me from a cold blooded Minnesotan into a wimpy southerner. Ah well, my new motto in life has become “embrace it”.