So far

January 11th, 2009

I have safely arrived in Uganda, and it is beautiful. I was reading Poisonwood Bible on the plane ride over and one of the characters commented on the lack of a smell in the U.S.. So when I arrived in Africa I made a point to notice the smells. Believe me, there are smells everywhere. Mostly good, some bad.

I’ll give you a run down of what’s happened so far.

We arrived in Entebbe at 9:00 on Friday the 9th (1:00 pm your time), three people from our group lost their luggage coming from Amsterdam (I had already lost mine going to D.C.). We had no problem going through customs. They just had all of us give our passports to one person from our group and wait for them to go through it all. I could have easily given someone else’s passport and they wouldn’t have known the difference. They didn’t check the pictures with the person, it was pretty lax.

We proceeded to drive 1-2 hours (I’m not sure how long, I fell asleep), until we got to Mukono, the city where Uganda Christian University (UCU) is. On the drive we drove past Lake Victoria, which was awesome. The people are very nice in my group. We chatted on the way but most of us fell asleep on the planes and bus ride.

When we arrived at UCU we were split up between IMME (the missions oriented people) and the USE (Uganda Studies Emphasis). I’m USE. Five of us were sent to Sabiiti hall where we are going to live for the rest of the semester. I was one of the five and all the rest were split into the part of the campus called “Honours College”. Apparently I didn’t quite cut the academic line. Just kidding, there wasn’t room for all of us among the smart ones. But at Sabiiti we’re in the first year dorm so everyone is very nice and welcoming. We always have our neighbors come knocking on our door to say hi and introduce themselves. My roommates are great. I have two. One is Kelsey from Olivet Nazarene University and the other is Emily from Messiah (Jesus). They’re both very sweet and fun, I really like them. They’re kind enough to offer me some of their clothing and toiletries until my luggage arrives. They even bought me a mug from Mukono so we can have tea together. Across the hall are two other USP-ers named Kristin and Katie (there are about 5 Katie’s in our group). I really like being separate from the majority of the group, it makes me reach out more to the Ugandan students.

My dorm is better than I expected. There are three of us in one room that was intended for four. There are two sets of bunk beds, I’m on the bottom. The mosquito netting makes me feel like I’m a princess with lace falling around me when I sleep. Apparently the Ugandans don’t care about others talking when they sleep. We hear several early morning singers in the showers (early morning = 4 am), conversations in the hallways, doors opening and closing, roosters crowing, and birds chirping. I tend to sleep through it all.

Meals consist of rice and beans in ginormous portions with a side of either potatoes, condensed corn meal, fried bananas, and other stuff I’m not sure of. I’ve tended to ask for ¼ of what they offer and still can’t finish it all. We try to sit somewhat separately so Ugandans join us. If all the white people are at one table, it tends to make us look exclusive. I’ve met several people doing this (it’s really hard to remember their names though, they sort of look alike.)

Saturday was pretty busy with orientation. We got cell phones!!! And you can call me. I’ll give you my info at the end. They set up our internet (which apparently works pretty often if you’re in the right spot), gave us a manual on Uganda, set up our classes (I’ve changed mine to History, African Traditional Religions, Reading the NT in Africa, African Christian Theology, and Faith and Action. Creative writing was only with USP students, I wanted some natives in my class.

The temp is beautiful. It’s only 85 degrees and they say this is as hot as it gets. I was even a little cold last night. After orientation, we went to climb Monkey Hill behind campus and saw monkeys, Lake Victoria in the distance, Mukono, and other cities around. The landscape is beautiful, it’s very hilly (mountainous if you’re from MN). Dinner starts at 7. The Cafeteria is incredible! It’s like a huge patio. There are posts all around, one side has a wall where the kitchen is, but everything else is open. So while I eat there’s a breeze blowing against me. It’s great.

There was a worship service last night at 8:00 we could attend. I went with most of the group (though the IMME’s had already been taken to their families in Mukono, Chuck included). It was very interesting. I’m not sure how long it lasted; I left early (10:00) after my head hit my chest for the millionth time. But there was a lot of clapping, swaying, testimonies, impromptu solos, impromptu speeches/sermons, and singing in Luganda and English. I really liked it but couldn’t stay up much longer.

Sunday was a free day. We went to church, it was pretty interesting. I think they were sort of catering to the new students and especially to the Americans. The father basically gave a thorough explanation of an Anglican service and why they have it. I’m excited for next week when they give their normal sermons. There are two services with huge congregations. My roommates and I went to the 2nd service at 10:30 which is apparently the smaller service. The earlier service has about 900 people. Yes, 900 people. It’s huge compared to what I thought there’d be.

After a lunch of rice and beans several of us headed into Mukono. We had been eating lunch with a second year guy named Ken. When we told him we were heading into Mukono he offered to be our tour guide. He proved to be invaluable. He brought us to the ATM where we can get shillings, showed us where to buy certain things. Unfortunately for me, my card was eaten by the ATM. I took too long calculating the difference between Shillings to Dollars, hit “Not Ready” a little too much and the ATM said I was taking too long so it ate my card. I talked to Ken, our new friend and he told me to come back tomorrow when the bank was open. I wasn’t too put out; I figured if that would happen to anyone, it might as well be me. Everyone felt really bad for me and offered to let me borrow some of their shillings to get my basic needs. Therefore I got six pairs of underwear, hoping that by the time I’m through with them, my luggage will have arrived.

I came back to campus and talked to our leaders and they said it has happened before. Usually what happens is the bank will send the card to the main bank in Kampala. We’re going their on Friday so I’ll just have to pick it up there. But Mom, if you could email me my account number (Wells Fargo) I think that would help get it back faster.

I got back to campus around 4 or so and have been lounging outside, embracing the sun and shade. One of the dorms where some of the girls stay has a porch with a couch. I’m actually sitting there now with seven other girls. Most are finishing reading Poisonwood Bible while others are chatting about their schedules. We often sit here and listen to the birds. One of the girls named Naomi in USP is from Bethel. There’s also a large group of senior Bethel Nursing students. Two of them just walked by with Naomi and we’ve discovered several mutual friends. One of them even knew Erik. She remembered him because he got frost bit on his finger and one of the upper class nursing students told him he’d have to cut it off. That’s how she remembered him. It was fun connecting with Minnesota.

Well, I’ve got to run now. I hope this was informative and humorous for you. I’m sorry it’s filled with punctuation errors and short sentences.

January 16th, 2009

I have safely arrived in Uganda, and it is beautiful. I was reading Poisonwood Bible on the plane ride over and one of the characters commented on the lack of a smell in the U.S.. So when I arrived in Africa I made a point to notice the smells. Believe me, there are smells everywhere. Mostly good, some bad.

I’ll give you a run down of what’s happened so far.

We arrived in Entebbe at 9:00 on Friday the 9th (1:00 pm your time), three people from our group lost their luggage coming from Amsterdam (I had already lost mine going to D.C.). We had no problem going through customs. They just had all of us give our passports to one person from our group and wait for them to go through it all. I could have easily given someone else’s passport and they wouldn’t have known the difference. They didn’t check the pictures with the person, it was pretty lax.

We proceeded to drive 1-2 hours (I’m not sure how long, I fell asleep), until we got to Mukono, the city where Uganda Christian University (UCU) is. On the drive we drove past Lake Victoria, which was awesome. The people are very nice in my group. We chatted on the way but most of us fell asleep on the planes and bus ride.

When we arrived at UCU we were split up between IMME (the missions oriented people) and the USE (Uganda Studies Emphasis). I’m USE. Five of us were sent to Sabiiti hall where we are going to live for the rest of the semester. I was one of the five and all the rest were split into the part of the campus called “Honours College”. Apparently I didn’t quite cut the academic line. Just kidding, there wasn’t room for all of us among the smart ones. But at Sabiiti we’re in the first year dorm so everyone is very nice and welcoming. We always have our neighbors come knocking on our door to say hi and introduce themselves. My roommates are great. I have two. One is Kelsey from Olivet Nazarene University and the other is Emily from Messiah (Jesus). They’re both very sweet and fun, I really like them. They’re kind enough to offer me some of their clothing and toiletries until my luggage arrives. They even bought me a mug from Mukono so we can have tea together. Across the hall are two other USP-ers named Kristin and Katie (there are about 5 Katie’s in our group). I really like being separate from the majority of the group, it makes me reach out more to the Ugandan students.

My dorm is better than I expected. There are three of us in one room that was intended for four. There are two sets of bunk beds, I’m on the bottom. The mosquito netting makes me feel like I’m a princess with lace falling around me when I sleep. Apparently the Ugandans don’t care about others talking when they sleep. We hear several early morning singers in the showers (early morning = 4 am), conversations in the hallways, doors opening and closing, roosters crowing, and birds chirping. I tend to sleep through it all.

Meals consist of rice and beans in ginormous portions with a side of either potatoes, condensed corn meal, fried bananas, and other stuff I’m not sure of. I’ve tended to ask for ¼ of what they offer and still can’t finish it all. We try to sit somewhat separately so Ugandans join us. If all the white people are at one table, it tends to make us look exclusive. I’ve met several people doing this (it’s really hard to remember their names though, they sort of look alike.)

Saturday was pretty busy with orientation. We got cell phones!!! And you can call me. I’ll give you my info at the end. They set up our internet (which apparently works pretty often if you’re in the right spot), gave us a manual on Uganda, set up our classes (I’ve changed mine to History, African Traditional Religions, Reading the NT in Africa, African Christian Theology, and Faith and Action. Creative writing was only with USP students, I wanted some natives in my class.

The temp is beautiful. It’s only 85 degrees and they say this is as hot as it gets. I was even a little cold last night. After orientation, we went to climb Monkey Hill behind campus and saw monkeys, Lake Victoria in the distance, Mukono, and other cities around. The landscape is beautiful, it’s very hilly (mountainous if you’re from MN). Dinner starts at 7. The Cafeteria is incredible! It’s like a huge patio. There are posts all around, one side has a wall where the kitchen is, but everything else is open. So while I eat there’s a breeze blowing against me. It’s great.

There was a worship service last night at 8:00 we could attend. I went with most of the group (though the IMME’s had already been taken to their families in Mukono, Chuck included). It was very interesting. I’m not sure how long it lasted; I left early (10:00) after my head hit my chest for the millionth time. But there was a lot of clapping, swaying, testimonies, impromptu solos, impromptu speeches/sermons, and singing in Luganda and English. I really liked it but couldn’t stay up much longer.

Sunday was a free day. We went to church, it was pretty interesting. I think they were sort of catering to the new students and especially to the Americans. The father basically gave a thorough explanation of an Anglican service and why they have it. I’m excited for next week when they give their normal sermons. There are two services with huge congregations. My roommates and I went to the 2nd service at 10:30 which is apparently the smaller service. The earlier service has about 900 people. Yes, 900 people. It’s huge compared to what I thought there’d be.

After a lunch of rice and beans several of us headed into Mukono. We had been eating lunch with a second year guy named Ken. When we told him we were heading into Mukono he offered to be our tour guide. He proved to be invaluable. He brought us to the ATM where we can get shillings, showed us where to buy certain things. Unfortunately for me, my card was eaten by the ATM. I took too long calculating the difference between Shillings to Dollars, hit “Not Ready” a little too much and the ATM said I was taking too long so it ate my card. I talked to Ken, our new friend and he told me to come back tomorrow when the bank was open. I wasn’t too put out; I figured if that would happen to anyone, it might as well be me. Everyone felt really bad for me and offered to let me borrow some of their shillings to get my basic needs. Therefore I got six pairs of underwear, hoping that by the time I’m through with them, my luggage will have arrived.

I came back to campus and talked to our leaders and they said it has happened before. Usually what happens is the bank will send the card to the main bank in Kampala. We’re going their on Friday so I’ll just have to pick it up there. But Mom, if you could email me my account number (Wells Fargo) I think that would help get it back faster.

I got back to campus around 4 or so and have been lounging outside, embracing the sun and shade. One of the dorms where some of the girls stay has a porch with a couch. I’m actually sitting there now with seven other girls. Most are finishing reading Poisonwood Bible while others are chatting about their schedules. We often sit here and listen to the birds. One of the girls named Naomi in USP is from Bethel. There’s also a large group of senior Bethel Nursing students. Two of them just walked by with Naomi and we’ve discovered several mutual friends. One of them even knew Erik. She remembered him because he got frost bit on his finger and one of the upper class nursing students told him he’d have to cut it off. That’s how she remembered him. It was fun connecting with Minnesota.

Well, I’ve got to run now. I hope this was informative and humorous for you. I’m sorry it’s filled with punctuation errors and short sentences.



Ashley









January 16, 2009, Friday

Hmm, Africa is a wonderful place! I wake up to the smell of smoke from the dining hall and to the sound of early risers singing their hearts out in the showers. Thanks to you all who have replied to my email and are praying for me while I’m here. I will try to get back to you individually as soon as I can, which may be a while yet because of slow internet connections. Several of you have also asked for pictures to be posted. This may be a bigger problem. The internet is very slow and pretty unreliable so it takes a long time to upload pictures even though I would love to post them and show you a picture into my world here.

I am just about to complete my first full week of classes at Uganda Christian University (UCU). I have wonderful classes, though some of them can be a little dull at times. I find myself mentally exhausted after my New Testament, History of E. Africa, African Traditional Religions, and African Christian Theology classes. These classes are all taught by Ugandan professors with distinct and African accented English. They are generally 2 hours long and I find myself more focused on translating their English to my English so I can understand the content. I have one more class called Faith and Action, which is taught by an American. When I finally get to that class I find I barely need to pay attention but can grasp everything he says. Despite the slight language accent barrier I am really enjoying my classes. My favorite is African Christian Theology (I can also understand this professor better than the rest). The way Africans teach their classes and how the students respond is much different than in the States. For example, if I was taking a theology course at home I would be expected to have my own ideas and even dispute with the professor if I disagreed with him. But here in Africa, what the professor says is law. I don’t think they would be very offended if I asked challenging questions, but it would be very unusual. It is so fascinating to participate in different cultures and learning here.

I’ve discovered several cultural differences since being here. First of all, cars drive on the left side of the road. You think this wouldn’t be a big problem for me because I’m not driving. However, driving on the left side follows though to walking on sidewalks or pathways. Often time I do the awkward right, then left, then right, nervous laugh, and scoot around the Ugandan. I am a pro at awkward moments. I’ve begun saying in my head as I walk by people, “stay left, stay left, don’t go right, stay left.” I’m amazed at how much American culture has affected my walking habits. My first couple days here I would smile and nod at people to say hello but often received blank stares. Yesterday I discovered why the Ugandans weren’t responding to my hello. While I was bobbing my head like a bobble head, they were very confused. But if I had just raised my eyebrows they would have responded likewise in the Ugandan way of saying hello.

My roommate (Emily) and I washed our clothes (by hand) for the first time since being here. We scrubbed the parts we knew were dirty (armpits, stains, sweat spots, etc.) and let the clothes soak for a little bit. We got so tired after hanging everything on the clothes lines. We’ve decided that if we ever get tired of rice and beans, all we have to do is laundry and we’d be excited to eat it once again. Two of our friends did their laundry soon after us with one of our Ugandan friends (Sarah). Apparently Emily and I were lacking on our washing skills. Sarah scrubbed every inch of fabric multiple times and rinsed over and over than washed again. I don’t know if I’ll ever be as proficient as the Ugandans.

We’ve only been here a week and I’m sad to say I’m already dreaming of American food. Green beans, strawberries, carrots, green peppers, pizza, etc. Every Wednesday is meat day in the dining hall. Our whole group was so excited to get some meat with our rice. I’m doing my best not to talk about certain foods so I can enjoy our meals at the dining hall. Vegetables and fruit are pretty scarce, which surprised me since the climate is prime for growing most of the year.

We’re heading into Kampala today to see the city. My luggage hasn’t arrived but should be here any day (I’m hoping). So if we call the airport and it’s not here, I’m going to buy a couple outfits in Kampala and try to fill in all the holes of things I’m missing so I don’t have to borrow from the girls in my group anymore. I’m not sure if I told you, but my luggage has seen a lot of the world recently. The airline flew it to Ethiopia, realized it was the wrong country, so they sent it back to New York. Now it should be coming to Entebbe (Uganda) any day. I’m praying this is so.

Tomorrow we’re going to be placed in our home-stays. We’re going to be with a family for two weeks. Next time you hear from me I’m going to have a Ugandan mother and father and probably a few siblings.

Thank you for all your prayers and I will update you again soon. I don’t want to overrun you with emails.

-Ashley






January 20th, 2009, Tuesday

White people here are called Mzungu’s by the natives. I went into town the other day to look into buying some clothes since my luggage has yet to arrive (last notice, it was in Amsterdam). Anyway, I walked into town and was quite a spectacle. A Mzungu walking around by herself looking into little boxes where clothes are sold. Of course, the shop keepers see a single female Mzungu looking at their clothes and immediately assume she has money (which, compared to them, I have a lot). Anyway every time I asked a how much something was I got huge prices. I never would be able to bring the price down to what they would normally offer a Ugandan. I attempted to bargain the prices down and still know I got cheated but have two new outfits to my name and a pair of sandals.

My home-stay with a Ugandan family started on Saturday. I am with one other student from USP, her name is Joy and we get along really well together. I have a Reverend Father, Frederick; a Teacher mother, Mirika; a Lawyer big brother, Julius; a 16 year old sister, Irene; and an 8 year old sister, Phoebe. I’ve been eating vegetables and fruit at every meal, which is a huge improvement from the University food of beans and rice alone. Meals are very different from the US. Breakfast is at 8/8:30 with tea, bread and margarine, sometimes eggs, Break Tea is at 10/10:30 with tea and bread, Lunch is at 1 or 2:00 with rice or Irish potatoes, or Matooke (mashed bananas), or beans, or beef, or pork, or gizzards. Afternoon tea is at 7. Supper is at 8 or 9 or 10 with food similar to lunch. After supper we have devotions as a family. We read a psalm, discuss it, pray, etc. I really like devotion time. Joy and I sleep in a room with Irene. Ashley is a very hard name to pronounce for Ugandans so they decided to give us Ugandan names. My name is Kwagala which means love. Joy’s name is Shinu which means joy. All we need is a little Peace, Patience, and Self Control to add to our family.

As much as I love my Ugandan family, they’ve made me realize how glad I am to have chosen the Uganda Studies Emphasis (where students live on campus) and not the IMME program (where students live with a family for the whole semester). I definitely need my own personal time which is really hard to find with a family.

I’ve got to run now, sorry this is a shorter email. Love you all.

Ash (Kwagala)