Ok so I have discovered a fascinating fact about the Ugandan culture and the tooth fairy. Families that are able to afford it often leave money behind for their children whom have lost their teeth. Except there is one big difference there is no tooth fairy here, it’s believed that if you hide you tooth around the house somewhere rats will come and take it and leave you a small amount of money in exchange for your tooth. My host mom was asking me the other day if I liked rats, with an odd toned answer I replied, “no, not really”. Jacob came running around the corner and yelled, “I love rats!” Then they proceeded to tell me that it’s tradition to leave a child tooth and have rats come and leave money. Jacob loves them as long as they bring him some dough. I told them in Canada it’s a little different, I told them that there was a fairy that came and put money under your pillow. They laughed and thought it was sort of unrealistic, I couldn’t imagine telling a young child in Canada that a rat will visit him at night and take his tooth. If I was that child I wouldn’t really care if that rat left me a cheque, I wouldn’t want a rat in my room. Nonetheless either story is unrealistic, I just would have thought they would have picked one a little less creepy.
All of this occurred right before dinner was served and when they first asked me if I liked rats I had a sinking feeling I was going to be served one. I was quite relieved to find out it was not on the local menu, luckily for me no one else but the children really like them.
My host mom made Banana juice for me! She gets really long grass and folds bananas up into it then twists the grass squeezing the juice out of the banana’s, she adds water, boils and cools it before serving. There are bits of grass in it, I just look at it as pulp, it tastes really good.
My host family keeps bugging me to play guitar for them, finally I cracked and brought it out to the backyard while the girls were making dinner. The parents had gone to town for a bit so it was just me and the kids. It was actually pretty fun, the hired hand (john), Jacob and the girls all started dancing and laughing, they really liked it. I played just random chords to make up easy songs they could dance too, they kept asking me to play calypso music but I told them I had no idea how to play that kind of stuff, I should put it on my list to learn…dinner was late that evening…someone distracted the chef’s.
Susan one of the daughters of the Lukwago family brought home a dvd to watch, she had borrowed it from a friend. She asked me if they could watch it and I said yes they don’t get the chance very often to watch dvd’s so I felt like it would be a good treat for them. Unfortunately the movie she borrowed was Freaky Friday a Lindsey Lohan flick, the worst possible movie they could have picked, I am pretty sure they had no idea what was going on throughout the entire film. They loved watching it though, Jacob couldn’t take his eyes of the screen, haha.
Obama’s inauguration was pretty unbelievable; everyone in Mukono watched it at various restaurants and clubs around the town. The Lukwago’s had a TV they bring out from time to time, they can get one channel and who would have guessed that that one channel was playing CNN. I was sitting in my room when all the sudden I heard Anderson Cooper talking, I jumped up and ran into the sitting room to join them. The reaction I got from most people here was that it was amazing how easy Bush just handed over power. Mr. Lukwago fears that the current President of Uganda Museveni will not hand over power easily, in fact he believes that there is so much discontent with the government and their corrupt ways that the next election will be rigged and he believes the only way to get rid of him would be to have a bloody war. Sad to say, It’s true though, Museveni will not leave peacefully.
Work has been going slow, a rainy day cancelled our member meeting and prolonged the wait to start initiating some of our projects. I visited the new Orphan house that is about 1km east of Mukono, it’s old but big. We are hoping to bring about 25 orphans up soon to live there and we are going to have a big welcome party for them all. There is enough room on the land to have a garden, a pig pen and a chicken cage as well. In the next few weeks we are also going to initiate a beekeeping project close to the house in hopes to start a sustainable income generating project. Honey is expensive here and if we can start generating it at a decent pace I think they we could really benefit. Even the wax left over from the comb will be used in our candle making projects. I am excited to get the home up and running and we are really hoping that the orphans will like it and that we can make them feel as comfortable as possible. I am hoping here that they will have the chance to spread out and find themselves, life can be uncomfortable for them in the Kampala orphanage they are in now. I will be posting pictures and most likely write up a report about the events that occur within the next couple of weeks, they will be exciting to say the least.
Lots of Love,
Matt
Friday, January 23, 2009
back in Mukono
Well it’s been a while since I have written a huge email, I bet some of you thought I would never write again. For those of you who don’t know I was surprised by friends of my family with a more than generous gift, plane ticket home for Christmas. The holidays were hard but I was grateful to see my family, it was a good boost for us all.
I am back in Uganda now and a few new things have come about. I have reconsidered my options here and due to financial recession around the globe I have had a very hard time finding a job, most organizations desperately need someone with my skills however cannot afford to hire anyone new. I have changed my flight and will be coming home early in March, but not shorthanded. Over the holidays I have with the help of my mom generated 1700 dollars for Beacon of Hope Uganda. With this amount, over the next two months I will be initiated several small income generating projects and workshops with orphans and disadvantaged families around Mukono. Most of these I have already be prepared and I am very excited to have the chance to finally initiate some of these activities that I have worked so hard to organize.
My brother Luke is coming to visit! In February Luke is going to be sponsored to come for about three weeks and volunteer with Beacon of Hope. I am really excited for him as this will be his first of many journeys outside of North America. Luke will be spending a lot of time with the children at the school and help to implement a few Beacon of Hope projects, get ready Luke!
Sadly the man who owns Victoria primary school the orphan school we work with in Mukono has decided that he needs the school for his own purposes. This is very unfortunate, however Mrs. Lukwago who was the director of the orphan school has decided to use some of her land to build her own school, that way no one can ever take back the land and she is dedicated to helping children in need for a long time. Beacon of Hope will be working very closely with her in raising funds to build this school. I have arranged a day for Luke and I to help with the building process, we will get the opportunity to experience the hard work most Ugandans face on a daily basis.
I arrived back in Mukono a few days ago and was greeted with open arms from my African family, the Lukwago’s who hosted me before in Mukono were more than happy to hear that I was coming back to stay with them. Mrs. Lukwago had told me that everyday little Jacob would ask her, “is Matthew coming today.” She said he heard a plane once and shouted to everyone that I was coming. All the children went ballistic when I arrived screaming my name and running for a big hug, it was very overwhelming to say the least. I was excited to go back, almost more excited than I was the first time I arrived. The excitement was fizzled that afternoon however when a large bowl of potatoes was put in front of me for lunch. I didn’t mind it that much though I was hungry and again grateful for the hard work they put into preparing such a meal for me. My meals since I have come back have been pretty good, I have had beans a few times and Maize at most meals, maize is practically corn but harder and much more bland than the corn on the cob we have back at home.
I have be playing a lot of soccer since I have been back, there is a new rule in town though, no shoes or sandals, my feet are then back to the old dirty standards they were before I came home for Christmas...I have already stepped in something’s poop, the kids got a good kick out of that, Jacob fell over laughing.
I brought the BBC planet Earth series back for my family to watch, Jacob and Debra love it. I think it’s great for them to watch they not only enjoy it but learn from them too. They constantly ask questions about what they see and were fascinated by the footage of the mountains and the snow. We had a really bad storm here the other day and it was hailing, Jacob came into my room screaming, “Ice, Ice, Ice!” Jacob and Debra were asking if this ice was like snow back in Canada, I explained to them but they did not seem to get it, they were confused that our snow which is frozen and falls from the sky is soft and harmless. I showed it to them on the planet earth series, I think it helped them to have a visual.
Despite one storm the weather has been pretty good here. It’s coming to the end of the dry season and often there is a nice cool breeze that comes around in the evening to cool everything off.
I am back in Uganda now and a few new things have come about. I have reconsidered my options here and due to financial recession around the globe I have had a very hard time finding a job, most organizations desperately need someone with my skills however cannot afford to hire anyone new. I have changed my flight and will be coming home early in March, but not shorthanded. Over the holidays I have with the help of my mom generated 1700 dollars for Beacon of Hope Uganda. With this amount, over the next two months I will be initiated several small income generating projects and workshops with orphans and disadvantaged families around Mukono. Most of these I have already be prepared and I am very excited to have the chance to finally initiate some of these activities that I have worked so hard to organize.
My brother Luke is coming to visit! In February Luke is going to be sponsored to come for about three weeks and volunteer with Beacon of Hope. I am really excited for him as this will be his first of many journeys outside of North America. Luke will be spending a lot of time with the children at the school and help to implement a few Beacon of Hope projects, get ready Luke!
Sadly the man who owns Victoria primary school the orphan school we work with in Mukono has decided that he needs the school for his own purposes. This is very unfortunate, however Mrs. Lukwago who was the director of the orphan school has decided to use some of her land to build her own school, that way no one can ever take back the land and she is dedicated to helping children in need for a long time. Beacon of Hope will be working very closely with her in raising funds to build this school. I have arranged a day for Luke and I to help with the building process, we will get the opportunity to experience the hard work most Ugandans face on a daily basis.
I arrived back in Mukono a few days ago and was greeted with open arms from my African family, the Lukwago’s who hosted me before in Mukono were more than happy to hear that I was coming back to stay with them. Mrs. Lukwago had told me that everyday little Jacob would ask her, “is Matthew coming today.” She said he heard a plane once and shouted to everyone that I was coming. All the children went ballistic when I arrived screaming my name and running for a big hug, it was very overwhelming to say the least. I was excited to go back, almost more excited than I was the first time I arrived. The excitement was fizzled that afternoon however when a large bowl of potatoes was put in front of me for lunch. I didn’t mind it that much though I was hungry and again grateful for the hard work they put into preparing such a meal for me. My meals since I have come back have been pretty good, I have had beans a few times and Maize at most meals, maize is practically corn but harder and much more bland than the corn on the cob we have back at home.
I have be playing a lot of soccer since I have been back, there is a new rule in town though, no shoes or sandals, my feet are then back to the old dirty standards they were before I came home for Christmas...I have already stepped in something’s poop, the kids got a good kick out of that, Jacob fell over laughing.
I brought the BBC planet Earth series back for my family to watch, Jacob and Debra love it. I think it’s great for them to watch they not only enjoy it but learn from them too. They constantly ask questions about what they see and were fascinated by the footage of the mountains and the snow. We had a really bad storm here the other day and it was hailing, Jacob came into my room screaming, “Ice, Ice, Ice!” Jacob and Debra were asking if this ice was like snow back in Canada, I explained to them but they did not seem to get it, they were confused that our snow which is frozen and falls from the sky is soft and harmless. I showed it to them on the planet earth series, I think it helped them to have a visual.
Despite one storm the weather has been pretty good here. It’s coming to the end of the dry season and often there is a nice cool breeze that comes around in the evening to cool everything off.
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