Valentine's Day in Uganda

My time here is slowly coming to an end and I am trying to soak up as much of the life and love here as I can. Recently we had a visitor at the Lukwago’s house, their young cousin Jessica came to visit for a few days, Jessica’s father is Mrs. Lukwagos brother, Sadly Jessica has lost her parents to AIDs and know lives with her guardian just outside of Mukono. She is four years old, incredibly shy and so small she could probably fit in a shoe box. The Lukwago family adores her, you can tell she is truly loved by them when you see them playing with her.

Tyler and I visited Ssezibwe falls, it’s a beautiful river/falls about 10 km east of Mukono. The falls are about 50 feet high and known throughout as a major traditional place of fertility. The man at the gate told us often people come and hurl goats, chickens or whatever they have over the falls as a sacrifice to the river. At the bottom of the falls the river splits into two and it’s said that the river will help you have twins or help with the health of twins if you have them.

There are a few witchcraft shrines around the forest too which were pretty cool, no witches around though. The shrines are there for people whom come and want to make a wish for something they need. It was a little creepy to tell you the truth, I was waiting for some witch to jump out and cut our heads off which is apparently what they do here. Freaky!

Growing up in Uganda
You’ve heard me numerous times preach about the beautiful children here in Uganda at times I am blown away with the creativity and resourcefulness of their playful habits. On Tuesday evening I was just finishing up some work in my room and headed out to play football with the kids, I could hear them calling me to come out and play and could not resist. By the time I got out there the kids were getting pretty rowdy and shouting at each other. I tried to start a game but it seemed the constant banter at each other was only a prelude into the all out war that was about to start. It all started when one young kid maybe the age of five walked over and just walloped another around his age, all the kids went absolutely ballistic and I had to hold the one five year old back from completely slaughtering the other. It wasn’t long and ended within 5 minutes with almost every kid going home crying. The kids here don’t cry very often but when they do they make you hear it, there were about 8 kids running back home just screaming.

I was talking to a neighbor after all this had happened, a friendly man named Joseph he was telling me that this kind of thing happens a lot, especially with kids around 5-10. He said they always ask themselves if they are strong enough, then they want to go find out. I have heard the kids fighting before but not like this, I wondered if it would be the end of our little football entourage. Nope, within a half hour they were all back laughing and playing together as if it had never happened, I couldn’t believe it.

Ugandans love music and they love it loud, very loud. Every time I hear music from somewhere it is cranked to the highest level, at times it doesn’t even sound like music rather it sounds like speakers on the verge of spontaneous combustion. Valentine’s day was full of this, what better way to tell your sweetheart you love her than to make her deaf by taking her out to a valentine’s day party. I was in Mukono this weekend for a local Valentines Day bash, I was accompanied by the girls from my host family. We attended a party at a local hotel whom we knew the owners, so we got in for free! Good Deal? The girls insisted that we sit in the front row, if I knew what was going to happen throughout the evening I probably would have protested the idea. The evening was filled with “great” “musicians,” mainly just local kids lip sinking various African pop hits, nonetheless I Was entertained and having a good time. There was one singer who was in attendance that actually used her voice and she was a legitimate star for the local people to see. While singing one of her songs four girls appeared behind her with roses, these girls then walked into the audience and gave a rose to someone, that someone then had to go up to the stage for a slow dance in front of about 800 people. Luck will have it that I was the only white person there and a blaring beacon of entertainment for these people. I got a rose, and was rushed on stage. The lights and music was blaring, I felt like I was at a grade 8 dance, the girls I came with were laughing, I could see it from the corner of my eye. The song seemed like it was going on for hours until a extremely drunk man stumbled onto the stage and tried to dance with the singer, I was saved, attention diverted away from me towards this guy. After it was all over and I went back to my chair the girls told me that it made their night, I was glad it happened they really seemed to enjoy it. That was not the end of it though, every dancer after that although they knew I didn’t want to go back on the stage came off the stage to dance in front of me. Finally the concert was over and we were ready to head home, it was 2am. I had promised that I would go to church the next morning at 7 with my host mom, she had kept asking and out of respect decided I should go with her this weekend. It was a good service, didn’t really understand a word they were saying but thoroughly enjoyed the singing, it was very peaceful. Halfway through the service though I was once again dragged up onto the stage to give a short introduction about myself and a prayer. I was extremely tired but could not refuse so I went up and talked for about 10 minutes, I kept it simple and respectful towards their beliefs and was very glad to sit back in my chair, I really didn’t want any more stage experience this weekend.

After the service Sunday morning I went home changed and took Jacob and Debra to a dirt bike and rally racing festival about 1km from their home. Mukono was bustling that morning, the Lukwago’s (my host family) had decided to use their lawn as a parking lot for the over abundance of cars invading the area, and it was a good idea too, I think they made around 30 dollars! It was too hot, above 30 degrees and the dust was everywhere, I remember licking my lips only to taste a thick layer of dirt from my moustache, yuck! The festival was interesting to say the least, personally I thought it was over crowded. The race track was a bit small than a one way street and there were more than a thousand people surrounding the entire circuit. I remember thinking to myself that if someone fell off their bike they could seriously hurt any of the onlookers who were in awe over the fast paced high flying dirt bikes. If I thought that was bad, the car races were even worse; they used the same small paths. As the cars kept racing by inches from the crowed I was constantly thinking the worst, then it happened, two people were run over, I turned to Jacob and Debra ad said ok, let’s go home! They did not want to leave so I added let’s get ice cream in with that sentence and it sealed the deal. I was so tired from the days events and the heat I thought I wouldn’t be able to make it back home, we walked slow but finally made it and found over 20 cars parked on the front lawn of the house, it was mayhem! I washed up and collapsed in my bed for an evening nap, when I woke up Jacob and Debra had passed out as well on the living room sofa, not even the hustle and bustle of outside disturbed them.

One of the greatest things about this weekend was the progress I made with Debra the second youngest in the family. I have never met someone so shy before. Often our conversations would consist of me asking her how she is only to get a short quick response as she peer’s one eye around a corner to talk to me, she then usually runs off giggling with embarrassment. This weekend she seemed more comfortable with me and even came up to hold my hand while we were walking back from the festival, she also usually only speaks in Luganda but I had heard her say a few things to me in English.

I thinks that’s all I have for now, Luke will be arriving this evening in Entebbe, a neighbor has offered to drive me and some of the family down to greet him at the airport, everyone seems very excited to meet yet another Montgomery.

Lots of love to you all,
Matt