Field Notes received from Bonnie 1-22-10

Notes from Uganda - Week 2 We went to True Vine Ministeries for worship. At 9:00 when we arrived the service was underway. Pastor Wilber was in the middle of his FIRST sermon. The attendance was about 1/4 capacity. At the end of his sermon we were invited to come forward to address the congregation! GULP!! I don't do well extemporaneously. I need to prepare. Most Ugandans, on the other hand, can stand and speak for 15 minutes at ANY time. Then we were invited to sit in front in what in most American churches would be the choir position. We barely got seated when we were fetched to meet with Pastor Wilber in his office while lay leaders continued the worship service. We discussed our proposed schedules and what he would like us to do. He gave me the names of his Amin. Assts. who will be our contacts. When we finished our meeting we all returned to the worship service. During every worship service, there is dancing as well as singing. A woman sitting next to me interpreted some of the words to what was being sung in Luganda, the 2nd official language of the country, along with english - "glory to the Father" and Praise to Jesus". A group, like a youth choir, came to the front, by\ut they danced rather than sang. Then we heard a SECOND sermon from Pastor Wilber focused on the text about where to store your treasure - what do you treasure - because your heart is where your treasure is. Again, more singing and praying - communal prayer, but each individual prayed his own words. Announcements were given, includinig about our nurses work in the clinic and my classes. Then there was an altar call for new people who wanted to name Christ as their savior and wanted to join True Vine. When they had been introduced and welcomed they met in Pastor Wilber's office as the rest of us continued in dancing, singing and praying. At about 12:30, the service ended. Remember, it had already begun when we arrived at 9:00. That means the worship service was longer than 3 1/2 hours. After worship we were greeted by old friends and also many new peopel welcomed us. One of the drivers, Matia, drove us home where we had an afternoon of relaxing with our Ugandan friend, Timothy. We played Scrabble and Scattergories. Timothy did very well at Scrabble but Scattergories was more difficult for him as it is a culturallty-biased game toward the US. We had an early evening dinner at the Prime Hotel. I had my first tilapia this trip. It was delicious. By the time we finished, I was ready to go home and go to bed. Monday - Silvia, the caretaker's wife, is doing our laundrty for us - by hand in 2 dish pans of water, one of suds and one for rinsing. She is lucky - she has a line to hang things on. Most women here just dry their clothes on the ground or buses. Everything must be ironed to kill the bugs. We are doing our own ironing. Kathy and Leah went to Smile Africa. A boy came in with a severe wound on his foot which had caused his whole lower leg to swell - it had not been cared for soon enough. Kathy had brought some special medicine for wound care that draws so they applied that, baandaged it and hopefully tomorrow the mother will return and there will have been some improvement. Pastir Oeter oucjed ne yo abiyt 11:00. I was able to sue the morning for lesson plans and setting up my student records books. We went to Juba where I met women for 5 hours. I had to repeat myself 4 times as the women came in staggered groups. They were on "African time". There were 17 women who had no school at all, but who want to lern English - some to be polite to visitors, some to read their bible, all to improve their livlihoods. They hope for better means to earn a living. Most were living on what they can grow in their gardens. I have one feisty 75 yar old. While trying to gather information about the women, when she was asked if she knew any English (many understand quite a bit, but don't speak), she said with a look that was a bit scornful, "That's why I came here."
Notes from Uganda - week 2, cont'd. Later when we were discussing how often we would meet - sadly, only once a week - she remarked, "You eat only once a week and expect that will be enought?" Obviously, she is motivated. After the meeting she came to say good-bye, shook my hand with a beautiful, big smile on her face. We have a total of 22 for the English class and 14 for the Literacy Skills class, including, one 18 year old young man. (These figures are for Juba alone.) I hope he endures for the entire time. I admire his courage to come with all of the women who range in age from 18 to 75. Tuesday - I went to Smile Africa, met with Pastor Ruth to ask if the children could sing for Leah on her birthday next Monday. I also wanted to let her know how pleased I was with the organization she had done for the classes I will be holding there and how excited I was about working with the women. I helped Grace and Katherine (the cooks) "pick" rice, visited and played hand games with some children. When Janet arrived we met with our new group of women. We went through the same routine again, dividing into English class and Literacy Skills class. The problem I see developing is fitting in the people who speak some English, understand more, but have no or little schooling. So far there have been a couple in each group which will present a challenge as they reaally don't fit in either class I am offering. The delightful thing that happened is 75 year old Fatuma showed up for this class as well and so far she is the only one who has attempted to say alound some English words. She has so fingers left. She lost them to leprosy (I have not seen her feet) and she has bad cataracts in both eyes, but she has a most joyful spirit and an eagerness to learn. Today, occured a bit of a trauma - As I was getting dressed this morning I heard a very loud buzzing. Into my room came a 2 inch long bumble bee with a wing span of at least 3 inches. It was the BIGGEST bee I have eve seen. I had no means of getting rid of it. Thus, I tried not to make it chase me but hoped it would die before I returned home but also I bought bug spray on the way home. However, when I returned home in the evening, it was gone. HOORAY!!! I had an interesting conversation with Janet about the religions in Uganda following a woman telling me she was Protestant. I explained to Janet what that mans in the US and asked what it means here. She then explained there are three main religions in Uganda: Roman Catholic, Islam and the Church of Uganda. The Church of Uganda is known as the Protestant church and in colonial times was the Church of England, also called Anglican (or for us, Episcopalian). The 4th, newer group are the Pentacostals, which is sommetimes persecuted by the others, particularly the Muslims. Wednesday - Today was a typically scheduled day at True Vine. they were over an hour late in picking me up, then Pastor Wilber had told me Robert Ikibu would be making he arrangements and schedule for my teaching, then Robert told me Babra would. However, when I arrived at True Vine, Pastor Godfrey was the one who found me and told me he had been registering students and they were to meet me right away. I had understood, I would meet them at 2:00 so Told him that. He then told people. I then spoke to Babra and asked for a schedule - while I was waiting for her, Pastor Wilber came in and told me, I shouild meet the students now and then tomorow at 2:00. Sooooooo, I went back to find Godfrey to see if we could round up students - some were there so we did the introduction/evaluation - otheres were to eturn at 2:00. I waited until 3:00 and none came, so I left. It will be interesting to see how True Vine compares to the other 2 groups in accomplishment because at True Vine, I wll be meeting with the same students on both Wednesday and Thursday. Also, because of how the groups are comprised, I will have 3 classes. The third class will be for those students who speak English quite well but have little schooling. Also, Pastor Wilber ants me to work with the children in the school: nursery, lower primary and upper primary. Nursery and lower primary are on holiday right now so to begin it will only be upper primary. I have no idea how many classes there are at each level so for my first visit I will observe and then hopefully be able to consult with the teachers. It was a long, hot day with many frustrations but many good people who are trying hard. Today we hae been here one week. It fells like a moonth or more. Leah went to the market outreach with True Vine nurses and Kathy went to Mbale with Pastor Ruth to consult with a doctor about a child who is in desperate need of surgery. His lower intesteine is protruding from his rectum about the size of a very large pear. It bleeds constantly, he can't wear regular clothes, is extremely painful and is full of lies. Pastor Ruth is going to try to raise the funds for the surgery. Right now, thinking of the child, I feel ashame, fussing about my "frustrating" day. Please pray for the child. Thursday - As I write this Thursday evening, I am pooped. I went to True Vine at 8:30 to pick up some books at their school library - some easy reading Dr. Seuss books I had donated. Unfortunately, I could not find them, but I did find one that might possibly work for the reading class. that class has 4 students, one of whom showed up 10 minutes late. However, as it turned out it was a time well spent with Agnes. We reviewed the ABC's by name and sound, spoke about vowels with long and short sounds and the 2 consonants with 2 sounds. Then we did an exercise creating words by adding a beginning letter to "at". She worked very hard at this tas, This is also an opportunity to expand vocabulary, as some words which can be made in English were new for her. I sent her home with some homework of making another list of words, using the same process, but using "in" as the letters to be added to. She seemed pleased with our time together and so was I. Following Agnes, I walked over to the P7 class. the kids were all outside and the teachs were on break. The board was full of information and exercises on pronouns - pretty sophisticated. I was impressed. I will have to review a bit before I face the class. Finally, the teach returned, we met and talked about scheduling and how I might be of help to him. After walking back across the compund to the comuter lab where my classes are being held, I ate my "bring-along" lund: a granola bar, some turkey jerky and a bottle of water. I had 2 hours to prepare for my next group - the English class. I used the first hour but had difficulty keeping my eyes open the 2nd hour. finally, my first student, a traditional mid-wife arrived on time. By 2:15 I had 6 of my 10 students. We did a brief introductin with the interpreter who then left and we started. They did very wll and had fun doing it. Only one lady had difficulty speaking up, but she finally managed to be herd. They zoomed through what I had originally prepared so I had to improvise a bit. We laughed and clapped and spoke some English. My goal is to give them enough vocabulary and courage to meet and speak with the Hope 4 Kids team members when they arriv in April. Lastly, at 3:00 my Litereacy Skills class arrived - mostly right on time. These are people with more education haaving reached Jr or Sr. High level, though none graduated. Two of them are pastors and 2 are pastor's wives. We did some reading out loud of different skill levels so I could see where they were in accomplishment and then I had themwrite a half page about themselves, again to see what skills need improving. I felt the class went well. Jane, one of the pastor's wives, came to me afterward and asked if she could be in both my morning Reading class as well as the Literacy Skills class as she feels she really needs the work in speloling (phonics, etc.). That is what is so exciting about this whole venture - these are people who so very much want to elarn and improve their eduction. Now the challenge for me is to come with the rest of the lessons. I think there will be a lot of one-on-one work, so it is a good thing the classes are small. One final note, I fell asleep last night saying my prayers about 8:30 and did not wake up until 7:00 this morning. I guess I was tired. Will write more next week.