Goodbye-Hello

With sadness and resolve I say Goodbye to the Northeast and to Victor and his home that has sheltered me for three months; and Hello to the open road and the 1800 mile drive to Colorado tomorrow.

The Bride

The Introduction Ceremony

Down yet another dirt road which forks to the left and right and right and left and way back off the main drag, was a gathering of over five hundred people sitting under tents waiting for the party to begin. Here at this ceremony, the boy meets the girl’s father for the first time and presents the family with the wedding dowry.

Traditionally, the bride’s aunties have already met the boy and have given their approval. Now it is time for the future son-in-law to meet the soon to be father-in- law.

Sitting on the ground next to her aunties is the beautifully decorated bride. Her hair is bejeweled with ornaments and meticulously combed and braided; she is clothed in a brightly colored traditional dress. From this vantage point in the center of her guests, the dowry procession begins.

First twelve women in traditional dresses parade by with baskets of food balanced on their heads. Cases of soda and drinks are next. Then a silver colored suitcase is presented to the bride. It is unopened and I am told it is filled with clothing for her. It is the groom’s way of showing that he will feed and take care of her. Then comes the living room couch and overstuffed chair. This is presented to the father and the uncles. The men rise and take their place on the living room set luxuriating in the feel of new furniture as the boy awaits his approval.

At this point there is a break in the ceremony and Rev. Isaac and I are taken into a back room of the house where the boy, the father, the priests and uncles are gathered. The mother and aunties stand behind the circle. A blessing is given and basket of coffee beans is passed around. Each of us takes a bean, cracks it open and eats the two seeds that are inside.

In the old days, the boy and girl would make a cut in their bellies enough for them to bleed. The two seeds were coated with this blood and exchanged, each eating the seeds of the other ceremoniously creating a bond between. With the advent of AIDS, this is no longer done , but the eating of seeds is still carried out.

When this blessing is finished we assume our rightful place under the tents with the other 500 guests and enjoy a traditional meal served in banana leaves. I breathe it in, I’m in Africa at a very unusual event.

Me in Ruth's borrowed traditional dress

Here's a picture of me dressed for the ceremony.

Kampala: Shopping African Cultural Center

Next Door to the Hotel

Kampala: more views from the hotel

Kampala: View from the hotel room

Zebras!

Zebras

My first zebras in the wild!

Lake Mburo National Park’s rolling hills and grasslands support impala, elands, water buffalo, warthogs, hyenas and zebras.

Here are some things I didn’t know about zebras. When a foal is born, the mother keeps everyone away until her new born recognizes her by sight, voice and smell. Her male foal stays with her for 1-4 years and then leaves to join the male group.

It is also quite the female hierarchical system. The dominant mare is followed in single file by everyone else accept the stallion who operates outside of the system.

Great to see these furry stripes move in the wild.

Hugo and Peter, Travel Buddies for the Day

The Mother Mango Tree

Mango Man

Down this terra cotta colored dirt road rutted from recent rains and poor drainage, lives this most amazing mango farmer. He wasn’t always a mango farmer but he sure is now. In his village he is quite famous.

Several years ago he secured mango seedlings from a grower in the Congo. These trees produce a vibrant orange-peach mango fruit that melts -in -your-mouth. Your tongue and taste buds savor its silky, soft texture and the divine burst of wet, sweet perfectly ripened mango juices.

This exquisite orchard of 200 mango trees produces a net income of $100,000 for this farmer from just tree acres of land. One tree will produce approximately 1000 mangos after four years, bringing in $500/ year when sold for 50 cents a piece. Distributors come to his door, share a mango and cart the produce away to sell.

Immediately I think of the 32 acres of farmland owned by Nserester and the $100,000 figure. This could be quite the sustainability project for the Complex, and of course I tell Rev. Isaac.

Sing Out

Up Close...

Beyond Cute!

The Innocent

AIDS was first diagnosed in Uganda in 1982, but by then it was already an epidemic. Before this, it was known as “slim disease”. People wasted away believing to have been possessed in some way. The disease spread along the major highways around Lake Victoria and women contracted AIDS at a higher rate then men due to non-consensual sex and their own inability to negotiate condoms. HIV/AIDS and years of internal guerrilla wars have given rise to generations of orphans in Uganda. It was striking to be in a country where you see few people between the ages of say 30-something and 50. I believe there is not a single family in Uganda that has not been personally touched by the horrors of Idi Amin, or Milton Obote and Tito Okello and this epidemic disease.

Who hasn’t seen an infomercial on Africa and looked into the eyes of an innocent child born of parents with HIV? It is another thing to walk side by side with it in Uganda. It is not only this disease that creates orphans, it is economically disempowered women and grandparents who can no longer afford to take care of their families. It is also child abuse in dysfunctional homes that causes children to flee beatings and with no place to go, they end up on the streets. Orphans make up 10% of the population of Uganda, so that’s about 3.5 million kids. While the list of orphans is long, the available space in facilities is in short supply.

I spoke with one woman who came to Nserester looking for help from Rev. Isaac. She is a music teacher who lives close to the border of Tanzania. Her students can no longer afford to pay for their lessons, so she is out of work. She, herself, has taken on eight children but can no longer afford to feed them and is looking for help. She is not an organized orphanage and the children are in need of food. This story is not uncommon.

Rev. Isaac, himself an orphan, had a dream of raising 20 kids. He wanted to start an orphanage but he did not know how to begin. His mentor said: “You don’t have to know how, just do it." And begin he did. On a tiny piece of land he began with 20 orphans, feeding, housing and teaching them academics and carpentry. That was 14 years ago. The orphanage now houses, feeds, educates and trains 813 orphans from infancy to 18. Each year he finds more kids, some he plucks off the street, some are from abused homes, some from strangled economic families and others from parents too sick to care for them.

Two days after my arrival, I was taken to the primary orphanage where the young ones are housed and educated. Hundreds of wee ones were lined up in their little uniforms clapping and singing to celebrate the arrival of their Grand Papa, Rev. Isaac. It was DELIGHT in motion. They broke from their lines and ran and leapt to touch us. I had at least five on each arm, and it was striking to see all these little black hands against my white-white skin, but I could not take a picture, I was inside the frame. This was one of many photos that escaped me.

And let me tell you, those little kids could sing and dance! That drumbeat is in their bones and the rhythm came out their feet. I wish I had a video camera to capture on film with the rapture of the moment. These still shots slow everything down to a glance, an expression, and a moment where perhaps we met.

I am not here to put out an appeal for the orphans, but I will say this, if you anyone reading this desires to support an orphan at the Nserester Complex, I can tell you how you can assist a child there. It would cost you $450/ year. If this has touched you in anyway, I have a direct contact for you.

Anticipation

The Women

The widows are gathered in the front here under a tarp for shade. We sit in a row in front of the training building receiving their welcome.

The car, the road the villagers

The Widow's Project

In Uganda, it is not customary for a woman to remarry when her husband dies. Men take on another wife to help with the children and to tend the house and property, but for a widow life becomes challenging. It is not uncommon for them to loose their property when their husband’s relatives force them off even though they have rights to stay. Many have never received a basic education and they have no means of support or skill to begin again. Over and over again their rights are denied, hidden and stolen from them.

The Widow’s Project in one of several socio-economic outreach programs supported by Nserester. In a small village outside of town of Jinja, 40 widows have gathered. With start up funds from Nserester, they have built a building, acquired manual sewing machines and have been trained as tailors and are now gainfully employed making school uniforms.

As the women begin to make money they are able to pay their children’s school fees at Nserester, buy their books and clothe them. This creates a fountain of sustainable income for the widows and the orphanage. Two teachers work with the women teaching them basic reading, math and business management skills. Rev. Isaac is able to do for them what no other man has done for them in their lives: educate them and teach them a skill. The women are THRIVING on this new found power and independence.

I had a chance to travel there and it was my one opportunity to see the REAL Africa where the land supports subsistence farming, where people are gathered into villages, where children stand with distended stomachs and where even here the spirit of hope thrives through song and dance.

We ventured down this eroded dirt road travelling in our 4-wheel drive vehicle. Near the end, the road became impassable, not because of its condition but because of the over 500 villages that began to crowd the roadway. Men, women and children waving banana branches happily greeted us with their HIGH pitched zagroota chanting. They escorted us to the training building where the widows, the children, the dancers, musicians and singers greeted us with celebration. WOWSER DOWSER!

After each of us gave a little speech and prayers were said, Bro. Leong offered them healings transmitted by his touch on their brow. It was utter chaos at that point. Everyone was shoving for attention. As Bro. Leong went about his God-given work, while Rev. Isaac, Rev. George, Rev Augustine, and the two architects from Singapore carried on crowd management. One woman sat with me and held my hand.

Hope is hope. Many are infected with HIV and AIDS. Children are sick and men are lame. Rev. Isaac shows up with Bro. Leong with healing powers to cure and you bet they want a piece of him. Slowly we inch our way back to the car having to push away wanting hands clamoring for more. As a final send off, one woman hands over a live chicken with its legs tied to a stick in gratitude and thanks. It ended up in the back of the vehicle, but I do not know what happened to it.

Jesus!

“When did you take Jesus as your Savior?” asks Rev George Wan Tian Soo from Singapore one morning while we were waiting at the hotel for our ride.

I found myself dancing around an answer. Here sat a retired Methodist preacher who believes WHOLE HEARTEDLY in the rapture and that the current earthquakes are a sign of the second coming of Christ. What do I say?

My time in Uganda overlapped with Rev. George and Brother Leong Po Lye. I went to the Evangelist church, revival meetings, faith healings and heard a whole lot of prayer and Bible-speak during my two weeks there.

In 1984, Brother Leong now in his 70’s, received Jesus as his Lord and Savior after being miraculously healed from liver cancer. He believes he can heal AIDS and if so, he is going to be mighty busy.

It was all very interesting to once again be in a country where the major religion, Christianity, is intertwined with the culture. These faith-filled people celebrate the Lord on Sundays with rockin’ song and the rest of the week with prayer meetings and reverence for everyday miracles. Their lives are in the hands of God as they seek to do his work on earth. This trust in Jesus is touching and I found myself travelling back in time when I too found refuge in church and Sunday services.

I was brought up as an Episcopalian. I loved wearing the choir robes, singing hymns and took comfort in prayer. As a girl, however, I saw no outlet to serve God. I could not become a priest or a nun in my religion. I ponder, if I had been a boy would I have followed this yearning?

When Rev. George asked me whether I had taken Jesus as my Savior, I told him about my early childhood fascination with a higher power and my love of Jesus the man. I didn’t tell him about my teenage years when hormones and the pursuit of boys took the place of prayerful reverence for the Lord.

In northern New Mexico, on every Good Friday that I could, I walked with fellow pilgrims to the little church in Chimayo where miracles and healing take place. Sometimes I walked in silence; sometimes I talked with people along the way. “Why do you walk? “ I queried. “Jesus, died for our sins, this is the least I can do on a Good Friday,” many replied.

It is this deep faith that I felt in Uganda. Most knew that there was a power greater than themselves that was moving through their lives. Many turned their life over to Jesus fully knowing they will be led by the grace of God. This was radical trust in motion. Was this not a theme for my own pilgrimage?

Honoring

In this space I want to honor Suna Senman-Lane and Dr. Rev. Isaac Nsereko.

Suna is the founder of The World Heritage Foundation for Original Human Development, Inc. (WFOHD) designed to assist parents, teachers, counselors and community leaders to raise healthy children.

Suna’s non-profit supports this most amazing project in Uganda by providing water filters and sponsorship of orphans in need of educational funds, books and clothing. I am deeply honored to have been afforded this opportunity to serve this mission. Gratitude abounds.

I am touched by a growing sisterhood with Suna. I see this beautiful woman walk forth in service after her own spiritual awakening. I am appreciating her journey and the effortless way her divine feminine guides her. It was no mistake that Dr. Rev Isaac Nserko found her as well.

Isaac is a man with a mission. As founder The Nserester Complex which hosts an orphanage, school and training program, he is committed to the children’s wellbeing and education. Not only does he feed and house over 800 kids, his Voices of Peace program reaching out to the disenfranchised in the community offering them advocacy, direction, support and professional services.

When you see him with the children, you see him as a Papa who wants to see them happy. When you see him with the graduates you witness him as a role model and mentor. When you see him with his staff you see him as a man who listens intently to ideas and needs. And when you see him as a Reverend, you see a man who has walked through many fires and who ultimately walks in service to a cause greater than himself.

I have had a life changing experience in Uganda and it has started with these two remarkable beings. Thank you both for entering my life.

http://www.wfohd.org

http://www.nserester.org