Precious Uganda Moments

I woke up this morning and realized that in exactly two weeks, I’ll be boarding my plane for home. It is truly amazing how quickly my time has passed here. According to an email from my dear sister, I’ve been not good at keeping people posted on my adventures this week, so this is going to be my quick attempt.

I took a break from pharmacy today and spent the entire day teaching the grade school kids at one of the Catholic schools in Fort Portal. It was entirely exhausting, but absolutely worth it. The kids here have some sort of extra special happy energy and it’s contagious. They LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to sing. And when they sing, they’re not quiet about it. Every song has clapping or dancing or stomping or some sort of silliness to it. So what did I teach them? Songs from my American childhood of course! I can honestly say it’s the first time in my life I willingly stood in front of groups of people and sang solos (it might be the last too – Americans would be far more judgmental of my pitiful singing voice). The older kids caught on at lightning speed. So we moved on to stories of Christmas and fun question and answer sessions, all while I taught them the appropriate way to say American words.

The P2 class (2nd graders). These little guys were probably my favorite. Cutest songs and smiles. 

 Picture time was absolute chaos. One of the classes literally ran their teacher over when she asked them to stand for a picture. Another started standing on desks and on each other and trying their hardest to touch my hair. I was told by one little girl that I have hair like the Virgin Mary. Haha.

When the time for pictures came, chaos ensued. That mob of children standing on desks behind me were all fighting to touch my hair and hold my hand while this picture was happening.
The picture below is a few of the P4's who refused to go outside and play. The little girl on my right pleaded with me that I would greet my friends and family in the US for her. Adorable! 

 

When I left the school I had about 400 kids yelling at me, “Thank you, Madam, Kelly! Please come back soon!” Such a fun day!

The P5 class (5th graders) - a much calmer group than some of the younger students

Moving on (or back I guess). This past Saturday I went to a traditional Ugandan Introduction ceremony – meaning that a woman was introducing the man she has chosen to marry to her family for the first time. The people have tribes here, and thus elders as well. So this man arrives with all of this relatives (families are huge here) and they sit across from the woman’s family while the elders talk back and forth – the woman’s family deciding if the man is suitable for their daughter. The man’s family has to bring piles and piles of gifts. There’s traditional dancing. There’s a huge feast. It’s an all out party – similar to the actual wedding ceremony in America (the wedding itself isn’t as big a deal as the introduction here). The introduction lasted literally 8 hours. For the first 6, we sat the entire time. No lunch until 5 pm!

Can YOU dance with 5 pots stacked on your head? Becasue these girls did it, and sang too! I'm pretty sure it was some sort of magic....
The picture on the bottom left is my friend Tony - not much of a smiler for the camera, but precious in his party clothes all the same.

                                        

This is the bride. She cut the cake with her brother and then offered it to the elders of her family - part of the tradition. I'm sorry for the poor quality of photos. The pearls around her neck were one of the many gifts from her groom.

I was also able to visit the true village land of Uganda last week. BANANA TREES EVERYWHERE! I would have never dreamed Africa would be so green. I guess I always think Sahara desert  - but this is far from desert land. It is a gorgeous country. People are everywhere – regardless of how far from town you go. There’s no road without people walking and motorcycels and bicylces flying through. The village people have very little in terms of material wealth. The houses probably wouldn’t even qualify as houses in the US. But the people, are the happiest I’ve ever met. It’s an incredible place!

BANANA trees ....EVERYWHERE!!

 

 

Some of the children we met in the villages

This week I’m working at the government hospital. It’s super busy with hundreds of patients, because services are free. That means long lines, sometimes poor service, minimal availability of medications and tests and exams. The healthcare system here honestly breaks my heart – especially knowing all of the knowledge and medication that is out there. It’s an incredibly difficult thing to know treatments are available but to often not have access to them here. I’ve teared up and cried more than once seeing patients suffer and wishing I could bring them home with me and find for them the treatments that I know could heal them….