HELLO! :)

If anyone ever happens to come across this blog again: HELLO!
I switched this blog to a new email account and I believe it was in that process that all the pictures were wiped out. I will get them back up there one of these days.
Also, I am embarking on a new adventure next week! I will be studying in Cairo, Egypt for two months this summer and have created a new blog to document those experiences. Staying with the same theme, my new blog is megincairo.blogspot.com. (whoever owns meginegypt is NOT me). I would love for you to join me on that ride as well.
I might also get around to uploading some more pictures or stories from Arua onto this blog sometime. We shall see.
Thank you for your support on my Uganda journey and I hope to share my Egypt journey with you as well!
Have a beautiful day,
Meg

Go Hogs, Go!

Yeah, I did.

I was walking around the mission in Lodonga and came across these kids playing. I taught them to call the Hogs. Yup. And took videos. My guess is that you are either sitting there being extremely proud of me right now, or you are laughing your head off at me. Too bad my internet is not feeling well enough to upload a video. I’ll post it when I get home.

Anyways, these kids showed up for rosary that same day and we became fast friends. For the week that I was in Lodonga, they would come pray rosary with me (I shared my rosary with them and they got really excited about that), then we would go play for a bit, then I would walk them home. Even though I spoke almost no Lugbara and they spoke almost no English, we were somehow able communicate through broken language and hand signs. I took many pictures of them.

Their names were Happy (5), Emily (6), Fred (5), and Boniface (3).

This was when we first met at their house (in the background). This was also when I taught them to call the Hogs.

From left to right: Emily, Happy, Fred and the little one in front is Boniface (or Boni)

Fred and Emily

Fr. David playing with them and doing some translating for me.

When they came to pray the rosary, they always wore their Church Clothes.

The four of them in front of the Basilica.

This was the only picture I could get of Happy's BEAUTIFUL smile. And that was only because she didn't know I was taking the picture.

 So, I taught them to call the Hogs on the first day I was in Lodonga, so I had the whole week to get to know them. Whenever they would see me, I would hear quiet shouts of "Woooooo...............pig." I would give them this huge grin and then they would get all bashful.

When I return to Lodonga, I am looking forward to greeting them again. :D

Okay, so now that I have posted more blogs in one day than I usually do in a month, I think I will save the rest for later. I still have about ten blog ideas in my blog archive (a.k.a. the back of my mind). It might be another week before I get more up, but hopefully these will tide you over until then. 

I miss you all back home, but rest assured, I am safe and well and having the time of my life! 

Happy Easter!

Awadifo Pascasi!

Enya Easter A La!

Through Meg's Eyes

Every now and then I venture out with my camera in hand. Now I can show you what I saw.

A picture of the house that I live in with the Cathedral Tower in the background

Freshly burned bricks

Beautiful Ediofe, Arua, West Nile, Uganda, Africa

The road to the orphanage

The road to Ediofe Health Center

Yes, I promise. Goats really do run free here.

Chickens as well.

An after school "football" match.

I took a video of them and showed it to them on my camera (without sound) and they got a kick out of seeing themselves running around. I think there was one boy who was just annoyed that I had interrupted their game. Oops.

See what they are using for a soccer, oops, I mean football? Those are a couple of plastic bags tied together with a small piece of rope.

A couple of steps away, I found some "big boys" from the vocational school taking a break from their studies for their own game of football. They actually had a real football.

One of the girls that I have gotten to know from the vocational school (Scovia, on the far right) invited me in to see her dorm. This was about half the room and slept ten girls. Two of the bunks are stacked three bunks high.

This family saw me with my camera and wanted their picture taken. I love their expressions when I show them the picture which is usually uncertainty mixed with bashfulness and joy.

Then these boys ran up behind me and wanted their picture taken too. 

 So now you have seen what my walk around Ediofe looks like. Hope you enjoyed! Missing you all!

Cultural Differences

I love learning about new and different cultures. However, sometimes it’s a little difficult. For example, I was asking a Muslim man to translate from Arabic to English for this one lady when half way through the conversation I realized that he must have thought me extremely rude because I, a young girl, was looking him in the eye when I was talking to him.

Here are some more differences I have had to adjust to:

1.       It is perfectly acceptable to pick your nose in public. I’ve even seen some people digging for gold while having a conversation with me or in a professional meeting.

2.       It is perfectly acceptable for mothers to breast feed their children EVERYWHERE. In church, in town, while talking to me at the health center….. The baby starts crying and they just pull out one of their breasts and start feeding. No privacy blanket or anything. Some will leave their shirts up or unbuttoned even after they are done.

3.       It is perfectly acceptable and not meant to be embarrassing at all to talk about how many children you want to reproduce.

4.       When shaking someone’s hand, it is respectful to touch your left hand to your right elbow. This has actually become second nature for me now.

5.       There is no word for “please” in Lugbara. So instead of saying “Will you please come here?” one would simply say, “you come.” Very direct. Not at all rude to outright tell someone to do something. I asked the gaurds for the correct translation for “May I have my keys, please?” When they gave me the phrase in Lugbara I figured out that the direct translation into English is, “You give me my keys.”

6.       Anytime something unpleasant happens to someone (you trip or spill something or you step in mud) everyone immediately says “Sorry, sorry!” even if it is not their fault.

7.       To put an emphasis on a word, you say it twice. For example, “you come now now” or “you give me small small.” I use the latter phase when referring to the amount of traditional Lugbara food dished onto my plate.

8.       No one says “Bless you” after a sneeze.

9.       As a young girl, looking an older man in the eye is considered rude.

10.   An average length of a social event is about 5-7 hours. It starts with about a two or three hour mass, has many speeches, food, and a collection. It is usually outside, which means it’s HOT.

11.   It is polite to shake EVERYONE’s hand. Whether you are passing them while walking or walking into a room full of strangers, you shake pretty much everyone’s hand. If your hand is unclean then you simply stick out your fist and the other person will briefly grab your wrist.

12.   Then there is the matter of wearing skirts everywhere. I wear “trousers” around the Media Center but not usually anywhere else. I will be perfectly honest when telling you that I am looking forward to wearing jeans everywhere and everyday again.

These are just a few that I can think of right now. I’m sure I’ll tell you about some more later.

Crossing Things Off the Bucket List

I thought I might tell you of a couple of my “African firsts.”

Was on the radio

So after evading the invitation for several weeks I finally accepted to be a guest on the Sunday night radio show. Don’t worry, there is a whole other blog about this experience on its way.

Got a tan line

I usually just get freckles, but since I’m pretty maxed out on freckles as of late, I guess my skin decided that it was finally (after 18 years) ready to move on to a tan line. Well the story goes that I was scrubbing my feet to get rid of all the caked on dirt when I realized that a bit of it wasn't coming off. It is in the exact shape as the flip flops I wear every day. I even asked Maria and she said she could see where the skin changed color. So THERE! That’s for all of you (including myself) who made jokes about how my skin is so white that I glow in the dark.

Ate liver, intestines, and tongue

I went to a birthday party at the YWAM (Youth with a Mission) base. There was a goat roast. The WHOLE goat was cooked. Not wanted to pass up an experience, I accepted some intestines and liver. I had had liver a couple of weeks ago, so I knew I could stomach that, but the intestines were new. I tried to convince myself that they were just weird tasting noodles….unsuccessfully. The tongue was more than I bargained for. Didn’t know I was putting that in my mouth. However, after realizing that liver doesn’t have taste buds…well, you can get the picture. I got through about half the helping (which was a large helping thanks to the eager server) when I gave up and moved on to chocolate cake.

Had a conversation in Lugbara

It was a simple conversation, but I didn’t use a word of English. I greeted these girls walking home from school and asked them their names, ages, where they went to school, how school was going. Things like that. Then I responded to their questions: what was my name, where was I from, where was I going. Then we said good bye and that was that. It’s amazing how the simplest things (or conversations) can bring such excitement.

Cooked from scratch

In a land of no drive-thrus and no microwave dinners, I’ve picked up some cooking-from-scratch skills. Mind you, I have a long way to go before I can say, “Why yes, I can cook from scratch!” but I’ve had some fun trying Brownies and Pancakes without boxes of pre mixed things. Also, some meats have been fun but I have yet to actually kill the chicken (I’ve walked past a place where they were butchering a cow though).  

Felt an earthquake

It was a little after the exceptionally strange one in NWA (Northwest Arkansas). It was a strange feeling. I was sitting on my bed and it started shaking. Apparently they happen once a year or so here.

These are just a few of my MANY African firsts, and I’m sure you will hear about many more.

Ugandan Outings

I’m so sorry it’s been so long since you’ve heard from me. I’ve been immensely enjoying life here! I still have a couple of blogs saved that I haven’t even posted. 

So, since I last posted, I’ve taken two trips outside of Arua with Fr. David Baltz. I got to know the Baltz family though Jay Carney at St. Thomas in Fayetteville. Fr. David was the one who helped me find a place in Africa at Radio Pacis with Sherry. I met with the Baltz family members a couple of times before I left to help me prepare. “Cousin” Albert shares the same enthusiasm I do about Uganda and he is amazing to talk to. He also reads this blog, so hello cousin Albert!!

Anyways, all this to explain the reason why I wanted to visit Fr. David’s home in Lodonga (which is about 40 miles away from Arua). What was supposed to be a three night trip turned into a seven night trip, and I enjoyed every second of it. Lodonga has this beautiful Catholic mission in the middle of the bush complete with a minor basilica. Here are some pictures, but believe me when I tell you that these do not even capture half of the beauty of that place:

The great thing about going out into the “Africa Outback” with Fr. David, is that he has real relationships with many people and, being in West Nile for close to fifty years, knows his way around the customs and cultures. He also has many great stories to tell about the “old days”. So, with him as my guide, I got some once-in-a-lifetime chances:

A return/good bye trip is being planned and we are going to try and climb the “pyramid”:

My second trip with Fr. David was to Angal and Gulu. Angal was one of Fr. David’s old missions and was also the place where an American couple was staying. Kevin visited Fr. David when he was about my age and decided to become a doctor because of the experience. He is now back as part of his training and will graduate medical school on May 25^th. He and his wife, Sarah, arrived shortly after I did. 

Gulu was a place where I wanted to go very badly. If any of you have seen the documentary “Invisible Children” then you have seen Gulu. The documentary was primarily filmed there. I first heard of Invisible Children in 2007 (I think) and it has always been on the back of my mind. When I first heard that Arua was close to Gulu I got excited for a possible visit. Let me tell you, there is something magical about setting foot in a place you could only imagine about for so long. We were only there for six hours, so I didn’t get to see much, but I was elated just to be there. 

Gulu and Angal are both outside of Lugbara territory, so every time I went to greet someone in their native language I had to remind myself to hold my tongue and greet in English.

I got to visit hospitals in Lodonga, Angal, and Gulu, and I am planning to visit the one here in Arua. I’ve got LOTS to tell you about those…..

A fun fact about Fr. David:

He is a Comboni missionary (who are mostly Italians) and went to Italy to study for four years. So, he speaks English, Italian, Lugbara, and Allure (sp?) (the language of Angal). He also studied French and can give sermons in Spanish. So, while in Lodonga, he would speak English with me, Italian with the other priest, and Lugbara and Allure with the Ugandans. Sometimes, he would start speaking with me and I would have no idea what he was saying. Turns out he was trying to speak Italian or Lugbara and had to go back to restart in English for me. It was amazing. I truly hope I can learn that many languages in my lifetime. 

One more fun fact (I promise it’s the last one):

I wanted to be back to Arua a little earlier than Fr. David was going. So some of the missionaries I know from bible study (who were on their way back to Arua) picked me up outside of Angal. Up until that time, I had been riding with Fr. David who told these amazing stories about different things in West Nile and pointed out some incredible things to me. When I got in the car with these American missionaries (five of the seven were kids), they were belting Disney songs. Two COMPLETELY different car experiences and I absolutely LOVED them both. :)

A Funny Story for Caity

I promised Caity a funny and embarrassing story; here it is.

Background information needed to fully appreciate the following story:

If you remember from my previous blog, diapers don’t really exist here. Babies just have towels and plastic bags wrapped around them. Then they just sit tight with their damp towels till the mom has a chance to get a new towel on them. Most babies are damp when I pick them up to weigh them, or their immunization cards that I write on are damp, or their mother’s backs or hands are dripping wet. It stopped bothering me and now I just remember to wash my hands REALLY good when I’m done.

Story time:

So it was a Wednesday. Constant blog readers might recall that it was “Malnourished Kids Day” at Ediofe Health Center.  It was kind of slow that day, so I did the only thing that came to my mind: started playing with the adorable babies. I was hogging this one baby (who was damp) more than usual because it kept laughing and smiling at me (opposed to screaming madly at my white skin) when I felt something warm in my lap. As I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, my skirt was sopping wet with pee. Haha. When it became apparent what happened they all just laughed. I took note of the fact that this is not a culture where you apologize if your baby releases their bladder on someone. After thanking the baby in Lugbara and making the mom laugh I returned her and went looking for a towel (by now it is dripping down my legs). Since it was a large amount of urine, Sister Jane told me to go home, change, and wash up and then return. So I did. Ha. Remember that I have a fifteen minute walk back home and almost everyone stares or greets the “mundu” girls on the way. Needless to say, I heard some snickers on the way.

When I got to the gate of Pacis, one of the guards (who have all become great friends) saw my skirt and I explained that I had been playing with a baby. “BAHA! Did a baby urinate on you? BAHAHA!” Not exactly the word I would have used, but yes.

So I went and washed up, changed, and went back to work.

THE END.

Hope that made you laugh, Caity. And everyone else too.