Last Saturday, May 31st, Amber, Natialie, Trent, and I went to Mukono to see our friend Lydia’s introduction ceremony. In Buganda culture, the women must present her boyfriend to her family before they get engaged. The man will bring cows, goats, furniture, food, ect as an offering to the family in exchange for their daughter. The girl’res family teases the man severely and makes him do many ritual proofs of affection for the woman. These rituals are different for every clan. In turn, the woman cooks for the man and his family. The most important dish that she cooks is matoke. All of the visitors scrutinize how efficiently she peels the matoke. It is a symbol of womanhood and maternal ability.
Trent and Amber have been working with Lydia on the accounting in the bakery she works in. We were told that the introduction would begin at 12. We figured that we would have just enough time to see a majority of the ceremony before we caught a taxi to meet the rest of our volunteers at the Uganda vs. Niger football game. Unfortunately, the whole thing was running on African time, and once we got to the venue of the introduction we learned that it would not be starting until four o’clock. Serendipitously, the taxi bringing the other group drove by us while we were wandering through town, and we were able to all travel to the game together.
We arrived at Mendel stadium and walked into an absolute circus. The entire crowd of people outside the game were buzzing with excitement. All of us bought shirts and a group of teenage boys ran up to us and painted our faces and bodies with. We only understood half of the cheers that they wrote on us. The other half were probably profane, but it is not like we were in danger of blending in anyway. The game really fun. Cranes won!
On Sunday, the mayor, Deo, took us to the village he grew up in. His villages was very isolated, but somehow more well off than any area in Uganda that I had seen so far. There was no electricity or water, but the people seemed well taken care of. In Lugazi almost all of the children run around naked, or in rags. In Deo’s village, the children were all dressed with shoes. Even more, all of the women were wearing elegant Gomezes (traditional Ugandan dress) of fancy and varying fabrics. We visited a Catholic church that Deo helped pay for. The youth group preformed for us. Typical of Deo, he put me on the spot and asked me to speak to the congregation. When I was finished, they asked me in front of everyone if my group would come back and help their community. Of course, I could not agree, so it was a pretty awkward moment.
Deo took us to a few different churches. At the last one, he was given two local chickens to take back to Lugazi. Heidi and Lauren do not like chickens. They told Deo not to bring the chickens in the car with us. I can not properly express the confusion on Deo face. First of all, I don’t think anyone has forbade him from doing something in a very long time. Let alone a young girl. More over, he couldn’t understand why someone would fear a chicken. He looked at them in utter amazement and then turned to me to explain. When I told him they were scared he burst out in a loud, robust laugh and stuffed the chickens in the back.
Later, we were brought to Deo’s father’s house and introduced to his family. When meeting elders and men, Buganda women kneel to show respect. Additionally, they sit on mats, instead of in chairs to show submission and admiration. I did both of these things and the family loved it. When it was time to go, they asked me to stay with them and told me they have many sons they would like to give me to. I told them I wasn’t very good at peeling matoke, so it might not work out. I am not going to lie, the house and the village were so utterly beautiful and peaceful, that it was hard to turn down the offer.
The drive home was incredibly long and uncomfortable. By the time we home, all I wanted to do was eat dinner and go to sleep. The town council members who had traveled with us, Auntie Peggy, Steven, and Zacha, decided they wanted to come inside and visit for a while. Peggy, noticing that I was not in a social mood, announced to everyone that I must be sick and she was sure I had malaria. As she made this diagnosis she pressed her hand on my chest, exactly where my left breast is. Feeling awkward, I backed up an inch. A few minutes later, she did the same thing to the other side. Trent saw the whole exchange and him and I exchanged amused glances. This was Buganda custom that we had not yet become aware of.
Deo and Auntie Peggy are two of the most eccentric people I have ever met. In the town of the Lugazi they are irrefutably the best dressed and the most popular. They walk through the streets larger than life, demanding respect and saying hello to anyone important enough to consider. Classic politicians. They don’t even seem like real people to me. I swear they were written and illustrated in a comic book before they gained human bodies.
Monday, Heidi and I went to Kampala so that we could met with Hamis. Hamis is the personal assistant to Honorable Fred, my contact in Parliament. Hamis is an invaluable resource. In spite of his political affiliation, he gives me what I feel is very unbiased insight to issues in Uganda. Every time we speak, I spend hours asking him questions. After talking business we all went to lunch and had a hilarious conversation about music, culture, and why black and white men like women with big butts. Heidi recited the lyrics of “Baby Got Back”. I about died of laughter.
Hamis introduced us to Honorable Betty, the Member of Parliament from Gulu. Gulu is a region in Northern Uganda that was particularly devastated by the Lord’s Resistance Army. The LRA is an insurgent group that has been fighting against the Ugandan government. Is it a semi-spiritual movement led by Joseph Kony. They run their army by kidnapping young children, torturing, and brainwashing them until they join the army and become child soldiers. They are then forced to abduct other children. The LRA absolutely decimated the Gulu region and sent hundreds of thousands of people to refugee camps. Some have lived in these camps for over ten years. Just recently, there has been a peace agreement and some of the refugees are resettling. The problem is, many of the children have been orphaned by violence, and no one is used to functioning in a market economy. Most haven’t had the opportunity for education. Betty is helping me take ten volunteers to Gulu to do a business seminar with some of the women there. It should be a powerful experience.
Tuesday, was Martyr’s Day. In the late 1800s, when the Kabaka (king) still ruled over the Buganda, he banned the practice of Christianity. When 25 refused to give up the practice of Christianity they were tortured and killed. Now, people make pilgrimages to Namengogo. We also made a pilgrimage there. Never in my life have I seen so many people. The cathedral was swarming with people, selling, praying, dancing, buying. An even more spectacular was the view from the bottom of the street where we had parked. From there, we saw the street stretch up the hill for about two miles absolutely packed with people. The whole day we only saw one other Muzungu.
It is now Friday, June 06, and I there is a torrential down-pour outside. It is as if someone is just continuously dumping buckets of water over us. You can’t even really distinguish rain drops. Water is seeping through the cracks in the walls and under the doors. It is pretty spectacular. We were going to build another stove today, but it looks like that will have to wait.
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