Today we went to Bunga Hill Primary School and what a day it has been! We started off the day working with the little kids, but we got a little tired just sitting there listening to them say their A,B,C's and the teacher didn't seem to need us too much, so we went to the older classrooms. The school headmaster asked us what we wanted to do with the kids and we said we were good with whatever, that if they wanted to they could ask us questions. He said, " oh, okay so you teach them?"(in his Uganda accent) Well I thought this meant that we would tell them some about America. Not so much. He took us into the classroom and then left and so did the teacher, for at least two hours. Haha. So Lauren and I were like awesome, I guess he was serious when he said we were going to teach. We spent a lot of time answering their questions about America and then we did a couple of small English lessons and played some games. They seemed to enjoy their day off with the Americans. The last class we went to was a group of 10-12 year olds and those teachers did the same thing, they wanted us to teach. Well this was the class that we went to a little unprepared. We asked them if they had any questions about America. These were some of the questions: " What plate tectonic does your country and state lie on?" "Do you have rift valleys and if so which one?" " Is the United Nation's headquarters located in New York?" ( I told him that I thought it was in Washington D.C. and he brought me a book because he thought I was wrong and showed me that it is in NY) "What is the youngest President of the United States?" "Who is your governor?" ( That one scared me because I thought he was going to ask me the names of a lot of government officials which I honestly do not know) They asked about every geography, political, and just crazy questions that I would not expect from kids here and especially not 10 year olds. They also asked us to sing the National Anthem, oh how I wish I had the video camera for that one. It sounded lovely. Do you know our emblem or national bird? You should, because you never know when you will be asked. We felt like we were in American History 101 with 10 year olds from Uganda. After they drilled us, Lauren and I sat down with a couple of them and before you knew it they swarmed around us asking us more questions. Lauren said that the kids with her thought that some Americans can fly because they have seen the Spiderman movie and thought he was real. They thought that we have invisible cars. This one surprised me- they asked us if Americans feared black people because their teacher told them that we do. I was not expecting that because I definitely did not think that they thought that. So what started out as a mundane day turned out to be quite interesting.
Tonight we went with David to Maureen, his girlfriend's house. It was her birthday so they wanted us to come celebrate with her family. Well on the way there we took a boda-boda. This was our first experience and it was definitely entertaining. Boda- boda's are like a smaller version of a motorcycle and a bigger version of a scooter. They are small which means they like to zoom through already crazy traffic. No worries though, we made it alive. When we arrived her family was so happy to see us. We sat down and talked to them for several hours.(They eat dinner around 9:30, so my stomach was growling.) I really don't even know how to fully tell you how Ugandans treat guests, but they think that God has blessed a family when they have visitors so having us over tonight was a big deal. Her dad thanked us over and over and talked about how he was the most blessed person in their community because he had guests. They cooked dinner for us and we ate in the dark by one small lantern, which was really cool. I could not see the food I was eating and I think it was better that I could not. It has been neat to learn and see what goes on in their culture. It was Maureen's birthday yet she helped cook dinner and before we ate she walked around with a bowl and pitcher of water, got down on her knees and washed all our hands, starting with her fathers. It just reminded me of when Jesus washed his disciple's feet and how humbling that had to be. I just sat back and watched her kneel down and pour water over her fathers hands to wash them. Then she served her cake she put it on a plate and individually knelt down on her knees in front of each of us, including the kids, and held out the plate for us to get a piece. I was served the entire night. These people here are servants. I was just taken back at how they treat people and serve them humbly. These people welcome you in love and serve you with a humble heart and they are real. They are truly grateful to have you and really want to get to know you, it is not just entertainment and surface level small talk. These people intently listen to you and serve you. You can see Christ in them in all that they do. I have never felt so welcomed, served, comfortable, and loved more than I have by anyone and I am in a strangers home in Uganda, yet because they are in Christ they are family and it definitely feels that way. It has become so much more real to me that my family in Christ is not just in America, but it's all over the world. These people in Uganda are my brothers and sisters and I will one day see them in Heaven!
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