Ssagala

As Sarah mentioned, I took a trip to the village on Friday and half the day Saturday with my language coach and good friend, Francis (Franky, Franco, etc.). We went to see his “Muzayee,” which is the Luganda word for “elder.” She has been his caretaker ever since his Grandma died (his parents had already died, and Aunts.). She has become, unofficially of course, Francis’s Mom. She is an incredible woman who gives so much and works so hard. I wanted to grow my relationship with Francis more, and really practice my Luganda.  It was a great time and I feel closer to Francis now that I have seen where he comes from. Its difficult for me to describe all that happened and put the experience into words, so I will just give some thoughts… 

The village is called Ssagala (about a 30 minute boda boda ride north of Mityana--which is straight west of Kampala). They have never had a “Mzugu” stay in their village. Plenty have passed through for a few hours to see how the school is doing, or the church is doing, etc, but never has one stayed over night. When people heard that one was staying over night, it became the talk of everybody around, even before I got there. People kept asking Muzayee, “Where is he going to sleep? Are you going to feed him well? Make sure things are up to his standard!” and all sorts of other comments. Even when I was there, people would come walking up to the house asking all sorts of questions. They couldn't believe that I even spoke some Luganda. This is a picture of the house and our room that we stayed in. I also put in a video of me feeding chickens corn. I tried to do these types of things to show that I am no more special than they are, and that I want to adapt to their lifestyle. They don’t need to adapt to mine! 

We also ate quite a bit of food. Cassava, avocado, beans, pork and chicken are all common parts of the diet. Here are some pics of the food prep. The video is Francis and his friend David cutting some pork.

 Fruit trees are everywhere. It seems like we were always stopping and picking some kind of fruit: mangoes, passion fruit, avocado, and other things I didn’t know. This is a video of me and Francis eating some little berries. 

Village life is hard. I only stayed 36 hours and so I didn’t experience any of the real challenges of rural Uganda. It was all fun for me. I did a little farming (digging up potatoes and other things), I got to drive a boda around, hang out with kids that were afraid of me, but also wanted to touch my arm hair, have fresh fruit, poop in a 6x6 inch hole. I love the simplicity of village life and how the people are, but it is such a hard life. Water is about 1 Km walk down to the valley, and then you gotta climb back up. I did this once and it was difficult. Here we are at the spring. 

We had chicken on Friday night and in village culture the guest eats the gizzards as a sign of respect and acceptance of their hospitality. So, I ate that... a definite highlight!

Muzayee also gave me a Rooster to take home to Sarah… alive. So, we took it all the way home on the taxi and boda boda rides and he is chillin at Francis’s place right now, enjoying city life. I named him “Supper,” and we are going to eat him soon! This is a picture of Muzayee and her husband giving me the Rooster. Its in bag so it wouldn't poop all over the taxi.

I am so grateful for their hospitality and I can't wait to visit again! I think I will take Sarah with me next time.  It wasn't too fun being apart, and everyone wondered why she didn't come.  They are all excited to meet her!