Christmas 2010

Well, our family celebrates Christmas this time of year.  We start with Advent, the Sunday after Thanksgiving and this year, we actually remembered.  We have some time and space here to remember things.  Although, it didn't always feel like Christmas--not a lot of commercialism here, we began to learn how Ugandans celebrate.  One funny note was, the Friday after Thanksgiving we had to go to Rwanda for renewing our visas.  We were there for a few hours in the capital, which happens to have a western type mall and a shop sort of like a Target --so, due to time constraints, we found ourselves running around grabbing Christmas decorations (that was one of the things we forgot) and dodging Koreans in Santa Hats--it was strange, but fun.  Aaron had looked over at a TV while we were eating in a pretty cool restaurant and there was CNN showing Black Friday shoppers--we felt American.

This time of year is a big time for Ugandans.  Disclaimer--this is from my limited understanding-so, don't quote me on these things :).  Some people save all year to make large purchases, so it was very common to see bicycles, motorcycles and trucks packed full of people and goods like sheets of iron for roofs, furniture, etc..  Prices go up at this time, but it did not deter anyone.  My favorite scene is a bed frame on a bicycle--just stands straight up--had no idea you could do that!  Also, it is a big reunion time of the year.  Kampala empties out and most of Uganda retreats to grandma and grandpa's house in the village.  For most Ugandans, it is the one time of year they eat meat.  The family will go in together and buy a cow, goat or chicken to be butchered and then have all the traditional dishes--rice, beans, matoke (green bananas), irish potatoes, mingled millet bread among others.  People do not traditionally exchange gifts, but will try to buy a nice new outfit to wear to church.  Uganda is by and large Christian, at least in tradition.  I haven't figured out if there is a Jewish population here, but I did see a picture of a synagogue once on the web--I need to find out more about that.  There are Muslims, so Eid is a national holiday.  People are pretty religious here, there is not a lot of secularlism.  People also do a lot of drumming, dancing and singing.  For us, we got a few cards and garden vegetables from neighbors and we discovered that some people do have trees and decorations with cards in their homes.  We even saw lights on the tree at church.  We also got loads of text messages from students, neighbors and friends--that was nice.  Our German neighbors cut the tops of a Cypress tree for us, so we had a fresh one at the last minute (which is not last minute for Germans, who celebrate on Christmas Eve).  Also, New Year's is a big celebration--the day is a national holiday.  New Year's eve is celebrated with fireworks at hotels and burning tires and people used to pop off guns, but that, apparently, has been more and more discouraged.  For New Year's we had over our British friends who stayed until around 9pm, then Aaron and I rang in the new year together--beautiful fireworks and the whole town seemed to be celebrating--it was very fun and encouraging.  We live on a hill above town, so we could see the fireworks and hear the cheering and music from the valley--cool.

So, here's what we did....


Our little tree from Rwanda :).  Of course, later we saw bigger artificial trees in Kabale.  We didn't know, but the Hines ended up getting one of those.

 The Saturday before, we had Dr. Gilbert, his wife Constance (with baby Mei Li) and the clinical officer group over for a chili  dinner and games.  It was fun!  We played Catch Phrase, which was hard until we did the science and technology section and they were all over that!

 We also played Apples to Apples.  At first, they weren't too sure about it, but then really got into selling their answers--what a fun group!

 Christmas Eve.  Decorating Gingerbread Men at the Hines.

 Travis read the Christmas Story.

It was a beautiful evening--it threw me when I was listening to the story and then looked up to banana trees and a beautiful tropical sky!

 The kids wrote and acted out a Christmas play, which I will post on Micah's blog.  Afterwards, they exchanged gifts.

 Woohoo, Christmas morning!

 This was one of the most restful Christmas days ever.  Partly because I forgot to plan any meals after breakfast--I think we just had cereal and popcorn the rest of the day!  I was pretty proud of homemade pecan sticky buns! ha!

Micah hates getting dressed up, but as you can see the girls don't mind.  Off to morning church service.

 After church, there was a snow storm.  Of course, it came from China in the spray snow cans.

The New Year's Eve girls, Bethany, Mallory and Emma Shae

The Village

There is a lot of talk about "the village" here.  My guess is that it is the equivalent of visiting relatives in the country in the U.S.  Many people have 2 houses--town and village and everyone has grandparents in the village.  We have had so many invitations to the village and finally one has worked out.  Bernard, Aaron's colleague at work was hosting a thanksgiving at his church and had invited work colleagues, important people from town in his life and such.  Typically, it is a 3 hour church service and the out of town folks are the guest of honor, especially, in this case, our friend Travis, who was preaching.  Reverend's are held in high esteem here.  We were unsure how the kids would do with travel--long and bumpy and long church service and then a long lunch and visit, but they did great--they loved it and so did we!  Ugandans are very honoring to guests--they can host amazing functions!


Love the drum with worship.  Here are Aaron's work colleagues in the front as guests of honor.

 Travis preaching with his trusty translator.

 Travis got the congregation in hand motions--this was higher, I think...

 A dance of celebration held by Aaron's work mates--everything was in Rukiga and we did not have translators, so we didn't always know what was going on.  Mary Jane who is the white lady in front is a wonderful Peace Corps volunteer and Mukiga!

 So, I had to laugh, while our work colleagues were free and dancing, this was my family--Micah especially had his eye on our bag and this crowd of kids that edged closer and closer to us during the service!  ha!

 We were watching the auction.  If you are poor and don't have money to give to the offering, you bring your beans, matoke and what and what and there is an auction.  Aaron's work colleagues were totally into it and bought most of the stuff.  A friend afterwards explained that church is the best place to buy your vegetables because they sell below market price.  Who knew?  Notice the crowd of children behind us.

 Back at Bernard's for lunch afterwards.  Notice the guy with Aaron--he snuggled in with his hand on Aaron's knee for much of the visit.  Men are very affectionate with each other and I just got so tickled because we had just met this guy, but he was feeling the celebration!

 After lunch, we gathered with friends, relatives, and neighbors and shared nice encouragements about the day and Bernard and his family.

 Bernard and his family got up to say a few words of thanksgiving.

 Travis as the honored guest gave an expected speech.

Outside my window

Outside our window, we often see great things.  Aaron and I both are always moved by the guys pushing bicycles up the steep hill.  On Fridays, there is a cattle market, so this is the view.

The picture doesn't capture the bright colors and the baby as these beautiful ladies come down the hill, going to town.

 This is a bouquet we picked from our garden--we got flowers when first came and are slowly building up our garden--we are so encouraged and thankful for how beautiful Ugandan produce and flowers are.  This soil is super fertile and with the rainy season, things grow fast! For the first time ever, we have a garden.  It's amazing.  We grow so much, we have to give away a lot, which is really nice!

Last Day of School

I think everyone would agree that the best day of school was the last day of school.  After exams, the students spent the days doing some lessons and most of all preparing for the Christmas celebration on the last day of school.  It was also graduation for the Kindergarten (Top Class) to First Grade (or P1).  The parents are invited and the Bishop of Kigezi as well as other important people in the community attend.  It was amazing as you will see...

Notice the blonde Mukiga girl...

We liked this version of the Jesus story, because the Holy Family had tea and bananas with the shepherds--love it!

Georgia Hines going to her dance, I couldn't get it on film, but Beyonce' has nothing on these girls!!

 There were several funny plays, but this one made the biggest impression on the Hines/Morrows kids--we heard everyone's version of how Grandpa acted things out!!

 Mallory in thought.

 Didn't get very good pictures of Jesse and Micah, but if you look closely, they are there singing with their class :).

 The Middle Class (pre-school)--Mallory on one end, Tabea and Lucy are on the right.

 The Holy Family.

 The principal, Ishmael, making a speech at the end.

 The Bishop giving his blessing.

 The top class graduation.

Students perform a Rwandan dance--reminds me of Hawaiian music.

Mallory's teachers busted out--these were the most lively songs--the ones in Rukiga.  Again, we were moved about how passionate folks love to sing and dance in the mother tongue.  They did well in English, too, but there was a marked difference.

Emma Shae's class singing away...

The cafeteria ladies sang and danced--awesome!

Thanksgiving 2010

Well, I have discovered that like my (Aaron's) Uncle Rick in North Carolina, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. So, it is our privilege to celebrate this great American tradition in Uganda.  I was a little panicked of how we can get a turkey here, as they are not common, but yes, you can find them.  It was getting closer and closer and I had been working hard on trying to find out information.  My Indian friend (yes, we are best friends with all the supermarket people here in town!!!)  Jamaly, showed me from the newspaper ad how I could order one from Kampala, and which bus I could have it shipped on and said he would be out of town. I was trying to get the supermarket to do it since fridges are tiny here. I don't think he went out of town, it was his polite way of saying, "not worth it lady", but he also assured me that, "close to the end of November and near Christmas, you will find people moving down the street with turkey's, moving, moving down the street.  You can get your turkey here, madame."  If I was sassy, I would have said, YOU CAN GET YOUR TURKEY HERE JAMALY!!!" But, I would never be that rude or sassy.  Not wanting to deal with a fresh turkey butchering option the week of Thanksgiving, I kept at it (that Kampala connection failed as they denied being able to ship to our town and couldn't I drive to Kampala and get it??? hahahahahah was all I said....)  Finally broke down and asked the BROTHER of the main supermarket guy (who was taking his pregnant wife to India to have her baby).  How rude to go when I needed him most... ha!  So, I had my doubts about the brother, BUT he came through!!!  Monday before Thanksgiving, I was resigned to have chicken--I had talked to my friend twice and he was a bit nonchalant about calling and arranging the turkey (I generously gave him grace as we are not IN America and he's not AMERICAN...)  He is this young, hip Indian dude who has connections in Kenya and got me that express frozen turkey the Tues before Thanksgiving.  Impressive.  I don't know....  It was all so spy like and smooth.  So, actually, I got 2 because I didn't know as chickens are so scrawny here, but I want to report that turkey's are fat and one would have fed us all.  Next year, I am getting Dr. Gilbert's dad to raise one for me (I just found out he raises chickens and lives in a village near)  Also, I found out that our German friend is not only a holy priest, but grew up on a farm and could assist me and Johnson in "preparing" the turkey.

I still never saw people moving, moving with turkey's under their arm and I didn't even visit Jamaly during that time in case he was telling me stories....   nobody got hurt.

Thankfully, my friend Maxine sent me a turkey bag--yes, friends, I forgot again to bring one with me....so, the turkey turned out perfect, thanks to the bag!

This Thanksgiving was one of my favorites ever.  We had Germans, Ugandans, Congolese, a Rwandan student and an American student, plus our 2 families.  The day was peaceful and beautiful.  Our 10 year old friend Jesse read Psalm 100 and we ate and chatted and heard from a few of us what we were thankful for this year.  People brought dishes and we made things sort of like what we can get back in the U.S..  I am most impressed that our student friend Leah who called me around 11am to ask what time lunch was (at 2pm or so) and managed to throw together tasty green bean casserole and mashed potatoes for all of us--did you know that fried onion topping is also an Indian thing, so, unlike in England, it is readily available here.  I am also most impressed with Leslie's pies and gingerbread men!  Everyone did a good job.  I ended up finding Ritz like crackers from Malaysia, but imported here and found broccoli and some Kraft canned cheddar cheese that sort of made a casserole made famous by Aaron's mom.  I was also able to make a sweet potato streusel dish that was decent and Leslie's girls picked cranberries out of a trail mix which allowed Leslie to make a relish--amazing!!  I like that at Thanksgiving, you can have such a mix of people--family, friends of all different life stages and share a meal and some common gratitude.  I have to say, I remain humbled at the gratefulness of our African friends--for life, water, health, food.  We  have a lot to learn.  Johnson declared that his family in the village would not recognize him because he ate so much and got so fat.  That is Thanksgiving in Uganda.

 The spread.

 Some of the people.

 The pies!

 The German family, Denise from the Congo in the back, a German student, and a student from Rwanda.  I love how the guys are holding the babies--not common here.

 I loved that craft time was outside and the Hines had received and shared some turkey crafts--a first for Tabea and Joni from Germany.

This and That...

One of the great things about living overseas besides meeting the local folk, is meeting other foreigners at work and hearing their stories and seeing what they are doing. We met a British couple and their children--Craig, Claudia, Leo and Bethany. Leo turned 6 and so, we packed up the folks from the Hill (us, Hines and our German friends, Mattias, Stephanie, Tabia, Joni, and Lukas).

Leo is the one smiling the biggest and dressed as a pirate!

An awesome tree fort.
Craig, Emmanuel and Aaron. Craig and Claudia train teachers and on the side have fallen into mentoring a co-op of sorts. This young man is the manager and works in one of the villages in our district. They grow, trade, and manage seeds and crops and a training that comes with all of that--very encouraging.

Did you know that pineapples grow from the ground?
The view from the Smith house. Kabale town.
Mallory's pre-school led the chapel at the Primary school. They sang songs, did skits and recited passages and rhymes! Lucy was sick that day, but here are Mallory and Tabia and the Middle Class. Mallory is slowly getting to know the kids--you can just barely see her friend, Merab in the back.
Outside of the school. In a place with limited resources, it becomes important for children to memorize and copy board work from the teacher. This is common to see the alphabet on the outside and in the room are posters with information the children are learning.
We had a surprise 2 days off of school as the P7 kids took their national exams. These exams place them in secondary school, so all other kids had 2 days off and the P7 kids took their exams in peace. I could not believe how quiet it was around town--all the children hidden away somewhere! So, we had a fall party! A friend had sent the Hines some fall decorations and crafts and we pulled together some snacks between Leslie, Stephanie and I.
Playing apples to apples and excited about eating!
This moth has hair.
This moth also has hair.
A cloud was around us today and we took some photos of the yard.

This bird looks and acts like a monkey!
One of the ways we relax is to go to Lake Bunyonyi. Usually, we go to an island, but today we went on the high road and discovered an amazing hotel and view. Had lunch and hung out!
Yes, this hotel is just built in the side of the hill--a beautiful, steep walk takes you down to the lake.
A shot of the dugout canoes on the lake.
Micah and Jesse messing around.

Click on play to hear a snippet of some kids singing and dancing. They were having a retreat--didn't get to ask them what they were up to, but their shirts mentioned a rescue effort. Lots of people with lots of stories.

Back at our house, Aaron caught this picture--they both look like they are howling at something!

Tafti has become a part of the family.