The One with Night Dancers

I think this will be a longer installment on the life of Michelle in Uganda.

All the IMME students are going to Jinja this weekend to experience prison ministry and stuff. Jinja is near the source of the Nile and Lake Victoria so we will do that stuff perhaps as well.

So, I think a spider has decided to make his home in my bed. For the past few mornings, I have been waking up with many bites on my feet. They are so itchy. Speaking of itchy, I got my hair plated this week and it took 11 hours. But it was not all in one sitting, thank goodness. They did the fist half of my hair on Tuesday for 5 hours, 5 hours on Wednesday, and 1 hour Thursday morning. I had to go to a dinner Wednesday so it was a bummer they still had 1 more hour of work, I went to the dinner with this random chunk on the top of my hair not done. I looked quite funny and my father felt I should leave it because it was a fashion statement.

Well the election was on Tuesday, I don’t know much about what went on, but I did hear some of it, as well as interviews on the radio. From the interviews, I basically heard 2 different sides. People were disappointed and un-impressed with Obama’s speech or they thought he would solve every world problem and come to the rescue of the poorer nations. They wanted Obama to be Jesus Christ and make everything perfect. It was interesting being in an African country at the time the first black president of America took office. People were more mixed over here then I expected and more not sure what to think. Many people I have talked to say they will have to wait and see. Not optimistic, but not pessimistic. My father here was trying to convince me to run for presidency in America and then he changed to Uganda. It was a very funny conversation. I eventually pointed out that I wasn’t born in Uganda to be president here. So we decided we would go find a native Muzungu (white man) to run for presidency.

There are some basic, but important rules here. We have a curfew of 7pm, yes this seems early but there is a very good reason for this, that is when the sun sets and when the darkness comes so does danger. In fact, once the house has been locked up, I am not allowed to go to the bathroom in the squatty potty even though we have walls surrounding the little court yard I have to walk through to get there and 2 guard dogs, who are awesome by the way. Apparently, it’s so dangerous outside the family makes everyone go to the bathroom in a bucket at night. I have never had to, but there is something about the thought of that I don’t like. It’s a common problem that people will kill you if someone pays them to do and other reasons like that.

The week started out pretty normal but something on Tuesday happened to one of my fellow IMME students. On her walk to school, she was mugged, punched in the face 5 times, and lost her entire bag of stuff including her credit cards, cell phone, iPod, money, random things, but her most valued item was her journal. She had spent a month in Kenya before coming here so that’s the one thing she really wants back. Her face is bruised, swollen, and cut. The reason she was jumped was because she was walking alone in the early morning when the sun had not fully risen and she was passing a notorious corner for danger. Of course she didn’t know this until after the fact, but she should not have been out yet. It was still too dark to be allowed out, but she had been coming early to run since last week so she didn’t think it was a problem. They think the guy had watched her walk by on previous days. They filed a report with the police and they are going to try and track the guy with the cell phone calls. I pray they catch him. The girl has been amazing through all this. She is strong and in fact, she was praying for the man who jumped her – that he would read her journal and see her faith. She has to decide if she is going to continue the semester or go home by Tuesday, her parents want her to come home but she is not yet sure. Please pray for her as she makes this decision.

I am in a health and wholeness class; while it’s stuff I have known since 1st grade so far, I find it interesting not b/c of the material but because of the culture. The simplest things many are just learning for the first time, such as the Heimlich maneuver. One student told a story of how she wished she had known it last year because her 4 yr old nephew was choking and no one knew what to do. They had to watch the little boy suffocate to death. This breaks my heart. I cannot imagine watching this. I didn’t realize what an issue this topic is here, like I knew it but it didn’t register with me until this class.

I love going home at the end of the day. There is this feeling I can’t describe. I love being greeted by my brothers and sisters and parents. They are all so friendly and welcoming! We always enjoy one another’s company. Many evenings are spent outside talking under the stars, learning of each other cultures and telling stories, or we play cards. The other night, I taught the boys, who are around my age, about the atmosphere and clouds, and stars, and even pointed out Mars. They were so excited about this. They told me about the ‘Night Dancers’ who go into dark corners and dance. They are also cannibals. Very interesting. They told me they could point out where one lives. I told them I am better off not knowing.

I walked home with Sarah yesterday and some guy followed us. We passed him on the trail, he was walking slowly and then sped up to walk right behind us the rest of the way. Kinda awkward.

Well we are leaving in 15 minutes for Jinja so I have to go now. I will try and update on Sunday or Monday again.