Where to Begin...

Here I am. This place is beautiful in every way.

We arrived to campus Tuesday night after 40+ hours of traveling; we awoke in the morning to the sounds of beautiful Uganda… insects, birds, monkeys, and birds that sound like monkeys. Our view from campus of Mukono is of the hills that are filled with houses, trees, and matoke gardens. For those of you who don’t know, ‘matoke’ is a staple food here in Uganda. The best way I can think to describe it is that when it grows, it looks like little green bananas, yet when you cook matoke you mash it up and steam it in banana leaves to a consistency similar to mashed potatoes. It is served with various sauces such as g-nut sauce, beef or chicken sauce – it is so good. So far I have had matoke almost every day for nearly every meal – I love it.

My host family is very, very sweet and very hospitable. I live with Mama Joyce Serukenya, my sister Joanna, and Eve – a girl who lives with us and helps out with cooking and chores. The four of us live in the neighborhood of Nabuti which is located on the other side of the hill from campus. I live about 20 minutes away from campus, every morning I will walk through Mukono to school along a dirt road that then turns into a dirt path through a matoke field and to the rear entrance of campus.

Last night my family and I gathered for prayer at nine. During this time we sang hymns, in Lugandan and in English, read a chapter of Romans, and then prayed together. It was beautiful. I felt so welcomed and so accepted. This wonderful family has hosted many students in the past – so they are used to our strange way of doing things and gently correct me to do things that are culturally acceptable. Our family owns around 200 chickens (which means about 200 eggs to collect every morning) of which they sell in the market, share with neighbors, and use themselves. It has only been one night that I have stayed with my family, and already I feel so welcomed.

Since being here I have received a new name. Nakato. In Uganda there are names for different types of twins. Since I am a girl, and the second to be born – I am Nakato. If I were a boy and the second to be born I would be Kato. Yet my twin brother Cory would be Waswa, because he is a boy and the first to be born. This place is beautiful in every way, even the detail and articulation of the language is beautiful. I have only been here for a full 2 days and this place is already integrated into my heart.

Flying into Entebbe was beautiful! We were flying over Lake Victoria as the sun was setting and all throughout the lake we could see various islands – the sight almost made me choke up with emotion. I was finally landing in the beautiful Uganda. Yet within the first few days of being here I have realized that I do not only have so many things to learn (bathing out of a bucket, washing my clothes by hand, how to pronounce this beautiful language etc.) but I also have many things to UNlearn.

Tomorrow we leave for Rwanda for ten days. So I will be out of touch until then. Please be praying for this time – it will be very intense, very real, and will require a lot of processing. We come back on the night of September 4^th and then start classes on the morning of the 5^th… the first two weeks here will be very busy and very full.

I apologize that this bolg post is so scattered - there is just no way to communicate what this beautiful place is like – because there is no way to capture every little detail in words. There is no way to tell you what it is like to experience my first African rain storm, or describe to you the smell of Ugandan tea, or for you to understand the stillness of the matoke field that is behind our house. Likewise there is no way to describe the peace that I felt as I entered into a home that I ignorantly considered strangers and was immediately welcomed by the name ‘daughter’. These things are indescribable. And there are no words. You must come see for yourself.

So friends, I invite you - come see.