It is interesting how fast time seems to be going for us over here – and that is in direct opposition to the counsel given by Ssimbwa (our African helper) to just throw away our watches. Time does not seem to matter too much here. They will wait hours, take cab rides for hours, their patience is unbelievable. Muzungus (white people) always want to be on time! At any rate, we have just ended our second month as missionaries and looking at all that we have been involved in it seems much longer.
Sundays are kind of special – we go early and I meet with the Priesthood leaders of the branch, which usually means just me and the branch president for the first 30-45 minutes until the others trickle in. Transportation is such a problem as many have no money for a taxi, so it is a long walk for them, and throw in a downpour for good measure and we are on African time. Sacrament meeting does start on time but people come in throughout the meeting. Sandra is teaching the piano while I am in early meetings, she plays for the Sacrament meeting, and believe it or not I play for the Priesthood meeting (it certainly helps that many of them don’t know better!). We meet as couples in the afternoon for family home evening and it is a good time for us to chat and socialize. I used Luke 15 for the lesson this last week and the three parables therein.
Monday we went with the UN in one of their souped up SUV’s with a van of media people following, forty miles past Mubende and then 32 KM into the villages for an official handover of the last of a large shipment that the church had sent for the refugee camps. This camp had 16,651 in it as well as over 3,000 Rwandan Refugees that have been denied asylum and refugee status. They have been placed on the outskirts of the camp, but they have some rights as asylum seekers, The bulk of the refugees are from the Congo, and as such have automatic refugee status. The rest come from Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Somali, and the Sudan. They receive a small plot of land to farm and something to place as a roof (plastic or sheet metal) and they build their own mud hut/home. It is hard to describe the conditions. They live in huts made out of mud and the roofs are either some kind of tin or grass. but I thought they were much better than I had imagined as this is a very fertile country and it is easy for them to grow things. The UN has also been supplying them with some food and brings in water. Sandra and I handed out hygiene kits and school kits at a middle school. These kids are about 12 to 15 years old. Think about being so excited and so grateful just to get soap, toothpaste and brushes, and writing tablets and something to write with, a pencil sharpener and a ruler and a book to read that is your very own. They hugged us and kept saying, thank you, thank you. We went to another part of the camp (it is 81 square KM in size) and handed out clothing to men, women and children. These were the same bundles of clothing that we saw being sorted at welfare square in SLC (good, clean, used). We gave each a pair of pants and a shirt of some kind. They were all lined up and were waiting patiently to get their turn in the building where we were sorting and handing out this clothing. It went on for a long time before and after we were there, but we were representing the church and got a lot of press coverage both in the papers and on TV. I guess we were on the nightly news twice the next evening and once the morning after. We did not see the program, but a lot of our church members saw us and told us about it. They even showed the picture of Sandra handing out balloons to the little kids. That was unbelievable. She had a sack of 100 balloons in her purse and little kids ran from all over and mobbed her, yelling, please madam give me one. All you could see were little arms reaching for a balloon and almost knocking her off balance. We wish people who contribute to the humanitarian fund could see the end results. These people are so grateful for this assistance and need it so badly. We actually stood there with tears in our eyes. We rode back with the press in the van (7or 8 of them) and the rode forty miles out of Kampala is actually very good – but those last miles into town in the dark are something else. Remember no stop lights, no street lights, no car lights on most, no striping on the roads, potholes galore, bikes, boda-bodas, and mass amounts of people (no sidewalks) and you understand why I was happy to have someone else drive. It was a wonderful experience though and we have some nice pictures.
Yesterday we went to the marketplace at the lake in Kampala where they bring the people over from the islands and bring in their fish. A kaleidoscope of color and confusion. I then drove down to the equator where we did some shopping, had a late lunch, and took the obligatory pictures to prove we were actually on the equator. On the way back home, we stopped at a small little shop where they make the African drums. They come in all sizes and are quite unique. They are made of animal hide and each one is unique and has a different sound. They were making them by hand, off the road and down in a gully, under some big trees – an interesting process – and we ordered one to be made. A fairly small one, but it only cost 20,000 shillings (approx. $12.00 US) and we will pick it up in 4-5 weeks when the skin is cured. We bought some fruit on the way back as it is really inexpensive when you get away from the big city. Our breakfast this morning was a huge papaya (with fresh lime juice), fresh pineapple, small sweet bananas, and orange juice to wash down our malaria pills! We don’t like the beef here, but we certainly don’t lack in food.
We are both doing well physically – losing a little weight – actually a good thing and looking ahead to a very busy summer as we have more than enough to keep us busy and I find out more and more coming our way. We have a folder full of potential water projects and we understand we are having some experts come from SLC in August to look over some of these. We are also making arrangements to get at least 500 wheelchairs sent here. We have talked with the organization that will help the church get them into this country and help with the distribution. We celebrated Independence Day with no power at our compound. The two young missionaries that live above the garage (whom we love) came over with marshmallows and cookies and we supplied the chocolate bars and we put a marshmallow on a fork and held it over the candle flame and made “some mores”. It actually was very fun. Elder Monson brought his CD player over (battery powered) and we played a CD of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing America. We ate “Some Mores” by candle light and the missionaries read the scriptures pertaining to America being prepared for the restoration of the gospel. It was fun and a lot more impressive by candle light. We love and miss our family very much and once in a while a “melt down” occurs because we miss you so, but we feel we really are of help here and that makes it worthwhile. Love to you all,
P.S. A few pics: women in camp, Sandra being mobbed for balloons, and clothes handout.
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