Trip with a Friend

Okay so last week (it should be noted that I am writing this on Friday September 7), I went with a friend, named Stephen, to his home in Bushenyi in southwest Uganda. It’s more accurate to say that his home was in Sheema – the district he was from. It used to be part of Bushenyi, but it is now Sheema, but when I describe where I went to Ugandans saying Bushenyi better describes the geographical area I was, which is why I say Bushenyi. (A little context: districts are like states in the U.S. – except because Uganda is small, they are more like the size of counties. Anyways, the government has been splitting up many districts over the course of the years. The district I am from, Nakasongola used to be part of the district Luweero, but was split. Bushenyi was recently split into five districts, one of which is Sheema.)

            I stayed at his place, which was a very green, hilly, and chilly place, especially in comparison to the Ranch, which is much more barren, flat, and hot. The place is extremely pretty and reminded me of where I was last year: actually I passed through Mbarara – the city where I stayed for about a week and a half when I was in southwestern Uganda last year – on my way: it neighbors the district where I was.

            We mostly just met a lot of people, including his family. I met dozens of people each day. This involved quite a bit of walking for a few hours each day. On Saturday we visited a micro-finance organization that he helped start. That Sunday, I gave what was my first “sermon” in church – to answer the commonly asked question by my parents if I’ve been asked to preach yet. I am not sure if “sermon” is the correct term, because it was about financial saving/management, not the most religious topic. This was the topic that my friends wanted me to talk about, and I gave it at two churches in the area that day. I then came back on Monday, the same day that my school is starting up again from holiday.

            So as I already said, it was much colder there. On Sunday, I think it went below freezing – at least when I looked at the one thermometer it said -1 degrees Celsius. That and the fact that it was raining, with what I thought was freezing rain made it chilly. I was also travelling pretty fast on the back of a motorcycle (boda boda) into the wind, and this may have biased my interpretation. The other time I realized how chilly it was when I was showering that night. As is normal here, you bathe outside – in this situation on the back porch. There’s nothing like standing/squatting naked splashing water all over you when you can see your breathe! I found out that people in Bushenyi don’t bathe twice a day. This is a very important thing where I am: you bathe once in the morning and again at night. I have been so ingrained into bathing at night from my time in Central Uganda by people always asking, “Have you bathed yet?” (because they know that Americans don’t usually bathe twice a day and wanted to make sure I did). Now it feels weird for me when I don’t bathe at night. I wonder what will happen when I come back to the U.S.

            Anyways the trip was nice. The area is very fertile. Most of the agriculture grown in Uganda comes from here. Because it of this, the area is pretty densely populated. I also liked the weather much better, a refreshing contrast to the heat here in Nakasongola. There are also many pretty hills, which I am told causes the fertile soil and leads to significant rains. This reminded me of Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania. I will include pictures in some later blog when I am in Kampala.