Day 12!

Tuesday May 29^th 6:15 pm

Not as many people got up early to witness another breath taking sunrise, but I just couldn’t force myself to sleep in. I figured I would only get to see this one more time and so I decided to take full advantage of it. It was just as beautiful and even looked relatively different. This morning after the sunrise, we even saw a beautiful rainbow so any lack of sleep was definitely worth it.

Of course I went back to bed for an hour before it was time for breakfast. I had an omelet again and banana again. Then it was time for our morning lecture from David Batema. He talked to us about gender equality in Uganda and I think it’s an understatement to say I was shocked about some of the issues. It wasn’t until 1995 that the constitution said that men and women should be treated equally and after talking to the MUB students I don’t think this is actually carried out in society. The one thing that really stuck with me, apart from many of his stories, was his quote “you must change with the changes, otherwise the changes will change you.” In my opinion, Uganda needs to start making some drastic changes to the way women specifically are viewed and treated, but to gender equality in general.

After the lecture we had lunch, where we continued our conversation with the MUB students. For lunch we had something that seemed like fish sticks and more French fries. But I didn’t pay much attention to what I was eating, because I was so engrossed in the conversation. We were talking to Lawrence and Ezira about their views on women and whether or not they should be treated equally. They both said that they should not be nor do they think they will be in the near future. The scenario we talked a lot about was if there was one chair in a sitting room that the woman would be expected to sit on the ground and the man would sit in the chair. Even if the woman was there first, when the man entered she should get up and give him the chair. This absolutely stunned us because we feel as though it is the opposite in the United States. I could rant about this forever, but after lunch we loaded up the bus and headed back to Kampala.

We drove through a forest on our way back and looked at some tea and sugar cane from the bus windows. We arrived back relatively early around 4 and were able to catch up with the real world and get some internet access. Now I’m just waiting for my pizza to be ready, grab a bite to eat, and retreat to our cabin to catch up on journaling. Can’t wait for a great day at Sure Prospects tomorrow. I’m sure I’ll have lots of kids pictures to post.

Can’t believe this trip is going as fast as it is, but looking forward to seeing everyone back home soon!
~Mary