Day 9!

Saturday May 26^th 8:05 pm

I’m so happy we got back on the early side tonight, because it was an early morning and a long day. Our morning started with a 7:00 breakfast of toast and a banana at MUBS. Then we boarded the bus for the over hour bus ride out to the rural visit.

Once we arrived at the small village where Dr. Senteza grew up, we got to tour two farms. At the farms we saw the wide variety of crops that they grow here from sweet potatoes, to pumpkins, to bananas. We even got to try some fresh fruit cut right down from the trees with a machete. I tried jackfruit and guavas, both of which were just okay. It was interesting to compare a farm in Uganda to one in Iowa or Illinois. The one main difference I noticed was intercropping, which means that a banana tree would be planted amongst rows of beans.

After our farm tours, we went to one of the elders of the village home for lunch. It was definitely eye opening to see just how little this family had and they were one of the wealthier in the community. To give you an idea, I peed in a hole in the ground. For lunch they served us fresh pineapple, matooke, rice, and meat. It was a little bit better than what we usually eat at MUBs, but I still don’t like it and am getting sick of it.

During lunch we decided that Daisy and Lawrence, two of the MUB students, should get married so we had some fun with that and then it was time to discuss what we had seen. We had the opportunity to ask the elders questions and then they in return asked questions. To give you an idea of what we talked about, we asked things about the future of farming in Uganda, how education plays a role in people not taking over the family business, and other aspects of their life. They asked us questions about why we only give candy to the kids, our political opinions, and other light-hearted questions.

After our discussion we presented the elders with the many clothes and other gifts we brought. We decided to leave it up to their discretion and give the clothing to the children they thought were the most needy, rather than us handing it to random kids. They were extremely grateful and it felt really good to know that we were going to make a difference in these children’s lives.

It was then time to get back on the bus before the rain hit, but it took us quite some time to walk back to the bus because we were bombarded by village children. We had some candy to hand out, but I did not expect the mob to happen. The smiles on their faces and the way they jumped up and down every time we pulled something out of our bags made me really really happy. They also loved smiling for the camera, so we got some cute “snaps” as they call them.

Once we got close to the bus we were pretty much fresh out of candy. However they were still holding their hands out so I started giving them high fives. The chorus of laughter that erupted is one of my highlights of the trip thus far. Finally it was time to depart and we headed back to Kampala. We made a quick stop at the supermarket for snacks for our trip tomorrow and made it back to Red Chilli for dinner. I had a salami and mozzarella sandwich, it was just okay.

Tomorrow we are going back to the rural visit and then off to King Fisher Resort in Jinja. This is our relaxing part of the trip and I think we are all looking forward to jumping into the refreshing pool. I don’t know what the internet will be like there, but as always I will do my best. Now it’s time to pack my stuff, shower, and get to bed early.

~Mary

It's been decided...I'm coming home with a child (sorry mom & dad)!