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The Mukono Health Clinic!! The health clinic does do a lot of general health illnesses, but they also do births and work with HIV/AIDS patients. I'm really looking forward to this. I'm sure I will have some crazy and awesome stories to share.
Things are still going well. Classes are fine, I'm not as overwhelmed anymore, but we will see how long that lasts. Still in great health so no worries there.
I have a neat little God story to share with everyone.
I have a padlock and key on a trunk at my house to keep all my stuff in. On that same key ring, I have a key to the front door and padlock to IMME quarters (where I go when I'm not in class and do homework) and a key to the padlock on my locker. So if I loss them, I have to get new keys and there would be to be a new padlock on the door and all the other IMME students would have to get new keys.
Well, I lost my keys last Friday. I thought they were in my bag, but then I thought that I left them at home. I looked everywhere and they were no where to be found. I was getting so upset and I almost cried because I thought it would be a huge inconvenience to everyone else.
Then I took sometime to ask God where they may be. I was trying to keep calm, but I was still freaking out. So I went to class and found out that because I lost my keys everyone has to get a new key. I felt awful.
But then, during class time the Lord brought to mind the tear in the lining of my purse. The tear is right behind the pocket where I keep my keys. So during class I looked there and there were my keys!!!!! Praise God!!!!! It was such a relief to find them. This is a great reminder that God cares about the small things as well as the big things in life. So I want to encourage all of you to instead of freaking out about something missing, just take some time and pray about it and see if God reminds you of where it could be.
I went to an introduction ceremony on Saturday. This is a huge celebration for a couple who are about to be married. This is where the girl introduces her future husband to her parents. It involves the favorite aunt of the girl, music, gifts, and some dancing. It's kind of long and completely in Luganda so I didn't understand what was really happening.
Basically the guy goes to the aunt and says he wants to marry the girl. The aunt goes to the parents to get the blessing. The parents want something in return for their daughter. It could be anything as small as sugar and sodas or as expensive as a house or a car. If the guy cannot meet that requirement, he cannot marry the daughter. So at the ceremony the gifts are presented to the parents and the girl introduces the guy to her parents. The aunt is the one that kind of runs everything at the ceremony as well. There's a lot more to it, but I have to wait to watch a tape of one and my Papa can teach me more.
I got to go to my family's church yesterday (Sunday). It is called Blessed Christian Church. It is a beautiful church and the people are very welcoming to visitors. The worship time is western Christian songs so I knew a few of them. There was a little Luganda, but not much. The message was about reaping and sowing. I am still trying to figure out how I feel about the church. I also went to observe the Sunday school, because I will be helping out with it this semester.
The children here are so well mannered. In the States, kids would be running around and screaming until the teacher told them to sit down and be quiet. It took the teacher quite a while to get the kids all together, but none of them were screaming or running around. Most of them were sitting down and waiting quietly. The teacher was just trying to arrange them in a way so that all the kids could sit. It was interesting to see that because I was expecting the kids to be crazy. But here, respect for elders is expected even from a young age. I like that a lot. Respect is not earned, it is just expected.
They were talking about the 10 Commandments and when the teacher was talking about Honor your Father and Mother, she asked how do you do that? One child said by obeying them and respecting them. The teacher said, "Yes, and how do you show respect? By having good manners.Remember your manners. Always remember to say 'thank you' etc." She never said, "And remember to say 'please'." In Uganda, people don't really say please every. They usually say, "Give me my phone" or "Can I have some?" without saying please. I don't know why that is, but they aren't rude about their requests either, they just don't say please. That will probably be hard for me being here because I say please quite a lot.
I found out that it's okay for me not to be able to climb trees. In Uganda, girls don't climb trees, only boys do. = )
Oh I almost forgot....
I went to the capital city, Kampala on Friday. That was an experience. I have never been so close to so many taxis and boda-bodas (motorcycle taxis) in my life. And there were so many people there as well. It was mass chaos and the city is always like that. There are so many markets and stores and everyone is trying to get some where. I almost got hit by a couple taxis because pedestrians don't have the right of way and sometimes you have to force a car to stop in order to walk. I had to do that and it was kind of scary. I am so glad that one of my friend's Papa was there or else we would have been so lost and confused. He told us how to get a taxi and how much it will be. Where to get off from and how to get to where we need to go. I think I need to take more trips because that's where the best markets are for souvenir type things. Overall, it was exhausting, but really informative and fun.
My Papa gave me a Ugandan name. Nalutaaya (Na-Loo-Ta-ya). There is no special meaning to it, it is just a special name to him. It was the name of his sister that passed away some time ago and he was really close to her. I am honored to be given that name because of how special it is to him.
I think that is all I have for now. Once I get into my internship I will be sharing more about that and how everything else is going.
Prayer requests:
I'm sleeping better so Praise God for that
Connecting with family on more than a "I want to learn more about your culture so that's why I'm talking to you" level
Build friendships with other USP students
In the Word daily
and as always health and safety
Be Blessed all!!
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