Hello. My name is Delaney Carter and I'm a Stubborn Person.

Hello all! It's been a while.

First off everything in Mukono is going very well. My Luganda class has ended so now I have more time to relax, do homework, and go to my internship at the Mukono Health Clinic. Speaking of which, I have only been there twice so far and I am just doing office type stuff for the HIV/AIDS program. I hope to do more as I go more often. More on that later hopefully.

Before I get into my rural home stay I have to share my host parents reactions when I reminded them I was leaving for 9 days.

(6 days before I left)

Me: "Mama, remember that I am leaving on Friday for Soroti for 10 days."
Mama: "Heh! 10 days! That is too long! Two days is all you need. You go there, spend the night, and come back. And I will not let you dig. You cannot dig. And if there is anything you don't want to do just pretend that you are ill."

(A few days later)

Me: "So you know that I am leaving on Friday for Soroti for 10 days, right?"
Papa: "Good. You need the experience. You need to learn a different way of doing life. You will learn a lot. But if there's anything you don't feel like doing just pretend that you are ill. And please do not do more than you can manage. We don't want you coming home with bruises, blisters, and cuts all over your body."

I have great host parents. = )

If I had to sum up my rural home stay in one word it would be: necessary. But more on that in a moment.

We drove 7 hours from Mukono to Soroti on Friday. When we got there we stayed at our home stay coordinator's house for the first night. Her and her husband (who happens to be my Religions lecturer) are building a school and are boarding 50 students. We pitched tents and some people stayed in huts. I stayed in a tent. It felt like camping. We also met the 50 students. They were so nice and well mannered. We taught them some American games and they taught us so Ugandan games. It was so much fun. Except that one of my sandals broke, I will have to get that fixed soon.

Then the next morning we all loaded up to be dropped off at our homes for the week.

My family lived off the main road, but the path to get to my house was really long. It took quite a while to get there. When I arrived I met my host dad, Opolot John (Opolot is his culture name and John is his Christian name). He has two wives. One is named Florence and she was the one that stayed there the whole time. The other wife (he never told me her Christian name and I can't remember her culture name) is a nurse at the hospital and only comes by the house once in a while to visit. My host dad has 18 children. I am still thinking that there are more because the numbers weren't adding up to 18. 12 of them live in Kampala (capital city), 7 of his sons live at the house in their own huts, and their youngest daughter, who is 9 or 10, lived with us. He probably has 20+ grandchildren. There are also graves on his property (it's culture to have graves on one's property). One grave is his father, two are daughters, one is a son, and two are brothers. They all died of natural illness. My host day is in in early 80's and my host mom was probably in her 70's. They were a lovely couple and I wished that my host mom spoke more English because I think I would have really great conversations with her.

This was a hard experience for me. The reasons were because it is dry season which means there is absolutely NO work to do. So I just sat around all day and talked with my host dad from time to time. I don't do well with just sitting around doing doing. The other reason was I was completely isolated. I never left the property because I had no reason to and I didn't see anyone outside of my family for the whole week. I do not do well with isolation unless I choose to be isolated. If it forced on me, I break down. And I did cry on Sunday because I didn't know what else to do.

What also made it frustrating was the fact that I had the same conversation about food and tea with my host dad every night. I apparently never ate enough for them. I always ate enough to where I knew I would be satisfied and would not be starving until the next morning, but it apparently was never enough for them.

This is what the conversation was like:

"Take more food."
"No, thank you. I am fine. I promise."
"You eat very little."
"I know, but I know that I am satisfied."

For those of you who know me know that I hate tea. I decided to not be rude and refuse tea. So I drank it twice everyday. Even though it was milk tea which isn't as bad, it was still horrible. Another thing that I found out was, if I drink tea before bed I will be up all night. I discovered this the first night living with my Mukono family. So I would only take half a cup each time. That was never enough either.

"Take more tea."
"No, I can't. If I do I will be up all night."

There was one night where I had a full cup of tea because I didn't like the millet porrige/tea thing (look it up if you are curious what it is). I was up all night because of the tea. My host day asked me how my night was the next morning and I told him it was awful because of the tea. Then he understood. But then he continued to tell me to drink more tea, so I'm wondering if he really did understand.

Even though it was a rough experience it needed to happen. It was revealed to me that I am truly a stubborn person and need to let it go. I also had a lot of time to spend with the Lord each day which was so refreshing. And I realized that I could not do that week on my own strength. I needed the Lord a lot that week. Which is something I need to keep in mind always.

The Lord knew what I needed. And I am grateful for the experience. As hard as it was, it needed to happen to me and I hope to be different and act different after it.

There were some good things though. I got to do a little bit of work. I got to separate little tiny rocks from the rice (REALLY tedious job), pound ground nuts (basically peanuts), grind beans, shell ground nuts and dig for sweet potatoes (so I broke my Mukono Mama's rule, oh well). Those were great things and I'm happy that I got to do something besides sit around and do nothing.

I also ate with my hands for every meal. It was a bit tricky with beans and sauce, but I managed. I also had to bathe with a basin with COLD water instead of a bucket with warm water. I decided that I like bathing with a bucket better. But other than that, the experience was a lot like my home stay in Mukono. There was not much to adapt to.

After the week we all met in Kapchorwa which is where the other students stayed for the week. We went to Sipi Falls which are really beautiful. I went on a 5 hour hike to see all three of the falls. It was hard because the sun was beating down and it was a lot of up hill and down hill with really loose dirt so I fell a few times. It also didn't help that I ran out of water half way through the hike and couldn't get more. It was still a lot of fun, I'm glad I did it.


But I did get lost on the way back to the campsite we were staying. What happened was, I had to stop and rest within the last five minutes of the hike (didn't know we were that close) because I was really dehydrated and needed to rest. I let everyone go in front of me. When I was ready I got up and started walking again. I was thinking that the rest of the group wasn't that far a head of me because when I got to the top of the hill I saw a group of white people. I started following them and then within a few minutes I realized they weren't my group. So I asked a random Ugandan man how to get to the camp site I was staying at. He told me I was going the wrong way. We turned around and he took me all the way to the campsite. Such a nice man. I drank plenty of water when I got back so now I'm fine.


The next day was Sunday and we had a worship service on top of one of the hills. It was hard to get up because I was still sore from the hike, but the view was beautiful. Great time of worship and people giving their testimonies. Then we all walked down the hill and had breakfast and packed up and left for Mukono. Made it there safely. 


I got back to my home and was greeted by my Mama and sister Jemi. My Papa was in Kampala. I still have yet to see him. 


But that is all to report on. I am now ready for the second half of the semester. I'm told that the second half goes by a lot faster than the first half. So that means I will be home before you know it!!


I miss you all very much and cannot wait to see all of you soon!!


Prayer Requests:
To be present here
To continue being productive in homework
Safety and good health


be Blessed All! 

Processing and Wrestling

**Disclaimer: This post is going to be kind of venting. Everything is fine, I promise it's just there are some things that I need to get out. This is not a cry for people to feel sorry for me or to think I want to go home now. That is not the case. I love it here and I am so happy for this opportunity to be here. So please just bare with me.**

I had a pretty easy transition to Africa. I was very comfortable with being here and with my family. But I'm going to be honest, it is hard to leave family, friends, and comfort for a period of time. I do miss my family and friends and I miss the fact that my friends would only be a short walk down the hall and that my family is a car ride away. Now, if I really want to go home I would have to get on a plane and travel for almost a full day.

I have been here a month. Which means I have 3 months to go. Part of me is counting down because I am a future oriented person and am looking forward to the day when I get back to the States. The other part is saying, "Shoot! Time is running fast (Ugandan phrase)! I only have 3 more months?!" I feel as though I have so much to do in such a short amount of time. But then I remind myself, that I have time and do not need to stress. I need to learn to be more present here and learn to get through a day, one day at a time. Not to worry about what's going to happen next week or what life is going to be like when I get back to the States in 3 months.

I am reminded of the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:34, "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Oh Lord, help me not be anxious!!!


I also feel as though I am at that place where I have nothing to write about for people back home to read about. I have gotten into a routine and it just seems like life is normal now with classes, homework, and interactions with my host family. It's almost like I'm a normal college student. Even though I'm not living a typical college life because I am not involved with anything on campus. But I do promise if something worthwhile happens I will write about it for all you to see.


It feels as though things take so much time here. Like walking to school. The bathrooms are half way across campus so it takes like 3 minutes to get there and it's not always guaranteed that there will be toilet paper or soap there so you have to bring some with you. Cooking takes a long time. My host mother comes home at like 6:30 and is cooking dinner until we eat at 9-9:30. Most of what she makes, could be cooked in an hour tops in the States. Bathing takes longer because my host mother boils water for me and I pour it into a bucket and then add 3/4 more cold water to make the water bearable. Doing the laundry is a 2-3 day task. Because the clothes get washed and then are put on the line to dry all day, and then someone has to iron them. And because there are so many clothes, ironing takes 2-3 hours. And ironing is not done right as soon as the clothes are dry. The clothes sit on a shelf for a day before they get ironed. I would iron, but my family hires a neighborhood girl to do it so if I did it I would be taking away a paying job for her. Washing dishes take a lot of time because there is no dish washer. My host mother is the dish washer (she has yet to let me help her). 


Here's the thing. It's okay. This is the way life is here and I knew that going into it. Ugandans have the time to do life this way. In the States we would complain because we are so used to things getting done fast and efficiently. I need to take a page out of a Ugandan book. These tasks force a person to be present. I need to take time and just sit with my host mother when she is making supper and just talk with her. I need to be broken of my Western mindset. 


I am also having to process so much. There are many questions that have been raised in my Faith and Action class, that I am wrestling with. Such as, what is salvation and how is a person saved? Is it different from culture to culture? How do we really do cross-cultural missions? What parts of a culture should we allow the natives to practice and what parts should we challenge? And how do we even know what would be acceptable and what wouldn't? 


There are quite a few cultural difference here that I know would be looked down upon in the States, but they are perfectly acceptable here. So who is to say that they are right or wrong? How much should our cultures influence our walks with Jesus or should it be the other way around? Oh goodness, my head is spinning just thinking about all this. Maybe I will never know the answers to these questions, but they are good questions to be asking and processing. I'm hoping to get some guidance on these questions by the time I leave. That does not mean I will be an expert or have all the answers. It's a journey that I will be on the rest of my life. 


Now unto something happy....


I went bungee jumping last Sunday morning. It was awesome!!!!! I was not as scared as I thought I would be. I was fine up until I was on the edge of the platform. That was when I was starting to get a little nervous. I even looked down and the guide said not to, so I looked up again. That helped me a lot. It made it easier to jump. I was holding onto a bar above me and then I had to drop my arms and then I hear the words, "Take a couple deep breaths. Okay, now you are ready. THREE, TWO, ONE, BUNGEE!!!!" And then I jumped. I had my eyes open the whole time and so I saw everything below me. And then I shot up again and back down and swung back and forth. Ah, so great. I would probably do it again if the opportunity arises. I do have a video of it, but it won't load on Facebook so you will have to wait until I get back to see it. 


Other than that there is not much to write about. 


Prayer Requests:
To be present here
to be up to date on homework and to get this Politics paper written because it is due on Thursday
Be in the Word daily
To be able to process as much as I can


I just want to say thank you for all who have been praying!! I am so happy for the support. Please continue to be praying!!


Be Blessed All!!