Homestays!

I have been dreading home stays since I signed up for this trip in February. I knew they were a big part of the experience, but not an experience I wanted to have. I asked God to be with me and it was really funny that I was reading a book and found all of these versus that talked about God going before me and not to fear. So, when the big day came I was sick as a dog with worry (and diarrhea). I waited with the group for a very long time until my name was called. When I came down to meet the family I realized I was standing with another girl from the USP named Jessica. We were going to be living in the house together!!! I was so happy because Jessica is an amazing girl and I had really wanted to stay with someone, but I didn’t want to be a baby, so I was just leaving all the arrangements in God’s hands.

We drove to their house, which is one of the nicest I have seen in Uganda. The house was full of people that kept being introduced and brothers and sisters (I later found out that most of them were cousins that were living with them on holiday.) The sister, named Judith, came with her dad to pick us up. She is so amazing…she helps us with everything. She is kind of like our go between…she teaches us how to do things and helps us with our questions…all the while not treating us like we are stupid at all. The rest of the brothers are named Brian, Mark (who is a twin to Judith), and Simon. There are three female cousins that live there too. They help with the laundry, cleaning, and cooking. Everyone was so kind and willing to serve us in any way they possibly could.

They let us take a quick nap because neither Jessica nor I could keep our eyes open much longer. Jessica and I have our own room that is very nice. It was a little hard at first to fall asleep at first because the house is set up like a barn, with the walls of each room not touching the ceiling. Also, the windows are all open and the doors are left open. So, as we lay down to sleep we could hear a little of every conversation going on in the house. It was weird at first, but now it is comforting to feel all those people in the house with me. So, both Jessica and I fell asleep hard, once we finally did fall asleep. I woke up once and felt something on my hand. I was afraid to look, but when I did it was a little lizard. I just flicked it off. Later when I woke up and was telling Jessica about it I just had to laugh because the Ashley that I knew three weeks ago would not have been that calm about waking up to a lizard on her hand.

The dad (we call him Tata Julius) was really excited for a ceremony he would be taking us to that night. He would be the master of ceremonies for a pre-engagement ceremony. We showed up way too underdressed for this very formal ceremony. We sat under tents, which was a good thing because it kept raining. Pretty much the point of the ceremony is for the girl to bring the boy to her house and introduce him to her family. The whole ceremony was in Lugandan, so Jessica and I didn’t understand a lick of it, but our sister Judith tried as best she could to interpret it for us. They played a lot of different music during the ceremony and I almost burst out laughing when a Randy Travis and Kenny Rogers song came on. I can’t wait to tell Karis that they listen to country music in Africa too! There was a lot of different family members coming and bowing. The best part was when the boy’s family brought gifts for the girl’s family. They just kept coming with baskets and baskets of things, like fruit, sugar, Fanta!, and household goods. They brought a live cow and a huge skinned, dead cow. They even gave them a couch and two chairs…and that was really funny because it was raining and they sat them right outside and they made everyone sit on them for pictures. The party went on until it was night and the power went out a couple times. The first time it happened I was following Judith to get food and a man next to be asked where I was going. It kind of scared me, but when I turned around I realized it was Tata Julius. He was there then and every time the power went out after that with his flashlight on his cell phone guiding our path. He kept introducing us as his daughters and I was just so amazed at how caring and protective he was over us.

The next day was church which was totally amazing. The music really touched me…it was so amazing to hear them talk about trusting in God and not fearing the future when they fear kidnappings and death everyday. I think the songs mean a lot more when you can really associate with what you are singing about. A little into the service I turned around to see a baptism and a little girl caught my eye. She waved and I waved back and then her mom sent her to sit with me! It was amazing…I got to hold the little girl through most of the service. She was so good and had a great time playing with my watch, my ring, and the buttons on my sweater.

After church we took tea, did some homework and then took lunch. After that we took Mark to boarding school in Kampala, which is about 45 minutes away. It was amazing to see how young some of the boys were at the boarding school. But the parents just drop them off and leave them for a month to attend school. When we got back to Mukono, Tata and Mama dropped us off with Judith to get her hair cut and to pick up some things at the store.

That night Tata and Mama went to Jinja to run some errands, so all the kids were left at home together. We took tea with Brian, the oldest brother, in the room listening to music. He was so excited to hear that we liked the music he was listening to. So, we all started talking about music and then I looked out the back door and saw one of the cousins, Stella, was dancing outside. Jessica and I went outside and it became a huge dance party, with them trying to teach us traditional dances and us trying to teach them swing and ballroom dancing. It was really cool because I was amazed at how willing they were to letting us into their family.

As I went to bed I thought about how scared I have been for months about coming to this house. And now that I am here I feel the most at home that I have felt since I was actually at my home three weeks ago. I have realized that God really does go before me. And if he takes care of me in a situation as trivial in life as this, why can’t I trust that he has his hand in every part of my life? This experience has been so comforting because I trusted that God would take care of me and he has, he did, and he will! How amazing is that?!