A Hug From Home

As much as I enjoy my life and purpose here in Uganda, the other day I found myself wishing for the comforting hug of someone from home. Though I talk to my family and friends regularly on Skype, it simply cannot connect me to the physical comfort of their presence. God must have heard my prayer, because he answered it in such a timely way, from an unexpected direction.

Today, I got a call from a worker on campus saying someone wanted to talk to me. Then I heard the familiar voice of one of my coworkers from the hospital I worked at in the US! She had come to visit her sister in Uganda and remembered that I was going to be here at UCU. So, her niece guided her to the campus and she asked around until she found someone with my phone number! I quickly went to meet her and be embraced by a comforting hug from home. We talked for a little bit, discussing the familiar things from my US life as well as my life here in Uganda. Her visit was short, but her hug went beyond her and her visit. Truly, I felt the embrace of God -- a God who heard my little cry and answered it in an unforeseen way. That kind of loving care is quite humbling.

Later, as I contemplated this experience, the song, “Home”, by Philip Philips came on. I could not help but think of how applicable these words are to my life and relationship with God right now. While I would prefer to hold onto the comforts of home, God keeps reminding me to hold on to him, to not be distracted by sadness or discomfort, and, most importantly, he reminds me that I am not alone. He hears my whispered longings and is ready to embrace me in his everlasting love the moment I find my home in him.

Ebola and other devastations....

Over the past several days I have been putting together a lecture on Ebola. Not to scare anyone, but last August there was a small outbreak in Uganda. This made me happy, though only because it made for good teaching material. Having a relatively recent outbreak engaged the students in the topic and meant that there were many videos on You-Tube to choose from. So, if you want to know anything about Ebola, I am well versed on the subject.

Developing and delivering the lecture presented some challenges. Since Ebola is so specific to Africa, none of my textbooks cover the subject. Finding material online was not difficult, especially in light of the recent outbreak, but having internet issues made for a languishing search at times. Eventually, I gathered enough material to sift through, but I constantly found myself referring to Iggy, my old pathophysiology book, for reminders on different metabolic processes. For those of my readers not proficient in medical speech, I am sure the last few sentences have been the equivalent of "yada yada yada". Quite honestly, that's fine as this is not essential to my story :). The following, however, is, so perk up!

Now, not to sound too bookish, but I was really excited about my lecture. I developed this great PowerPoint (in my opinion), found a good video that introduced the topic and showed students the site of the recent outbreak, and then I created supplementary activities to help engage them in the material. All of my planning and late-night research left me feeling as excited as I was nervous that this would completely bomb. As the lecture hour drew near, I could feel my face becoming hot with anxious anticipation. When I walked into the room, my first major problem assaulted me. I felt, quite literally, like a dear getting smacked by on on-coming light and wondering, "Where did that come from?"

Allow me to explain. In order to do power point presentations, I need a projector and in order to do a lecture I need (at minimum) a white board marker. I had neither. Both white board markers and portable projectors are high commodities and happen to be kept together in a bag that the class rep is responsible for carrying from class to class. For some reason or other, the bag did not get to my classroom. After a temporary fright, my coworker, Grace, remembered that there was another projector locked up in the nursing lab. So, we trekked across campus to get it. What I find funny, is that in the US this situation would be a state of emergency, but in Uganda this was all taken in stride. As such, stopping to talk to people on the way to retrieving the projector was, naturally, undertaken without regard to class time.

Eventually, I set up the projector, managed to get online, showed the video-clip and began my lecture (it went fabulous by the way). There is nothing like planning something and having it turn out just as well as you hoped! I was on cloud-9 (excuse the idiom) all the way home...that is until a black cat literally crossed my path and temporarily soured my moment. Now, I am trying to convince myself that black cat situations hold a different meaning in Uganda, much like lack of classroom projectors do.

Ebola Video Link, for those who are interested.

Fourth of July in Uganda

Ironically, part of my Fourth of July was celebrated with a bunch of Brits! The university is celebrating its 100 years of being a school, so a delegation from the U.K. with various connections to the school’s history came for part of the week’s activities and the centennial graduation (which was today). We had dinner together at the guest house and then some of us went to the cultural celebration being held that night on campus. Uganda has around 50 tribes, each with their own language, tribal dance and culture. The cultural night celebrates the different tribes of the students by having students gather together with others of their tribe and present their tribal dance in front of the UCU (Uganda Christian University) community. I think they also have judges that announce a winner at the end of the night. Every tribe has a different style of dance and different outfits related to their tribal dance.

What I love about Uganda is that people are very expressive, and often do so through dance, no matter their age. They also appreciate bold bottoms and curvy hips (as evidenced by their tribal outfits). As an American woman who comes from a culture with different feelings about those features, I appreciate their positive viewpoint. I have uploaded a couple clips from the dances that they performed for your viewing pleasure (though to be honest it is not the greatest quality video). I might also suggest that we bring this tradition to the forefront of American culture by having each state come up with their own state dance with unique outfits…Minnesota for instance could have more of a lyrical style dance with flowing, blue outfits to represent our 10,000 lakes. As I am out of the country, I will leave it to you all to initiate this bill in congress. That way, by the time I get back to the US, this event of statehood cultural dance-offs will be organized so I can send video clips of it to the Ugandans. I am sure such an event would be just as big as the Super Bowl.

In the mean time, I will enjoy the spirit and energy of Ugandan tribal dances. Each dance they presented yesterday lasted around 10 minutes. The event started near 8:30 pm and they were still going strong at 10 pm at which time I left. Although my Fourth of July did not include any fireworks (or many Americans for that matter) it did include an excellent star-filled walk home to sounds of the tribal drums beating in the distance.

There are 3 different tribal dances I have pieced together. The first is my favorite, look for the guy who pops in at minutes 1 and 2 :)