Finally a blog!

“Its Sunday and we are driving back from rural homestays. I loved this week. I wish it was longer. The people. The joy. The greetings in Kupsabin (their language)> Chikaste Yesu! (Praise God!)/ Takwenyo! (How are you?)/ Yeko (Im fine)/ Eee (yes)/Kei-tabon! (Thank you) Kai-tabon Keyoshi (thank you for cooking)J. Even the fresh cows milk tea…it bubbling over my host mom’s kitchen fire as she scoops it up with the cup and pours it back in to mix it.) It was good and soothing. The walks through the matoke trees. The long runs while dodging cows. My room. Journaling by a lantern. Laughing. Learning. My host mom and dad’s joy. Making funny faces with my host sister Karen while sitting at the table in our smoky, little kitchen while waiting for supper as she didn’t know any English as was our best way of communication. Karen falling asleep waiting for supper…Visiting the schools. The view. The round huts. The sound in the distance: Babies crying, people hoeing in the fields, birds chirping, roosters crowing, silence. No electricity. Brighter than bright stars…I pray that until God leads me back, it will all stay so vivid in my mind.”- Journal entry on the way back to Mukono.

About a couple of weeks ago, all USP students got on a bus and headed out on a 5 hour journey, up the hill of Mt. Elgon, for our week long rural home stay in Kapchorwa.

Ever since we have been back I have been wanting to write and share about my experience but every time I would go to start writing …I couldn’t. So much happened in a weeks amount of time, and so much thinking and processing on top of it has left me silent from blogging for a bit.



Where to start…


-I basically fell in love with Kapchorwa. I don’t know if it was Kapchorwa itself or the village part of it, but every aspect of Kapchorwa I loved. The people, the BEAUTIFUL view, the millions of banana trees and leaves, unrealistic trees that grew in artistically appeasing styles: Some had bright pink buds that stood out so distinctively amongst all the green that it was like food for the eyes J Other trees reminded me of the ones off of the Lion King (I miss that movie :P) and others made me want to climb as it appeared as if they grew forever as the branches disappeared into the sky as you followed them to their tops. Over looking Kapchorwa village you could see everything it felt like! Even our house at a distance :)




-The kids were even more camera hungry then the kids in Mukono, which I didn’t mind. Every time the many kids that gathered around our house saw that I had my camera out, they would grab whatever they could find at the moment, chairs, motors for grinding maize and coffee and started dancing. The videos are so hilarious.



-The eyes: Something about the eyes of the children caught my attention. They are so deep and bright and beautiful. And I will never forget their big, joyful smiles with their gap filled pearly white teeth :).

-My host dad is a headmaster of a secondary school and his name is Patrick. I will always remember our conversations each night while waiting for dinner and how his gap filling sentence always consisted of of, ”So…..In America… :P” I had a lot of fun explaining the different types of seafood that we eat, and clamming in particular. It is also believed by them that Americans are only allowed to have 2 children, so they were shocked as I went down my family line of seven :).




-My host mom is a teacher and a primary school and her name is Joy. She literally lives her name out in the way she lives: Joyful in everything she does. One night she offered me more beans, and being so full, I said no thank you...but jokenly she responded by saying, "Megan if you love me you will eat more." haha. We all laughed and agreed that she can't buy my love..and saved me from having to eat more beans :P.


-Can you guess how much my host parents make a DAY teaching?.2 dollars. How much do we make hour even off of minimal wage?



-But yet I discovered something that wasn’t hard to find during my visit. They are soo much richer than I am…Than most Americans. The way they view life, their hospitality, the way they welcome visitors so warmly, and always with tea or passion fruit juice. The joy that they have and the real laughter amongst their tight knit relations to each other in the village caused me to re-examine my life and my priorities... and I still don’t know if it’s even possible to fully unlearn my materialistic lifestyle by truly putting relationships first and live a life of simplicity.




-I really enjoyed being able to dip my feet into the village lifestyle and get a firsthand experience as to what living amongst the matoke leaves is really like. As of now I have a desire to raise my future kids in a lifestyle like this….but that’s a long long ways from now.




-Some of the cool things I got to partake in: Making coffee! (Roasting the beans and all J), Slaughtering a chicken, making a soccer ball out of banana leaves, eating chicken gizzards, standing underneath a huge waterfall, singing and yelling in a cave, being careful not to drown in all the rain at times, getting sunburned, bathing in an outdoor washroom, learning bits of their language (Kupsabin),drinking tea with visitors, drinking more tea, and then drinking some more :P, milking a cow for our tea, visiting Jonathan Beggs and his work place in Kapchorwa, eating the biggest banana I have ever seen or tasted in my life! Trying to carry a jerry can on my head, and playing with the many kids. :)



*This is long…but brief as there is soo much to share. Can’t wait to come back home and share more with stories and pictures!