In the village

More excerpts from the 2004 trip:

May 11
"Well," as Wesley said, "That was an adventure." After my science class with Mary & Kipsy this afternoon, Martha stopped by for me and we went to the village. It's perhaps half a mile away (maybe less). Anyway, you enter through an opening in the thorn wall, and there are dirt paths winding around between groups of houses. We didn't pass the corral [actually, there aren't cows in this ere], but there was a garden.

Usually Martha does a Bible study/literacy class at Josephine's, but today we started in an open hut-thing of Rose's. It begin to rain pretty hard, so we hurried through the mud to Josephine's house. I sat on a mattress next to Josephine, baby Munyes, and Joyce's littlest girl. There were a couple of old ladies there, and a few younger ones, plus children going back and forth. Martha told the story of Moses, from his birth to when God spoke to him through the burning bush. Afterwards it started raining hard again, so we hung out at J's. It was actually very nice. Then, because the mud is so bad, Joyce loaned me her mud boots (very big, sturdy, and dry!) and Josephine loaned Martha some thorn-proof sandals. Josephine, barefoot, led us on the best track along the path till we came out of the really muddy parts. She and Joyce really were kind to us! (Next time, instead of being dumb mzungus, we'll wear boots and raincoats no matter what. ;) )


friends at Rose's

Later, my intital reactions: I sat down on the mat in the hut and talked a little bit to Rose's father, while Martha went to see where Josephine was. That was fine. But it started to smell when the ladies begin coming, and there were so many flies (I've always hated flies), and I don't speak Karimojong. I just wasn't particularly comfortable.

Christ is comfort, though, and he was there. As Martha prayed (and Josephine translated), the flies lost their importance and I didn't want to be concerned by the "ills" anymore. It does make a difference in attitude to call out to God and remember that he is there with me even in a stuck in really the middle of nowhere...only it's not nowhere, though his grace.

June 1st
For some reason, after the initial discomfort of that first time, I have loved being in the village. Smells and flies can be annoying, but the old ladies and kids are starting to take on familiar faces, and I love being with Josephine and Rose. Today, for the last couple songs, there was Josephine with Munyes, Rose with Tony, and Joyce with Matthew, all together.

And then there's this boy who's always there: he just has this ragged shirt (button-up type) and is always carrying around his toy, a stick with a wheel attached to the end. I don't know his name; I need to ask Martha. Anyway, he's always very friendly. Today it was just him and me and the old women for a few minutes, and I wanted to talk to this kid but was stopped by not knowing any Karamojong. I decided to draw in the dirt, and that worked pretty well to entertain us both. I drew Rose's house and the little thatch granary next it, and the boy grinned and pointed, "oh yeah, you're drawing that." So it was fun. Man, I need to work on picking up more Karamojong, though!

[The next summer when I went back, this kid still had ragged clothes but had changed so much. He was still friendly and smiling, only more so, and he knew some English. One day he and some younger kids came by the schoolhouse with flowers, I think for Amy, but she wasn't there. So they gave them to me, and this boy knew my name; I was obviously Amanda, not Amy. That blew me away, because I hadn't seen him for a year...although he probably knew all about what I'd been up to since I got back, through the "hinternet". It was rather exciting to recognize him and realize that he's doing better than when I saw him last.]

village girls