WHAT? You Mean It's Been a Year Already?

Fresh off the airplane and standing by

Lake Victoria on my first day

On July 19, 2011, just one year ago today, I stepped off an Ethiopian Airlines plane after almost 24 hours of flying and stepped onto Ugandan soil to begin my adventure of serving as a Baha'i pioneer. It's hard to believe a year has already passed! Where has the time gone? So much has happened that I can hardly keep up. And I certainly haven't been able to keep my friends and family up to date as much as I would have liked. I was literally tossed into the deep end of the pool as they say and within 48 hours of arriving here was hard at work in the National Baha'i Centre in Kampala - situated on Kikaaya Hill just four miles north of the city itself. And I've hardly stopped since!

To say my life here has been magical would be the understatement of the year. Yet interestingly enough, there are times that it feels somewhat mundane as well. Office work is office work no matter where you live in the world. But beyond the office work is the opportunity to learn about a completely different culture than what I was raised in, to make friends who have become like a second family to me, to learn to detach myself almost completely from material things (although I do love my electricity and hot water heater!), to live in a cottage within such a short distance to the Mother Temple of Africa that when I look out of my bedroom window in the evenings I am comforted by the light emanating from it - my personal nightlight as it were. The bounties have been relentlessly showered upon me during my time here, and I'm grateful that I'm being given a chance to extend my stay as I was not yet ready to leave - there's still so much to do and see!

There have been challenges to be sure. But I haven't had nearly the problem of assimilating into this culture and this lifestyle as one would think a Southern girl might. Of course, I am fortunate that my first three months here I was staying in the home of someone who has lived here for 4 years and who was able to guide me through the transition from living in American society to living in an African society. So by the time I moved into my little cottage on "the hill," I was pretty well equipped to function fully in this life with few problems.

JBEckl has a song titled "New Creation" and I certainly feel I have been completely re-created by making this move to Uganda. It was necessary and timely and I am grateful to God for opening the doors that led me here. I feel like I have become my true self and the world I'm living in now has opened me up in ways I would never have imagined and has unleashed a whole new level of creativity that I wasn't finding in the States. The Joyce Jackson who left Nashville one year ago is not the Joyce Jackson who is now living in Kampala, but is a better, new and improved Joyce!

I've been thinking of all that I have learned in this first year, and the observations I've made and even the skills I have developed while here, and I'll share some of them here:

• I can fearlessly cross a busy Kampala street, dodging taxis and bodas bodas, and that's even with having to look the opposite way toward traffic than one looks in the U.S.!
• 

  I actually will climb onto the back of a boda boda (motorbike taxi) to get where I need to go.
• With money, I now think in terms of shillings instead of dollars and have a better appreciation for the value of things.
• I've learned to peacefully co-exist with geckos and other critters (but not rats or snakes!)
• I've learned to live without a television.
• I don't need air conditioning. 
• Sarcasm and irony are completely lost on the average Ugandan and only confuses them.
• You can both be speaking English and still not understand one another.
• Ugandans are considerably more polite to each other than Americans are. The way people interact with each other in doing business, etc., is much more like the mannered way in which Americans used to treat each other back in the 50s and 60s.

And here's how I know I'm acclimating to life in Uganda:

• I'm taking on some of the speech patterns of the Ugandans.
• I can speak a few words of Luganda and can understand some (and would know and understand more if I would actually take the time to practice what I've learned!)
• I'm not afraid to take my portion of matooke or posho for lunch. But their sweet potatoes are NOT the sweet potatoes I know and love!
• I can actually bargain with boda drivers or in the markets (not necessarily very well, but I can do it!)

• 

  Here I am in April at the National Baha'i

  Convention with one of my most favorite

  people,"Maama" Edith Senoga.

  I don't miss American politics.
• I find myself getting annoyed when I am in an area where there are other bazungu (foreigners-Americans, Brits, Canadians,etc). I find myself thinking, "What are THEY doing here?" as if no one has ever said that about me!
• I find myself tearing up when I think about the possibility of ever having to leave Uganda (for more than just a trip somewhere).

So here's to a new year - and more adventures!

Elephants and Giraffes and Baboons, Oh My!

First - I can't believe I've gone five months without writing a blog post and my last post was about my trip up north, close to where I am in this following post! A lot has happened since then, but I think I got distracted by the whole messed up foot situation (which still isn't completely healed but much much better!) and just got so busy with work, life, etc. I can say I'll try to do better - and I really will - but I think I said that the last time and look what happened!

Now on to this post - My Safari Adventure!

WARNING: This blog entry is deliberately designed to encourage every reader to plan a trip to Uganda to go on a safari! There are several national parks in Uganda that aren’t visited nearly as much as the safari destinations in Kenya and Tanzania, but you’ll see as much, without the hordes of crowds, and at a much lower cost than the “high end” safaris in other countries. Just sayin’….you all need to come!

The Ugandan Kob, the first animals we saw

As we bounced along the rough track through the savannah of Murchison Falls National Park, I couldn’t help but wonder at my great fortune and feeling that God has indeed smiled on me in my life that I should be where I was at that particular time. My friend Carolyn and I had left early on a Wednesday morning and made the roughly eight hour drive north to the park and now we had paid our park fees and entered into another world. Almost immediately upon entering the park, right at the perfect time of day to see the animals – around 4:30 p.m., we came upon herds of the Ugandan kob – an antelope specific to Uganda – they bounded on either side of the track as we drove along, sometimes intermingled with the smaller duiker and later we chanced upon the Jackson’s Hartebeest. All of these animals come out in early mornings and evenings to graze, avoiding the heat of the day. Then my eyes landed on my first warthog in the wild! I couldn’t believe how excited I got from seeing these ugly little creatures. They roam about around the other animals, usually running in families of a father, mother, and one to three little ones. I was glad I couldn’t remember the words or tune to the “Lion King” song HakunaMatatasung by Pumbaa the warthog with his meerkat friend Timon or I would have been singing it!

Warthog! I fell in love with these guys!

Carolyn has been to this park a few times, and she wouldn’t promise me that I would see much that first evening – the plan was to get up early in the morning – most people leave to tour the park around 7 a.m. as the animals emerge for their morning grazing. But my heart dearly stopped when we rounded one curve and there were giraffes! Several giraffes were standing about a copse of trees, necks arched upward to get to the tasty leaves. I was beside myself and Carolyn indulged me as I jumped out of the car to start snapping photos. On this first evening the giraffes were on the west side of the road so I was shooting into the sun, getting most of the giraffes in silhouette. I could only hope at that point that I would find more giraffes later on in the trip where I could get better shots – but at that point it didn’t matter – I was seeing giraffes in the wild.

Giraffe in silhouette

We had deliberately gone into the entrance to the park furthest from the lodge where we would be staying so we could have this first glimpse of the animals. So it took a good hour and a half to wind our way through the track as more and more animals like water buffalo, Kob, warthogs and giraffes made themselves known to us. Carolyn still insisted that we likely wouldn’t see elephants that first day, and about the time she said that we went up an incline and around a curve, and there in a small valley below us was a huge herd of elephants! Bulls, females, and lots of little ones moving about, both grazing but also looking as though they were making their way to some place to spend the night. While I had no fear of getting out of the car to take photos of the giraffes, I didn’t try that with either the water buffalo or the elephants. Both animals are known to charge if they feel threatened, and we didn’t want to give them any reason to feel threatened. This herd of elephants was far enough away that I wasn’t concerned, but it wasn’t long before we chanced upon a lone family, bull, female and baby standing a bit closer to the road. Just our stopping on the road, even though staying in the car, was enough to concern the bull and he started walking toward us. Not running, but just ambling along to let us know he was there. He was coming closer and Carolyn was saying, “I’m getting ready to floor it if he comes much closer,” when he finally decided we weren’t that much of a threat and turned and headed the other way. Meanwhile, the mother shepherded the baby off into the bush until we could no longer see them.

LOTS of Elephants!




This bull elephant was getting a little too close!



After this first amazing evening drive, I was thrilled that we had seen as much as we had and thought that if I never saw another animal on the rest of the trip I had seen what I had come to see. We made it finally to the Paraa Safari Lodge where we had booked two nights. Carolyn was understandably exhausted having done all the driving and we had been on the road nearly 12 hours. We were both grateful to get to the lodge which was rustic looking but with all the amenities. This was not an inexpensive proposition but this lodge was cheaper than others in the park, and the price of the night’s stay included “full board” which meant that the cost of breakfast, lunch and dinner was included. In fact, knowing that people would be out driving around during the day, you had the option of having lunch in the restaurant or asking for a take away lunch to eat while moving around the park. After settling into our room and resting a bit we made our way to the restaurant for dinner. Our assigned table for the whole stay was on the verandah of the restaurant with a beautiful overlook of the Victoria Nile. What I have learned since being in Uganda is that THE Nile River that we associate with Egypt and which is the longest river in the world, is not a solid south-north running river – but branches off into secondary rivers. The source of the Nile is considered to be Lake Victoria, just southeast of Kampala and when it reaches the North, the Victoria Nile branches off from the White Nile and heads west. In fact that whole region of Uganda is called “West Nile.” There, the Nile meanders through the area that is now a national park and spills over cascades called the Murchison Falls. Then it eventually empties into Lake Albert. And Lake Albert straddles the border of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, so the mountains we saw in the far distance when driving along the river and the lake were the DRC.


View of the Victoria Nile from the Lodge restaurant



Back to the dinner – the lodge, depending on how many guests it has, will either offer a buffet for dinner service, or in our case offer a limited menu – we could choose a soup or salad, then an entrée, and dessert. I had an Indian meal which was a little hotter than I usually like my Indian food but I managed to get most of it down. However, later in the night, after going to bed I was awakened with a rumbling stomach and spent the next 30 minutes losing all of my dinner. I can only imagine that something wasn’t cooked right or the tomatoes hadn’t been washed properly – all I know is that I was sick, and of course panicked that this would ruin the rest of the trip. I got as much rest as I could and when Carolyn woke up the next morning I told her what had happened. I was feeling better but still queasy and unsure whether breakfast would be a good idea. Subsequently we took longer to get going that morning and worried that we would miss the animals’ morning routine. But it couldn’t be helped and we knew we had another evening and morning if I ended up needing to stay in the lodge for the day.

Not to worry – I managed a light breakfast, then we grabbed our box lunches and headed out. We may have been a little past the best time to see the most animals, but we surely weren’t disappointed. Right off the bat we came upon troops of baboons, families with mothers carrying young ones on their backs, or for the very little ones they clung to their mothers’ underside as she moved. And we came across more warthogs, hartebeests, water buffalo and Kob, and then came upon Defassa’s waterbuck – which, for the does at least, bear striking resemblance to elk.

Stranded school children with bus stuck in mud!

It’s recommended to hire a guide to go with you on your trek if you’re in your own car – they supposedly know where to look for animals and can point things out that you might otherwise miss. But Carolyn and I chose to go our own way and we didn’t feel like we missed anything. It had rained the night before and the track was a bit more muddy in places, but we still didn’t have any problems with driving through. However, as we neared the delta where the ground got marshier as we were closer to the river, we chanced upon a tour bus that was completely mired down in mud! We wouldn’t be able to get past them unless we could find some drier ground and as we investigated further we discovered that the bus was full of primary school children from a school in Kampala. The teachers and chaperones were annoyed with the driver, who had been told not to attempt to go across the muddy bog, but did, and the children were hot and hungry, and a little scared. They didn’t want to get off the bus because they were afraid there would be lions around! We had to reassure them that they were safe in order to get them off the bus, thereby lightening the load. Carolyn and I could’ve found a way around them, but they had already been out there two hours as the driver was haplessly and uselessly trying to bail water out of the ruts that was an exercise in futility, and we just didn’t feel right about abandoning. However, the driver wasn’t interested in hearing Carolyn’s suggestions for getting the bus out and so he both literally and figuratively kept spinning his wheels trying to solve the problem. Carolyn has a four wheel drive and they eventually found some rope and Carolyn tried to pull the bus out – but only succeeded in breaking the ropes. The school group did have a park ranger with him and he finally called for help – not real sure why that wasn’t the first thing he did! I tried to entertain the children but they were getting increasingly whiney. After about another hour help finally arrived – with food and drinks for the children and stronger ropes for pulling out the bus. Finally the bus was dislodged from the mire and everyone happily went on their way.



Hartebeest



Waterbuck

Cape Buffalo or waterbuffalo



Mama Baboon with baby on her back

Carolyn and I spent the rest of that day driving throughout the park, and the safari gods were with us and more animals made themselves known.  We had come across the hippo pool where huge pods or herds, or families of hippos were basking in the water. They were being lazy so didn’t get clear views of them, but I knew I would see more the next day on the river cruise. Saw a few a more elephants, but my delight was coming across a herd of giraffe grazing in the trees. This time the sun was in the right position and I was able to get shot after shot of these beautiful creatures – I never have had a true appreciation for giraffes until this personal encounter with them. They are so graceful in their awkwardness – if that makes any sense  - their long necks so delicately arched as they survey the land about them. I was able to get out of the car and approach them, they would watch me and never let me get very close before moving away from me. At some point, they collectively got tired of me being their presence and as a group they began a slow lope across the road and down the valley. I wished I had thought to turn on the video camera to get their graceful run in action. It was truly something

One of the many things I liked was observing the animal’s behavior. They were as curious about us as we were about them, and I daresay they have seen their share of tourists coming through their habitat. I don’t think they get as many visitors as in some of the bigger reserves in other countries like Kenya, but the animals don’t seem particularly surprised that there are these strange creatures stopping to gawk at them. As a rule, whenever we saw animals and stopped the car – whether I got out or not – as I was trying to get that perfect shot, the animals would stop and look directly at the camera. Then just as I took the shot, they would turn and move away. It was almost as if they were saying “Okay, I’ll pose for you. Now you’ve got your photo op, time to move on!” Secondary to how the animals behaved around humans was when I could observe they’re natural behavior.  We rounded a bend in a road to see a group of giraffes a distance away near a stand of trees. Two giraffes were sitting on the ground – I’m guessing they were females who had just given birth or were about too. What fascinated me though, was that circling these two giraffes were other giraffes who were facing away from the ones in the center. It looked as those giraffes were acting as look outs or sentries. Which makes sense – it would be quite a struggle for a giraffe to get up quickly, so she would need lots of warning. Perhaps these other giraffes were keeping a watch out for predators in order to give ample warning to the reclining giraffes if they needed to get up and run.

And speaking of predators, I never got to see a lion – there aren’t many in this park and they are quite reclusive during the day. However, when I was stalking the giraffe herd, I found evidence that either lions or leopards were also stalking them – big cat tracks in the sand below my feet.

The baboons, who were plentiful everywhere, also fascinate me. They are so human like in the face and they’ll sit and gaze at you with the most human expressions. They have definitely gotten used to people and they know to go to places where people are in order to beg for handouts. So they aren’t fearful at all of humans – but don’t think that means you can just walk up to them either – they can be fierce when they need to be. We had a cooler of food in the back seat of the care, and on our last morning in the park we were waiting in line at the ferry to cross the river. A number of baboons were around the cars hoping someone would toss them a scrap. Carolyn had gotten out of the car – I was still sitting there in the passenger side, the cooler of food behind me. I heard a noise and thinking that it was Carolyn getting something out of the car, I turned to see a baboon trying to climb in the window to get to the cooler! He (or she) was shouted away, but within half an hour a different baboon tried again…and we rolled the windows up!

There was a female baboon at the ferry crossing with a tiny little fella that was riding on her underbelly. When she stopped he would climb down and explore around her, as she was also teaching him how to look for food in the ground. I wanted to try to get some good shots of him and stealthily (I thought) approached them. She never acted as if she knew I was there but I noticed that the closer I got or if I brought my camera up to take a picture, she would either shift her position to block him from view, or would gently push him behind her. If I tried to change my position to still get the shot, she would shift him again! Crafty and protective mom!

After spending another long day driving around the park, we returned to the lodge and had a relaxing evening. I chose a bit more wisely for dinner that evening and didn’t have any further gastric issues. We had also booked a river cruise to Murchison Falls for the following morning that promised good views of river animals like hippos and crocodiles, so it was an early night.

Early morning breakfast on Friday morning and then we were off on our cruise down the river Nile! Still couldn’t believe I was where I was and that I could say I had floated down the Nile River. While standing on the shoreI had taken off my shoes and stuck my foot in the water so I could say I had dipped my toes in the River Nile!

It was a small boat with just another couple and Carolyn and I with our guide. We weren’t disappointed – we saw croc after croc - mostly sunning on the banks although a couple plunged into the river when we approached (I think to get AWAY from us – not to try to EAT us!) We saw more hippos than I could count and our guide had a lot of information about hippos. I think I can safely say I learned more about hippos that day than I ever cared to know! We managed to score seeing a huge bull elephant as he had come for his morning drink from the Nile, but we couldn’t get very close before he moved away. As the guide said, he was “shy.”  We finally got as close to Murchison Falls as was allowed and moored at a small island of rocks that were midstream. The falls are fierce as thousands of gallons of water are forced through a narrow gap. We couldn’t go closer because the river got very rocky and had lots of rapids. The rocks the boat was moored to actually had trees on them and hundreds of weaver bird nests were hanging all over the tree – looking like Christmas tree ornaments. The weaver birds are tiny yellow birds and they were everywhere. It was quite the sight.


Awesome looking saddle-billed storks



Marabou Stork - these guys are ugly
scavengers and are all over Kampala

African Jacana



Yellow weaver bird



Pied Kingfisher

Gray heron

That was another unexpected pleasure of the trip, and indeed my whole sojourn in Uganda – the varieties of birds. I’ve never been a birder, but I think I could become one here. Uganda has over 1000 original species of birds, and ranks I think third in the world for variety of birds. Many varieties are on the hill where I live and work, and on the safari I came across a few extraordinary ones – namely the Saddle-billed stork – amazing looking bird. We also saw a rare purple heron, gray herons, a little duck like bird called the African jacana, pied kingfishers and of course the egrets – which are everywhere. My family and friends who love bird watching would do well to take a trip to Uganda – you will be richly rewarded!

After the river cruise we checked out of the lodge and headed out of the park. If I could have afforded it I would have liked to have spent one more night there just so we could have a day of complete relaxation. Poor Carolyn did all of the driving and every single day we were on the road many hours. It wasn’t much of a vacation for her since she had to focus on the road the whole time.

We did however, take, as my father used to like to say, the “scenic” route home. We deliberately went in a northwest direction and then started heading south on a road that wasn’t much better than the dirt tracks through park. But it also took us through a beautiful area geographically – the Rift Valley. We had Lake Albert on our right hand side and beyond the mountains of Congo. We gradually began ascending a steep and winding road up the escarpment – the side of the valley formed by earthquakes many years ago. The sight was breathtaking as we went higher and higher. And to our surprise, when we got to the top of the escarpment, there was a little village. I could truly imagine having a cottage on that ridge looking out over that beautiful view. It was really something.

But after much more driving on better roads and worse roads, being grateful that there had not been rain to cause us to bog down and get stuck in the road, we came to the little town of Hoima where we spent the night in a hotel owned and operated by a Catholic organization.

I had written so much more, making this blog much longer than it is now, but fortunately for my readers, I didn't save it and accidentally closed the file. Probably a good thing, not much more to say and you've already invested a lot of time in this. I hope you enjoyed it. This was a trip of a lifetime and one I hope to make again. And one that everyone should put on their "bucket list!"

Note: I took over 200 photos and could not put them all here. If you want to see my full photo album of the safari, visit my Facebook page.

Taking the Road North



Meeting under the trees



A sense of awe and wonder envelops me as I look at where I am. A group of ten of us are sitting on a Sunday morning in the shade of a passion fruit tree. I’m the only white “muzungu” in the bunch. On a table sitting in the middle of the group is steaming hot tea (with water boiled over a wood fire giving it a lovely smoked quality) and kadogo – a breakfast food made from the matooke banana but tasting a lot like potatoes – and very tasty. In a mud hut nearby Irene is busy preparing more tea and the lunch menu. She hasn’t stopped working at serving us since we arrived the day before. Scattered around the perimeter of the group are goats who are peacefully grazing while the group pores over a message from the Universal House of Justice. 

Consultation

Since I awoke in the morning a song has been running through my head – one that some of the young Bahá’ís in Kampala sing at Feasts. The refrain, which teases at the back of my mind even as I’m trying to concentrate on this message with the other friends goes “Bahá’u’lláh is His Name, Bahá’u’lláh is His Name, Bahá’u’lláh is His Name, Bahá’u’lláh is His Name, a new Revelation, a new Manifestation of God, a new Revelation, a new Manifestation of God…” and I suddenly realize – the ONLY reason I’m sitting in northern Uganda, in a family compound, surrounded by goats, and studying a message that Bahá’ís all over the world are studying, is because of Bahá’u’lláh – I would never have had any other reason to find my way to this relatively remote spot simply to share with people I otherwise would never have had any other occasion to meet!

Early Saturday morning, the Continental Counsellor for Uganda, Selam Ahderom, travelled from his home in Jinja to pick me and Willonah, a staff person in the treasurer’s office to go with him to Kamdini in the north of Uganda. Our mission is to meet with the members of the Regional Bahá’í Council for the North – I to represent the National Secretary’s office, Willonah to represent the National Treasurer’s office. There are three RBCs in Uganda, and we’ve met with the one for Central and then will later meet with the RBC for the East.

The road to Kamdini fortunately is the best road in the country. It actually appears to be like an actual two lane highway, nicely paved, no potholes or ruts to jar our bones. The Counsellor’s driver keeps up a pretty good speed (and I realize along the way that I’ve never seen a speed limit sign in Uganda!) slowing down only in the towns and villages where they put out huge speed bumps to keep motorists from mowing down their local citizenry and to hopefully encourage cars to stop and purchase something from local vendors. The scenery itself is not all that spectacular along the way and so the three passengers, confident in the driver’s abilities, drift off to sleep.

 I have no idea that we’re going to that part of Uganda where Murchison Falls National Park is. We come in on the eastern border and since it’s an “all business” this weekend, there’s no chance of a detour into the park to look for the wild elephants that I’m so anxious to see. However I am promised that at some point I will see baboons and I wasn’t prepared for just how close we would be to them.

We come into the town of Karuma, not far from where we’ll be having our meeting and where we’ll be spending the night after Saturday’s meeting is over. I’m despairing of ever seeing the baboons when we round a curve and a whole family of baboons is sitting on the side of the road as though they’re waiting for us. In fact, it sort of reminded me of childhood trips to the Smokey Mountains when the bears would come out to the picnic areas on the side of the road to raid the trash bins. The baboons looked as though they were there waiting for a handout. Of course the car has to slow down in order to avoid hitting them as they casually cross the road. There’s the obvious male and patriarch of the troop, mothers with babies hanging off of them, and “teen” baboons. The face of a baboon has always amazed me more than any other primate – to me they’re the most human like with their heavy brow and serious gaze as though daring you to mess with them. I wasn’t planning on messing with them.

Rapids of the Nile River at Karuma

Just a little further on we come to the Nile River and Karuma Falls. We can see the falls (more like cascades) off to the right, and when we come to the bridge that we must cross, the river at this point is massive rapids – something I wouldn’t dare to raft down but I’m betting people have. The bridge for some reason is tightly controlled by law enforcement and they don’t let you take pictures. So though I had my camera out I couldn’t get any photos of the baboons, but on the way home sneaked a couple of pictures of the falls and rapids.

Karuma Falls - a little far away





We actually didn’t go all the way into the town of Kamdini, our meeting was being held in the compound of Tom Ogwal, a member of the NSA. His property is before Kamdini in a little place called Nora. I was taken aback because we stopped at what appeared to be a storefront. Just like advertising in the U.S., a lot of companies will paint their logos on what I always assumed were commercial businesses. So this building is painted the bright yellow of the MTN telecommunication company logo so logically I thought we were meeting in a more formal building. We were lovingly greeted by some of the friends who were already there and led into the building, the front room was an obvious living room or lounge of sorts, with furniture, and then we went out the back door and there was an amazing assortment of buildings, women of various ages, children of various ages, ducks (with ducklings), goats, etc. Our escort, Geoffrey, said, “Oh we decided to meet further down where it will be further from the road and quieter,” and off we struck, going down a dirt path past more buildings, clumps of buildings with the traditional mud and thatched roof hut, until we finally came to another compound consisting of two huts – one for the family’s residence and the other that serves as the kitchen. This part of the property was the compound of one of Tom’s sons – he has many. This particular son, named Musa Banani, is currently working and living in another town called Lira, but like so many of the Ugandans, while he works in Lira his wife maintains their home.

The kitchen where our food was prepared

All of these people, houses, huts, etc. are part of Tom Ogwal’s property and large extended family. Tom has been a Bahá’í for many, many years, and a longtime member of the NSA, however before becoming a Bahá’í he already had multiple wives as is the custom in rural Uganda. The Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, in his wisdom, determined when pioneers first started encountering cultures where polygamy is common, that a person with multiple wives is welcome to become a Bahá’í and he doesn’t have to make the impossible decision or choice of divorcing any of the wives. But once embracing the Faith, he can no longer take on any more wives. Apparently it’s not uncommon for a man in Uganda with multiple wives, to marry another wife when one of the earlier wives dies. So Tom Ogwal had his wives, and many children, and once becoming a Bahá’í he abided by this directive.



Members of the RBC with Counsellor
Selam and others



The members of the RBC are a young group and “untested” to some degree, but loving, sweet and earnest. Of the three RBCs, this north one has the least experience and so it was important to the Counsellor and the NSA that we offer all the loving support and accompaniment we could as they made their plans for spreading the Bahá’í Teachings in their particular area.



Irene - our hardworking cook



Throughout the day as we studied the messages and consulted on their plans, there was constant activity around us – the lovely young woman – wife of another one of Tom’s sons – spent all of her time preparing morning and afternoon tea, lunch and dinner and breakfast on Sunday morning. There was a couple of young kids who traveled back and forth down the path from the main compound by bicycle to bring her water, wood, whatever supplies she needed. Being that this is a more traditional Ugandan family, I was surprised to find that when they served a delicious and hot lunch of rice, beans and beef bits, that there were no utensils! I had my first experience eating with my hands foods that in the states we would think impossible to eat without utensils. The closest thing I had to an eating tool was a roasted bit of cassava. Mushing hot rice and beans in one’s hand to eat isn’t easy – but I managed – and enjoyed every bite!

We travelers left the friends in the evening to come back to Karuma Falls where we found a modest, but very clean and comfortable guest house to spend the night. Then it was back to the Ogwal compound on Sunday morning for a final session with the friends before we got back on the road to head south to Kampala.

The meeting was also attended
by a beautiful black cat and....

...several goats!

As we gathered again that brisk Sunday morning (there was actually a cool breeze blowing which was very refreshing), Counsellor Selam asked if we could have a song as part of our morning devotions. Joseph, the secretary of the RBC, thought about it, and I sat there waiting for him and the other “north” friends to start singing a prayer in Alur – which is their local dialect – or at least to invite everyone to sing the Unity Prayer together. Instead little Joseph invited everyone to stand up and then to my complete surprise we started singing “If You’re Happy and You Know It!” Just a precious way to end a lovely weekend with very sweet people.

Warning: If you are at all squeamish about medical issues, you may not want to read further as there are photos of my mangled left foot!

My Left Foot

Alas “my left foot” is not getting mentioned because it affords me an ability to draw or paint like Christy Brown in the movie that launched Daniel Day-Lewis’ career! Rather it’s caused me no end of pain and tribulation and fear and anxiety as I try to patiently wait for it to heal from this fall I took a little over a week ago. What I thought would be a minor abrasion has become a swollen septic foot and a second round of antibiotics and an attempt to keep off my feet and the foot elevated as much as possible lest I wind up in the hospital for treatment (the option offered to me by a doctor whose opinion I respect). Fortunately today (Thursday, January 26, 2012) was a public holiday so I didn’t have to go to the office. Hope, the girl who cleans my house and does my laundry has been here so I haven’t had to do much but sit propped up in my bed and let her wait on me. So it will get better – I keep telling myself. For my friends and family who expressed concern and offered prayers – I’m posting a couple of pictures so you can see what I’m talking about and that I’m not just a whining sissy! It’s not pretty – so don’t look if you are the least bit squeamish!

Now you understand the concern!

 

And this is when it looks better! Imagine when
 it was swollen twice its size.

Six Months Later

Today is the six month anniversary of when I arrived in Kampala. The time has gone by so quickly! I now feel pretty "settled" here - I know how to negotiate around town by taxi or boda, I'm starting to take on some of the speech patterns of the Ugandan way of speaking English (another blog post soon about more speech idiosyncrasies I'm learning here), I'm making friends outside of the Baha'i community - notably with my participation in the Kampala Singers - in general I don't feel like a stranger or outsider (although I am). The Ugandans are such a welcoming, warm people, and they appreciate it when a "muzungu" participates in their activities, offers hospitality to them or is willing to come into their homes. This coming weekend I will be going "up country" again - this time to the north - which should be very interesting. I'm told I'll see lots of baboons along the way, and I'm going to a part of the country that for many years was plagued by a rebel army called the Lord's Resistance Army that wreaked havoc for many years - kidnapping children and forcing them into military service or raping the girls, killing whole families, destroying homes. They've been chased out and now the rehabilitation of the area is beginning. There are Baha'i communities in that area and I'm going with some others to visit them. I'm looking forward to it - and will be sure to take lots of pictures and will write about my experiences when I return.

To commemorate my 6 month anniversary however - I am posting some photos here of the people who are making my life here in Uganda so pleasant. A wonderful bunch of people who are part of my extended family now. I can't do true justice to everyone as I don't have photos of them all - but this is a good representation.

from left - Patrick, Ronnie, Shebare,

Michael making music on Boxing Day



Carolyn and Nina with "Maama" Edith Senoga, an early
believer, former Counsellor and all round lovely woman





Boshra and Mariam from the Office of External Affairs. Mariam is the one who makes beautiful Greatest Names from beads. Anyone want to buy one let me know!



Fred and Brenda Talamantes

Herbert - our statistics officer. He has one of the hardest jobs -trying to figure out just how many Baha'is there are in Uganda. I tease him a lot because he's so quiet and serious most of the time.

Paul Mugasha and Wes Baker.
Paul is a story unto himself,
 I may write about him sometime

This sweetheart of a kid was saddled with the name Shoghi Aqdas! Baha'is will understand why that could be a burden!



Vi Gilbert, Carolyn Wade, Nina Oloro




Our talented youthful singers



Namara - the assistant BPT manager



Emmy - foreman of the Temple Grounds..



Mary and Edith - two of the hardest working people on the hill. Mary is our cook and Edith our cleaner

James - I'll have to write about him sometime too. Just love him!



Alex - some of the kids seem to "get" to you more
 than others - for me Alex is one of those kids



Robert and Cyrus who live with Carolyn.
These two are great fun to play canasta with - especially Robert!

Nafha and Shahram Ebrahimi - this was their last Feast as they are moving away.Nafha and I "clicked" the first time we met so I'm really sorry that she's leaving.

Mullah Husayn one of the "boys" that work on the hill - Youth Year of Service



Johnson - I always think of the song "Someone to Watch Over Me" with him - because he literally watches over me as the night watchman on the hill. I feel very safe!



Ben Ekoot - a member of the NSA and quite the wit. Always fun talking to him.



Patricia Senoga and Charlie Anglin with Boshra. Patricia and
Charlie are cousins and the grandchildren of Maama Senoga.
The young people here are really stellar.





Mathias Onama - the National Secretary.

While the whole NSA is my "boss" -

he's the one I work the closest with.



Brenda - my able assistant