It is already MARCH! How is that possible?? Where is time going? This week/ weekend was absolutely wonderful, thrilling, and exciting.
As usual I went to Off-Tu Missions for my practicum. On Tuesday we went to the juvenile prison where we shared with them a message about Hope. I hung out with a 16 year-old boy named Ivan most of the day there. I heard his story about how he got prison and what he wants to do when he gets out—THIS WEDNDESDAY J Ivan is in the juvenile home because he got caught stealing a mattress with sheets for his father. Ivan’s mother died when he was a baby and his father is lame, and Ivan has to take care of him. Ivan worked at a lodge for a little bit and got caught stealing the mattress from his work. The mattress was for his father. Ivan has been in the prison since November and has had to drop out of his vocational school because he cannot attend. He hopes to find money to pay school fees so he can go back to his vocational training school where he is studying computers. I do not know Ivan well at all, I was just blessed to spend the day with him and hear his story. I do not know if it was all true, but I do know by the expression on his face, the hesitation in his voice, and his trembling hands that he has experienced more sorrow, pain, distrust, and sense of hopelessness than most of us have. Ivan loves the Lord and is excited to get out of prison in 2 days, and seek the Lord and trust in His faithfulness for his life. Where does that faith and hope come from? We may not be “criminals” like Ivan, but we certainly have much to learn from him.
On Wednesday I went to Off-Tu Academy from 11-6 pm (7 hours!). I taught a lovely 19 year-old computer lessons. Off-Tu is having two of us put together a typing class/ basic computer skills so they can bring in the community for a small fee to educate them and bring in some money. Hopefully, my typing and computer skills are up to par. After that we taught a Primary 1 class, helped out in Bible study, and went home to the residential center. We put flowers in our hair and pretended we were princesses. The fairy tale continued as I turned into Cinderella and helped Dorine rip off about 100 tiny silver fish heads. Off-Tu does not cook the heads of the fish like the dining hall at UCU does, so I had to pluck off each of their heads- a lot of them had rocks in their eyes. It really wasn’t bad. We got a football game going and I scored 3 goals against our Off-Tu boys. We left after a 7 hour day exhausted and as we were walking up to our dorms the heavens opened and it started to rain and hail. The hail was pretty big and the rain was pelting down. We got out our gum boots and played in the rain and jumped in all the red mud. Lightening struck down one of the trees near our classrooms, all the Ugandans thought we were just plain crazy Mzungus but what else is new there? Then, on Thursday, I lead gym class for the nursery and primary 1 and 2. The kids are just too cute. They love the song “Funky Chicken” and run around yelling that all the time. Apparently they sing it at home now, except it makes me a little nervous because I have heard some interesting versions that instead of yelling “Let me see your funky chicken” I have heard “Let me see your fucky puppy”. Well, at least they are having fun right?
Okay, now the really really good stuff---the weekend J
This weekend was wonderful and kicked off with a Friday night of babysitting with my two wonderful friends Bethany and Angela. Who would have thought that babysitting would be a highlight—especially when it was unpaid, well technically paid in the chance to eat real food? We got to have home made pizza for dinner and even a little dessert. I also got to take a shower with warm water. We are very easily pleased here in Uganda. This is what my life is coming to- babysitting in from 6 ½ hours for home made pizza and a hot shower.
On Saturday Morning we went to Jinja, the source of the Nile for our rafting and bungee jumping experience through Adrift. I had no idea what to expect while rafting. I somewhat envisioned canoeing down a river in an inflatable boat. We went through class 5 rapids (the highest they let you do) and then carried our boat around a class 6 but only professionals are allowed to do that. It was crazy. We were out there for about 7 hours with a lunch break on an island. We had to practice all the situations on the calm part of the river. We practiced what to do when our boat flips, paddling, and all other things. Well good thing because our group, team fierce, decided to take the wild NOT mild trip up the Nile river. Well our boat flipped 3 times and I thought I actually died on the last one. But before that, let’s acknowledge that we were trying to go down the rapid “Big Brother” a 15 foot waterfall, where our boat got a hole popped right in the right front side. We took refuge on a rock as the safety boat came over and we switched boats for the rest of the day. The whole day was a day of getting soaked, tanning in the hot sun on the equator, floating in the Nile in the swimmer rapids, then pure panic on the last rapid of the day. We carried our boat around the class six rapid and loaded our boat on a class 4 ( you could choose 4 or 3). The rapid is called 50-50, 50% chance you flip, 50% you don’t. We did, at the top of the class 4 and had to go down the class 3 outside of the boat. It was insane, our guide yelled everyone down, so we jumped down off the edges and held on for life. Next thing I know The boat’s front end is folding in half and the left side is flying over. I ended up under one of the girls on my boat. I was taking in water, and all I could see was the girls life jacket on top of me. It was scary, but I am glad our boat was one of the ones that flipped in hind sight. Anyways, I pushed the girl off of me, gasped for more air, but we were still in the class 4 and went back under. I some how ended up near the boat but the boat got plunged forward leaving me behind, again. I had no idea where my paddle was, which way was up or down, or if I was going to live. I went under again, and when I came up I saw my night in shining armor, Cody, a boy on our trip. He somehow still had his paddle, we both went under again, then I grabbed his paddle and we flew down the next rapid. There I saw, my love Bethany in the midst of all the waves and she just grabbed my arm in a death grip, as the three of us made it to the boat in a pure frenzy. It was all worth it. We had tons of fun and the pictures on the website are sweet.
We stayed the night at Adrift where we had tons of fun just hanging out that night J
The next morning Bethany and I bungee jumped in tandem over the nile river. It was absolutely incredible and I am so glad I did it. The jump was 150 feet high. The worst part was when we were tied together waddling toward the edge. The chord was really tight around our legs and we had to shuffle so our toes were off the edge. Because we were in tandem you do not jump, you just lean forward. Well after a reassurance of “Are we doing this” and the answer being “yes”, we heard 3, 2, 1 BUNGEE! We leaned forward and we bungeed and screamed the whole way down. The chord didn’t break and we flew all the way back up and bounced a bunch of times until we ended up in the boat down below. It was absolutely worth it and I would love to go again. The shuffling to the edge is the worse, don’t look down!, but as soon as you lean you are all set J
The weekend ended with Bethany, Angela, and I going to Bethany’s homestay for the night. We bought 2 live chickens from our friend Jake and walked with them home. We named our chickens Death and Row. I held a live chicken up side down by its legs for a 30 minute walk. We then got a lesson on how to killing them from Bethany’s papa and Angela slowly sawed the head off one of the chickens—she justified the murder because she said we had to eat dinner, I told her we didn’t. I helped de-feather the bird and operate on it a little bit. We are just preparing ourselves for rural homestay that starts on this Friday in the African village. Hello Hut life and practicing the art of presence and hoeing in the garden. The chicken was so yummy- deep fried over our little charcoal pale. We ate late, typical, at 11 pm, and went to bed exhausted!
What a wonderful weekend! Good food, adrenaline, company, and chicken.
Just a reminder, I leave for rural homestay this Friday for 10 days and will have zero communication. Also, if you want to send me mail/ packages (maybe with any sort of food or just love) send them asap. They take about a month to get here which means they need to be sent out no later then around the 2nd week (mid) MARCH! We leave for Rwanda on April 20thish and will NOT be coming back to get mail. Just a pleasant reminder from me to you about the mail situation and reminding you that I love you, and I hope you love me J
Marybeth Conlon
Uganda Christian University- USP
P.O. Box 4
Mukono, Uganda
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