first hello from here

My contact number: 011 256 773466482 (or in Uganda: 0773466482)

I arrived in Entebbe at 11:30 PM on Wednesday, greeted by Suzan and her sister Rachel. My guitar luggage was to be sent the next day, so I'd have to return to Entebbe after 8 PM the next day.

I stayed in Muyenga and Suzan, Rachel, and I talked and told stories about pooping and farting until 3:30 AM. The next day Suzan and I went back to Entebbe for the guitar.

So I've been in Muyenga since then. In the compound, we just wake up and sit and sometimes talk. The little boys love to climb on me. Our friends Franca and Tony are also staying at the compound, so we are very crammed when it comes to sleeping. Sometimes someone sleeps on the floor and outside. Suzan's dad even wanted to sleep in the kitchen. Silver came to visit me the other day and we talked for hours. It is a small but happy place, and everything one needs is there.

Yesterday I came to Toto's home to surprise my previous host family. They all ran to me when they heard me talked to a neighbor, even Toto. So we had a great reunion, though it took Suzan and I over 2 hours to reach Mukono, only 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from Kampala. People were going back to school and there were political campaigns/parades which held up the traffic.

Now I'm in Mukono/Bugujju for the night, staying at Toto's. I'm typing from a new internet cafe which has opened up across from campus. I will spend this night at Toto's, then leave in the morning with Silver for his home in the west for a few days.

When I get back at the beginning of the weekend, I will stay at Toto's for a few days, then return to Muyenga/Kampala to receive Megan Clapp from the airport.

Afterward, Megan will head north and Suzan and I will visit my rural homestead family in Kapchorwa, which is probably prettier than the Garden of Eden. From there will will go to Oyam for a month or so, and we will return to Mukono for Suzan's graduation on July 9th.

I got to see some people I knew from USP and UCU on campus, so that was splendid. My days are off to a good start. I have one story to share before my time here at the cafe is finished:

Suzan's dad is pretty progressive. He desires to mobilize the people to make change in the village and complains about African students learning European geography and history instead of Ugandan geography and history. He just came from the village the other day (to reach Muyenga, he first woke at 3:30 AM and rode a bike 15 kilometers, then boarded a taxi for a 5 hour trek) and told Tony and me about a lady from his village who found a natural herb. With no side-effects, it was 100% successful in birth control. She even had another herb which could be used to reverse the birth control, and a women would become pregnant in the first month. It was such an effective herb. He recently asked for the herb and she wouldn't give it to him. I asked him why, and he said, "Because she is saved now. That means that herbal medicine is of the devil. It is evil. But I will try to convince her otherwise. She has been brainwashed."

He was telling me this as I was trying to cut a mango. he called Suzan over, saying, "You have a lot to learn from Africans." My response: "You teach me to cut this mango and I'll teach you that plants are evil." We all laughed, but it made me think. Those early missionaries had trouble living off the land, but no problem relentlessly dealing with the spiritual practices of local people. And now there are even some Africans who have bought these spiritual teachings and continue to spread the teachings of the west, for better or (probably) worse, to their own people today. The conversation made me realize how little I have to offer, and how that is okay. In fact, it's how it should be. Jesus said "come follow me." And these people live inside of Jesus' parables. I still can't cut a mango "the right way," but at least I've been learning some Lango words and have gotten to know some people.