Saturday 5/24/2008- Saturday 5/31/2008
Father Patrick was right on time, as we left the Sheraton at 3:00 p.m. The 60 km ride took 2.5 hours and involved some very bumpy roads. Fr Patrick said that the bumpy roads make you dance…even if you don’t want to. It was fun to get to see some more rural areas of Uganda and see the children’s reactions when they saw Muzzungos. When we arrived at the school, Father Patrick gave us a tour of the grounds, showed us to our room where we rested until dinner time. Dinner was delicious- as usual in Uganda…. And they even had a few “Senator” Beers to welcome us. We had a huge spread of food, from Pork sausages to beef stew, and the staple dish- Matoke (cooked & mashed bananas). Much like S.E. Asia can’t eat one meal without rice… Ugandans can’t eat one meal without bananas.
At dinner, we met Father Joseph and Brother John. We talked about their church, Ugandan politics, as well as their previous President Amin… he was a national joke when trying to speak English, and they have a speech that he actually gave to the Queen of England where he actually says things like “Mr Queen, sir… I am fed up with this malicious meal…I would invite your majesty to come home so that I can revenge to you. You will eat a full cow to fill the stomach such that you will work very difficult to walk with your stomach…..Thank you very much to allow me to undress you in front of these disgusting people.” Wow…and we wonder why the former President Amin of Uganda had trouble with foreign relations….
As for an update on why we’re out in the ‘bush’ as Father Patrick says… Katie and Dermot will be volunteering for the next week at Mazzoldi College in Nakaseke, Uganda. Father Brian Butch, the priest that will be marrying Katie and Dermot at the end of September, helped to coordinate their visit. Currently, Father Evarist is on exchange from Uganda living and working at Father Brian’s parish, and their two parishes have done many co-operative projects together.
We are looking forward to heading back to high school, and we hope that we’ll help make the first week of school a success for the 230 students at Mazzold College!
Sunday was our first full day in Nakaseke, as we accompanied Father Patrick to a nearby town for Sunday Mass. It has been by far one of the more rewarding experiences getting to meet local villagers, as well as some children that have never seen “Muzzungos” before… or “White People.” Fr Patrick explained to us “African Time,” as we learned that 10:00am Mass, didn’t really mean…10:00am. We started around 10:45am and continued until around 1:30pm. There was much singing, dancing and celebrating as well as many rounds of applause for Dermot and Katie being their visitors in their church. Minus the heat of around 150 villages in the small church, we really enjoyed sitting on the homemade wooden benches and attempting to understand the Lugandan Mass.
After mass, many families wanted to have us to their homes for lunch. However, Fr Patrick had already arranged lunch plans, so instead, we drove around to different homes picking up gifts of thanks and welcoming gifts—such as a live chicken, greens wrapped in banana leaves, mangoes, and several bunches of bananas. We waved and shouted “Wabale” (Thank you) as we left the town to visit the nearby medical facility and a few of Fr Patrick’s friends, Fr Augustine and Fr Mugabe. They showed us around Lima Farm, as well as their plans to build a primary school. As we have learned from our visit in Uganda, there are more children then schools to house them.
We had a delicious lunch- with fresh fruit (tastes incredible with no chemicals), as well as the other staples, Matoke, pork, fish and beans. Since our names are difficult to pronounce, the Fr Mugabe named us Mary and Joseph. We also noticed a “Bethlehem, Pennsylvania” mug in living room, and we couldn’t believe that Fr Mugabe lived and worked at St Aloysius, right around the corner from Katie’s Grandparents and where Dermot when to college at Lehigh. Small world!
We gave a lift to two students back to Mazzoldi College, as they are boarders at the school. They were nervous to practice their English, but they told me they want to be a Doctor and a Nun. After resting for a bit, we took Fr Patrick’s niece to her boarding school, about 45 minutes away (it is close…but bad roads). We got a tour of the neighboring town, Luwero and Fr Patrick promised that he would never take the same road twice, so we could see as much of his town as possible. We got back just in time for dinner at 8:00pm, where we heard back Fr Joseph’s busy day baptizing over 20 babies and saying three Masses. (In Ugandan time, that is a FULL day!)
We went to bed soon after dinner to get ready for our big first day of school. As usual, we were up and ready before any of our Ugandan Friends. We walked to meet all of the 230 students at morning assembly. They all greeted us with clapping and big smiles, and we could not have felt more welcomed. Fr Patrick showed us around the school, the dorms and explained how the school was founded in 1990, where the students used to learn under the mango tree. Now, almost 20 years later they have 4 classrooms and three dormitories for the students. Their next projects are to build a laboratory and two new dormitories to help with accommodating more students.
Since it was the first week of school, Fr Patrick met with the teachers to help organize our week of teaching. We were excited to find that we were helping with football (soccer) and volleyball everyday. We would also be running our own English class! Yikes! I mean, yes, we are totally qualified!
After the last school bell rang at 4:20pm, we helped one of the teachers set up the volleyball net. Before we knew it, we had 6 players on each side, and we had quite a rally going. Sadly, the rain and huge black clouds overhead made our game end after only an hour, but we were impressed with the amount of talent and athletes in the school.
Since it was downpouring, we ran back to the rectory and played cards until dinnertime. We learned a few more Lugandan words to help us with communicating during our English class tomorrow, such as “Bampita Dermot, Mva America” (I am called Dermot, I am from America) Professor Katie and Professor Dermot hit the hay around 10:00pm to rest up for their big debut….as high school teachers.
Day two, we are Physical Education teachers today. It’s the first “job” we’ve had in a…..while, so we were excited. Katie took all of the ladies to the ‘volleyball’ court (which consists of a net held up by two sticks in the ground) and went over general positions for passing and receiving the ball. Katie also taught them all to ‘call’ the ball by yelling “I’ve got it!,” which the ladies thought was hilarious. They loved to yell “I’ve got it,” even if the ball was no where near them…. Dermot organized the boys into a game of football, showing corner kicks and they had a penalty shootout competition.
After school, Dermot participated in “slashing” which all the students acted as a huge lawnmower. Katie opted to hangout with Sister Anita and learn more about the student’s tuition and running the books of the school. Sister invited us to meet the orphans as well as see her house. When we were walking over to the orphanage, all of the children were scurrying inside—we realized that they brought in benches for us and sang us two lovely songs, including “You are welcome, our visitors.” We were very impressed with their singing abilities and we were flattered by their impromptu performance.
Sister told us more about the students attending Mazzoldi College, as well as many of their parent’s inability to pay for their children’s education. Many of the men practice polygamy, so they can have up to 20+ children, so it is difficult to find the $300+ per year to send each child for an education. However, the college is set up to try and offer parents alternatives, such as bringing food from their farms to help subsidize their children’s education. We also learned that men in the community may wish to ‘sell off’ their daughters for the wedding dowry (money). Many of the women in Uganda (and Africa) struggle with equality, as many of the customs taught to young girls is to kneel when speaking to a man. However, there are many women at Mazzoldi College that are following their dreams of becoming doctors, nuns and agriculturists, and there is change on the horizon.
On our third day, we were English Professors. We taught S1 (high school freshman) for 80 minutes…English. There were 30 students in the class, so we tried our best to keep their attention for the full 80 minutes….what a challenge! We had each student introduce themselves, as well as say one English word starting with the same letter as their Christian name. Students at Mazzoldi have two names, their African name and their Christian name, which makes life much easier for us… we did not have to struggle to learn their African names! We split the class into three groups and played hangman, where the students have to guess the word, letter by letter. We ended the class with each student able to ask us one question in English about our travels, our lives and/or pretty much anything. The questions ranged from “Why is air travel so expensive” to “What is the starting line up for Liverpool’s Football Team?”
Later in the afternoon, we went into town with Fr Patrick to see more of his “City.” We visited the freedom monument, which is a huge burial ground of heroes that died during the People’s Protracted War from 1981- 1986. Father said that they hold a mass there every year on November 2nd, day of the dead, to remember those who lost their lives. Next Father took us to see their government sponsored hospital, where Father had to visit when he had Malaria (we are putting on tons of bug spray….as we speak!).
The hospital was set up much like ours back in the states with an emergency room, x-rays and laboratories, as well as wards for the ill. We visited the women’s ward, where women had to sleep on the ground, for lack of space at the hospital. There were also private (expensive) rooms as well as rooms for maternity. We were glad that we got to have a glimpse into a developing world’s hospital, and we understood why many Ugandan doctors choose to practice in S. Africa, UK and/or the USA, as the pay and living conditions for doctors is not as esteemed in Uganda.
After visiting town, we went to meet Father Evarest’s parents, the priest that facilitated our visit to Mazzoldi College. We enjoyed meeting his mother and father, as well as his three nieces and nephew. They served us delicious tea and brown bread, as we talked through Fr Patrick, as they do not speak English….and our Lugandan is rough around the edges! We were very touched that his parents felt more comfortable with his son living in the United States after meeting us, since we were such nice and genuine people who obviously cared very much for his son, since we came to meet his parents. We enjoyed our visit very much, and they gave us a chicken to show their gratitude.
We took a new road back to Mazzoldi (as Fr Patrick promised-- all new roads to see as much of his city!) and prepared for our 8:00pm supper. Every night we ate at 8:00pm, always with Fr Patrick and usually with Fr Joseph, if he was in town. Recently, he has been going into Kampala to help with the parish in town. Father Evarest must have heard us talking about him, as he called our Ugandan cell phone to hear about our visit to his parent’s house. We had a lovely dinner, yet again with many options including Matoke (Baked bananas), baked potatoes, beef stew, pineapple, mushroom soup, noodles, beans and rice. We always had a feast every night, as we were truly treated as royal visitors.
We were up nice and early on Thursday, our last full day at school. We decided to sit in on S3 (high school juniors) Physics with Master David. Dermot was impressed that they were learning American College level Physics, and Katie had horrible flash backs to her Physics tutor with Arie in high school… ah, memories. Father Patrick came into get us in the middle of class to experience our ‘gift’ becoming lunch.
We escorted one of the kitchen staff to the back yard to make our gift from Fr Evarest’s parents ….our dinner. It was a very interesting experience to see how the chicken became a meal—and we were yet again grateful for pretty, pre-packaged chicken breasts in the store….they have a whole new meaning now. We offered our assistance in the kitchen to the Harriet, “momma” of the house, as we peeled potatoes and bananas to help prepare for lunch.
Before the school bell rang, we went to visit with the S1’s Fine Arts class, where Dermot’s drawing was selected to show the students shading for darkness and proportions. We visited with the S3 Political Science Class afterwards, and we realized that they actually had a free period—but they all came to listen and ask us questions. We talked about the US Government, Congress, the House of Representatives, Governors, Barak, Hillary, George W and many other political topics. They also wanted our mailing address to keep in touch, in case they had any other questions. Even after the lunch bell rang, we still were answering many questions from the inquisitive minds of the high school juniors.
After lunch, we had the honor of meeting Father Patrick’s younger sister, who came all they way on public bus from Kampala to meet us and see her brother. She’s a teacher in Kampala, and she has a thirteen year old daughter in school nearby. She shared with us many stories from their hometown in Eastern Uganda, as well as struggles of Ugandans over the years.
Around 4:45pm, we all went up to the school where the students had prepared a ‘thank you/goodbye’ dance and music show for us. We felt like truly honored guests as the students sang, danced, played drums and expressed their gratitude for our visit. Dermot and Katie said a few words of our appreciation, as well as thanking them for making us feel so welcome. We had the opportunity to meet many more students, as well as take a photo with each of the class levels. Dermot enjoyed his last game of football with the students, while Katie met more of the S4 (seniors in high school) and talked about their experiences at school, as well as how it relates to American High School.
The highlight of the evening was our community dinner where they served the turkey from the yard (its huge!) with around 20 individuals comprised of the Mazzoldi Faculty, Priests from neighboring parishes (that drove up to 2+ hours to come visit!), we were so grateful for the opportunity to meet and interact with all of them. They even brought in Senator beers and sodas for the celebration. We played a few rounds of cards after dinner, very similar to Uno (Zein would have loved it!) before we called it a night around 10:45pm.
On our last morning at Mazzoldi, they held a mass in our honor to wish us well on our travels. We were so honored, as we made sure we were up early and ready. Of course, with “Africa Time” as Fr Patrick calls it, we were supposed to start mass at 8:00am, but we had breakfast around 8:00am with the priests from the night before…it was very typical of the laid-back, things will happen ‘God Willing.’
Around 8:45am, we commenced mass with many thanks given from Fr Joseph, as well as many rounds of applause from the student body. Dermot and Katie couldn’t say enough to thank them all for their amazingly generous welcome and they all said to them “Why can’t you stay longer?” ….next time, we must! We ended our stay at Mazzoldi College visiting with the S4 or Seniors of the school. The students were amazingly articulate (incredible what 4 years of high school can do!) and asked very intriguing questions for two hours ranging from: what are the wedding traditions in the USA, how is the US Government set up, how do I become an American Citizen, can I have a female, US penpal and so on. Dermot and I shared our stories about struggling to find a ‘major’ in college (since this is their next step), as well as words of encouragement to continue to persevere with their education…and to not let anyone or anything stand in the way. Many of the students come from very large families where they have difficulties sending their children to school.
After our last delicious lunch with fresh avocados from the yard, pineapple and of course, Matoke (mashed bananas), we hit the road with Fr Patrick back into town to head towards the airport. We made a pit stop to say goodbye to Father Patrick’s sister who teaches at a high school in Kampala. We then proceeded to the Apostles of Jesus house in Kampala. It ended up being right down the street from where we stayed in Kampala when we first arrived. We met Father John who just got back from the USA. He was studying at Duquesne University and living in Pittsburgh, PA. Father Patrick then dropped us off at the Airport Guesthouse in Entebbe. The guesthouse was a very nice place run by a couple from Holland. We said our goodbyes to Father Patrick and then dropped our stuff off in our room. It was already after 7:00 p.m., so we had some dinner and then returned to our room where we watched the movie “American Gangster” and went to bed.
The night guard knocked on our door at 5:00 a.m. for our wake up call. We reluctantly got out of bed, packed our stuff and then got in the hotel van for a 5 minute drive to the airport. We checked in and then browsed some the duty free shops. I think Entebbe Airport takes the cake in terms of biggest rip off prices of all the duty free shops we have seen on our trip. Needless to say, we didn’t buy anything, so we spent our last 10,000 schillings on two candy bars and a croissant. We then boarded the plane and our 5 hour flight to Jo’Burg went smoothly. In Jo’Burg we had to collect and recheck our bags for our domestic connection. After that we enjoyed the South African Airways lounge where we got to check Internet for the first time in an entire week…and it was ‘high’ speed….ahhhh… Before we knew it, it was time to board our flight to Cape Town.