Jake and I left the village with a goat and a chicken as a statement of honor for all to see. There are however, a lot of funny things that happened to us because of it. We got the chicken tied up and hanging upside down from the motorcycles handlebar, and the goat was hog tied and was laid on the seat between Bosco our friend and the driver. Since one motorcycle was taken up with all of our gifts Jake, the driver and myself were on the other. Because the motorcycle did a pop-a-wheelie on the way to the village I got to be the man in the middle. Oh happy days for me.
Just so everyone knows, if you have an issue with people seeing you do something and thinking that you are gay, you get over it quick here. Men hold hands as a sign of respect. Men ride 2-4 people on one motorcycle. It is strange to also know that you can go to jail for being gay; if the mob doesn’t beat you up or lynch you for it first. Contradictory in American eyes but here one does not associate with the other here.
Back to the story!!! So I am stuck between two guys on a motorcycle for 1.5 hours and all the way back you hear the goat screaming and we later get a flat tire. We make it back but not after we decide to call the goat Yummy. Yes we are a morbid bunch here but really funny. The goat would scream and I would yell back to the other motorcycle, “Don’t worry Yummy, your not lunch yet!” Oh we have so many issues.
We left in the morning and the goat is loaded into the luggage compartment under the bus, and the chicken rides on the floor by Bosco’s feet. That is right, the goat is in the luggage compartment, tied up and your suitcase is with it; not mine, someone else’s. We make it back to Kampala and we have a man carry the goat on his shoulders to the taxi van where the goat is stuffed in the back behind all of the seats. We then get off and we walk the goat from the slums to our house. Everyone that saw us knew we were to be respected and wished to go with us because the goat would soon be dinner. They left when we left the slums.
We then get to have Yummy as a pet for a few days. The chicken was dinner for Bosco on Easter Sunday. We named the chicken Obama because Obama is so popular here and so are chickens. I know, we are a couple of weird ones here.
The day came for us to cook the goat. Some of the workers on our compound knew how to kill it and so we let them do their thing. The ladies on our team were a little squeamish about the event. It all turned out ok. The feast was huge and the food was great. Praise God for the small things in life.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Lira
Jake and I have a friend named Bosco here who invited us to visit his family up north. He accepted Christ while we have been here and Jake is namely the tool that God used in that, the reason for the invite. Two days after the Kisoro trip we left for the town of Lira.
We three get to the bus barn at 6am since it is suppose to leave shortly there after. After 2 hours we got to wait a little more. It was around this time that Jake’s backpack went missing from the over head luggage compartment. We looked everywhere but alas it was stolen. His clothes and camera were all that was stolen but we have insurance and thank God for that. We finally leave around 10am and I get two of the most selfish travelers that I have ever met. These two ladies take up most of the seat and no isle to place my feet in due to all the boxes and bags in it. It basically means that a 6’4” 210lb. guy is sitting on a seat of maybe 10 inches for what took almost 7 hours. Towards the end of this trip these two ladies end up buying 2 live chickens, yes live ones with their feet tied up. These ladies bring them in and their wings are practically flapping me in the face and arm. (Chickens say, “Who’s your daddy? Whack!) These ladies then want me to move my feet so they can place the chickens there. I kindly turn to them and say, sure take the only place for my feet so that I can be even more uncomfortable on this trip. I then began singing, “happy days are here again”. KIDDING!!! I really just kindly told them no, that there is no other place for my feet. They placed the chickens behind the driver of the bus, safely.
We get there and the three of us stay in a nice yet cheap motel; 21,000 shillings/$10 per person. We end up going to the village the next morning and had to rent motorcycles with drivers for the whole day. Not bad for $30. We stay there and have food and later head back where Jake gets some new clothes and I got some cheap shirts. These clothes are mainly used American but good quality. Each shirt at this market cost $1.50, Yes!
The next and final day we go to the village and get a surprise; white ants. I believe that is what they are called anyway. These are interesting insects. Their upper half is that of an ant, the bottom is of a bees (minus the stinger and all a dark gray), and huge white, almost see through wings. The people here collect them and place them in a basket where they shake it up and the wings easily come off. From here it gets interesting for there are several different ways to prepare them. Our first bowl of ants were fried in a pan, so made crunchy and covered in salt. We had sodas with us for this so it actually was not as bad as I feared. I still almost vomited though. After this I walked around outside the hut to make sure I was not, or if did not in their presence. We had lunch, chicken again, and this time got to see the woman chase the chicken while another had a knife; then see the end result.
Then we got a huge surprise. Jake tells me that he smells bugs again. The thing is that these people eat meat rarely, if not once a year and the same goes for the ants. We get two meals with chicken and now our second bowl of ants. This is a huge honor and cannot be passed up until the hosts are satisfied with your eating of it, meaning all of it or full. These ants were not crunchy at all. These ants were ground up, boiled, and then made into patties. I like to call this dish an ant meatloaf. These were served with rice and oh the taste was interesting. We had no seasoning, ketchup or sodas; just grin and eat away. Jake ate almost all of his, I did not fair so well. I ate enough with much still left in the bowl, but passed the hosts requirements. I quickly left and walked around to avoid what you may want to do after reading this segment.
We left shortly afterwards and were blessed beyond measure. We left with prayer and praise, but mostly were honored by them giving us a chicken and a goat. This is a huge honor and we left feeling as much. It was a great honor.
We three get to the bus barn at 6am since it is suppose to leave shortly there after. After 2 hours we got to wait a little more. It was around this time that Jake’s backpack went missing from the over head luggage compartment. We looked everywhere but alas it was stolen. His clothes and camera were all that was stolen but we have insurance and thank God for that. We finally leave around 10am and I get two of the most selfish travelers that I have ever met. These two ladies take up most of the seat and no isle to place my feet in due to all the boxes and bags in it. It basically means that a 6’4” 210lb. guy is sitting on a seat of maybe 10 inches for what took almost 7 hours. Towards the end of this trip these two ladies end up buying 2 live chickens, yes live ones with their feet tied up. These ladies bring them in and their wings are practically flapping me in the face and arm. (Chickens say, “Who’s your daddy? Whack!) These ladies then want me to move my feet so they can place the chickens there. I kindly turn to them and say, sure take the only place for my feet so that I can be even more uncomfortable on this trip. I then began singing, “happy days are here again”. KIDDING!!! I really just kindly told them no, that there is no other place for my feet. They placed the chickens behind the driver of the bus, safely.
We get there and the three of us stay in a nice yet cheap motel; 21,000 shillings/$10 per person. We end up going to the village the next morning and had to rent motorcycles with drivers for the whole day. Not bad for $30. We stay there and have food and later head back where Jake gets some new clothes and I got some cheap shirts. These clothes are mainly used American but good quality. Each shirt at this market cost $1.50, Yes!
The next and final day we go to the village and get a surprise; white ants. I believe that is what they are called anyway. These are interesting insects. Their upper half is that of an ant, the bottom is of a bees (minus the stinger and all a dark gray), and huge white, almost see through wings. The people here collect them and place them in a basket where they shake it up and the wings easily come off. From here it gets interesting for there are several different ways to prepare them. Our first bowl of ants were fried in a pan, so made crunchy and covered in salt. We had sodas with us for this so it actually was not as bad as I feared. I still almost vomited though. After this I walked around outside the hut to make sure I was not, or if did not in their presence. We had lunch, chicken again, and this time got to see the woman chase the chicken while another had a knife; then see the end result.
Then we got a huge surprise. Jake tells me that he smells bugs again. The thing is that these people eat meat rarely, if not once a year and the same goes for the ants. We get two meals with chicken and now our second bowl of ants. This is a huge honor and cannot be passed up until the hosts are satisfied with your eating of it, meaning all of it or full. These ants were not crunchy at all. These ants were ground up, boiled, and then made into patties. I like to call this dish an ant meatloaf. These were served with rice and oh the taste was interesting. We had no seasoning, ketchup or sodas; just grin and eat away. Jake ate almost all of his, I did not fair so well. I ate enough with much still left in the bowl, but passed the hosts requirements. I quickly left and walked around to avoid what you may want to do after reading this segment.
We left shortly afterwards and were blessed beyond measure. We left with prayer and praise, but mostly were honored by them giving us a chicken and a goat. This is a huge honor and we left feeling as much. It was a great honor.
Kisoro
Recently I went on a men’s retreat where we all went and saw the southwest corner of Uganda, to Kisoro. Kampala, my current home is full of vegetation and mountains. In Kisoro, the same is true but only more so. It has to be the most beautiful place I have seen on this earth.
It is not easy to get to this paradise. It takes roughly 10 hours to get there. It is not far but the roads are atrocious. They have speed bumps on the interstate. If this is not bad enough, the road itself is nothing but potholes and crumbled pavement. When on such a long trip things happen. One of those things happened to me. A couple of hours after having my picture taken at the equator, you heard right, we stopped at a gas station to fill up the vehicle and rest a bit. Well, we all had to use the bathroom but I was privileged enough to use the squatty potty. I know several of my missionary friends are laughing right now. This particular floor and hole was more disgusting than usual. Oh well, when you gotta go… When I exited I made sure I was presentable and good to go. Well, my front of my trousers, pants in America, touched that floor and had a small brown substance on it. It could be mud, or it could be something else. Well, I still have to make it to the car and of course the whole world will see me. Of course I get sympathy from my fellow travelers as they point, laugh, and try to get this scene on camera. I change in the car once we get into the country and properly disposed of them. Ah, good times, good times.
The trip is not over yet. We get to our destination and it is truly breath taking. Kisoro is about 2,000 meters/6,562 feet above sea level. With it being so high it gets nice and cool there. We visit many churches and encourage them and I got to know more about an amazing man, George. Br. George is by far, the most remarkable native that I have met, if not one of the top ten men ever. George works with numerous churches with no real financial support directly to him. All of his churches that he grew or helped grew was mainly financed by the local people. Words cannot say what this man has done. It took us traveling all day just to visit these places. We went to schools with hundreds of children that all knew him and were ecstatic to see his visitors. Some of these children have never seen a white person up close and personal. One school was so happy that when we left I had about 50-75 students around me wanting me to do animal sounds, or just be goofy in some way or another. It seems that everyone in Kisoro knows George and George seems to know everyone there as well. If he wasn’t busy enough, he plans on working with well over 100 churches in unknown areas because they have not had proper discipleship. George is an amazing man and God bless him for that.
When night came we settled down with a game of poker; no there was no gambling what so ever, chips only. I came close to winning too, ha ha.
The morning of our departure my teammate Jake became ill and threw up. The poor guy did so again as he hung out the passenger window. Jake knew he was going to again so asked another one of our guys to capture him spewing via camera. Gross I know. Well, he asked us to pull over, with a great landscape view with the biggest mountain in the background. He gets over as best he can and we had two cameras that captured it. Mine was not one of them but I sure let out a laugh at the absurdity of a guy wanting that on film. He got sick at least two other times on the way up and we truly did feel bad for the guy.
Every guy road trip has to have some sort of weirdness to it and this one fit the bill. If I ever get the ability to go again I will. It truly is a beautiful place. All of these pictures are on my friend Jake’s blog site.
It is not easy to get to this paradise. It takes roughly 10 hours to get there. It is not far but the roads are atrocious. They have speed bumps on the interstate. If this is not bad enough, the road itself is nothing but potholes and crumbled pavement. When on such a long trip things happen. One of those things happened to me. A couple of hours after having my picture taken at the equator, you heard right, we stopped at a gas station to fill up the vehicle and rest a bit. Well, we all had to use the bathroom but I was privileged enough to use the squatty potty. I know several of my missionary friends are laughing right now. This particular floor and hole was more disgusting than usual. Oh well, when you gotta go… When I exited I made sure I was presentable and good to go. Well, my front of my trousers, pants in America, touched that floor and had a small brown substance on it. It could be mud, or it could be something else. Well, I still have to make it to the car and of course the whole world will see me. Of course I get sympathy from my fellow travelers as they point, laugh, and try to get this scene on camera. I change in the car once we get into the country and properly disposed of them. Ah, good times, good times.
The trip is not over yet. We get to our destination and it is truly breath taking. Kisoro is about 2,000 meters/6,562 feet above sea level. With it being so high it gets nice and cool there. We visit many churches and encourage them and I got to know more about an amazing man, George. Br. George is by far, the most remarkable native that I have met, if not one of the top ten men ever. George works with numerous churches with no real financial support directly to him. All of his churches that he grew or helped grew was mainly financed by the local people. Words cannot say what this man has done. It took us traveling all day just to visit these places. We went to schools with hundreds of children that all knew him and were ecstatic to see his visitors. Some of these children have never seen a white person up close and personal. One school was so happy that when we left I had about 50-75 students around me wanting me to do animal sounds, or just be goofy in some way or another. It seems that everyone in Kisoro knows George and George seems to know everyone there as well. If he wasn’t busy enough, he plans on working with well over 100 churches in unknown areas because they have not had proper discipleship. George is an amazing man and God bless him for that.
When night came we settled down with a game of poker; no there was no gambling what so ever, chips only. I came close to winning too, ha ha.
The morning of our departure my teammate Jake became ill and threw up. The poor guy did so again as he hung out the passenger window. Jake knew he was going to again so asked another one of our guys to capture him spewing via camera. Gross I know. Well, he asked us to pull over, with a great landscape view with the biggest mountain in the background. He gets over as best he can and we had two cameras that captured it. Mine was not one of them but I sure let out a laugh at the absurdity of a guy wanting that on film. He got sick at least two other times on the way up and we truly did feel bad for the guy.
Every guy road trip has to have some sort of weirdness to it and this one fit the bill. If I ever get the ability to go again I will. It truly is a beautiful place. All of these pictures are on my friend Jake’s blog site.
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