Becoming an African Woman

Momma and Dad

I had the wonderful opportunity to live with an amazing family here in Mukono from September 12th-25th. Just so we are all on the same page before I start this blog, when I mention momma, dad, brother, sister, etc. in this post, I am referring to my host family.

My dad is a reverend. He actually did some of his schooling in Michigan so we frequently talked about the US. His favorite restaurant was McDonald's and his favorite American food was the hamburger.

My momma is actually a student here at UCU just like me! We frequently walked to school together. She is working towards her nursing degree. Currently she works as a night nurse on the weekends. So she goes to class all day Friday, comes home, eats dinner and leaves for work. Then she gets home around 7am on Saturday and goes to classes all day Saturday again (yes UCU students have Saturday classes, I'm grateful that USP doesn't). She comes home for dinner and leaves for work again. On Sunday she gets home from work and goes to church with us!!! When I asked her how she does it she said "God's grace". She is probably the most positive, joyful, hard working woman I have ever met.

I have a big sister who is 22. She is actually the niece of my momma and dad, but lives with them and is considered a daughter, as am I. I was so thankful to have her around! She laughed at me a lot when I made mistakes, but she helped me learn so much! We learned that the main thing I can do when helping prepare food is cut tomatoes. So I cut a lot of tomatoes and it was wonderful.

My little brother, Eleazar, is 4 and I love him so much! He is such a joy to have around. Also, he received an Operation Christmas Child box while I was there. It was so fun to witness one being open and seeing him love the things inside.

Eleazar!!

My first day there, Saturday, I kept asking if there was anything I could help with. My momma told me after tea the work would begin. So I waited while the tea was prepared and then we took tea as a family. I soon learned that I was living in a church compound. The same compound that the Bishop lives in, in fact! So the house I was living in was a house provided by the church for the Reverend and his family to live in. It’s very nice! I was spoiled with electricity, plumbing, and even an indoor toilet!

My sister teaching me how to cut matooke

After tea we first picked rice. This means we poured rice on trays and picked out the small stones and sticks. After that we swept and mopped. Then I tried to help cook dinner. I learned how to peel matooke, which is… I don’t know how describe it..it looks like a really green banana but it is cooked into a mashed potato like substance. That makes it sound really disgusting, but it’s not! Anyways, I do not have whatever it is that makes someone good at peeling matooke. Good news though! All my fingers are still on my hands! By the end of the day my Momma told me I was becoming an African women!

On Sunday I wore my colorful maxi dress to church and she told me I looked like an African women! This is such a huge compliment! At church my sister and I sat on the very front pew. Remember, my dad is a reverend, so basically I became a preacher’s kid. Of course he was the one that asked all first time visitors to stand that day.

Throughout my two weeks I commuted on foot to school. Out of all the USP students my house was the closest. I only had about a 10 minute walk and it was such a beautiful walk! One morning I saw around 15 monkeys on my way to school! In the evenings I gained the responsibility of preparing afternoon tea. I also helped with the dishes, serving the food, and sometimes preparing food. I mainly talked to my sister while she prepared the food and if there was tomatoes to cut I cut them. I also learned how to make fresh juice and helped with that.

It was so nice to go home after school to a loving family and a home cooked meal. It was also nice to be living with my family during these weeks because that was when I was stating my internship at Chain Foundation and they know what Chain is. So I would come home and they would be able to ask genuine questions about how my day was and they could understand to an extent.

Thursday the 17^th was a national holiday so I didn’t have classes and my sister didn’t have to work! We spent the afternoon together and went to visit some of her friends from church. It was so nice to get to know others around the community outside of UCU. Now when I go to their church I know some people and it’s so nice.

In conclusion, I really love my family and I’m so blessed by them. I plan to visit them more throughout the semester. Also, when I first told my momma I have a boyfriend she asked if she could come to my wedding. Yes, she asked this before knowing anything about our relationship because here in Uganda if you admit you are dating someone then basically you’re planning to marry that person. So yes, I’ve invited my Ugandan family, as well as my sister’s friends, to my wedding whenever it may be. Hope that’s ok!