Living Day to Day

Today, I experienced the greatest rainstorm of my life. Suddenly the sky became dark and the rain came so heavy and the wind so powerful I thought it might blow the windows in. Luckily, it passed over in about 20 minutes or so. It was my first real tropical storm. Whenever it rains here the people say today it is “winter.” It always makes me giggle inside as we know winter as something much, much, much colder.

I am also getting used to eating rice, beans, matooke (a cross between bananas and mashed potatoes) every day. We usually eat the same meal every day. There is very little variety mostly because the food is inexpensive to cook and because they really love it. It is amazing after two months how I am actually starting to crave it too. However, there are restaurants here too. Sometimes I treat myself to a “western” meal. They have a good hamburger place and great Indian food.

This weekend I went somewhere special. A Ugandan friend of mine is getting married this October and there are some traditional ceremonies that the couple goes through before the marriage ceremony. One of the ceremonies is called the Introduction Ceremony—this is the English word for it. It has a name in Lugandan but I don’t remember what it is. During this ceremony, the couple go back to the village that the girl’s family is from. The whole family gets dressed in traditional clothing and is formally introduced to the boyfriend. The man must bring gifts for each member of the family to show respect for the family. Then the father and the whole clan must approve of the marriage. Then there is music, dancing and lots of food. It is rare for a westerner to be invited to an Introduction Ceremony, so I feel very honored. I traveled about 4 hours to the village and then stayed there overnight. It was an amazing experience. I have uploaded the pictures on my web site http://picasaweb.google.com/kari.lisa101271/

I am still teaching English to the street orphans and really enjoying getting to know them. I have also been involved with a group of 100 widows who are refugees from the war zone in the north. I am helping them get some land to live on. It feels really good to be helping them.

I hope you all enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend! School is almost out!! I hope you enjoy your last couple of weeks!

Much love,
Ms. Miller