Easter

Romina, Analina and Grace~ Enjoying MEAT & SODA on Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was a celebration of food, just like it is at home. After a three hour church service, we head to our neighbors. They are a German couple who live here with their three daughters, they've been living here for about six months. You can imagine how popular these little muzungu girls are! We carried over plates and forks, we carried benches and chairs, we carried over the beans that Ava made, the G.nut sauce and the chapatti’s. Immaculate made fresh juice, the most beautiful juice in the world. We brought the small end tables to eat on and we carried the food in big pots and pans. The two English girls who also live nearby brought the rice and the cabbage salad. All of the usual food was served, plus MEAT and a couple of "extras"! I tried to make a chocolate sauce, they all claimed it was delicious, it was very runny!

The "spread"

The meal was lovely. Vivian and Julius and their three kids were also there. Mika and Beth, an American couple that had just returned to Uganda to live were also there. We feasted and chatted, after lunch we played games. Claire and Charlotte, the two English girls, were full of silly games to play. The Africans found every game hilarious and exciting. Even the adults love the games, maybe even more than the children. They don't play many organized games so it's always a challenge to explain the rules and then see how it turns out. We played musical chairs, my personal favorite. We played a game so ridiculous it was hilarous, it is called "Ha". We laughed so hard at the absurdity of it. They had four people standing on a square of newspaper the size of an adult’s hand. We were hugging and groping each other trying to stay on the little piece of newspaper long to enough to beat the other teams. Eventually we carried all of the furniture back to our house in the rain and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. Even though I attempted to make the chocolate sauce to drizzle over the fruit, I couldn’t stop thinking about the bowl of chocolates that my Grandmother would have brought, claiming it was from the Easter bunny, if I were at home right now. Even the veggie tray with carrot sticks and the creamy, salty dip would be incredible right now!

Jael in her paper hat.

Amelia with her pet rabbit, "Felix".

Easter Monday we were invited to Alex and Betty's house for lunch. Alex is the director of Amazing Grace and also the brother to Habert, with whom I live. Lunch was at 2:00, so we showed up around 3:00 and I’m thinking we’re late. Upon arrival Immaculate immediately sets to work washing the dishes, so we would have plates to eat off of. Didn't they know we were coming, I wonder to myself?!

Immaculate washing dishes

Uncle Alex, Balam, Elizabeeth and Ezra eating lunch at Alex & Betty's house.

About an hour later, somewhere around 4 p.m., as my stomach is singing a ballad, we have lunch. We have the same dishes that we always have, we just have every dish that we always have today. We have potatoes, matoke, g-nut, beans, rice and of course, it’s a special day, so we have MEAT. Immaculate also made a delicious cake. She had to build two fires, one on the bottom and one on the top of a big steel box. Once the fire was good and hot, she baked the cakes inside of the box oven. They are short, round cakes, but she’s stacked two together. She made a delicious, sweet icing from powdered sugar, then she added coffee grounds to a little bit and very carefully wrote, “God is Good” in brown icing across the top of the cake. At least that’s what she told me it said! The kids sit on a mat on the floor. I’m incredibly impressed with Esther’s English. She is the ten year old niece of Immaculate and Habert. She says things like, “Isn’t it a lovely Easter Day?” I say, “Yes, it certainly is a nice Easter day.” She smiles at me as we sit on the couch together. “Where did you learn such good English?” I ask her. She tells me that she studied in Kabale before they moved here. She’s the oldest in the family, so I’m sure part of her maturity is the fact that she’s partially raising her three younger brothers and probably also has many responsibilities around the house. After lunch I sit on the couch while Esther braids my hair for hours. She’s putting tons of tiny, little braids all over my head. Immaculate, Aunt Betty and Ester’s mom, Aunt Evelyn are all there chatting away. They switch from Rufumbira to English and back and forth again. As Elizabeth, the four year old daughter of Alex and Betty is doing handstands in her dress against the back of the chair, Aunt Betty says, “See, this is why she can’t make her holy communion yet.” I smile to myself and think of my nieces and I doing hundreds of handstands against the door at my mom’s house. I guess I’m not mature enough to receive Holy Communion either…not yet! 

Esther and I

Aunt Evelyn is a nurse and she seems to be a modern thinker, she surprises me when they start talking about how inappropriate it is for girls to play football. I’ve been biting my tongue for a good part of the past few hours, so I decide it’s time I ask a few questions “Why is it inappropriate?” I ask, oh-so-innocently. Aunt Evelyn looks at me and says, “Do you understand anatomy?” I tell her that “yes, I do understand anatomy”. I also tell her many girls really enjoy playing football. Many of them are very good at it as well. I tell her that it’s good exercise and if it makes the girls happy they should be encouraged to play football. Immaculate smiles at me, I’ve noticed she’s also been biting her tongue throughout the afternoon. The conversation continues, I look at Esther and think what a shame, this girl will never even have a chance to play sports.   

Eventually we all move outside, we check out the new guest room in the back. When I was here last week, it was just a brick structure, now it’s complete, with a bed and curtain. The bathing area is also complete, a little cement closet with a drain. We decide the girls should take some photos together. We make silly faces and this sends them laughing hysterically, we take more and the kids gather around our feet, they want to be a part of it, but, once again, the adults are having too much fun themselves to include the children. The little screen on the digital camera amuses us for far too long. It’s going to be dark soon, so we set off walking. Immaculate and Evelyn walk like turtles as Esther and I walk ahead of them. She is talking away, she shows me her school and tells me about her teacher. We dodge the bicycles loaded with boards that should have an, “extra wide” load sign flashing in front of them. We take about an hour to walk what would have taken me about 20 minutes to walk, but I’ve enjoyed my company. We say good-night, we praise God just once more and I promise to see Esther soon. She reminds me so much of my nieces, just a happy-go-lucky, brilliant girl.

Funny Faces Photo Shoot!

Had them in stitches!