A Strange Dichotomy

Day 42 – Six Weeks!

This weekend has been INSANE! Saturday, we went rafting on the Nile. No big deal. It was beautiful. There were seven other girls in my raft and then our New Zealander guide, Camo. It was prolly the funnest thing I have spent money on yet. We set out early Saturday morning and drove about an hour and a half into Jinga. Mukono is a busy little town and is pretty in its own way, but Jinga was spectacular. It was cleaner and greener and just more relaxing than Mukono. I really needed that breather. God is so good like that. But anyways...we rafted down the Nile for about eight hours, and let me tell you my shoulders and my abs are a bit tender (its probably one of the most physical activities that I have done in a LONG time). The Nile is beautiful. And no there were no crocodiles or piranhas so I totally went swimming despite the inevitable parasite that I will likely contract (which is not a big deal and totally treatable), bilharzia, but I figure when is the next time I will get to swim in the Nile? We managed to stay in the raft for most of the time, but got epic-ly dumped on this one rapid called 'the Bad Place'. Its pretty amazing how scary it can be to be underwater and the only thing you can think is I NEED AIR, but you have no concept of which way is up. We had sandwiches for lunch and oh my goodness they were amazing. I know, I know. but seriously when all you eat ALL the time, and I mean ALL the time, is rice and beans or matoke and irish (what they call potatoes) a sandwich is pretty close to heaven. They had tomatoes and lettuce and peppers and cheese and salami. It was pretty much the best lunch I have had months ages. The weather was perfect, the people were fantastic. It was really fun to hang out with these people in a setting that is not academic. We spent that night in a guest house owned by the company with whom we went rafting.
Sunday we were told we would be able to leave whenever we were ready...thus we were hoping to be back on campus by noon (I was totally planning on doing homework...), but we were told that we could leave at two, which would get us back to campus at four. Ahh Africa. Lessons in flexibility. but I spent a beautiful Sunday morning with my Bible on the coast of the Nile watching the birds catch fish and freaking out when I saw a snake. The guest house was on a bluff and so I clambered down the bluff to be by the water and was surprised to find that the bluffs reminded me much of the ones up by Washington Island, Wisconsin in Door County. Sans the fact that there were monkeys and all this tropical foliage...but the quiet was so good. I had not realized how long it had been since I had been able to hear myself think. Toto Village is always loud no matter how late or if the power is out. There is always a rooster who thinks it is time to wake up. I literally sat out there on these steps by the water just thinking and listening to the quiet sounds of the world for a good hour. As soon as I have pictures to share I will, but I do not think that pictures will do the area justice. So after a, not going to lie, long and fun day of just chilling at the guest house and doing some homework we finally got back to campus around four at which point I had NO desire, and I repeat NO desire to do anything homework related.

This is some of us on the railing of the restaurant at the guesthouse. From left to right: Kelsey, Hilary, Joe, Mary, Me, Christa, and Katy.
Anyhow, returning home had me feeling a bit odd. like I was living two lives. One of me lives like an African and the other blows massive amounts of money on tourist things like rafting down the Nile. My host family has probably never spent so much money in one place in a day. When they asked me how it was I didn't know what to say. It was so fun but part of me feels guilty for my lavish expenditure. I am here to live and experience, and I guess to an extent I am a tourist but then again I want to invest in this place more than most tourists would. I want to appreciate the people and the culture. I want to participate. Descartes coined the idea 'I think therefore, I am', but here in Africa the thought is 'I participate therefore, I am'. I want to be a participant in this culture not a leech sucking what I can out of the resources.
I hate to jump emotions on ya'll, but I really need to share my passion with you. And the next thing on my list of things to share is peanut butter. I bought myself a jar of peanut butter yesterday for 4500 USH (which is about a dollar fifty), and let me tell you this is one happy camper.

I shared some with my sweet girls yesterday. Flora was pretty unsure, but she liked it after I made her try some on chapate, and then Mariam, Arianna, and Shiloh also basked in the joy of it with me while watching Tangled on my computer.

Ahh its truly the little things.
Today was a beautiful start to my week. Some friends and I started a Bible study on Philippians today and opened with worship which I truly crave at moments. I had a great discussion with my friend Wesley. She is a ministry major from Arkansas, not to be confused with my (wonderful) boyfriend Wesley back home...We talked about the worship here and church and faith and action and it was so good to connect with someone here like that. We see eye to eye on lots of things and she is a great sounding board.
In literature we talked about this poem today and I just wanted to share it because I thought it was beautiful.
Its called the Second Coming by W.B. Yeats:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

It was written around 1920 about the general state of chaos in the world and inspired the book Things Fall Apart which we are reading for lit about the colonization of Africa and how it caused traditional African culture to dissipate in a way.
Well I think that is more than enough for one day..
Have a wonderful week everyone!
Thank you for your love and prayers. They mean the world to me!

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ -Philippians 1:2