I know that most of my blogs have been pretty serious and I don’t want there to me any mistaking it. Africa is also completely full of laughter and joy. Literally I come home every day with a new story that has Natalee and me on the floor laughing as we retell what has happened. Here are some of the funny moments, the joyful moments, the loveliness of Uganda and it’s culture. These are the moments that make the hard ones worth it.
Mom, this one is for you. “Sorry.” People say sorry here like it’s going out of style. You fall and scrape your knee, “oh, sorry, sorry!” Not just from one person but from everyone. Which means I fit in perfectly! Back home, I have been known to over use this word occasionally... Haha but here I can say it all I want and I absolutely love hearing all the children saying it in their little Ugandan accents.
Another thing they say that confuses me every time. “Ok, please.” When they are answering any question instead of just saying “ok” or “yes” they say “ok, please.” Even when its not necessary. For example, our driver, Samuel uses it quite often. When we ask if he can come pick us up at 8 in the morning, instead of saying yes, he says “ok, please.” Throws me off every time. I’m starting to get use to it but still have some adjusting to make.
And lets talk about how the teachers get the children to listen. In America this would be considered horrible but you have to understand Africa is different and these children are different. A stern “no” simply does not work so they instead use rasher methods. The other day a child in the baby class bit his friend. His friend then proceeded to wail and cry and tell the teacher what happened. As he points out who did it, the teacher tells the child who bit him that she is calling the police because he was a bad child. She proceeds to pick up her phone and pretend to be on the phone with the police telling them about what he did. The whole time he is crying and saying he will never bite his friend again. (Of course he bites him a few minutes later). There is also the more common phrase to make sure the kids know they are doing something wrong. “You are bad children, I hate you. You are not my friend,” or one of my favorites and if you understood what the bathrooms at HUMBLE look like you would understand why this one works so well “you are bad children, if you don’t stop you will sleep on the bathroom floor tonight!.” Every time I literally have to turn my face away to hide my laughter. You also have to know these students know this teacher loves them. She actually is one of the favorites. She tells them everyday that she loves them and if they want to go to the University they just have to try. Now this doesn’t seem like a big deal in America but most students never go to High School, a lot not even elementary school, so making it all the way to the University is a big deal. She teaches them to dream which is probably one of the best qualities a teacher can have and she also gets them to listen.
Another funny moment. I tried teaching the baby class and top class (3-5 year olds) how to play duck, duck, goose, only instead of calling it that I tried to think of something they would know so I made it goat, goat, cow. Communication, especially with the younger children is really difficult. There is a lot that gets lost in translation. So this game of duck, duck, goose went a little like this. “Goat, goat, goat, goat, goat, cow, cow, cow.” Then children would start chasing that one child, not around the circle but around the school, until finally they would just come find any seat in the circle and sit down smiling triumphantly even though they had been tagged 4 times! With there short little legs and big toothy smiles, it was probably one of my favorite moments. The children loved it too!
Or how about today I’m sitting trying to take care of one of the little girls who was sick. She is sitting in my lap and pretty much asleep at this point, when all of a sudden she gets sick. Not on the floor, not in the trash can, but all over me and my white shirt. Thank the Lord for giving me the grace to not loose my own lunch. So one of the older girls just took me to the bathroom and helped me wash my shirt. Problem solved. The only thing there was to do was laugh. Definitely a moment when you wish you had a change of clothes.
Laughing is just a part of my everyday life here. Laughing when the children run away from the chameleon because they have been told by everyone their whole life that it is poisonous and will kill you. Laughing as they pretend to stick a bug down their friends shirt when really its just grass. Laughing as they make funny faces at me so I can take a picture. Laughing as I stand in front of the class teaching only to realize I’ve been talking to fast and they missed every word. Laughing as the teacher makes me sing a song to teach the kids how to draw it goes like this and yes I’m aware it makes no sense “Shading, shading is in my head. Shading, shading is in my head. Shading, shading is in my head I want to get to UNIVERSITY!”
There is so much joy to be found here. So many moments that bring laughter and smiles. Even though there are a lot of hard days and some days when I just feel like it is hopeless the good really does out weigh the bad. The smiles really do shine brighter than the frowns and the laughter really does ring louder than the crying. Everyday has a little of both. Everyday brings something new for the Lord to break my heart for and also for him to bring me joy from.
Thankful for another day of getting to laugh and cry. Another day of learning the Lord’s heart and discovering that in this life he both laughs with us and cries with us. I’m thankful that I’m learning both of these in a much deeper way than I have ever known before.
"Don't be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!" Nehemiah 8:10
P.S. Sorry for the grammatical errors. Just wanted to make sure I got all of this one down for you.
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