Working on the Church

For my 2nd and 3rd day in Uganda we worked in a remote village on building a roof for a church that had been roofless for over 10 years. We also worked on building a house for the pastor near by because he has bikes 20 miles to get here. 2o miles here is much different from at home. The road here are absolutely terrible. We have to get off the bus and walk because if we road on the bus we probably we we get stuck. Right away when we got to the village there was a Welcom sign! I thought that was welcoming enough but as we walked down the street we passes a school and all of the children ran out of the school to waves and grab all of our hands. It was so hard to walk away from these children, I just wanted to hold their hands all day. The second I held hands with another child his or her face instantly smiled. I have to say that it is so easy to make someone happy here. I love that smiles trandscend through all cultures. All I have to do is smile and  I usually receive a smile in return.  It is so ironic, that here I can make someone smile just by smiling at him or her but they have to so little and have a lot of sad, negative things going on in their lives. Yet, in the United States smiles are not as easily but most of the population has a million times more than the people I have met in Uganda. Are we just so used to having everythhing that we expect things? Is is that the Ugandans live in the moment and live day to day? 

As I continued to walk past the children at the school more Ugandans came to greets us. Ugandan women were holding leaves and singning and dancing. As they sang and dance with smiles on their face they gave everyone of us hugs. It was very overwhelming because I didnt not expect this or really didnt know what it meant. There were so many of us and so many Ugandan that we were so close together yet we just met these people. The one thing I absolutely love is how loving and giving the people are here in Uganda. I seriously have never felt so loved in my life. It is so odd that people I dont even know can express such strong love to me. 

It was an event that we came to their village. As we finally saw the church and the house we were going to be building, I saw there was a lot of work to be done. The roof needed to be worked on but it was something I could not do, so at first I just took some pictures. Eventually , I started to work on the pastor's house by transporting bricks and laying them in the cement. Everytime I layed  a brick down a Ugandan came and fixed it so I eventually just let him do it. After that I just put cement in the cracks betweeen the bricks. I really felt frustrated after the st day working in this village because I felt like we werent being productive. But spending time with the people and enjoying their culture is very important. It is often said that Africa is about relationships. I want to establish relationships with the people but I also want to give these people something they can benefit from after I leave.  

The 2nd day I was more familiar with the village and expected the children to greet us outside of their school. It was much hotter this day. It was amazing to see how much work had been done on the roof, they almost finished it. Also, a ton of work had been done the house. We really motivated the people to do work. I didnt look at it that way the way before, I just thought they needed us, that they could not accomplish it completely on their own.

The ultimate example of teamwork was displayed as we transported bricks closer to the house. My group along with the Ugandans formed a line and we passed bricks along to get them where they needed to be for the constructing the house. We probably did it for at least 2 hours. It was definitely hard work especially in the hot sun. 

As I am writing this I remembering more because this was the yesterday and the day before. The children here are absolutely amazing and love dancing. There was a boy the first day who was playing drums and we started to dance with the children. They think that it is so funny when we try to dance. But they really enjoy when we try to. 

My favorite part is learning the langauge. I love to be able to communicate in their language. I have learned how to say "How are you" "Very good"  "Fine" "Thank you, so much" As i was passing the bricks I was standing next to a Ugandan and some bricks were wet so they were heavier than the others. I said heavy adn eventually I was taught how to say heavy and light. It is so interesting because they laugh but in happiness. Also, they have to repeat it a lot of times because the pronunciations are so diffrent than english. I havent felt such passion for culture and langauage in a long time. I knew I felt it once with Spanish but I definitely know it is something I really enjoy. 

I love all of the time I can spend here with people. The people that appreciate and love me without an judgement. It is truly amazing to see how these people live. I and so many others have so much to learn from these people.  I am sure I will remember more later. 

Over & Out

JJP