Home stay in the bush

Days fly by so fast that it's tough to keep up with the blog and get everything done! I'll share a bit about my home stay in the bush on Monday night and hopefully Miles will share about his adventure a bit later.

We offer home stays as an opportunity to experience the culture at ground level. Depending on how adventurous you are we set up a home stay that can range from brick homes with TV (the head of our PTA) or simple mud huts with mattresses and open fire cooking. For most Americans they go camping with more luxury than families living in the bush.

My stay was arranged to be with a single father who was taking care of four children age 6 to maybe 12. It's unusual to find a single dad in the bush. There are many single moms as fathers have either died or left to find jobs elsewhere. In this household the mother died in child birth two years ago. The mother's death led the father to drinking and giving up on life. Pastor Robert came to his aid and helped bring him back to a positive outlook and responsibility for his remaining children. Today, the family would welcome a Mzungu (white man) into their house and they were absolutely excited about it.

I started my journey at Fountain of Hope where the three oldest boys go to school. Wilson, the youngest, has been sponsored for a year or so while the older two brothers, Esau and Emanuel, just recently received sponsorship. The youngest of the family, 6 year old daughter Christine, stays home as the father is waiting for a sponsor for her. Wilson and Esau waited for me at school to finish my other activities and then they walked me to their house. From Fountain it took one hour and 25 minutes to walk to the other side of Bukeeka next to the Nile River. The boys make this commute every day to go to school.

Passing through the dirt paths that few if any white people ever walk was exhilerating. Families were curious, little kids waved, and I felt excited. We arrived at the house and the father was waiting for us with a big smile on his face. He told us that he'd never imagined that a Mzungu would ever stay in a house such as his. Meaning that he figured I would only stay in hotels. The property consisted of a very old brick house, a small square 7' x 7' foot mud brick room that the boys shared with two old thin mattresses on the ground, a round mud hut with thatched roof that was the father's and daughters bedroom, and a mud room store house. About 20 yards away was a stick and mud outhouse. The rest of the property, about 3 acres was being farmed for corn, coffee, pineapple, potatoes, and a few fruit trees.

The father had purchased the land over 30 years ago during the reign of Idi Amin and has kept it ever since. Due to his age he know leases some of the land to others who will cultivate it. We walked out into the corn field and he picked a few fresh ears of corn and gave to Wilson to go and cook over the fire in one of the rooms of the old brick house. The brick house was also over 30 years old and the tin roof was filled with holes and rust. The plan was to tear down the house and rebuild a new one someday, just not sure when someday would come. In the time being, they had already built the pole structure for a new round mud hut to be a kitchen and then they can start thinking of tearing down the old house.

After touring the property we sat down to enjoy some warm ground nuts, tea, and fire cooked corn on the cob. I had brought a bag of rice as a house gift (rice is a luxury for most people) and they had already started to boil some along with beans. The boys and Christine helped cook dinner while I visited with their father. He couldn't help stop thanking me for coming to his house. It was as if the President of the United States had arrived he was so excited. Pastor Robert shared with us how our visits open so many doors and hearts that's it's simply amazing. My visit will be remembered for the rest of their lives. As we visited, two neighbor ladies stopped by to greet me and learn why I was there. I don't think they could even grasp the concept of a Mzungu staying over night in the bush. With the rice and beans cooked, we were

presented with heaping piles of food and I could tell the children were enjoying it.

By now the sun had set and the thin sliver of a moon had slipped behind the trees leaving us almost total darkness. I put my camping headlamp on the father's head and smiled as he walked around the compound with light shining wherever he went. They were amazed how such a small flashlight would work on someone's head. For them their nightly light consists of a kerosene lantern and small kerosene candle wicks. The boys took their candle into their little room and layed down on their mattresses and opened their school note books to study for the night. All three of them read by one candle while Christine sat silently looking over their shoulders probably wondering if she would be able to attend school.

The father then proceeded to take the boy's nice mattress away from them and put it in his mud hut room (Christine usually sleeps on a mat on the floor as she doesn't have a mattress) for my interpreter to sleep on. He then told me that I would sleep on his bed and mattress under a mosquito net. Since I was his special guest he wouldn't have it any other way. The entire family would spend the night sharing one 3' x 6' two inch mattress in the boys room and they were very proud that they could welcome me with such hospitality.

With the darkness of night upon us, a few of the boys washed their feet and legs with water in a plastic bucket. There is no running water at the house and every day the boys go to the community water well and fill up their yellow jerry cans and bring them back to the house. I took photos of the proud family and by 9pm we were all retiring to bed. The night was still and warm and I was a bit restless especially when I heard the rats or mice scurrying through the mud hut looking for food. We had closed the wooden door and placed a one inch stick through a metal ring acting as a brace lock on the door. I prayed a prayer that night amazed at the family's happiness amongst such poverty and how my visit had generated such excitement. The morning sounds brought dish washing to my ears as the boys were washing the nights dishes by the light of the rising sun. The boys share two bicycles to make their daily commute to school much easier. They left the house at 6:30 so they could be at school by 7am to help clean the grounds and begin studying before the first class starts. American students have life so easy. I was treated to morning tea and ground nuts and then we walked down to the Nile River to enjoy the view before I started the long walk back to school.

The experience is something both me and the family will never forget. People living with nothing are willing to happily open their homes and offer everything they have. Amazing. We could learn a lot from them.

Blessings, John

Photos: Esau walking home with the bag of rice on his head, family photo in front of father's mud hut bedroom, appetizers, Children cooking rice by light of the fire and the candle, children studying by candlelight with flash and without flash