Today we headed to the village! After eating breakfast and
saying goodbye to the Nekoli guesthouse, we traveled to Iganga town to grab
some groceries and other materials for the week. With two other team members (Issac
and Juliana), I went to the market to grab most of the groceries. We bought
sweet potatoes, rice, wheat flour, beans, peas, etc. The market is a beautiful
place that reminds me of a giant farmer’s market back home. Once we met up with
the rest of the team who went to various supermarkets around town, we headed
out on the bus to the villages! With the two other Launch teams, we first
dropped off the team at Buwerempe and then we were next! As we pulled up to our
house, we saw one of the village health team members in her bright green UVP
shirt running down the street to tell others that we’ve come. Once we parked
and unloaded, a number of adults had come to help us move our luggage to the
front door. That’s one thing that I’ve noticed – Ugandans are so nice!! There
are so friendly and extremely kind. I met many of the local leaders of the
village today and was able to use some of the Lusoga I’ve learned (flashcards
for the win!).
But the best thing of the day? Oh man, the children. As we
pulled up to the house, so many kids came and looked at the muzungus (the
Lusoga term for foreign). After saying “Jambo!” (which means Hi!) many times,
one of my team members pulled out a Frisbee. After a while with the Frisbee,
the makeshift soccer ball came. It looked like a compilation of foam wrapped
and tied up in a net. The kids first played a game of keep away in a circle,
which I joined. Then all of sudden, one of the children said a couple of words
and branches were torn off nearby trees and shoved into the ground on two sides
of our giant front lawn. Thus, the soccer game began. It was so much fun! But
so so so hot.
After the soccer game, we cleaned up the house (sweeping and
mopping the concrete floors) and then unpacked our stuff in our rooms. We had
tea as a snack since lunch was skipped. I had roasted corn for the first time.
It tasted pretty hard actually… but interesting. Then after tea, we unpacked
some more and then finally had our first team dinner together in the light of
kerosene lamps. We had rice, cabbage, and sweet potatoes. After that, it was
only sleep.