Yolo
defined as “you only live once” (for those old folks who may not know the term)
has been our house motto over the past week.
I have been living in Africa for over a month now and let’s just say my
limits have been tested and daily, I find myself out of my comfort zone in some
shape or form.
We have now
integrated fulltime ministry into our class schedule which means every Tuesday
afternoon and all day Thursday, our groups rotate through various
ministries. This Thursday the Central
team bussed to the south part of Kampala to Retrack, a transition home for
street boys ages 6 to 17. The boys live
in Retrack for four to six months where they are given responsibilities in
their assigned homes, go to school, and maintain their own personal gardens, in
which the money they earn is theirs to keep when they finish at Retrack. The boys are taught life skills and trained
in how to make good choices and decisions independently from their
families. Under a large gazebo, we had
the privilege of having the boys sing and dance for us. We then taught the boys a lesson (mostly in
Luganda), sang with them, and taught a memory verse. Random side note: As I went to the washroom
at Retrack, I was surprised by a lizard trapped in the sink! As a token of their appreciation, the boys at
Retrack thanked us with some sugarcane.
They hacked it into a bunch of foot length pieces as a treat for us on
the way back to the church. I was the
source of entertainment for my friends Andrew, Sunday, and Lillian as I painfully
attempted to rip off the outer layer of the sugar cane with my teeth. The time it took me to eat one piece of
sugar cane my friend Andrew ate two, (meanwhile my friend Emmanuel was secretly
devouring eight).
Another
YOLO moment would have to be the whole Valentine’s Day experience in Africa. My week started off with a surprise picnic
for our house by Natalie, Jack and Thomas, complete with artistic watermelon,
fancy dessert, awesome music (Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros!), everyone
dressed up and a scavenger hunt around our yard. It was
a fun time for our little family to celebrate together. My housemates are simply the BEST! On Valentine’s Day, all of us girls were very
taken aback by the very sweet surprise planned by our male classmates. We also were informed by our course coordinators
that our class had been asked to usher the church’s extravagant red carpet
Valentine’s dinner and dance at this elegant hotel. It was a mad rush as all of us girls had one
afternoon to find black or red dresses and the guys to find shirts, ties, and
pants for the event in the streets of Kampala.
The day of the dinner, we were given about 45 minutes to get ready at
school before we headed over to the hotel.
Now you can only imagine thirty girls getting all dolled up in a
conference room, cramming around mirrors, swapping make-up, ironing clothes,
and doing each others’ hair in the space of 45 minutes. Not an easy feat. What a gong show but my oh my were we ever a
good-looking class that night! I was
assigned the task of greeting people as they walked down the red carpet into
the beautifully decorated room. It was
the fanciest thing I had ever been to with all the rose petals, live jazz music,
lavish gowns, and elaborate decorations.
I have never celebrated Valentine’s Day to that extreme and probably
never will experience it with the same excessiveness ever again. Not really my style...
And then
there was dance class… Every Friday afternoon, our class is given dance lessons
of various types of dance.
Many of my Ugandan friends were ecstatic for our dance lessons while the
internationals were mostly dreading the day.
With the help and much patience of my friend Moses, I learned the style
of dancehall, a genre of Jamaican pop music. Let’s just say I am forever grateful for my
Zumba classes, and days of ballroom club.
SO OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE!!
I don’t
even know where to begin or how this even came about but on Saturday night,
Natalie had this idea that she wanted to pierce the top of her ear Parent Trap
style. Since apples are too expensive,
we used frozen watermelon to numb her ear instead. We googled how to properly sterilize and how
to do piercings at home. It was a family bonding moment for us all
watching Thomas pierce Natalie’s and then Callie’s ears with a safety pin. Those brave souls!
So yes, there
are many new experiences coming my way.
The best advice I could give to anyone when trying new things would be
to be the loudest person laughing at yourself!
Peace and
love
Thanks, Emily! I am enjoying your blogs very much. I just love hearing about your adventures! Keep on writing
ReplyDeleteJill Mackay
I love that last line so much! You are awesome, Emily! Thanks for being such an encouraging big sister to all of us (except Thomas, because he's like...really old.) :) Love you!
ReplyDelete