A Day In The Life

Now, I realize my previous post most seem a little… disheartened. But, I still stand by it. While my situation may have improved dramatically since then, dealing with all those emotions was an important part of accepting what was happening to me and being able to react to it.

That being said – I LOVE my home stay family. Seriously. I know I’m totally backtracking here, but they’re awesome. I like being at home with my Ugandan family better than going to class with my American counterparts! Being at home is way less stressful, and I feel like I’m learning so much more there than I do in class. While my biggest challenge right now is feeling like I’m not being challenged enough academically, my home stay is both engaging and comforting.

My family is huge – our compound has four houses in it, and there’s a fifth being built so that my family can rent out the rooms in it for extra cash. Everyone in all of the houses are related in some way; the four standing houses are filled with relatives

I live in the house at the back of the property, with my mego (mother), Grace, and wego (father), Peter. Ugandan houses, though, are set up differently than in America. One can live in anything from a grass hut to a brick house. I live in one of the latter. There is a porch and front door that leads into a sitting room. Off of this sitting room is Grace and Peter’s room. It is here that the similarities with American homes end, however. The room I share with Esther, my lamera (sister), is right next to Grace and Peter’s, but to get to it, one would have to walk back outside and down along the house until they reached our door. Our room, my omera (brother) Michael’s room, and the kitchen are all independent rooms, with one front door at the front of the house by which one would enter. The rooms are tiny, smaller than a bedroom or dorm room in America, and they are still crammed with at least two beds and a bookshelf or two for storage, but somehow, these rooms still seem homey.

Michael and Esther aren’t Grace and Peter’s children. All of them are away at school, in Kampala or farther, and won’t be home until December. Rather, they’re Grace’s niece and nephew, and they are living here while they both attend Gulu University. I think they are renting – I also think they are serving as the home’s houseboy and girl. This practice is common in Uganda, but I still feel awkward hearing Mego call for them from inside her sitting room, or when they do things for me, like making my bed or bringing me tea, without me having to ask.

Michael attends school Monday through Friday, but I still get to see him a lot. He’s home in time for dinner, and usually we eat together with Esther. He’s really funny, and talks to me about American television shows a lot, like American Idol or American’s Best Dance Crew. I always hear him walking past my room singing hymns.

Esther is probably my best friend here. We get along really well. She goes to school on Saturdays and Sundays all day, but I see her every night when I get home from school. She likes listening to hip hop, and we’ve taken to listening to Ke$ha before bed every so often (since that’s really the only bit of hip hop I have on my computer).

In addition to Esther and Michael, there are several small children in my compound and in the surrounding houses that come and play. In the middle house, there’s Joshua, who’s 8, Mercy, who’s 7, Adoc, who’s 6, and Michelle, who’s just 2. Mildred and Eric, two children from the neighborhood, come by and play almost every day. When I come home from school, Adoc and Michelle run at me, and climb all over me, wanting to play until somebody else tells them to leave me alone. Michelle speaks really good English, but Adoc doesn’t speak any at all, so communicating with her can be really difficult sometimes. I try to use some of the Acholi I learned to talk to her, but when I do, one of two things happens: either I say something, and she laughs so hard she almost falls down, or I say something, she doesn’t understand what I’m saying, one of the other kids translates for her, and she laughs so hard she really falls down. But, somehow, we manage.

I’ve settled into a routine here, which is helping me a lot with coping. On school days, I wake up at 7 AM and bathe (it takes me 40 minutes, since my hair is so long and I only have a bucket to use). Then I get dressed and take tea before meeting one of my classmates, Samantha, at 8:15 to walk to school. Getting to SIT is a half an hour walk through town, and almost every day we get accosted by the same guy who wants money on Kampala Road just before we reach school, so it’s nice not to walk alone.

Then I’m in school from 9 to either 2, or 4, depending on the day. Sometimes we have one lecture, sometimes we have two. If we get out early, I’ll stop in an internet café and check my email and Facebook before going home, otherwise I’ll just head back to the house and play with the kids until it’s suppertime, around 8 o’clock. After we eat, Esther and I usually just go to sleep. There’s no power in our compound right now, so it’s really to dark to do anything. If we get power back, we might watch a little television before bed, but my schedule won’t change much.

On the weekends, I’m free to spend my time however I want. I might have some homework I have to finish, or chores (I hand-washed all of my laundry yesterday!). Otherwise, I’ll just play with the kids for hours on end, or read, or write in my journal.

So, that’s pretty much my life, at this point. A week from tomorrow, we’re travelling to Kitgum, another area that was affected by the conflict in northern Uganda. Until then!