Ranch and Village

There's a lot of bikes in Uganda. They all come in this sort of one-size-fits-none style where giraffes are the only ones with legs long enough to reach the pedals. You see them everywhere often with a four crates of bottled sodas strapped over the back tire that leans and rattles like a tropical version of jingle bells. You see all sorts of things on the backs of bikes, sugar cane, 2x6 boards, a stack of firewood, people, we heard one story of a coffin strapped sideways on the back!

Crystal and I visited the Cornerstone Ranch Thursday Friday and Saturday. It is 600+ acres of working dairy farm, primary school, secondary school and the Cornerstone Leadership Academy. Its an amazing place that is home to an incredible group, not the least of which are black mambas, green mambas, c0w-eating pythons, puff adders and a host of insects that strangely bring thoughts of teradactyls to mind. We stayed at the African Hospitality Institute which, along with African Children's Missions is just adjacent to the ranch. AHI is a vocational school that trains local at-risk ugandans so they can get into the hospitality industry. The food is fabulous (the snakes say the same about the tourists) and we had a taste of home with fajitas & coffee ice cream. We also borrowed some bikes and set out on a tour of the ranch property--inspite of a valiant effort we were forced to turn back after a mile or so when Crystal, being unable to reach the pedals while sitting on the seat--actually being hardly able to reach the pedals and clear the bar running from the handle bars to the seat--became tired. The bikes are really magnificently large and the brakes will occasionally clamp on to the tires like pit bull that's been abused. Interestingly though, you see young children, 6 or 7 year olds that stand inside the triagle frame of the bike with their feet on the pedals, on arm like a chicken-wing over the frame and the other hand steering--its really phoenomenal to watch and after inquiring about it to a few ugandan friends they confirmed that that is how kids learn to bike in Uganda. So we didn't spend too much time biking, the heat being a factor in addition to the bikes themselves.

I did, however, get to bike around with one of the local employees of African Children's Mission to local villages and visit some of the children they sponsor. It was a moving experience as back in the States you get pictures of kids that need sponsoring for $30 a month or something and all you get is a photo and maybe a line or two about their parents dying of aids. But its impossible to mentally bridge the gap between standing in my kitchen opening junk mail and the child that can eat for a month on what we spend on a nice lunch. But here I was across the gap. Sitting on a crude bench in the heat, flys everywhere with children that haven't eaten yet today (it was 4pm) and have one pair of pants that reminded me of western fringe that went all the way up to the waisteband. Some of the children ran up to me and grabbed my hand not letting go until I stood up to leave, others jumped in my lap rubbing the hair on my arms or touching my 3-week beard. Other children were more shy and they would hide behind they aunt or caretaker or an older sibling and peer out at me with a smile. A lot of the kids were sponsored, I was sure they're picture was on someone's fridge in the states and an automatic deduction hit their visa card every month and somehow the money made it here to buy a little posho and beans so this child could eat once per day. Some of the kids were not sponsored, they were still waiting for someone to take a liking to their picture and send off a little money...still other kids, many other kids, were sponsored last year but with the credit crisis and recession non-profit giving has been sharply reduced in the states and it echoes loudly in Africa and they had lost their sponsor. To someone in the states this child was an expense that had to be cut since money is a little tight, to this child that means no school fees, and longer periods between meals.

When we got back to Kampala we had arranged to stay with some ugandan friends for the weekend while another visiting couple used our room at cornerstone. We had no idea what to expect, other than they told us, "We live out in the village, I hope that's okay." Of course we offered our confident affirmations that we were excited to experience "The Real Uganda" having absolutely no clue what exactly the real uganda was. We had an amazing time. We were overwhelmed with hospitality, served amazing local food, and their apartment was a great little hideaway amidst fruit and coffee trees. They took us to visit Lake Victoria which was beautiful, its so big its like an ocean--indeed when they found it they must have thought they reached the coast. Little waves patted the shoreline and carried discarded waterbottles and other trash back and forth up the sand. The water was a distinct greenish-blackish color and actually looked a little more like motor-oil than water--needless to say we did not touch it. But it was so great to be back at a lake. We walked and described wakeboarding and waterskiing to them, boy do I miss the lake. That night was ate boiled liver and proving our apprehensions wrong was delicious. We looked at pictures--their wedding pictures, and some from college; we showed some of our pictures from home that we had on a flash disk. The we talked african politics, economics, and social reform before retiring to bed.

If I could describe the night with one word, hmmm....lemme think, HARROWING. For some absolutely ridiculous we-know-better-than-that reason we decided not to go to the effort of affixing the mosquito net that night. Big mistake. Some time around 3am as the beads of sweat turned into creaks running down our faces we decided to open the screen-less windows. It was like sending out an evite to all the local mosquitos that we were holding a banquet. We served up some nice warm Type A negative and some delicious O positive. MMmmm. Turns outs the mosquitos preferred the A negative and the little gluttons just about drained me dry. I almost needed a blood transfusion in the morning.

On Sunday we went to church together and really enjoyed the singing and dancing. Ugandans aren't into standing there numbly during praise and worship. Nope, its more like a Ska concert conplete with a mosh-pit near the alter. People seriously get down and dance, and tone deaf? doesn't matter, sing louder! Everyone was so friendly and we must have shaken 100 hands and returned twice as many smiles. Toward the end of praise and worship a note was passed through the auditorium that the pastor would like to know our names. We wrote them down with a tinge of terror hoping we wouldn't be asked to speak or cast out demons or something else awkward. Actually, the pastor was so nice and welcomed us by name, thanking us for being there. The US would do good to get a dose of African hospitality.

Sunday afternoon we went to a young marrieds group at cornerstone. We thoroughly enjoyed it (all 7 hours of it)! There were probaly close to 40 people there (counting small children as a half person) and after one individual shared some thoughts (for 45 mintues) we ate and opened it up for discussion. You can really learn a lot about a culture if you listen in to the issues young marriages face, some are identical to things we wrestle with in the states, some are so strikingly different that you feel baffled. It was an amazing interaction and was filled, like everything, in Ugandan hospitality.

It was a great 4 days, but we're exhausted. We're back at Cornerstone now. Miss you all! :)