My Amazing Family

Thought of the week: My Amazing Family

My wonderful Jaja!

One of the most stressful and worrisome aspects about my trip to Uganda was, “What would my host family be like?” I was nervous that they wouldn’t like me, or that there wouldn’t be any kids around. Looking back on it now, there was nothing for me to worry about. My host family is amazing. Jaja, the matriarch, is a loving and accepting woman. She helps with the cooking, raises her grandchildren, and also raises chickens. She is unbelievably kind and very flexible with our trips on the weekends. Before leaving for work she always tells me to have a nice day, and upon my return she hugs me, says welcome back, and asks how the day was.  All of her grandchildren have been incredibly lucky to have her as their Jaja. She has been extremely dedicated to her family, and loves them for their gifts and their faults. Throughout my time living with Jaja, there is always a new family member checking in on their Jaja to see how she is doing.

The six grandchildren who live with Jaja have incredibly different personalities. Fred, the oldest (20 years), is quiet, yet kind. He always says hello when he is around, and he has hung out with us on the weekends a few times. Fiona, the oldest girl (20 years), is the opposite of Fred. She is always around and asking questions. She asks questions about life in America, our work here, and our families back home. We watch television with her in the evening, and she always has supper with us every night. From the very first time we met, she has had the biggest smile on her face, and has continued to have that smile the past 7 weeks. 

Fiona, Jaja, Trevor, me, and Fred!

Faith (18 years) is the most outgoing and active. She never sits still; she is always doing yard work or going for a walk. I have gone on walks with her in the evening, and I have gotten to know her the best. She has told Marion and I about boy problems, what is going on at her school, and she has introduced us to some of her friends and cousins. Her favorite phrase is “Get serious.” Whenever I am joking around with her or giving her a hard time she always says, “Get serious, Anna.” 

Faith and I

The next is Peace (15 years) who has been away at boarding school, but arrived at home about 2 weeks ago. She hangs out with Faith a lot and accompanies Faith on her walks. She is also really into music. She is always playing music or singing. Marion and I are having her write down a list of Ugandan songs that we can download when we return to the states. Her laughter is contagious, and watching Peace and Faith bicker and chase each other around is always comical. 

Marion, Peace, and I

The two youngest boys have completely opposite personalities. Kenny (14 years) is incredibly quiet, and I know the least about him. He mostly keeps to himself, but I know he loves playing pool in the market across the street from our house. Trevor, the youngest (12 years), was the most outgoing male in the house. He loved hanging around Marion and I, playing Frisbee, watching TV, and learning new games. We taught him different handshakes and played music for him so he could dance. He’s actually an amazing dancer. He also thinks he has major “swag.” He was the only other person who ate dinner with us besides Fiona. I never thought a boy his size could eat so much. The final key member of the household is Beth, the house help. She is a wonderful woman who cooks, cleans, does laundry, and helps Jaja with the chickens. She has also been deemed the diva of the house. Whenever there is music on she is dancing and singing around the house. Whenever I bring my camera out to take pictures, she strikes a pose and has a huge smile on her face. 

Beth, the diva herself :)

All in all, my family was incredible, and I’m going to miss them immensely when I leave next week.

Events from the past week:

The headmaster with the new bathhouse!

Last Friday, Marta, Rida, and I went to village and monitored the progress of the construction of the bathhouse. It is almost complete, but they need to obtain 2 more iron sheets to complete the roof. We were impressed with how quickly they were able to construct the bathhouse, and it looks really good! We were also extremely impressed with the progress they made making their own sanitary pads. We were able to see one of the completed sanitary pads that the senior female teacher made. We also delivered more materials to begin construction of 2^nd bathhouse. 

Another view of the new bathhouse!

Rev. Andrew Pearson, director of Busoga Trust,
saying mass for the 30 years of service celebration

Senior Female Teacher holding the sanitary pad that she made!

Saturday I went to the Busoga Trust 30 Years of Service Celebration with Marta and Rida at 9:00am. There was a mass said by the former bishop and also said by Rev. Andrew Pearson who is a minister in the UK and also the director of Busoga Trust. There was a lot of clapping and dancing at the service, which is different from the Catholic masses I attend in the states. I really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun. 

Also on Saturday, unexpectedly, Trevor and Fred left to spend three weeks with their respective mothers in Kampala because they are now on summer holiday. Marion and I only found out they were leaving 20 minutes before they left, and we were pretty devastated. We weren’t expecting to have to say goodbye to them for a few more weeks. It was really hard to say goodbye, but I know Trevor was really excited to see his mom. 

On Sunday, we went to a Christian mass with our sisters Faith and Peace. It was similar to the mass from the day before with a lot of singing and clapping. There was also a baptism, which was really fun to see.  The rest of the day was a pretty lazy Sunday.

This week we have been working on our final reports for FSD and GESI. This is our final full week of work, so we are trying to wrap things up. Yesterday and today we have been working on a presentation for the staff members at Busoga Trust, which we are giving on Monday.

That’s all for now. My next and last post will probably be on Tuesday, which is our last day of work because I am headed back to the states next Thursday!