Life's been great! I'm planning on going to stay a week (or a little less) at the clinic next week. Mostly it's going to be me walking around the villages telling them about the clinic. Apparently when they see that a white guy is working there, more come. I'm organizing a soccer clinic/tournament for little kids next week as well.
I'm reading this book of Baganda proverbs. You see so much of their culture in their sayings. Unfortunately I can't find the book right now, but when I do, I'll have to start posting some of the more culturally revealing proverbs.
One theme that kept popping up was the importance of sharing your money/resources with your family and friends. It's pretty much the law of consecration without the church being involved. Problem? The people can't invest in anything because they will always have some relative or buddy ask to borrow money. I brought this up when Andrew (our gardener/wardie) told us that he had paid to put a concrete floor in his grandma's house because she was getting bit by bugs at night. What happens if investing that money would have helped re-floor 10 houses later on? He was belligerent. His grandma needed help, so he would help her. So is that bad? With that attitude he will never be rich (as I said before, the relatives will always be asking for money), but does that matter? He could help more people... I don't know.
Then I was talking to him about possible entrepreneurial ideas, specifically selling jackfruit. He told me that you can't sell jackfruit. It was a gift from God and it should be shared not sold. You would never hear something like that in America.
I went "digging" at a less-actives house yesterday (digging means planting/weeding). The soil here is so fertile! It makes you disgusted that people are poor. It seems like they have so much opportunity right at their fingertips. Land is left unused everywhere.
It's crazy how much some people in the ward want to marry whites. You marry a white and you are financially set for the rest of your life with a huge probability of going to greener pastures in America. What they don't realize is the crazy cultural differences that will strain any marriage. Ugandan men marry Mzungu women and expect them to cook/clean/wash/raise kids by themselves because that's what they saw their parents do. As I've probably already alluded too, Ugandans are anything but emotional lovey-dovey, a huge difference between our cultures. And that's the tip of the iceberg. How would you expect the man to provide with such little education (a bachelors if your lucky)? It would be so hard to have a Ugandan-American marriage, and these guys don't realize it. Unfortunately, Baganda culture teaches that marriage really isn't about the relationship. I've been offered way too many girls I didn't know for a wife to dispute that one.
Mom: "I think I'm losing weight. It's gotta be the Ugandan food."
Ugandan: "Oh no, you're not losing weight. You look fine!"
Yep, Ugandans are attracted to fat women. The heavier American girls that come over with NGO's suddenly have every man they see hitting on them. Coming from America, that's a huge shock. So they get married. Suddenly the family of the Ugandan boy rises from poverty to become relatively wealthy. The couple moves to the US but come to visit for a couple months every 2 years. Soon every person who knew that family is committed to marry a westerner. Then you get these girls trying desperately to date white people. "I'm only marrying a white," they say. Pretty soon all of the Ugandan boys are intimidated (they could never offer the same financial security of a Mzungu) and they shy away. Only problem is that Ugandan girls NEVER marry white men. The guys are supposed to make the move in Baganda, so these girls wait and wait and end up not getting married for way too long. I feel like the thought of "if I get married to this Ugandan, what will happen if the next week an American comes that would have married me?" is always hanging out in the back of the ward members minds.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to hate on anyone that marries inter-racially, I'm just wishing that people here would foresee some problems before they set their hearts on a white woman or man.
So that's a definitely question that I'm hoping will be answered in general conference this week end.
Next time I'm going to talk about my other question for general conference...
You need to read the book "A Framework for Understanding Poverty." My parents gave it to me and it has changed how I view poverty people. It is a whole mindset and way of life, not just simple choices we take for granted. So often we look at life through our eyes and not others' eyes. Coming from a middle class American family it is so hard to step out of that perspective (as I have found in life). You are clearly getting experiences that are helping you step outside of yourself. That is a tough thing to do in life. Keep it up.
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