First days in Oditel

Hey everyone! It's really me writing this time! FYI - I've been writing since I got to the village, so I'm just gonna go back and post from when I first got there and hopefully get through what I've written by the time I head back to the village. You guys are gonna be sick of me by the time I'm done :)

From July 17th
I had my first Sunday in the village after a year without and the singing and dancing and worshiping here still makes me smile uncontrollably - the same way it did a year ago. This Sunday was a little different though because I got up and sang in front of the church with only Angela (my dearest friend in Oditel) and her friend Ruth. As if I don't get stared at enough here, Angela pressured me into singing in her little trio - a song I've never heard before with four stanzas that I learned the night before. (In case you're reading this and we've never met, I have very little musical talent and Angela is 1 of about 0 people in the world who could convince me to do such a ridiculous thing.) But I made it thorugh without being laughed at or passing out, so that's good enough for me :)

But for some honesty, life alone in the bush is hard and I've only been here three days. I have no way to stay in touch with home besides my Ugandan phone which costs twice as much in the village as it does in town. Also, since the solar panels at the mission I stay at were struck by lightning, I haven't had any electricity (current update - after promising it would be fixed for over a week, someone came from Soroti to fix it, only for it to not work the next day. So still no electricity, but *hopefully* it will back this week). As if being across the world from you guys wasn't enough distance, having such little communication does no make the distance feel any shorter. But I have mostly adjusted to no power now, so I'll just be happy with anything more than what I have!

I've also come to believe that any person who willingly chooses to be famous has to have something wrong with their brain. I don't find any pleasure in being constantly stared at or having my every move watched - where I'm walking to, how/what I'm eating, what I'm going to take out of my purse (another current edit - I was a little grumpy then, obviously... I promise there are more positive blogs to come :). But I suppose in the end, I did actually sign up for this and I can't deny that there is, in fact, a little something wrong with my brain!

And now for the positive side of honesty - I'm getting back in the African swing of things. Since we don't have power, that means no pump to pump up water for the gravity shower. So I've become quite an expert at bathing out of a bucket with a tiny bit of water.

I still love my Angela just as much as I did on the day that I last left. We make each other LAUGH and she is just so precious to me. I feel a serious bond with her and we've connected in a way that I didn't think was possible for two women who have such completely different lives. I really love that dark-skinned sister of mine :)

My boy Bruno is just as sweet and precoius and hilarious and naughty as ever. our first meeting left much to be desired though - he had just been discharged from the clinic after being treated for malaria. So he still had a terrible fever and was totally exhausted. He sat on my lap for a few minutes, gave me one smile, then told his grandmad that he was going inside to sleep (c.e. - he actually has malaria AGAIN right now and it is really the saddest thing... Please pray for him!)

The next day though, his health was restored and so was my faith that he did actually still love me :) When he's sitting in my lap or standing next to me, I'll usually scratch his back or tickle him. So today as I was reading a book and he was sitting next to me, I saw him reach his hand up to my side. I started to scold him because I thought he was going to tickle my arm pit (which my brother-in-law knows is a good way to lose a hand). Then I realized he was actually going to scratch my back - I think I actually scared him when I made a squeal of happiness :)

He's also been coming to eat lunch with me at the mission adn he has all the table manners you'd expect from a four year old boy with no parents who's growing up in the bush :) He spits out his onions onto the floor because he doesn't like them, he chugs his water and spills it all over himself, he gets food all over his face and lap, and he has very little mastery of the fork. Fortunately, we have some time to work on these things! (c.e. - We've actually given up on the whole fork thing. Almost no adults eat with forks here, so he has resumed eating with his hand :)

And then there's Christine - my precious cook (personal chef as I like to call her, or my bush mama as the people at the mission like to call her). I know that she has really been a huge blessing to every person from our church who's come here and the blessings continue to come. Her biggest accomplishment so far as certainly been making food that I somewhat enjoy. Considering the heat and how different the food is and how weak my stomach is in general, it would even be an accomplishment to just make food that didn't make me nauseous!

More than the food though, she keeps me company for my meals and she shares a room with me to make nights completely unlonely. SHe tells me funny stories about her kids and she sings and prays with me at night. But my favorite thing about her is the way she really cares about children, particularly Bruno. She takes care of him and teaches him in way that I woulnd't know how to because of the language barrier and differences in culture. She tells him to eat his food before he drinks his water so that he'll eat more and she translates all the ridiculous things he says to me.

Today after lunch, she stripped him down naked, laid a blanket on teh floor, and told him to take a nap to which he promptly laid down perfectly still and closed his eyes. As he spend two hours sleeping, she washed his clothes (apparently the only outfit he has now that fits him), let them dry, then sewed up the giant hole in his pants. When he woke up (yes, his little naked, sleepy-eyed was just as precious as you could imagine), she bathed him and scrubbed him down, put lotion on him, and then put him in his freshly cleaned clothes. Bruno put on his proud look (Jaynie - the same one he had when he was wielding the stick in teh church) and as much as I love kissing his sweet little face when it's dirty and posho-covered, I REALLY love kissing his clean, soap-smelling face. And for that, I'm so so thankful for Christine.

Ok, I'm up way past my bed time now considering my early morning departure to Entebbe to pick up my wonderful, Kati Hultman!!! Hopefully you'll hear from me again tomorrow :) Love and miss you guys!

Caitlin