Moments of Joy

I FINALLY WENT for a run yesterday. It was the first one since I’ve been here. Actually, it was the first one in a lot longer than that. I hadn’t been yet because I wanted to get to a point where I was a little less ignorant of the people, culture, and area before wandering out on my own. As it turned out, the road I chose that goes right past Noah’s Ark couldn’t have been safer. Rather than worrying about snakes on the ground, monkeys in the trees, or scary boda drivers finding me on my own, my biggest problem was trying to weave through the throngs of children walking to three different schools at exactly the same time.

Even though I have walked on this road before, I didn’t realize until I ran it that the entire way out is uphill. It’s one of those ever-changing slopes that likes to make you think you are almost at the top, but when you get there you realize it only becomes slightly less steep. Not fun, but a good workout. As I was panting my way around a corner, I heard two small voices yell from a doorway, “Auntie Katie!” If that’s not motivation, I don’t know what is. I waved, told them good morning, and continued on my way.

As I was on my way back, I passed lots of Noah’s Ark students walking from their homes to the compound. After running by a few boys, they started jogging as well and passed me up almost immediately. The youngest one, however, stayed by my side, notebook in hand and a smile on his face. Soon after that, we caught up to a young girl walking by herself. She was quick to grab my hand and join our trot down the hill. We said our hello’s and good morning’s to the other students as we passed them and ended with a three-way tie at the gate, happily out of breath. I think I like running in Uganda.

ON THE WEEKENDS and after school, some of the kids from the home like to wander around to the volunteer housing to see what we are up to (that and try to convince us to let them use our computers or give them bananas or our phones). As a general boundary, I usually don’t allow them in my room. Instead we hang out outside, where it is usually sunny and where I sit half the time anyway. On Sunday, however, I was working on my computer when Jimmy (four or five) and Elijah (seven) stopped by to say hello. Not wanting to stand up and move, I let them in and they plopped down on my bed beside me.

I asked them how Sunday school was and made sure I had their names right, and then they asked if I had any music on my computer. What would I pull up in a situation like that but classic camp songs? We listened to Everlasting Love and Upside-Down, and by the time we got to Every Move I Make we were all dancing around my room doing the motions. I have no doubt they will come again and I’m looking forward to teaching them more from my LWBC repertoire.

ONE THING THAT happens at every large gathering here, whether school assemblies, church, or Bible class, is a time for presentations. These are not our American stand-up-in-front-of-your-classmates-and-tell-them-about-all-your-research-with-cool-pictures presentations. Here, the presentations are in the form of worship songs performed by either an individual or a group for the rest of the audience. While the motions are usually simple and the songs repetitive, I admire the youth for the courage to get up front and use their talent and the harmonies are quite literally music to my ears.

On Sunday during Bible class (the teenage version of Sunday school), a boarding student named Augustine presented two songs for us. I was excited when he grabbed a guitar because most presentations and much of the worship is sung a cappella. I couldn’t help but smile when he started because this young man was so good. Playing the guitar looked very natural for him, and his voice was soft and deep and full of emotion. I was captivated. Thank God for giving these people so much musical talent!

PROBABLY THE MOST life-giving thing I have found here is playing with the babies. Not every teaching session goes great, the teenagers aren’t always responsive when I ask them questions, and sometimes I am very homesick, but the babies remedy all that. It starts when I walk through the door to their section of the home and the four who can run and are learning to talk come straight at me calling, “Auntie! Auntie!” There are still the struggles for who gets to be in my lap and which child I am going to listen to as he says the same unintelligible words over and over again.  I am building arm strength as I help Janet, Anna-Christine, and Maurise stand up while Josita practically does flips over my arm in an attempt to get into my lap. (She usually gets stuck halfway and starts crying, which I have to say is kind of hilarious.)

My favorite time with the babies, however, is after they eat supper and are on their way to bed. When there are only a few still awake and no more mouths waiting to be fed, I snatch away whichever baby I fed last and take him or her outside for some one-on-one time. We usually spend some time sitting on the step by the door so they can look around. Honestly, I’m not sure if the babies ever get to leave the home, so this might be a rare opportunity for them. Then we walk around (well, I walk and they chew on my shoulder) and I sing to them.

It started as an attempt to sing one child to sleep. With more babies than aunties, I doubt if any of them have actually been rocked or sung to sleep since they were infants and still in Pita’s care. I have come to discover that this method does not work at all for getting them to sleep because they are so interested in what outside looks like and the fact that they get one person all to themselves that rest is no longer desirable. We thoroughly enjoy it, however, before I sneak them back into the home for a late bedtime.

I TOOK A warm bath this morning! Sort of. I am blessed to have my own bathroom here. I am blessed with running water. And I am blessed with a shower. I have to remind myself of those blessings every morning when I step under the cold stream of water that takes my breath away in an instant. It really is a good method for conserving water because I never get stuck in the shower anymore like I do at home. Actually, the main reason I started running again is so that maybe after a long, uphill run I will look forward to a cold shower. As it turns out, I only dread it slightly less. But I am blessed to have it.

This morning I decided to treat myself to some hot water. I spent half an hour boiling five pots of water in my hand-me-down electric teakettle given to me by a volunteer who recently left. After pouring them all into a large plastic bowl I use for laundry and catching the water that leaks through my roof, I did my best to wash my body and my hair using water that was almost steaming. It was amazing in a difficult sort of way. After declaring myself as clean as I was going to get, I folded up my long legs and sat down right in the bucket, water spilling over every side onto my bathroom floor. It felt warm and wonderful and I was extremely happy for the five minutes it retained its heat. Not exactly worth the time or effort for an everyday occurrence, but I have definitely found a new treat for the next two months.