Thursday, January 31, 2008




This is my family! We were all in Richmond airport when I came home over Christmas, that's where the picture was taken.
Millet bread:
Wheata, Kalo, Atop, millet bread are all the same thing. I went to my neighbors house last night to watch him prepare it and then we ate it. Basically all it is is you take boiling water and add flour to that, then you mix it up and then you eat it, with either beans, greens, chicken or fish. We ate it with greens last night. You eat it with your hands, which is actually easier because it's so sticky that your hands can grab bites for you just right. We sat down in his house which is actually just one room... it had 4 chairs, a small table, a twin size bed and a bucket for water with plates all around. He poured water over my hands to wash them, then he served me. After serving me, he washed his own hands and served himself. We said a prayer and then began to eat. He told me that most visitors that come, he won't eat with them. He will feed them, then let them eat by themselves. I thought this was really weird, so I asked him why. He said that visitors will eat alone in case they choke or drop food on their shirt or something like that, then they won't be ashamed in front of him. haha, this was cracking me up, and I laughed at this, and he did too. It is just so different then my own culture that I had to laugh. He said he would eat with me though so I didn't have to eat by myself. hehe, funny.
After we ate, we had a long conversation about the state of Uganda, the way he lives his life, and just general conversation about the poverty, disease and lifestyle most Ugandans are living. It was interesting and he was telling me most everything I already think of most of the time, but hadn't heard from most Ugandans. He was saying that he doesn't usually talk about any of this out loud. I asked him what I could do to help with the bigger picture, and he told me to just be sure I make the people at home aware of all the corruption that does go on, and to offer donations wisely... to research the organizations they plan to donate to, and be cautious and follow through to be sure the money is actually used for what it was meant for. There was so much more he talked about and I will share eventually, but for now, I don't have time... internet money is fading away. Goodbye.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am glad you had a nice dinner with a very nice neighbor of yours! Sounds like you guys had a good time! I miss you so much! Keep up the blog and the emails, it makes me feel like we are still close in distance! Love you so much!
AK

Alex said...

sounds like a nice guy!!

thanks for the im last week. always great to hear from you!
-al