Our Weekend in Padibe

Hello everyone!  I have summed up our first full weekend in Padibe by themes for your mental and organizational convenience:

Music Festival:

Saturday we went to the Lamwo music festival.  The day started out well as we were able to “take rest” as they say here and sleep in (we have been going to church with the kids every day since we came at 7:00 am).  We had a nice breakfast with father and deacon and then headed over to the event.  In comparison, the festival is a mixture of a solo and ensemble competition, a poms competition, and a forensics meet.  Schools from all over the area have prepared their best and brightest to perform for the county.  Families travel from far away to watch and the students stay in the school classrooms for the two-day endeavor.  As usual, wherever we go, we are always put at the front and center of everything; unnecessarily, there are always chairs waiting for us with bottled water atop.  It feels like we are Barack and Michelle Obama, which is flattering at the beginning, but can also get, admittedly, a bit tiring.  We could be the worst white people on earth, you know?  But wherever we go we are “most welcome” as they say, and it is very overwhelming.  

In drama, the students are to create their own play based on the theme for the overall competition.  This year, the students’ pieces were based on the unification of East Africa.  The plays included full costumes and scenery, and I couldn’t help but think of my little summer school theater kids back in Pewaukee who were performing their plays at the exact same time back in the States.  My heart was with them as I watched these kids pour their hearts in their little dramatic creations.  The plays were also in English, which was easier for us to understand.  The sight reading competition was a bit tedious to watch (Shawn had never seen anything like that before, so I had fun explaining how solo and ensemble competitions work in America, as I spent many years with the Greendale High School choir in front of judges at local competitions), but Fr. Romano (one of my favorites so far, a lively man with a strong faith and an incredibly hilarious British/African influenced sense of humor) is quite a jokester and was not afraid to share his sly comments with me as my fellow audience member.

It is quite hard to explain the traditional dance competition.  The students come to the middle of the circle in completely authentic traditional attire, with their own handmade drums and harpsichords and perform one of several traditional dances (there is the royal dance, the funeral dance, the courting dance, etc.).  Each dance includes chanting and tells a general story.  I was so impressed by the rhythm and passion of the kids.  Their body movements are unlike any I’ve ever seen in America – who knew people could extend their necks that far!).  I got quite a few on video, but I will have to post those in America, as our internet connection here is about as consistent and reliable as the meteorologists in Uganda, if you know what I mean. 

Unfortunately, the day ended a little awkwardly: as we were leaving to go before everyone else, we heard quite a few people clicking their tongues (the Acoli method of disapproval and public shaming).  Shawn asked Tommy (one of our hosts) if the people were angry that we were leaving early and he said that they were not pleased with my knee-length dress.  My stomach dropped and I immediately felt terribly ashamed (I guess the tongue-clicking works!  Maybe we’ll have to implement as a disciplinary method at PHS ). I apologized to our host and ran home STAT to change.  I immediately explained the situation to the nuns who I am staying with (assuredly, they had noticed my awkwardness but not mentioned it – I wondered why one kept saying that Americans must like small dresses – it all started to click at this point), and they nearly fell to the ground laughing as I kept repeating “In America, tis okay!” (They only really understand me if I speak with a British accent as theirs is influenced by this).  I would love for them to see why we have the “finger-tip policy” in our dress code at PHS – it would corrupt them entirely.  As a born people pleaser, I felt sick about it for a good thirteen minutes, but butterfly hugged myself, thought about what all of my good friends in America would say, and laughed about it with Shawn (he was so wonderful about helping me through my 13 minutes of shame :)); he even told our host how it would be considered rude in America to publicly judge someone else, even though, shamefully, we privately do the same thing).  I have about four long dresses and you can bet that I am just going to keep re-wearing them until we leave.

Sunday Morning Church Service

The Sunday morning church service was lovely.  The place was packed (children sat on the floor and overflowed out into the surrounding field), and people came from all over the area (I saw people from Madi Kiloc, Paloga, and Lokung – places that took us at least 20-40 minutes to get to by car!  These Christians are dedicated, man!), the singing was beautiful and lively (I’m thinking we need to adopt a copy of the Acoli hymns at our church!), and the homily was SO LONG… in a foreign language.  It was interesting to see Fr. Romano excitedly talking about who knows what.  He did summarize the homily, 45 minutes later, in English though which was nice.  I was thinking that if people travel all that way and have to go back, you kind of have to make it worth their while.  Shawn and I were asked to come speak to the people, which we did, so we told the parishioners that we bring the love and blessings of all the students at PHS and the people of Three Holy Women (of which they probably understood about 1/3 of; Shawn says that trying to understand our American English is like trying to understand a heavy Scottish accent, so I try to talk verrrrrry slowwwwwly).  After church, the counsel members brought us ANOTHER chicken and huge bag of grains.  These wonderful people just keep giving and giving and giving!  It is very humbling. 

The church counsel, Shawn and I.

We then had a large, three and a half hour meeting with the Global Solidarity Group in which we started some strategic project planning for the future (more and more talk of the sunflower press initiative, of course! It’s the word on the street these days!), and also did some assessment of the current projects at hand – the internet café, the water filtration project, and the soap-making instruction.  We ended the day with an amazing meal at Tommy’s (our host who is coming to America this fall!) house, and it truly was the best meal that I’ve had here – fresh turkey from the yard, sweet potatoes, a peanut sauce mixed with some greens, millet, fried bread, and many more things that remain a mystery to me in both content and definition, but they were unbelievably delicious. 

After dinner, we went to visit the HIV clinic to meet some of the patients or clients as they call them.  They told us about the 400-some people here who are infected with the virus and all of the services they provide.  We were even lucky enough to meet some of the clients and hear their stories (two women had lost their husbands to AIDs and are left with the children and all that comes with maintaining a house as a single mother – something I cannot even imagine, when farming, working, and providing for school fees, etc. are all a part of maintaining family here).  We were inspired by their stories and bravery and truly impressed with the good work of the clinic.  Thank God for the immunizations and education provided from overseas to help those with HIV – it is truly doing wonders in the realities of these communities.

Our visit to the HIV clinic.

Afterward, Shawn and I each planted a tree, as he came up with this great idea of doing so every time that we bring a new parishioner to Africa, or an African parishioner to America (he’s so smart :)).  So, next year when we come we will be able to see the growth and progression of the trees which will symbolically represent our relationship with the people here across the world.  We’re looking forward to taking pictures of Tommy as he plants an apple tree in good ‘ole Milwaukee, WI. 

Shawn and I plant my tree.

Soap-Making Instruction

Today was the infamous day of soap-making instruction.  Shawn and I have already practiced two recipes here with sustainable materials (as close as we can get, at least), as the people of the church are looking to make and sell the soap.  The people came from all over the area with their babies on their backs and their jerry cans of water and cups (man, they sure know about efficient travel and appropriate packing!), and watched the master, Alexander Shawn – last names first here – teach the theory and complete the demonstration.  I am gradually getting to know the names of the parishioners, but am attempting to make a homemade “facebook” with my camera that allows me to track them all (I always feel so bad when I recognize a woman, have eaten with her, received a chicken from her, and still cannot remember her name).  The demonstration went well and the people seem interested, so here’s to soap-making! :)  Alexander Shawn was asked to come to the technical school tomorrow to teach once again, as more villagers are interested but could not make the time slot.

Instructor Alexander Shawn teaches the people to make soap.

School Visits

 Lastly, we spent the afternoon visiting some schools in the area, which is on the program for the rest of the week, at least for me.  We began with the trade school which is a Christian school connected to the parish that trains students in the following fields: sewing and tailoring, masonry, baking, brick-laying, carpentry, and auto-mechanics.  The school basically put on an assembly with their band (all six members and barely working instruments), as well as a few speeches from the director, etc.  Shawn and I were able to talk, once again, to the students, but what impacted me the most was the school-to-life connection between curriculum and the world that these students live in.  Clearly, this training is geared toward helping rebuild the community after the war.  One student asked for our help with connecting to the trade schools in America so that they are aware of the technologies available elsewhere in order to best be prepared for the advancing world outside of Padibe.  With the installation of the internet café, I’m hoping that this just might be possible.  After this, we went to the Padibe Boys Primary School and were able to sit in on a class learning English which was interesting to say the least (57 students in the room, a blackboard and chalk, students sitting on the floor, and a fully engaged classroom!).  The students were learning terms like “internet” “web-surfing”, etc. and it was so hard for me to see that most of them have never seen a computer in their lifetime.  How could they possibly understand these things!  I then was able to meet with the teachers about needs of the school – a list of things unimaginable to us.  All in all it was a good learning experience – I just keep praying that God will show me the way to the next project that we can begin with the schools – my mission here for the week. 

Now we are off to dinner with the nuns tonight!  Shawn and I send our love and greetings back home.  Thanks for the pictures of snow and for all of your love and support.  We are so blessed with wonderful, amazing people in our lives among many, many other things.