Shrine

Oh, Luganda! We had a practice test today, and it went pretty well! At the end of training, we’re all going to have to take a language proficiency test, to make sure that we’re going to be able to function on our own in Uganda (aka The Big U). If you don’t reach a certain level of proficiency (specifically, “intermediate low”), you’re only provisionally sworn-in as a volunteer, and then you have to try again after a little while. So, this morning, we had a mock test to gauge our progress… Nora and I both got intermediate low! That means we’re both already good to go! (Kind of a scary thought, considering I definitely don’t know enough yet!) Everyone else did great too- I think we’re all well on our way to successfully communicating. It’s crazy how much we’ve learned in such a short amount of time- I feel like I’ve learned more language in Luganda in the past three weeks than I learned in four years of high school German. Also, today I tried to remember how to say hello in Thai, and all I could think of was Luganda! (I eventually remembered, but it took me at least a whole minute.) Now I’m just waiting to start dreaming in Luganda, but I feel like it will be a while before that happens. And, first I’d have to be sleeping well enough to remember my dreams, which isn’t really happening just yet! The first time any of us can sleep for more than three or four hours straight, there will be some major celebrating going on! :)

What else… oh! Yesterday we visited a traditional shrine. It was seriously out in the middle of nowhere, reached only by really terrible dirt roads. As if the roads weren’t already bad enough, it was raining and incredibly muddy- we had to stop on the way there because a minibus was stuck in the mud in the road. Anyway, we finally made it! The spiritual leader there first led a chant and then told us their creation story and a lot of various interesting things. According to their beliefs, we were in the exact place where life originated- they even showed us the rock where the first person was born- it had a fetus-like outline on it. We were welcomed to the shrine because, just like people in Uganda, we originated there. Their creation story is an unusual combination of many things; I really hesitate to write it because I don’t want to misrepresent anything, and I’m not sure I remember it all correctly... but I know everyone wants to know. Basically, the world started out with God creating three people (or spirits? I’m unclear)- a white person (who we now call Jesus Christ), a black person, and a rainbow. The fact that there are both black and white parts of the human eye shows that in the beginning, there were both black and white people. In the shrine (a big thatch-roofed hut) there were many spears, each representing different clans, and there were also spears representing the black person, the white person, and the rainbow. There were also gourds representing those three- the rainbow’s gourd had two openings, one for each end of the rainbow. There were also different totems for the various clans. There was the fur of a colobus monkey- the fact that it has both black and white fur on its body shows that in the beginning there were both black and white people. There was a rock where people can come a bring sacrifices (chickens, goats, etc) so that they are relieved of their burdens. There was also a python skin, and sometimes, people are born from pythons. Although they have the human form, they have the python spirit inside of them and must crawl on the ground- they cannot walk. We saw a woman born from the python, who lived in a nearby hut. The woman can’t walk, and the people pray that, although she will never be able to walk, the python spirit will be released from her. We also saw (I think?) the birthplace of Christ- there was a plate and a few tools there, and a boulder nearby that used to drip blood (now it has stopped, but it’s still red). The area was beautiful- there were so many huge boulders, and even though it was wet and muddy, it was great.

Visiting the shrine was a really unique experience- I guess it was what people think of when they think “Africa.” I feel like I need to say that this shrine is not Africa, to me, nor to most of the people in my community- my family, my neighbors, my trainers, etc. When you visit a new place, you tend to notice and write about the unusual things, and you neglect to say how normal everything else is. So, yes, I visited a shrine in the African bush and I saw spears and skins and gourds and whatnot. Then I went to my homestay and sat at a table with my family in their dining room and ate dinner with a fork and knife, just like I would in America. After I took a bath, I studied and went to bed, just like I would in America. I write about the shrine so you can know what I have seen and heard. That shrine and those stories were “Africa.” And yes, “Africa” exists in small places, but it’s not the Africa I know, the everyday Africa, the Africa without quotation marks.
Africa is so much more.