July 4, 2010 Independence Day At the Field Station

Sunday at the Field Station and the Krimsky/Kees along with Janis, Christie and Steve went to church. Chris was unable to go to church because she had an IEP meeting. Well, not exactly, but a man showed up with a young boy and wanted Chris to work with him and explain to him why the young man was 15 and not yet reading. Given the cultural differences, and the language limitations this was a difficult (at best) task. But Chris has her experience to rely on and she did some sample teaching with him and then talked to the father. We will have a chance to see this young man in his school setting and meet his teacher later on this week. This may be the furthest distance anyone has ever gone for an outside evaluation, and it may not be the last one that Chris does on this trip.

Church was a trip in and of itself. The Church of Uganda, is or was, an Anglican Church and so the service was somewhat familiar to many of us. However the service was all in Rutoro with little translation so it was difficult to understand everything that was happening. What we did understand is that we were, once again, honored guests. We were sitting in a place seemingly reserved for such guests and processed into the Church to the sound of the Kasiisi Girl Guides singing and clapping. In fact the entire congregation was singing and clapping as we arrived.

The music in the church service is quite remarkable. It consisted only of a man playing a set of three drums and the choir, dressed in red robes. The voices and hand clapping and drumming define the service in this church. They are its lifeblood and every song and hymn gets it rhythm from the drums and the clapping. It’s quite an experience. We were allowed to take pictures in church (we asked) and so when we get a better Internet connection, we’ll post some of those.

As I said the service was difficult to follow, and it was at least 3 hours long so there were parts that were less than thrilling. But so much of what was happening was compelling to watch. We noted the little children who often sat by themselves, were extremely well behaved, and sometimes young ones would pick up and care for infants themselves. Children in Uganda are used to doing a lot of work and taking care of younger sibs is one of those tasks.

The offerings were also quite different than we were used to and fascinating in the way they unfolded. First there was a regular offering in which people came up to the front and gave money. However, some members of the congregation didn’t bring money but they brought “in kind” goods. They gave pumpkins, avacados, ground nuts, bananas, millet, sugar cane, lettuce, and corn. These items were all placed up front and just to the side of the alter.

Next came another offering, which we didn’t understand at first. People started coming to the front rail and kneeling (but not for communion), then more people came and knelt behind them, and more and more came until there were four rows of kneeling people in the front of the church. Then the basket was passed among these people and they gave additional money. When we asked about this we were told that this second offering was an offering of thanksgiving and if people had a specific thing they were thankful for they went forward and offered additional funds while giving a prayer of thanksgiving.

But the best was yet to come. At the conclusion of the regular service all of those “in kind” items to the side of the alter were brought forward and auctioned off with a great deal of spirit and humor. Each bid was emphasized with a beating of the drums in the best game show tradition, and members of the congregation with money to buy things did so, enabling everyone to contribute no matter whether they had money or not. Christie bought a bunch of bananas and later shared them with the children after the service, and Steve bought a large bag of ground nuts, which was also given back.

The service over we were provided with lunch on the grounds of St. Steven’ s Church which are immediately adjacent to the new Preschool building with its brand new blue roof (more on that tomorrow). Once again speeches were made and a formal welcome was extended.

After lunch we were treated to a demonstration of the boy scouts efficiency in camping and building. However the real treat was the performance of the Girl Guides. Their rhythmic singing, clapping and dancing has to be seen to be fully appreciated. It is just engaging to watch. We do have some video of this and it is certainly worth seeing. Children in Uganda are “loud and proud” when they sing and dance, but when they speak to you they make little eye contact and use very soft voices. It seems to us that children in the United States are much the opposite.

We didn’t get back to the Field Station until 4:30 in the afternoon from a church service that started at 10:00 a.m. By that time we were all tired and canceled the afternoon trip to Ft. Portal so that we could rest. We had planned this to be a rest day from the beginning, so a half a day relaxing, visiting the Oasis and sitting and chatting in the Banda (google that word) was just the thing for us. Christie, the party girl, brought some patriotic head gear with her from the U.S. and we toasted Independence Day here in an African Rainforest, complete with a baboon and colobus monkey audience looking on.

Perhaps you thought the official welcoming to this trip was done. Well think again. Tomorrow we get the double official welcome at Kasiisi Primary School. It’s scheduled for five hours. Did I mention that the Ugandans like ceremony, protocol and ritual. Yeah.