Making a Home

Bushara Island is home to 80+ species of birds. One of these species is the weaver bird. I’m not a huge birder but these guys are awesome. On the occasional morning when I wake up early to catch a little extra quiet time I like to go and sit on one of the docks and watch them build their nests. They build their nests to be fully covered with a tunnel-like entry. There’s one nest I’ve been watching for almost the entire two weeks I’ve been here and they’re still working on it.

Building a house takes time, and we expect it to take time, but building a home also takes time. I’ve been working on making this house and island into a home since the day we arrived and there is still a long way to go. I’ve hung photos on the walls (most of which have fallen down), placed notes and cards from friends on my windowsills and swept the spiders out of the corners of my room but this isn’t home yet.

This island will be home when I stop second-guessing every other word that comes out of my mouth, wondering if I’ve said something culturally unacceptable. It will be home when I can speak enough Rukiga to confidently greet my co-workers who don’t speak English. It will be home when I feel comfortable enough to let loose.

The hugs I received from the kids at church yesterday, the greetings I’ve already learned, the already familiar laughs and smiles, the battery-powered Christmas lights hanging over my bug net, the constant sound of birds, and the bag of guava a co-worker gave us. These are the things that are already making this island into my home.

I’ve learned this lesson before. No matter when or where you move it’s going to be hard. Community takes time to form and every place is different. I think I’m finally starting to learn to embrace the process. It’s messy and often unpleasant but the end result is fully and completely worthwhile. It’s worth fighting through the discomfort of moving and meeting new people because it always ends with another place and group of people to call home. It always ends with a heart that has been stretched and, as a result, has grown.

Photo: This is the one of five docks on Bushara Island and by far the best for swimming. The Island you can see across the water is Bwama Island. It's owned by the Anglican church and houses two schools, a church, the agroforesty plot where Rachel works and a medical clinic that you can see on the far right of this photo. Bwama Island is one of the biggest islands on Lake Bunyonyi and used to be a leper colony. My goal is to be able to swim there and back by the time we leave... it's further than it looks.

Island Lyfe

I’ve spent one week on this island and already so much has changed. The island seems to have grown. What felt so small when we first landed and took a tour now feels much larger.

This place is filled with interesting people.

There’s Rachel. She’s my co-worker, travel buddy, support system and spider-killing extraordinaire. We finally had a chance to clean our house today. No-joke, we probably killed 70 spiders… and that’s after a week of killing spiders every single day. If you aren’t a spider-lover and ever need somebody to kill a spider for you, you can just give us a ring. There was also the cockroach I found on my toothbrush. That was a really fun moment… no, I did not brush my teeth that day.

There are our Uganda co-workers. They are excellent chefs and can whip up a large assortment of incredibly delicious crayfish (aka crawfish) dishes. After learning to love crawfish in Texas it’s pretty sweet to be in the one place in Uganda that has crawfish. Unfortunately I’ll be avoiding those for the next six months as they don’t seem to be quite as tame as the Texas variety. I would go into detail… but nobody wants that ;). The staff here are also incredible language teachers- even when I’m a terrible student. I think I’ve learned five phrases. I’ve got a long way to go till I’ll be fluent in Rukiga and a true Bakiga lady. Evas loves to tell us we’re already Bakiga ladies. I’ve got a long way to go till I’ll be able to claim that title for myself. They are also great tour guides- always willing to lend a helping hand and tell us about the history of this area, the island we’re on, and their own families and villages. Have you ever met somebody and very quickly known they were wise? Enos is the resident carpenter, maintenance man and bird expert. I can’t wait to hear more of his stories and take his bird tour. He has spotted over 80 types of birds just on this island.

There are the guests. It has only been one week and we’ve met diplomats, European tourists, and an American midwife and her family that are working only a couple hours away. We might visit them at some point as they also run a guest house and live near the mountain gorillas. It’s interesting to be in such a rural setting but to see so many people traveling through. I’m looking forward to meeting more people from all over the world!

I think all these interesting people are the reason the island seems to have grown. We aren’t as isolated here as we might have felt when we first arrived. There are so many stories to listen to and people to learn from. I should probably also mention that there’s plenty of work to do! This past week was fairly slow but we’ve already got a better idea of what we should be doing.

P.S. If you’re the letter writing type I would love to receive some love in the form of written words! You can send letters to Bushara Island Camp PO 794, Kabale, Uganda. They’ll only take about three months to reach me J

Photo Cred: Raquelle Dehaanee

20 Things I'm Thankful for Right Now

1. freshness of visiting new places every week

2. hospitality of the Austrian family that has taken us in and everyone else that has hosted us

3. meeting up with old friends in new places 

4. sunsets

5. metro rides (aka people-watching paradise)

6. baguettes (45 cents!)

7. culture and it subtleties 

8. finally being in a place where the languages are somehow tied to english 

9. being mistaken for locals… because the two completely lost Canadian girls are going to be able to 

give you directions in German

10. the awkwardness of telling someone who has been talking to you for a couple minutes that you didn’t understand anything they've said

11. palaces/castles/ruins 

12. high places with views… every city seems to have at least one

13. wandering around with no agenda (other than to maybe find cheap food)

14. having unlimited time to get completely lost

15. coffee (seriously North America, you're doing something wrong when it comes to hot drinks)

16. the incredibly good and cheap Asian food that is pretty much anywhere... also Kebab stands.

17. the instant bond with every other Canadian (it’s actually really strange)

18. CHEESE… so good... missing good old cheddar, but the rest is just plain delicious

19. snow, if there wasn't any this Europe in winter thing would be extra lame

20. going to church in different places and having the opportunity to meet brothers and sister

p.s. If you experienced any jealousy as you read this you should probably know that I wrote this list because I would give just about anything to be home right now... traveling isn't everything it's made out to be. It's exhausting, boring, and sometimes miserable. Being thankful sometimes takes some thought. Good and bad, I am where I am so I'm gonna give appreciating it my all.

In other news, I'm doing a year long disposable camera challenge. There's a blog coming that will describe exactly what that means and why there will be very few photos in any blogs written in 2014.

Motivation (UB#4)

Motivation.

Living well in a different place requires sacrifice. Nothing necessarily monumental, but it means being the one who takes the first step. That doesn’t come naturally to me… it doesn’t come naturally to most people. Where does the motivation to do this come from? Where should it come from? Since being here I’ve found it difficult to step into friendships with Ugandans. I didn’t want to make the sacrifice that is required for ‘cross-cultural’ friendship because my only motivation was my own satisfaction. I wanted to leave here knowing I had friends here… but I didn’t want much more. I think that motivation is changing. A few of the on-campus American students have decided to read through Thessalonians over the course of our time here and yesterday as we were reading the first chapter this verse stuck out to me:

“We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:3).

work produced by faith

labor prompted by love

endurance inspired by hope

I must put my own desires on the shelf and seek faith, love, and hope, that out of these things friendships are made and bridges built. My selfishness will not get me where I want to go… and it isn’t helping anybody else out either.