After such a pleasant sleep, it was a rude awakening in the bathroom when there was no hot water available. I would not usually call myself spoiled, but as I took that freezing cold shower it really brought out how much I really was spoiled. Being a Sunday, everyone had wanted to go and visit the local churches to experience their service. Being the only non-christian in the group didn’t really deter me from going as this was my first opportunity to mingle with the locals. As we walked towards where we expected the church to be, we once again found ourselves the center of attention. At one point I turned around to see a group of about 4 extremely curious children following us. Every time we stopped to ask for directions, we were greeted by stunned faces of people who would then shake everyone’s hand individually exchanging greetings. We came to a point where there was no further need to ask for directions as the entire town seemed to be headed in the same direction. 
Upon arriving at the particularly beautiful church that reminded me a little of the Lotus temple back at home in Delhi, we mingled with the locals and found seats at the very end of the massive hall. This was by far the most colorful church I had ever seen as it had streamers and blinking lights all over the place, on the inside, serving as decoration. The sermon itself was quite boring for me frankly as it was carried out in the local language and had songs that I could not otherwise identify though. On the other hand, I took interest in observing the people that had showed up for this day in their very best clothing with children that were extremely well behaved for their age. Religion was evidently one of the important facets of life in small-town Uganda. On the way back to the hotel, we found ourselves swamped with kids who wanted to observe us from as closely as possible. We managed to get a few initial pictures with them, after which they immediately warmed up to the occasion and started posing and running around calling to their other friends to join the. After this tiring yet equally fun escapade, breakfast was eagerly awaited, which turned out to be nothing short of fantastic. We had sausages which were cooked with a crusty outer layer, along with possibly the best omelet I have ever had. Trim could learn a lesson or two. This was followed up by watered-down pineapple juice and sweet bananas. Here is where I must take a moment to really appreciate this banana. It was the perfect size: pocket size; and it was by far the sweetest, most perfect banana I had ever had. The best thing about it was that once you were done with one, there was another just as perfect banana waiting for you. Good things really do come in small packages. Moving along, Noa came to pick us up at 10:30 with the promise of showing us around the little town of Mityana and really seeing how it works. Minea, Sarah, and I got into his car as headed through the city to allow us our first glimpse of the place. It was a place that seemed to be even smaller than Kabalagala but apparently had 30,000 residents. We quickly moved from a smooth-ish road to a complete dirt track which evidently makes up most of the local roads around here. As we rattled along this particularly bumpy road, Noa kept pointing out certain areas of interest with some history related to them. One of these was his own Aunty’s house who he said had not been feeling well recently. The house itself was built out of dirt and pieces of wood with an aluminum roof which did not look sturdy at all. Soon we came into the presence of the local tea-estate which was stop number one on this little journey. Unfortunately however, there had been some sort of a mix up and they had not been expecting us, hence we were asked politely to come back another day which we had to oblige to.
On the trip back, Noa wanted to make a quick stop to meet his aunty, and he invited us in, though not before children from all around the area had made their way towards us. It seemed as though we were the pied pipers of Mityana as the children followed us around, shyly at first, posing for pictures with us.
Upon arriving at the particularly beautiful church that reminded me a little of the Lotus temple back at home in Delhi, we mingled with the locals and found seats at the very end of the massive hall. This was by far the most colorful church I had ever seen as it had streamers and blinking lights all over the place, on the inside, serving as decoration. The sermon itself was quite boring for me frankly as it was carried out in the local language and had songs that I could not otherwise identify though. On the other hand, I took interest in observing the people that had showed up for this day in their very best clothing with children that were extremely well behaved for their age. Religion was evidently one of the important facets of life in small-town Uganda. On the way back to the hotel, we found ourselves swamped with kids who wanted to observe us from as closely as possible. We managed to get a few initial pictures with them, after which they immediately warmed up to the occasion and started posing and running around calling to their other friends to join the. After this tiring yet equally fun escapade, breakfast was eagerly awaited, which turned out to be nothing short of fantastic. We had sausages which were cooked with a crusty outer layer, along with possibly the best omelet I have ever had. Trim could learn a lesson or two. This was followed up by watered-down pineapple juice and sweet bananas. Here is where I must take a moment to really appreciate this banana. It was the perfect size: pocket size; and it was by far the sweetest, most perfect banana I had ever had. The best thing about it was that once you were done with one, there was another just as perfect banana waiting for you. Good things really do come in small packages. Moving along, Noa came to pick us up at 10:30 with the promise of showing us around the little town of Mityana and really seeing how it works. Minea, Sarah, and I got into his car as headed through the city to allow us our first glimpse of the place. It was a place that seemed to be even smaller than Kabalagala but apparently had 30,000 residents. We quickly moved from a smooth-ish road to a complete dirt track which evidently makes up most of the local roads around here. As we rattled along this particularly bumpy road, Noa kept pointing out certain areas of interest with some history related to them. One of these was his own Aunty’s house who he said had not been feeling well recently. The house itself was built out of dirt and pieces of wood with an aluminum roof which did not look sturdy at all. Soon we came into the presence of the local tea-estate which was stop number one on this little journey. Unfortunately however, there had been some sort of a mix up and they had not been expecting us, hence we were asked politely to come back another day which we had to oblige to.On the trip back, Noa wanted to make a quick stop to meet his aunty, and he invited us in, though not before children from all around the area had made their way towards us. It seemed as though we were the pied pipers of Mityana as the children followed us around, shyly at first, posing for pictures with us.
No comments:
Post a Comment