Christmas in Kapchorwa

So I just got back to Soroti after spending a week, including Christmas, in the mountains by Sipi Falls. It’s good to see a mirror again now that I’m back… though a little scary after a week without :-P It’s interesting the things you miss. The people of Kapchorwa are part of the Sabiny tribe, so an entirely new culture, new language and everything. I stayed with a family in the middle of the village. There are a good amount of tourists in Sipi because of the beautiful waterfalls and mountains and more comfortable climate than Karamoja, but being the only Mzungu in the real village, I still got many looks and comments as I learned to be a true African! I still have some work to do on my balancing skills, though I did get a good bit of practice. I can at least make a half-decent Ngwatiet to provide as a buffer between my scalp and bunch of matoke or jerrican of water. Need to start working out my neck muscles, though… didn’t get to work up to the full size Jerrican like the village kids do! I practiced washing clothes… without a washer and drier! :-P The people thought it was HILARIOUS seeing a Mzungu (Mzungionet in Kupsabiny) washing clothes… not that I knew what they were saying, but when they burst into laughter I got the hint… that’s a pretty universal language. The Sabiny have some other interesting traditions… I got to witness a traditional ceremony held every two years… they have multiple ceremonies at the end of the year to initiate boys into manhood. I’m not sure you really want the details, but I’ll give you the quick version. Basically it’s a public circumcision ceremony… they stand in front of a HUGE crowd and have to keep their faces completely stoic as they’re cut… and they really want you to take pictures while you’re there – it’s a huge day for these boys – very exciting (despite the extreme pain) so they want to show off. So now I have a file on my computer under Kapchorwa called “R-Rated” so I don’t show it to the wrong crowd :-P Then after they become men… this is the funniest part in my opinion… they wear skirts for about three weeks because it’s more comfortable. And it’s not like they wear a wrap or something or even a plain colored not-so-girly skirt. I think they pick their little sister’s favorite skirt… with all the lace and bright pink or yellow they can find. It’s SO funny to see them walking down the streets like that – now that they’ve become men. So I saw two of those ceremonies… I think that may be enough for my lifetime :-P

Everyone always likes to know about food, so let’s see… Main dish in Kapchorwa is Matoke. I learned how to peel and cook them! Now I just need to find them for the family in the states. So the most common meal was matoke and beans. For Christmas, I (in Dr. Val’s honor) was given a chicken… and because it would have been a bit much for me to eat, we slaughtered it and cooked it up for Christmas feast-ing. We also had a treat of rice and chapatis for Christmas. Even sodas! The family is a typical village family… meaning they don’t have much… they live off of what they grow and the little money that comes in – I’m assuming mainly from the older sons and they probably sell some of the matoke and bananas they grow. So of course I was fed an insane amount every day because no matter how much they have, their priorities are ALWAYS taking care of the visitors. Family members came in and out all the time… between the mother’s 8 siblings and allllll their children, there is a lot of family around. For most people, I didn’t have any horrifying eating experiences (apart from food quantities)… but if you know me well enough, there was one REAL rough day. So Ali (one of the older sons in the family) and I were going to go visit the late Uncle’s place to see his wife and anyone who was around in Kapchorwa town. We strategically decided to go unannounced so they wouldn’t need to prepare a huge meal and get ready for visitors… it’s not rude to just drop by around here – it was very welcomed. That way they would just make some tea and we could chat a little while and then head home. So we ate lunch at home and then headed out around 3:30. We arrived and greeted the Aunt who was very excited to see us… and she led us inside the house. She left us in the living room and we looked at a photo album that was on the table. We could hear her in the kitchen… figuring she was getting the tea together. About 15 minutes later she comes out with two plates heaped with matoke and beans and cabbage. Of course I was already stuffed from first lunch about an hour ago, but I had practiced enough to keep all the food down anyway. But the bigger issue came next. She went back into the kitchen and came out with two tall glasses of MILK. Dad… as you understand… this was quite an issue. I looked at the milky white in my glass… actually it had a bit of a yellow tinge because it was straight from the cow… luckily boiled… but completely whole. Praying that I would survive this venture, I tackled the meal first… waiting for Ali to make the first move on his glass of milk… maybe with some tiny unfounded hope that I wouldn’t have to face it… maybe he wouldn’t drink it either… or he’d only drink a little and I could get away with just a sip. After all the food was gone (well, as much as would possibly fit in my stomach… and after getting yelled at (by Heidi definition) for not eating more… story of my life here!)… Ali picked up his glass of milk and took a big gulp. Watching was bad enough but I knew my turn was next. Jealous of the Ugandan talent of drinking half the glass in one sip, I faced to tackle the opposition. I try to look at the wall in front of me and hold my breath so as not to smell it as the milk approaches my lips. I take three sips… as big as I could manage… as I hid my tongue at the bottom of my mouth so as not to taste it. I put the glass down… feeling, at first, triumphant in managing my three sips… and then quite disappointed as I see that the level of the glass does not appear to have moved more than a centimeter. Next time I go for four sips. I mistakenly look into the glass and see the oily film forming on the side of the glass from the crazy amount of fat meant to nourish a growing baby calf and not a completely weaned human mammal that needs no more growing. Anyway… after painstakingly downing the rest of the glass and trying not to breathe too hard to prevent tasting the milk on my breath, I thanked God for helping me get it down (and trusted that I would be able to keep it down). I thought it was over at that point. I was about to explode and there was nothing to distract me because they were speaking in Kupsabiny the whole time and I had no idea what was going on. But the Aunt left again and I heard soda bottles clinking away from the other room. Oh my goodness. After finishing a Fanta and chatting a little more it was time to leave. I told Ali I would run home (about 14 km) but he wouldn’t let me :-P considering it would be dark by the time I got back and that’s bad news. So we hopped on the motorcycle, me sitting sideways in my skirt of course (Alex… I can ride yours like that, right?!!), and headed back with me doing driveby diagnoses of the cows to entertain myself as we passed. I saw some lumpy skin disease, lots of worms, some sun sensitivity from lantana poisoning, a couple birth conformational defects… some other things and a good amount of impressively healthy cows (especially as compared to Karamoja!).
The family I was staying with owns a few cows so I brought along medicines to treat them and the neighbors animals. Most were very healthy; we had one day when I treated a couple hundred animals I think. Anytime you treat one, fifteen more come and mob around to have their animals treated too so it adds up. It was fun… I mostly dewormed and sprayed for ticks, but there were a few sick ones, too. I trimmed some goat hooves and practiced pig restraint. I have discovered my new LEAST favorite animal. Some of you may know that I really don’t like loud noises… and pigs… are SO loud. As soon as you grab hold of them they start squealing - it’s more like screaming though. I guess the owners don’t have to do much with them normally because they don’t really know how to hold them, making the process painstakingly long. Their usual method was to hold the ears and the pig would pull back and break my eardrums as I tried to inject it. It usually worked out – they didn’t bring ropes most the time so there wasn’t really anything else you could do – those things are STRONG! So I would go away with my ears ringing, disliking pigs more every time I treated one. But it was cool to be able to help out the community. So in the end, I had a great time in Kapchorwa. I missed home and all the traditions I’m used to, but it was fun to see what it’s like in another country. See everyone all dressed up and the kids running around, so excited on Christmas Eve even though by American standards they won’t be getting anything good for Christmas. For them it was just a day to celebrate… with or without presents. It’s nice to see a place where the priorities are more in order :-) On Christmas, I went to church with one of the girls, Cherop, who brought me to a Catholic Church. It was interesting :-P The next day I went to the church Ali goes to, which is more what I’m used to. They had some people visiting from Kenya who were AMAZING (Nielly… I can’t wait till you get here!!!! :-P). The worship was awesome – I LOVE watching people dancing and excited and these guys were really good at getting everyone going (not that it takes much around here) :-P I just couldn’t stop smiling… it’s awesome how much the music can reach you even when you don’t know what they’re saying!

So now I’m back in Soroti… it’s been pretty relaxing around here except for the numerous marriage offers I’ve had to escape from. I’ve been careful about giving out my phone number, but not careful enough. I’m stepping up to the next level of refusal. Sometimes they beg SO much I just give in, but not anymore! 3AM phone calls are not normally appreciated… especially when they’re to ask me to come to their village with them. New Years was neat – the churches all get together and have a big “overnight”. There was a huge tent outside next to one of the churches to create added space. I went with Dr. Moses, his wife, nephew/my friend and some other kid who used to be Muslim until a couple days before Christmas (it’s cool… he’s really excited about God and his first Christmas! He even wanted to give his testimony and everything.)… we didn’t’ stay the WHOLE night – just from about 10 until 2. There was lots of singing and some preaching… a really cool way to start the year off! Dr. Moses said he thought it was so strange that when he was in the states the churches didn’t do anything for New Years. It’s very common here that they do overnights, which I think is really cool. I’ll be in this area for another week or so and then I head up to Kangole to live in my little hut. I’m excited about that… I’ll have to put my new cooking skills into action I think as pretty much the only thing to eat there is beans and posho. So that’ll be fun :-P

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL Christmas and a great New Year. Happy 2011!!!!! Keep praying for my vet school admission if you don’t mind… I find out sometime this month!!! AH!
Only 2.5 months until I come back… I miss you guys!