Christmas in Uganda (guest blog post by Marissa)

I got the privilege of staying with Sara and Anthony over the Christmas Holiday. Not only did they welcome me with good food, they actually made it feel a bit like Christmas in this 90 degree Ugandan heat. They are both pretty intentional people so we had everything from an advent wreath to a “Home Alone” viewing! Each tradition that we participated in here had a little piece of Uganda added to it. The advent wreath was laced with Bougainvillaea flowers and our Christmas tree was an orange tree cutting. We dyed our Christmas cookie frosting with Moringa and Malabar Spinach seeds and our stockings were filled with fun/weird Ugandan (but actually Arabic) candies- like cardamom/coffee gum and tamarind gummies. Of course we had a turkey for our Christmas meal, but we butchered it ourselves!

(We also butchered a chicken)

We only traveled once and it was over the weekend to a church across Lake Kyoga. I had been living on the coast in Kenya about a month ago, so it was nice to see some water and palm trees again.  Despite a few hitches, the hour boat ride definitely beat driving in a car for 9 hours around the lake. The Nile River travels through Lake Kyoga and the whole thing was lined with bushy Dr. Seuss looking papyrus! I grabbed a few reeds and tried my hand at making paper so I could bring back a fun gift for someone. Unfortunately the reeds didn’t stick to each other like they were supposed to after soaking them. I also couldn’t get them sliced as thin as was necessary so my attempt at papermaking wasn’t very successful.

Papyrus!

Despite our busy schedule of cooking, baking and general Christmas activities, I truly had a chance to rest. I was safe and in one place for more than a few days (traveling for months at a time can be exhausting). I got a chance to read “The Last King of Scotland”, brushing up on some of my Ugandan history. There was even time for morning runs and afternoon naps.  Christmas is truly restful in Uganda.

Here are a few more highlights from my Ugandan visit:

-Carrying a live chicken like a football on a half hour motorcycle ride while sitting on fresh fish

-Selling said chicken out of the window of a car to a group of drunk men

-Visiting the Marisa Café

-Drinking a cappuccino at the Marisa Café!

-Receiving a hand sewn “gathering apron” for Christmas from Sara (with support from Anthony)!

-Trying to keep a fire going in Sara’s recently constructed cob oven for 3 hours and then satisfyingly baking pita and loaves of bread

-Anthony’s Christmas Sunday sermon at the church across the lake

-Simply looking at Sara’s beautiful garden and eating yummy veggies everyday

-Rolexes (egg wrapped in chapatti)

-Taking their dog Caleb for late day walks

-Caleb also was neutered while I was visiting and I got to watch the operation as Caleb was injected with horse tranquilizer while I stood under the shade of a mango tree (Not necessarily a highlight, especially for Caleb, but it was interesting getting a chance to watch)

-Talking with the church about Creation Care with Sara

-Entertaining a group of children by gargling water, bouncing an orange on my elbow and catching food in my mouth. (see panoramic photo below)

-Going for a hike in Mbale

Wazungu are apparently very interesting

This is what success looks like.

Merry Christmas!