Our house…

 

...or a lesson in humility.

It is easy to see how independent, proud, stubborn and ungenerous I am when I am put in a situation where I am dependent, have to ask for help and have very few possessions that are 'mine'.

I live in a house that, at the moment, has 13 others living in it. I share a bedroom with an 8 year old, I sometimes wake up to find small children in my room, I don't have a car freely at my disposal, I don't understand most of the conversation that is going on around me, I can't wash my own clothes, I don't have 'personal space', I don't know how to cook on a charcoal fire - the list goes on.

Things that for many years I have taken for granted and even seen as 'necessary' I now come to realise are often things that make me selfish.

There are many lessons I am learning…

...but this is supposed to be about who lives in the house with me - so let me introduce you.

Pastor Willy, Anne, Isaac, Rebecca, Favour and Ezekiel fairly obviously (if you have read my 'Made It' blog) live at the house. Because it's theirs. They are a pretty amazing family and I am blessed to be staying with them.

 

At the moment it is school holidays so we have a few extras. Ronald is sponsored and is at boarding school (here many senior school students board - don't start thinking Australian private school though). He comes and lives with these guys during the holidays. I met him when I was here last year and his English has seriously improved in eight months - I wish my Runyankole was that improved!

  

Also here are Regan and Murissa. Regan is a nephew and Murissa, well, I'm not too sure but he is here for the holidays, I think (found out he is also sponsored and is ‘one of the family’). Regan is from Kampala and is six and has a crazy laugh, Murissa on the other hand is much quieter.

     

Then there are the regulars. Moses, also a nephew, has finished his S6 (the last year of high school) but like many graduating students here, is in his early twenties. He is here for the year and thinks that anywhere outside of Kampala is 'village'. He is teaching me how to cook Ugandan food (I have yet to reciprocate and cook something) and the other day collected gumnuts from a eucalyptus in the front yard to flavour the rice (which seems like it should be an Aussie thing!). He’ll start studying at university later this year.

 

Brenda goes to the school next door and is sponsored to go to school through Australia HOPE International. Living at home is not an option so she stays with Pastor Willy and Anne (I did get to meet her sisters when I went to the burial – see ‘the day of the proposal’). She loves singing and dancing (actually most people this way do it seems) and the kids love her.

 

Gertrude has the least English and so our communication is limited and at times has interesting results. Sometimes I speak to her forgetting that she can't understand me and she also speaks to me and I don't understand her but we do okay with hand signals. At least we can laugh at each other - laughter is a communal non-common-language kind of thing.

 

Kevin is an 'aunt' to the kids even though she is only in Primary 7. At home I'm pretty sure they'd be second cousins. She, yes, that's right here Kevin can be a girls name - and Emma can be a guy (I've met several) - is staying with Pastor Willy and Anne to go to school.

 

I have a feeling I've left someone out but seriously it's like that, some days I get home and there is a new person there who may stay overnight, for a week or longer. I can't quite get my head around the whole 'open house' thing. The generosity, hospitality and sense of family that tend to be part of not just this household but this culture make me look at myself and my life before with a sense of discomfort. Not only have I lived in a way and with resources that people over here would dearly love the opportunity to live with but I have hoarded those things for myself not realising the selfishness of my actions. And not only that, I have taken for granted my 'right' to live with those things.

I hope that no one reads this as criticism. I am just trying to write this blog as an honest response to my experiences. And despite what I tend to write about here most of my experiences are positive, even mundane. There is still a daily life routine. And in the routine of daily life even here I can forget to be thankful for what I have. So this week i will remember to be thankful. There are many lessons to learn.

Oh and at home I forgot to mention Tiger and German, the dogs and the cat who is nameless as well as several chickens.

 

Hope you all have a blessed week

bron

ps: since I wrote this we have also had Charlotte and Anne come to stay with us and I forgot to mention cousin Susie earlier who spent a couple of weeks of her holiday with us!