Birthday...Ugandan Style

Hi Everyone,

Life has been busy here. An awesome team from California has been here since last week. I’ve been busy teaching and helping where needed. It has been great to get to know all the Californians.

I have also moved to Faith’s house, she is the director of Bringing Hope to the Family. Right now I’m sharing a room with 5 of the women from the CA team. It’s been an exciting time in our room. Today our light was finally fixed so we have light. We’ve been living by flashlight. According to some people I’m now having a more “African experience.” I have left the comfort of an in door bathroom to a hole in the ground and a real bucket bath.

It was a great blessing to celebrate my birthday here. We had the biggest party at Dorcas…I don’t know if it was intentional or if it just happened. I think it just happened. But we celebrated over a traditional Ugandan meal of millet, rice, meat, and my favorite part…a matooke birthday cake, which I didn’t get to eat, but I did enjoy the thought. I did enjoy serving it Uganda style and watching people's reactions. They either liked it or they didn't. After dinner we danced and had a great time.

But the fun didn’t stop there. When we came back from Dorcas the women from California planed a spa night. So, I enjoyed a foot massage and a facial that night; thanks to Kathleen the “Product Queen.” I have never laughed so hard in my life. Thank you to all the California Girls (Kathleen, Christine, Kristen, Anna, Karen, Jackie and Sandy)!

I also had the opportunity to help part of the California team put on a spa day to pamper many of the hard-working women of Bringing Hope to the Family. For many it was the first time to experience anything like it. The next day, I had a few of the local girls ask me to teach them how to give massages. I promised them I would.

It has been a wonderful this week serving with the California team; I’ll miss their laughter, excitement and love for the people.

I’m sorry I don’t have any pictures right now I’ll post them when I get them.

Talk to you again soon.

Love,

Joyce

La Gringa

The Cake

Hey Everyone!

I know it's been a while since my last post. The internet has been up and down this week; the terrorist bombs damaged the fiber-optic lines in Kampala, so the company has been repairing it this week. We are all well; we live 3-4 hours west of Kampala in the little village of Kaihura, so there is very little chance that we would be targeted.

So life has been good in the village. The first Embrace Uganda team left last Saturday, and another team arrives next week. So this week has been a week to recuperate a little.

Recently Dorcas had their third graduation ceremony; Dorcas doesn't have a graduation every year. They hold them every two or three years. This was the graduation for class of 2008 & 2009, so together they make up the class of 2010. There were 62 graduates in the areas of tailoring/design, nursery school teacher, carpentry/agriculture, general studies. It was a wonderful day for the graduates.

There were many speeches and gifts given and in the end there was cake. Only it was served Ugandan style. Normally we (westerners) would cut the cake into pieces and serve them on individual plates to everyone...Not in Uganda.

I was asked to bake a cake that would serve 80 people, so that's what I did. Little did I know that it would serve about 200 people. In Uganda, they cut a large piece of cake and put it on a plate. Then they proceed to chop it into little pieces, so that it doesn't resemble cake any more but a mangled mess. Then they serve it, and each person grabs a handful off of the communal plate and eats it with their fingers. (I'm grateful for forks, plates and napkins.)

Everyone enjoyed the cake; for many it was the first time that they had tasted a typical graduation cake. It was an unforgettable experience.

Here are some pictures of the cake making process.

There was cake everywhere. I burned 1 so I had make another batch. I ended up baking 10 cakes that day.

The cake was actually 8 small cakes put together.

I'm glad that I was not alone making this cake, Amos came and helped me from start to finish. We didn't have an electric mixer so we mixed everything by hand. He decided it was easier to mix the frosting African style...by hand. Thanks Amos; you're awesome!

It is amazing what you can create with a Ziploc bag...that's the only decorating tool we had.

Last but not least, the graduates walking in. They made their own caps and gowns.

Thank's for your continued prayers and support. Talk to you again soon.

Love,

Joyce

La Gringa

The Food

Hey Everyone,

I've had a couple of people ask me recently what types of food they eat here. Mom and Josue this one's for you:

On the plate are Beans (top left), Millet (bottom center and to the right), and Posho (the white stuff). The only thing missing is the Matoke, a type of cooked mashed bananas. I don't eat it because I'm allergic to bananas, so I can't tell you what it's like.

Millet is made from ground millet and cassava flour. It is a very sticky, flavorless, gel type substance; from my description I'm sure you can tell that it is not one of my favorite things. They usually eat it with their fingers from a basket. They role it into a ball and dip it into beans and/or roasted meat broth (goat or beef usually) and eat it. I have to swallow it whole without chewing it because it gets slimy when it's wet.

Posho is made from cassava flour and ground Maize. It has the consistency of very thick mashed potatoes, but it doesn't really have much flavor. I don't mind eating this; I usually eat this with beans for lunch when I teach at Dorcas. It gets old after a while, but it's food, and it doesn't taste bad.

The beans are very similar to pintos, but they season them with whatever they have. I've had beans with zucchini, beans with greens similar to collard greens, beans with onions. The first bite is always an uncertainty, but they've always been great. The Ugandans and the Mexicans know how to cook beans; Americans need to take lessons.

Mom, please don't make beans everyday when I get home. I miss lunch meat and turkey...turkey especially. I've heard we can get turkey in Kampala, but it's expensive.

Well, I hope you all can appreciate the variety of food that's available in the US. The next time you eat a turkey sandwich with all the trimmings do it with a grateful heart.

Talk to you soon.

Love,

Joyce

La Gringa