Greetings from Bugembe! I am settling into “Queen of Peace” community, the Holy Cross sisters’ house which is across the street from where I stayed last year. We’re located in Bugembe, a kind of town/suburb about ten minutes from Jinja proper. It’s also the seat of the Busoga kingdom and the kyabazinga, the local ruler.
I’ve been here for four weeks, the days have been flying by, and they have been so, so good. I thought I’d dive into some of my daily life – this is for most weekdays – and then other blogs will focus on others willing to share themselves here.
6:30 am (ish) – wake up. Typically, roosters in the background, and African pigeons: “Whoop whoop, whoop whoopwhoop…”
7:00 – Daily Mass. Mostly at Andre House seminary (in English), or 1-2 times a week at the local parish (Lusoga).
7:45 – Breakfast with the sisters (bananas for a quick one, or tea with bread & condiments).
8:15 / 10:45 (variable) – Take a boda boda (motorcycle) to school. It’s a three-mile distance from the sisters’ place and I found a great driver to drive me daily in the mornings so I’m not rushed, or gross, upon arrival.
At school – Co-teaching lessons, meeting with administration for projects, “jazzing” (talking) with students, etc. Marking papers, not so fun, but very needed in a small department! And it is sometimes satisfying. I have finished about 720 pages of “sentence rewrites” from S4’s exams in June…
11:00 – Break tea time, when the staff gathers for African milk tea and some “escort” (variable: groundnuts, chapati, bread roll, or vegetable samosas). For some teachers this is their breakfast.
1:00 pm – Lunch, some vegetables (eggplant, greens, pumpkin, etc.) with some starch (rice, pilau, matoke, posho, sweet potatoes, etc.) and some beans, meat, or fish.
2:30 / 5:30 – Walk home from school, approximately one hour with friendly interruptions. Then shower, because the roads are so dusty!!
6:30 – Evening prayer with the sisters.
7:15 – Dinner with the sisters, normally the best menu including fish or pork or cow peas (my favorite), avocado, and rice almost always (they know that posho does not always sit well with me…). Some fruit – pineapple, mango, jackfruit – also usually on hand.
8:15 – 10:15 – Lusoga (local language) lessons at the seminary, Monday through Thursday. The first-year seminarians are learning the regional language here and I have joined them… Very good and hard! More on that later!
10:30 – Home again. Ideally, I would be asleep by this hour, but often I will call someone from home (or in the early morning), or read or just decompress for a while. I’m grateful for the language lessons, but I am finding myself really, really tired at the end of each day. I spend half days at school right now, maybe 6 to 8 hours daily, so I can use the morning or late afternoon as time for myself, laundry (by hand…!), project emails, etc.
I had hopes to get involved at both Holy Cross Family Ministries and the local primary school once a week while I’m located here in Bugembe (in October I will move in to the school). But my days have been very booked with evening language lessons on top of everything else. Now they’re wrapping up so my schedule will be more balanced out, I hope.
I take time to note five things I’m grateful for at the end of each day, and I always conclude it is so very good to be here. Even if it is exhausting; it is an opportunity to work on self-care!
Change of pace for my next two weeks: I’m taking a break from Lake View while I help my friend Katie in western Uganda with her organization Let Us Move Mountains. She is really wonderful, and so is LUMM, and I’ll try to share some people and experiences from there in some way. Coming soon when I’m back in Bugembe – features on my Lusoga teacher, some staff members, and the sisters’ community I live with. Thanks for following! 🙂
Joy in Jinja 
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