U(really)ganda Leave?

As always:

To Mail Me Anything: 

Benedictine Fathers
Amani Conference Centre
P.O. Box 32101-00600
Nairobi - Kenya

To Donate Anything: 

Southern Benedictine Society
100 belmont mount holly road
Belmont, NC 28012

Greetings ‘Merca!

Yes, I realize it has been far too long since my last post, and I am eternally sorrowful for it. I’ve come to pay recompense to the masses by posting a blog today though! So let’s get on with it.

It’s been what, 2 and halfish weeks since I last posted? The week after the funeral was pretty low key. I kept my head down and did some good works and whatnot. I’m planning on organizing a paint job for St. Maurus. I need to buy paint though. Also they want me to fix some of their floors which means I need to pay for cement, too. Man, my bills are racking up! Anyways, schools in Kenya let out last week which meant it was graduation time for the classes at St. Benedict’s primary school! What was weird though was that none of the classes 1-8 had a graduation ceremony. Only the Pre-primary class had one, but all the classes performed different acts during the graduation. Apparently, no one cares if you graduate 8^th grade, but, if you graduate preschool, you’re on top of the world.

Soon after the school shenanigans, I began another little adventure. The prioress at the convent where the girls stay in Karen invited me to go with her, the girls, and her sister who is also a nun on a trip to Uganda! This is gonna need a day by day I think.

Last Wednesday

I met Sr. Serva in downtown Nairobi at 9:30am. We were meeting so that she could help me get my Ugandan visa. We went in, and the lady told us to come back at 4pm. Super lame. Up side though was definitely that Sr. Serva ended up buying me lunch at the Java House. It was really good, and I got a pineapple milkshake. I went with her on a couple errands as well. We stopped by the Cathedral book store, a linen shop, the bank, and we made it to prayer service in the Cathedral as well. We got our Ugandan visas and went back to Karen. It took forever traffic was awful, and it was also the scariest drive of my life. Her name does not imply it, but Sr. Serva is 50-60some Korean woman who loves to talk on the phone while driving. I think I cheated death about 11 times on the way back. We got to Karen and found out that instead of leaving on Thursday, we wouldn’t actually be leaving until Friday. So I had a free day in Karen!

Last Thursday

I slept in. Until noon? Somewhere around there. It was awesome. Then I went into town with the girls to this little coffee shop they discovered and we enjoyed the coffee and WIFI. I downloaded a rental of “O Brother Where Art Thou” from iTunes because Caitlin, scandalously, had never seen it. Then we walked back to the convent in 17 minutes which was a new record for the girls (I’ve done it in 12 nbd). Enjoyed a relaxing evening and packed for our journey.

Last Friday

4:30am came around much MUCH too soon. Sr. Michael Marie, the prioress, had insisted on getting a really early start. We got in the car, and I got to meet our driver, Evans. Yes, his name has an “s” on the end, it’s not a typo. Evans and I would be spending a fair amount of time together being the only two guys on a convent to convent trip. We started off towards our first destination in Kerio valley. It was a little village called Chesongoch. The last 40 km was on a miserable piece of dirt road. We finally arrived though and let me tell you it was friggin’ hot. It has been a loooooong time since I’ve been in an environment so sweltering. Of course, Chesongoch is the convent I’ll be staying at during the month of January. Oh boy. We got there at lunchtime and then I took a nap. I sweat myself to sleep. Then the girls and I got around 3 and Evans drove us to Endo which was about an hour away. It was another little convent in the valley. We came back. Did some vespers and then the girls and I watched Cool Runnings on my computer before we went to sleep.

Saturday

We got up and took some cold showers because they don’t have hot water, but I didn’t mind because of the heat. We went to Mass and then we got a tour of the dispensary the sisters run there. It was a really good looking facility. They’d done a lot of building and money raising the past couple years, and they’re even set up to facilitate surgery. The only problem they have now is a lack of people! They need surgeons and other workers and what not. Then we went back to the convent for lunch and headed out again.

We drove up a mountain for 15 km. That was interesting. The sites were incredible though. We got an awesome look at the valley. I can’t wait to live there for a month and get some good hiking in. About 4 hours later we arrived at Kimumu which is another convent and we sat around and had tea. Then they gave us a tour of the school. It’s a small building but they have about 500 kids in their primary school there. We had dinner in Kimumu, and I did my best to entertain all the sisters. I don’t know why but these religious women just seem to love me. Then, because there wasn’t enough room in Kimumu to house Evans, the girls, and myself, we went to another convent in a town called Eldoret about 20 minutes away. It’s a beautiful convent. Small, but very pretty. They had hot water. I took advantage. Since we’d gone up in elevation the temperature had dropped significantly. I took my hot shower and passed out.

Sunday

Went to Mass at the Cathedral of the Eldoret Diocese. Sr. Michael Marie needed more time with the sister at Kimumu so we stayed in Eldoret another day. We came back to the convent and took naps. It was glorious. Then we went out for lunch and ate to our hearts’ desires for about 10 bucks total. Then we went to Kimumu because we were supposed to be there by 4. We got there around 2:30 and hung out. Then we were told to go with this random lady back to her home with Evans as the driver. So we went and we hung out at this family’s house for a couple hours. They gave us tea, cookies, and mandazi. Then we all sat around and discussed different things. I learned something about American History that day, too. Please tell me if this was in your history books.

                The Explanation Behind the Name America as told by a Kenyan

When the settlers of the New World began to expand their lands, the Indians became agitated. One man had an idea to marry a pilgrim woman with an Indian man. The Indians were pleased. The night after the ceremony one of the settlers had hidden in a wedding present. He broke out and unlocked the gates to the Indian village. The settlers came in, over took, and killed the Indians of the village. The phrase “A Marriage Gun” was coined. Over time this phrase turned into America hence the name of the country.

I had never heard that one before, but man is it a riveting story. There were a couple other myths that I had to dispel, but it was fun nevertheless.

Monday

We left for Uganda. Jinja specifically. The nickname of Uganda is the “Jewel of Africa”, so I went into Uganda with this thought in mind. It is indeed a pretty country. The whole country is covered in green and there are rolling hills everywhere. Very pretty landscape, and there’s a ton of food.  The convent in Jinja was more like a massive compound. Everything was gated and all the windows were barred and there was this little courtyard inside. Despite that, it might be the prettiest compound I’ve ever seen. From the view in the girls bedroom, you could see lake Victoria which actually touched a piece of the sisters’ property.

Within about an hour of getting there, they had us back out again to go see the source of the Nile River. Man, that was cool. They put us in a little boat and motored around tiptoeing back and forth over the line separating the Nile and Lake Victoria. I’m not really sure how to describe it.

We went back to the convent for dinner and vespers. Then afterwards, another nun who was visiting showed a slide show of her travels around the world specifically in Brazil and Rio de Janeiro. I want to go there something fierce now. That place looks awesome!

Tuesday

We got up around 5:30 to see the sunrise over the lake. That was cool. Later in the morning we got a full tour of what the convent does at their hospital and there 900 kid primary school. I have no idea where all these kids come from. In the school we went from class to class, and by the time we were done it was recess or something so I started playing with the kids. Here’s a snippet: 

After that we scarfed down some food and hit the road back to Eldoret. We stayed there for the night.

Wednesday

Back to Karen! We arrived mid-afternoon exhausted and hungry. So we took some tea and took a nap. Then we went into town to buy a few things. We came back and we cooked an apple crisp for the sisters to enjoy on our Thanksgiving Holiday. I wasn’t there the next day to enjoy, but I was told we did a good job!

Thursday

Happy Thanksgiving! I got driven to Nairobi and I went with the girls and Sr. Serva to go deal with some immigration issues (ironic). The girls had to renew their visas. Then we went out for lunch to celebrate Thanksgiving and St. Cecilia’s feast day who is Kate’s patron saint. Then I went to Amani think I’d have a few hours to chill. Wrong. I got back to find a note saying I was getting picked up at 4:30 which was about 10 minutes from when I saw it. We were having a big celebration at Dan the Pirate’s House. Tim and Mike cooked all evening making deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, and lamb. We also had a bunch of beer. We listened to loud music and danced around. Almost forgot, when I got picked up, I was asked to drive to Dan’s house. I DROVE FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE AUGUST. It was awesome and driving around Nairobi isn’t so bad! Pedals are still in the right places so it wasn’t too difficult. We got back from the party around 2:30am. I was exhausted.

Today (Friday)

I slept in until 9:30 today and then got tea. I’m planning on doing nothing for the next couple days. It’s been a really exciting past couple of weeks though.

There are always more things that I could talk about, but I’m trying to keep these posts shorter and to the points I’m supposed to hit if I can (I know I typically fail at the short part).

Some Final Things:

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and is doing well back in the States. I’m still looking for some donations for some various projects at St. Maurus, and I still want to buy a couple basketball hoops for a couple different places.

Also, if anyone has any interest in seeing pictures of me on Mt. Kilimanjaro, I’m also accepting personal donations J .

God continues to bless my mission with everything that I've needed to do to be successful here. I've made great friends, and I am becoming better friends with some that I was already friends with. My family has never felt so large as it does right now. I miss you all. Only 5 more months!

-Harris