The race

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Phil 3:13 – 14

I'm still reminiscing about the good times I had in Uganda this past summer and the MTN Kampala marathon certainly fits the description.

One event I didn’t want to miss while at home was the MTN marathon. Being a former employee and having lots of friends working there, it was certainly one of those things on my to-do list. For months I reminded myself of the need to get in shape, but until the last week that was only a thought.
I got into panic mode and decided to do a jog around the Ntinda neighborhood two days before the big day – bad idea on many fronts.
For some reason I seemed to look pretty odd jogging on the streets, maybe because it was 9 am on a Friday morning. People stopped to stare, traffic jams started out of no where, I over heard one chapatti vendor saying something like “it’s these Tanzanians who are going to disturb us”. Ok, so now I look like a Tanzanian??
The next day I was so sore, my muscles were aching and threatening to go on strike and yet the marathon was a day away.
I was determined to run the 10 kilometers so nothing was going to get in my way even if that meant limping to the finish line (talk about determination).
We were scheduled to arrive at the starting point at 6am Sunday morning , I was up by 5, got dressed, fastened the running chip to my shoe and carried my water bottle.
We had also been advised against having heavy meals that morning so I drunk a glass of water and that was it.
When I got to Garden City (starting point) people were jogging back and forth and scaring the rest of us, trying to show how fit they were. I decided I wouldn’t be bothered by them, walked around a bit, met friends here and there and waited.
It looked like the whole of Kampala was there, the sound went off to start the race, while some begun to run others were still talking away and only realized later that the race had begun.

My goal was to get to a fairly steady pace, not too fast just comfortable. I set off, running the race before me (literally pressing on because the crowd was large and people were pushing). We begun at Game, run down to Jinja road roundabout, up past Garden city, on to Fairway Hotel, to Kyadondo road, then down to Kitante road joining the Mulago roundabout, passed the Uganda Museum, to Kira road police station and back to Game.

It was fun, some people walked the entire journey, some others made it a point to scream really loud, startling those in front of them only to use the opportunity to get a head. It was certainly a race for all. I saw a kid who looked 11 years old or there about, then there were the wazeeyi, the skinny, the not so skinny, the short, the not so short, black, white, the disabled name it.

Friends were sticking together, encouraging each other to keep moving, not to get tempted to take short cuts or get into taxis and that sort of thing.

I had my own struggle, there was one lady who really bothered me, she looked the chubby-cute-fragile-I-will-drop-any-minute kind of girl but she had amazing stamina, she jogged past me, then I passed her, then she passed me, eh!. Now I had extra inspiration, there was no way this lady was going to beat me to the finish line. She proved a hard one to tackle, but I eventually passed her, woohoo!
My lesson? - don’t judge a book by its cover.

Above and beyond all that, the marathon had a spiritual connotation for me. I pictured it like I would life, it requires discipline, training and perseverance.

- ‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us’. Heb 12:1
- ‘You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?’ Galatians 5:7
- ‘Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize’. I Cor 9:24 - 27

I run the marathon in an hour and 14 minutes, came in the 416th position yeeeeeey!!!. The number of people that run that day? Over 10,000.

And now I continue to run the race of life.

Icicles/Kampala craze

Today I was literally sliding on the road, there was ice everywhere. It was like a large skating arena I tell you. Now if walking was hard, then imagine what was happening with the cars. Well most of them were parked at home but for those that dared to go out, they were skidding like crazy.
Mich's school was closed for the day and so were many others.
So the joke that when it snows Texans stay home is not funny, there are good reasons - not skidding and dying being one of them.
Check out Mich's collection of icicles, he was so excited I was given strict instructions to keep them in the freezer.

But meanwhile my fellow Kampalans', what is going on?

Can we take it easy?, this borders on embarrassing.

But I must give some credit, these guys are fast, over here no one is thinking of putting up sign posts or anything. We are just stressed, there is a lot to deal with, the weather, the economy, finding a church for the first family, you know, that sort of thing.

Chilly

It's getting cold up in here, these are the times I need to look on the bright side. Somewhere down the road, not too long from now nature will be springing. Took these pictures last spring in Philly.

A week of pre-school

It's a week today since Mich started pre-school and am glad to report that the protests haven't been as many or as severe as they were in Uganda. He seems to be getting a hang of it which is certainly nice. Of course the questions about why he has to write or read still come up but not as forcefully as before.
I think we are on to something good.
He has a file that details the events of his day and looking through it I definitely see an improvement, his name is getting more legible and the coloring is not too off. At such moments I'm usually delirious, hugging and kissing him and telling him what a great job he's done. Mich on the other hand has this - "what's up with you? it's no big deal" look on his face.
Over the weekend I was left speechless when after I spanked him for disobedience he said "thank you mummy for spanking me". Aaaah! who is this kid? did we get a swap? if we did they certainly did a good job and I'm liking what I am seeing.

Sunday school was great too, someone came up with this brilliant idea of making a prayer clock with pictures of family members. Whom ever the hour hand points to (there is only an hour hand on this version), that's the person we pray for. I like the way in the middle of a conversation he will move the hour hand then we have to stop and pray for that person, it's cool.

Ugandans and their ways.

Just sitting around thinking back to the time I spent in Uganda.
It is interesting the things one notices and learns about a place after being away for a while.

So, I walk into the bank to withdraw some money, I join the queue of about 7 people. I am just about to reach the teller when a young man walks up to me and asks if I could help him bank his money. Huh??? He said something about leaving his post of duty and how he has to get back before a certain time. I was in such shock, amazed at his boldness and also wondering why me? There were other people in the line you know?! Well as you may or may not guess I agreed and the rest is history.

Another day, I get into a taxi and remember that I need to send a text message. I pull out my phone and start typing, then my neighbor develops an interest in my message - reading as I typed. I pretend that I need to get something else out of my bag and the lady turns away, when I get back to writing, she is all interested again eh! Dryness! in fact it seemed like she was trying to help me think of what to write. I finished quickly and put the phone away.
Again, I’m in another taxi, I open my bag to get my fare and this guy eagerly without shame looks into my bag, I felt like saying “some privacy please?” I tried to cover up, like we did when we didn’t want people to copy us in an exam and it worked. But eh! What’s up Ugandans? I know we are touchy feely but I think this has moved to the nosy nosy level.

I have had quite a few taxi incidents, here is one more. It’s a hot, sticky, sweaty, Tuesday morning. I boarded a taxi headed to Kansanga and unfortunately I was sandwiched between two not so small people, it was literally tight. After a while I figure I would be more comfortable if I leaned forward. It worked for a little while before one of them leaned forward too, then I leaned back and she followed suit. What was a poor woman supposed to do?
I thought that was crazy, later that day I dropped into Shoprite to buy a drink (remember it was a hot, sticky and sweaty day), after walking a few meters I opened my bottle of juice, a beggar walks up to me with hand raised towards my drink asking for something. I immediately handed him the bottle because there were no subtle hints about it, he said thank you and walked away.

Oh and one more, this one happened while I was yet in another cue to enter UMA show grounds for the trade show. It was a really hot morning and the cue was pretty long too but I wasn’t discouraged I joined in at the back. When I was just about half way to the counter a lady walks up to me and asks if she could get a place in front of me. Her excuse? – “The line is long and it is really hot” duh! Like the rest of us didn’t know that?! Again I was taken by surprise, left a little speechless but I agreed to it. Thankfully the line was moving swiftly so we were not there for much too long.

Ugandans, we wouldn’t like to wait in line, we drive like mad men, are very impatient and what really nags me is the way we elbow and push to get a head. Even with that, we are concerned for each other, more on that in upcoming posts.

Dentist

Dentist appointments took on a whole new meaning for me this past week, it was a lot more fun than I expected - I kid you not.
Seeing a dentist has been defined by grim, miserable periods that I hoped I could wish away, not this time.

I went for a checkup two weeks ago and the nurses attended to me hand and foot, they were literally at my beck and call. May be it's the competition over here, they want to make sure you come back.

When I finally met the dentist (probably in his late 40's) he introduced himself and gave me a firm hand shake, now seriously, how many doctors do you know shake hands with their patients? (unless of course they have a relationship).

There was a screen in front of the patient chair on which I could see photos, x rays and digital drawings of all my teeth. The ones marked in red needed attention, lets just say with my chart you had to look for the ones not marked red :-(

So I made an appointment to get the project underway and this is how my second visit turned out.

The nurses were thrilled to see me again (I don't know how they do it but their energies are fierce). The nurse attending to me mentioned that it was going to be a really long procedure and asked if I would like to watch a movie. Errr... movie? here? now? or is that like after we are done with this?. She said something to the effect that they had some cool ones that had just come in and that I could make a choice.

What is going on? this is the dental clinic right? right, well I certainly checked that before walking in. She came back with a file of all the movie titles I could choose from, I smiled to myself, it was kind of weird you know - either this was really good or the dental work was going to be more than intense.

I played along, but since my mind was not in movie mode I asked her to make a choice - "baby mama it was, then I lay back in the reclining patient chair.

Before the movie begun she brought me a neck warmer and ear phones, nice!! now where is the pop corn and can of coke?

You've got to understand that this atesot girl (in all my years of seeing a dentist and believe me they have been many) had never ever experienced this kind of treatment, it bordered on a prank.

Ten minutes into the movie I had forgotten that I was in the dentist chair, well that's until the main man appeared and pulled out "the needle". After this short interruption I was back to my movie, true comedy, I kept giggling now and then. When the numbing finally took effect the doctor was back on site. Except for the sound of drilling and the doctors hand occasionally getting in the way of my viewing I was fine. I made sure to keep my eyes glued on the screen because some of those dental gadgets are scary you want to use the bathroom immediately.

Two major issues though, it's really hard to laugh (movie was hilarious) with an open mouth filled with gadgets so I had to stifle them lest I choke.
Secondly, only after I had left the office and was well on my way did the excruciating, unbearably distressing, "am-never-going-to-eat-another-sweet-again" pain set in.

Later that evening I received a call from the clinic asking how I was doing, "are you kidding me? am about to write my will, but thanks for asking". No seriously, I appreciated their professionalism, they advised me on what pain killers to take and to call if I had any questions.

Benediction by Rev. Joseph.E.Lowery

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou, who has brought us thus far along the way, thou, who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee.

Shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand true to thee, oh God, and true to our native land.

We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we've shared this day.

We pray now, oh Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant Barack Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family and his administration.

He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national, and indeed the global, fiscal climate. But because we know you got the whole world in your hands, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations.

Our faith does not shrink though pressed by the flood of mortal ills.

For we know that, Lord, you are able and you're willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds, and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor, of the least of these, and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.

We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire our nation to believe that yes we can work together to achieve a more perfect union.

And while we have sown the seeds of greed — the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other.

And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.

And as we leave this mountain top, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.

Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little angelic Sasha and Malia.

We go now to walk together as children, pledging that we won't get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone.

With your hands of power and your heart of love, help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nations shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid, when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say AMEN, AMEN and AMEN.