Pastor Senyonga in my "hood"

'Skepticism' describes my attitude on hearing that Pastor Jackson Senyonga was coming to preach at my church.

Pastor Rod blew for him but, "nah-uh!"
My mind was clouded with the incident that occurred last year.
I never found out whether or not it was true, but it was there fogging my view of the "managad"(man of God).

When he got behind the pulpit to preach, his accent reminded me of Ragga Dee.
I know, it's crazy.
But Ragga Dee's song Mbawe where he says "My lord, my god, my gaddi" kept flipping around in my head.

Anyway, too many distractions.

He talked about how the devil fights christians in several ways and how once, he was on a plane to some place when "an accusation planted itself".
That put me back on track, probably because he mentioned "it".

The sermon was quite inspiring- about trusting God and what He has done in the passed.
He's been faithful, brought us through some really tough spots, why wouldn't He do it again?.

He urged us to be a people of vision, to dream bigger than what we can see, to be a people of prayer not casually or in crisis but committed prayer warriors.
By this point the congregation was on their feet in prayer and thanks giving, we were stirred up and encouraged.
It was intense! but I couldn't resist chuckling when he said we should ask God to "excelelate blessings in our lives", at this point people looked at him with blank faces, but being a Ugandan I knew he meant "accelerate".

Ok, so I have exposed my wickedness and the wanderings of my mind.
But when all is said and done, I was blessed to hear Pastor Senyonga preach.

People will always have misconceptions but it's great to know that God will vindicate His own and use them to further His kingdom.

Big D - 3 months down

It's been 3 months since I nestled in the warmth of Dallas and I'm loving it.

Texans have got this southern hospitality thing going on; they are free and easy, courteous, warm and involving -the talkative library guy not withstanding.
People greet, nod and smile as they cross paths.
Drivers will slow down or stop just so I can cross the road.
The post man calls me by name and asks about Uganda, while I'm still speechless, he asks about my husband and how he hasn't seen my little boy in a while.
One can have a genuine conversation over here and people remember, in some cases they will call just to find out how you are doing.

If only this was in the file of my first American experiences.

Philadelphia gave me the creeps in every which way, I'm still not over it.
At some point I thought I was the problem.
That I was weird for wanting to go beyond the surface in my relationships.
That shaking hands and giving hugs was so not right.
That speaking when I hadn't been spoken to was just crazy.
That allowing Mich to run around unsupervised, (by that I mean not watching his every move), could land me in the hands of the law.
Whatever went down on the East Coast? or is it Philly?


"Philadelphia" certainly wasn't any where near "the city of brotherly love"; that name was misappropriated.
I will not even start sighting examples, they are way too many. We wouldn't like to spend the entire day reading one post now would we?.

I have dragged the city through the mad way too long.
But I don't apologise.

Sure, it had it's high lights, can't think of any right now though.

Okay. I loved it for its rich history, I learned about America's childhood and run up the Rocky stairs.

The Liberty bell, -"Let freedom ring".

Congress hall, where the declaration of independence doc was signed.


Rocky Balboa statue, if you haven't watched Rocky I, II, and III, look out for it. Does the name Sylvester Stallone ring a bell?

There was lots to see and do.

Armish life, interesting religious sect in Lancester county.

Plus, it's a walkable city.
I didn't get why people swore by the Philly cheese stake though, I got to eat one, maybe it was the African in me that shone through.

Waiting room

While at the library this morning, I met a gentle man in the waiting area. As it turned out I was early, so this is what transpired over the 45 loong minutes of waiting.

As soon as I sat he asked how I was doing.
He was probably in his early 50’s or late 40’s; certainly could have passed for a CEO or manager of some company or the other.
Then like he had been waiting for me, he spoke passionately about how he had applied for some job, was turned down and now he was upset that the ad was in the papers.
“I just want to leave this place, can’t wait to get over with this court case and I will be out of here.”
Pause.
“I will probably go back to Albuquerque, the people there are a lot nicer, don’t know why I came here in the first place, no one wants to hire me.
I can’t wait for the court case to be over”.

I was amazed at how the guy decided to unleash on me, but I understood there was a bit of frustration.
So I decided to play the shriek, “What happened? What is the court case about?”
He says “oh, it’s along story, but basically I got kicked in the face, put at gun point, dragged to the ground…”
Too much detail.

He goes on to say “Life is pretty rough”, at this point I see tears in his eyes and I’m thinking “oh my! What am I going to do with a crying man?” things are really bad.
He started coughing, pulled out a hankie and blew his nose.
Turns out he had flu or rather his sinuses were acting up due to the weather, phew!
That was a relief.
At that juncture another guy walked in and they struck up a conversation, phew!
More relief.
Never met a more talkative mzungu.

So he asks the guy who just walked in if he had found something to do.
Guy says “yeah, got something with wal-mart”.
Talkative guy says “that is really neat, I love wal-mart, they pay good. What are you going to do there?”
Guy says “I don’t know, stuck up boxes or something, anything really”
Talkative guy says “That’s really nice, you are lucky man”.
I get out a book to read, hoping I can drown out their voices.

Talkative guy says “I wish I could turn back time, I never would have worked for O’reileys”, he said this like three times.
My book-reading wasn’t working.
I decided to get out a pen and paper and scribble some stuff down.

Then he asks the other guy if he is on food stamps, guy says no.
Asks him if he has a girlfriend, guy says yes, at this point I’m wondering where he is going with this?. Well, your guess is as good as mine, no where really.
Then silence.

Talkative guy begins to recite the alphabet, I’m thinking, “you have got to be kidding me”.
Out of the blue he mentions how his 94 year old grandma passed away two weeks ago.
He says “I don’t know if there is life after death but if there is, she sure must be happy. I bet she will meet up with old friends”.
Then mentions how he is getting 2 new pairs of jeans real soon, adding up to a total of 5.

Sports channel was showing basket ball.
Talkative guy mentions how there was this guy in school who was 6’10 but he never played the game. “I mean he could touch the back board with his big hands without straining”.
“We asked him why he didn’t play, because that sure puzzled us”.
“Turns out that he was gay”.
Boy oh boy! Did that crack me up or what?!

At some point I got lost in my own thoughts, when I got back he was talking about C-sections and how both his wives had them.
Finally the librarian came to our rescue by opening the doors.

In all of 45 minutes I knew this guys life history.
I concluded that Mark Twain's novels like "The adventures of Huckleberry Fin" and Tom Sawyer are not all lies, there are some people who fit the profile.

Uganda Television shows in the 80's

When I have time to twiddle my fingers my mind goes into flash back mode--to my childhood. These particular memories get tickled when I have to seriously screen and re screen what Mich watches. 

Gone are the days when the mere mention of cartoon sufficed--when you knew that it was something for the kids to watch and it was safe.

This is where my love for UTV (Uganda Television) back in the 80’s gets rekindled.
I would rush home from school to watch “Clue Club” “Blue Falcon and Dog Wonder” and “Scooby doo”, any body identify?

Ok, what about Electric Company and Sesame Street? Yeah, I knew that would be more familiar.
There was even a time I thought if I happened to land in Germany I would find my way “Pappenheimer” taught us basic German phrases.

Then when the tapes were over and UTV had overly repeated them and finally got ashamed they brought “Peter and His Toy Box”. Oh! that was fun, he showed us how things like rubber, glass, and wood were manufactured and used (imagine, I can not find these guys on the internet).

But nothing beat the Alvin show with the Chipmunks and Clyde Crush-cup, absolutely hilarious. It would never have worked without Alvin’s character. I learned songs like “oo ee oo ah ah … wala wala bing bang”.
“Felix the Cat”, was phasing out by the time I got to watching TV regularly but I remember the theme song “Felix the cat, the wonderful wonderful cat…”.

It is official now, I am from another generation but that’s just fine with me.

Did you get to watch “The Bear, The Tiger and The Others”?, the Flintstones? Pingu?
Clown Ferdinand?
Then there were some Asian cartoons that moved in the most interesting manner (like they were about to fall) and the stories where killer.

“101 tales” about a princess who slept forever and someone told her stories in the hope that she would awake or something.

I also watched “The Danny Thomas Show” you probably don’t remember that one.
Any one remember “Logan’s Run” or “Daktari”?
I presume Daktari is Doctor in Swahili; with ‘Clarence’ the cross eyed lion and a monkey called ‘Judy’.

After “Amawulire gagano nga basomerwa Golooba oba Fred Kasozi” (news in Luganda) we had “Kyeeswa” yeee!!!, just kidding I never sat down to watch the man, but I hear he was quite funny. (Never to be found on the internet though :-)).

“Telematch” was fun, we always took sides with the teams playing and woe unto you if your team lost.
“The Lucy Show” was really entertaining, I remember watching it with my parents (one of the few they sat through).
“Didi’s Comedy Show”, pretty much speaks for itself--non stop nonsense.

One thing that baffled my dad was how at specific times everybody showed up in the sitting room, when it was time for news we all remembered we had things to do. As soon as news was over, we were back faithfully.

He didn't know that it was illegal to miss “Different Strokes” - the world don't move to the beat of just one drum; “The Jeffersons”- moving on up to a deluxe apartment; “Sanford and Son” always having the big one (heart attack); “Good Times”- with clap "kid--dynomite"; “227”- there is no place like home, unless of course you were extremely sick ICU style. We had near fights when someone forgot to call someone else for the show, it was that serious.

So after several failed attempts to get “these young people” to listen to the news, daddy gave up.

Soon we were back for “Hawaii Five-O”, "Twilight Zone", "The Beverly Hillbillies", "Top of the Pops” and “Studio B”.

We kept our fingers crossed wishing that the TV anchor would not come and say something like “Good evening viewers, we are sorry …” That would just kill. Those were times one was tempted to call UTV station to give them a piece of ones mind. To think we didn't have other TV stations to turn to, absolute stress right there--trained our little hearts for life's disappointments.

If we were lucky and the tapes were not lost or misplaced, we got to stay up for features like “The Old Fox”, “Palmers Town”, “Another Life”, “Golden Years”, “Inspector Derrick”, “Riviera”.

When the worst came to the worst we had “James Last” music.

Those were the days.

A moment of silence please.

Thank you.

I wonder if kids of today would take a fancy to Clue Club and so on, if not, why? Is that a silly question? 

I guess I am officially old school because I can’t quite click “Power Rangers”, “Wow Wow Wubbzy”, “Dexter’s Lab” (I’m sorry but I don’t), “Power Puff Girls” oba what.

Growing on me?

On Mich’s birthday we met some neighbors as he played in the compound, he told anyone willing to listen – “It’s my birthday today”
“Oh, my! Happy Birthday! How old are you? What are going to do? What did your parents get you? Are you going out to dinner?”
“I’m five years old”, is all he’d say, didn't bother to answer the other questions, were they too many? Did they fly over his head?, I don’t know.

I got talking with this lady who was child sitting a friend’s 8 year old daughter. This girl (I forget her name) was apparently the best golf player of her age in the area, I thought wow! Golf at 8?!, back in the day Simon and I would run through the golf course shielding our heads with our bags lest a golf ball found a good landing spot on top of us.
Then the lady went on to ask me what games Mich plays, “err …anything fun, whatever” I shrugged my shoulders, I mean he is still a kid right?.
Then she says, “this would be the perfect time for him start golf training, he is the right age. My son started when he was 3”, and I’m smiling and saying wow! (I personally think golf is boring).
She says “but if he likes soccer he can start that now too, this is the best time”
Enough with the pressure, where I come from kids just play everything and anything, - tie banana fibers together make a ball and play, knot strips of grass together and skip, ati professional training at 3 or 4 years of age? What’s that?
Can a little person read and ace his exams? That is all that counts, you don’t waste time and money on games.

Later her husband joined us and Mich did his thing, “It’s my birthday”
The cycle begun again, “how old are you?” “what game do you play”, at this point I was thinking oh no! not again.
But you know, I'm thinking it would be nice to get him into something fun, playing a musical instrument maybe, like the piano or guitar. Oh my goodness! then I would end up being a real ‘soccer mom’ running from this rehearsal to the next.
Is this American lifestyle starting to grow on me?

You know what this reminds me of? - the time I first came into America.
I was advised to pack as little as possible with the notion that I would get everything I needed here.
With the excitement of travel and the knowledge that I had a toddler I was careful to heed the advice.
America after all is the land of our dreams, it has everything in abundance. The latest fashions, the most sophisticated electronic gadgets (from Japan), it’s the home to most celebrities, in fact the streets are so clean one doesn't have to wash clothes or bathe often :-).
They have amazing food, cuisines from around the world are fairly represented in the “American kitchen”. I just needed a few clothes that would tide me over the first few months and I was half right.
I was so wrong about the food, for the first weeks I thought my son and I were slowly going to die of hunger. Not that we were broke and couldn't buy any thing,- there was plenty of food, all kinds of food as a matter of fact but nothing familiar. The bakery aisle in the super market was filled with all tribes of bread but non that caught my fancy. The milk was a whole other issue - 1 percent, 2 percent, ¾ percent, whole milk, half milk, one was certainly spoilt for choice, but that would only be true if I was familiar with the choices.
Where I come from, there is milk period.
You go to the market and you get diary milk, or nido for those of you.
I haven’t even mentioned how I couldn't find blue band. I found carrots, tomatoes, green paper and onions of all colors but no matooke (plantains) or sweet potatoes, there was no millet flour or curry powder, there was no dodo, ebo, buga or nakati but they had collard greens and broccoli - greens I had never tasted. I thought, you know what? This is the end of me.
Quite apart from that, I was intimidated by the huge super markets and felt like someone stepping off a spinning wheel when I walked out the door. I had to be quick because I had a toddler to feed and a husband who was busy getting accustomed to his school schedule. Not to mention the times I wanted the house to cave in on me because I was afraid to venture outside – this in the crazy summer when it was too hot to stay outdoors or indoors for that matter. We lacked air conditioning you see. Philadelphia summer gave hot a whole new meaning.

I promised to bring all the foods I wanted from home when I had a chance. My shopping consisted of bare necessities (my version) for a Ugandan living away from home..
Banana chips, Simsim balls (sesame seed), -oh!nothing tastes as good as our local simsim or g-nuts. Millet flour for porridge and kalo (millet bread), cassava flour for kabalagala (banana pancakes).
By the way, did you know some people here have no idea what passion fruits are , never seen, never heard of - “mu life eno!” as one of my friends likes to say.
Unfortunately I couldn't carry nsenene (grass hoppers), deep fried tilapia – Ggaba style, dripping, sizzling pork “ne bigenderako” from Zanzi , luwombo, katogo... that is not to say the thought never crossed my mind.
But what am I saying?
This second time here, I don’t miss home food that much (self denial?), I’m more accustomed to what is available – Zucchini, Artichokes, kumquat, that kind of thing.
I never imagined I would get to this point, is the American lifestyle growing on me or what?