Karamoja at last!
Ok so I'll try, and will post photos later too which should help but forgive me if it's too much info for you, I can't believe I've only been here a week, so much has happened :)
So I was in the capital city called Kampala from Thurs 22nd till Mon 26th first staying with an English missionary couple, then in a Guest House (like a B&B) with a group of 4 lovely and hilarious Americans; Michelle (a vet), Oscar, Paul & Ron (builders). We were meant to travel up here to Karamoja on the Monday but we missed the bus because it actually left at 4am not 6am as we thought! So we stayed one more day in the capital and then got up so so so early the following morning to ensure that we wouldn't miss it and as it was we didn't end up taking the bus we had planned to because the one that goes direct to Karamoja had broken down yesterday (the day we were meant to be on it! So thank God he is control not us, otherwise we would have been really stuck!).
So we hopped on one that took us halfway and then hired a minibus to take us the rest of the way. Such a typical African experience actually; what you expect to happen won't and what you don't expect to happen will.
So we finally arrived in Karamoja on Tuesday just in time for lunch!!! Lunch is always poscho (white potato-like food but more flour-ey) and beans and if we're lucky cabbage too (it all actually tastes better than it sounds, promise). Where we are in Karamoja is called Nabilituk to be more exact, in the south and so we arrived after a very very bumpy and fast 8 hours (the bus was flying along on the worst roads you can imagine, I think the drivers in Uganda may be the best in the world considering the vehicles they drive in the conditions they drive!) :) It is so hot here, imagine the hottest day you can in Aus and you got it, the sun gets to the intensity that is does at home only from maybe 1-3pm ‘though, but hot and dry.
Ok, so the people: typical traditional Ugandan clothing for the men looks similar to what people might wear if they are going to a toga party, all the time, with no undergarments on, plus add a stick, a hat with a feather in it if they are looking for a wife or a hat with no feather if they are not. They do not wear shoes either; even in the bush where there are thorns the size of a sewing needle (they can puncture tires!) This no shoes business is something I'd love to do but my poor pansy feet don't standup to the ground here. Today a group of us were sitting away from the main area in town just observing the culture and I saw the cutest little girl, maybe 3 years old walking/waddling across the street to be with some other kids and none of them had shoes they were just chilling out on the side of the street, which is what most people do here!
Sitting down in the town today we chose a semi-conspicuous place because whenever we go out of our set area (which I'll call home for the rest of the year - called a compound), we draw a crowd, literally people swarm all over us and the whole town turns to look at our strange-coloured skin. We wanted to watch, not be the ones being watched- we achieved this to a degree but we still had people staring at us for most of the time we where there and I had a beautiful little Karamojan boy come and sit next to me to work out what I was doing. I have learnt a few phrases and words in the past 2 days so I can say a few fun things to talk to the locals here for about 5 seconds and then we just stare at each other waiting for something to happen ha ha. It is so nice to see the smile on their faces when they see us talking to them in their language, and man is their language hard to learn! The words themselves are very complicated and hard to pronounce but I'm loving the challenge.
Ok so now to the animals (again see photos) but I must mention their sheep! They are nothing like the sheep I have ever seen before! The only way I can tell the difference between a sheep and a goat here is that the sheep have a down-turned tail and the goat's tail points up. The cows are gorgeous and tiny! Typically an adult weighs only 200 kg and is so calm and docile (again nothing like most cattle I've been around) and they look completely different to what I know. Think a small Brahman (actually the breed is called Zulu) with the hump like a camel on their backs and you get close to imagining them.
Yesterday was the coolest day because us vets (I get counted in this group which is part of what is cool!) went out to a monthly event where the organisation that Dr Jean started up 10-15yrs ago, KACHEP, spray the local Karamojan's cows, sheep or goats for free, against ticks, and the dogs and cats get vaccinated against rabies (this was Michelle's job yesterday as she is a small animal vet in Florida and loves it). As well as this Jean treats any sick animals for a low cost (just to cover the medicine) at the same time. There is also a vet from Germany, Karina, also staying here with her husband Simon (a theologian) who may possibly join the mission team here fulltime. Karina and myself got to be Jean for the morning and we'd receive sick cows into our office (under a shady tree) and we'd gather a history (name, signalment, symptoms, any treatment yet, etc) then do a physical exam from head to toe (TPR, check nose, mouth-mm & ageing, ears-very imp. for tick check, skin, feet- foot rot, around the udder/pisel, etc.) Almost every case was tick related which was cool because I have never had much to do with these little ectoparasites before and so learnt a lot! Then at around 12pm all of us and all the Karamojan men who had brought their animals along sat under the tree (around 30 of us including some shocked kids to see so many whites around) and we heard from Tom (Jean's husband) a story from the bible! Michelle, Karina, Simon and myself got up first and explained who we were with our Karamojan friend Joseph translating. Tom first asked the people if they had heard of the name Jesus Christ and some said yes, some no and the men that said yes said he was the son of God, born of virgin Mary and did miracles. Tom then said that Jesus has another name, the son of David. Then he told the story of David and Goliath and how little David as a boy defeated the giant Goliath through the power of God because he trusted that God would bring him victory, even over such an opponent that all the other men feared. He likened the story to the raids that the Karamojan people often have that cause fighting in their land. Then he said that Jesus was also victorious just like David. That he had victory over sin and death by dying on the cross and like David it didn't look like he would win because Jesus died, but Jesus proved his victory by being raised from the dead three days later. Then (this was such a cool part) Tom asked if they had any questions and one of the men (he talked a lot so I think he may have been the tribe leader) said "this is a true story so we have no questions, if we thought it was not true we would have questions, but we do not."
Such a great morning, I got to treat beautiful animals, talk to wonderful Karamojans and listen to the gospel being told in a way that these people can understand.
Another cool vet moment was in the afternoon we walked to a nearby manyata (small village of straw huts enclosed with a fence to protect their animal on the inside) and looked at a steer that had been attacked by a hyena last week. It was pretty bad, the abdominus rectus was all hard and granulomatous and there was some other gross things that I will not mention to save the non-vet readers, but ask me when I return more info if you'd like :) We will do surgery on it tomorrow to try and help. It was interesting to see the care, love and devotion this Karamojan boy, of maybe 17, had for this animal. Jean says well he is Karamojan and left it at that and I really see more now how real this ministry of reaching people with the gospel through treating their animals is. God is working powerfully here in this most different of places and I am learning so much.
I will leave it there and will try to post next week, I can hardly believe it has only been a week since I left Aus!
Please pray that I can continue to keep up my personal Bible reading and prayer time here in the busyness of life here (even though Africans take life slowly here we do not)
Also, that I can have strength and energy in this hot weather and working hard in it.
That I can pick up the language even more and be able to roll my r’s J
That the Karamojan people here would see God’s love through the mission work here and that I would be able to soon talk to them about Jesus myself.
Thank God for providing translators for us who cannot yet speak the language.
All my love, Mel
xoxox
Melissa Graham 29 March 2012
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