A Corn Cob to the Chest, a Jigger and Body Types

So, the cravings for food have begun. If any of you feel the Spirit lead you, please go eat/drink  at ChikfilA, Starbucks, Subway, Pueblo Viejo, PF Changs, Boriello Brothers, Red Robin and/or anywhere that serves ice cream on a hot day in honor of the Haywood’s.  We greatly appreciate your participation.

Corn Cob to the Chest

So, last Monday, Chris and I went to our family group to work in the garden with them for the first time.  Uncle Rukundo, the family father, had to go to a meeting so we worked alongside two of his sons, Patrick and David. They had just harvested their maize (which looks like corn but is not) and needed to now clear the field in order to make room for planting again. So, we took our slashers (tools that look and are used somewhat like a golf club but are shorter and sharper and flatter) and got straight to work.  Ok, so let me try to paint you a picture. When slashing there are some warnings perhaps we should have been informed about before beginning.

One, skirts (required clothing for me as a woman here) tend to grab everything as you walk in the garden and provide a plethora of opportunities for jumping at the twigs and grass you thought for sure might be a spider or snake crawling up your legs. I’m happy to say neither were really crawling up my legs.

Two, and most importantly in my personal experience, is what we might call giving ample room between you and your fellow slashers. If you stand too close to the person next to you a few things can happen. God forbid the slasher hit you, but what I found mostly is that tall grassy weeds, dirt and other garden objects can come flying into your personal space at a high rate of speed unexpectedly. Now don’t get me wrong, getting “earth” on you while slashing is normal and actually evidence of proper technique; however, I was not prepared for what happened during my first gardening day.

Chris was to my left, David to my right, and we were all happily slashing away making really good progress when all of a sudden something hit my sternum bone with tremendous accuracy and what I will call OOMPH. I clutched my chest in shock thinking surely a rock had performed CPR on my chest when I looked down to see a bug eaten hardened maize cob laying in the dirt at my feet. David next to me looked afraid as he said, “Auntie, did that hit you?” I wanted to tell him that he should take up professional golf, but all I could do was laugh, very hard, at which he shyly joined in. Who gets hit with a maize cob right in the chest? I do.

A Jigger in the Foot

Now I’m so thankful to the Lord that this next story involves my husband and not me. Please forgive me for saying that God, but I’m glad he was the one to bear this burden.  God knows who can handle what. So, a jigger is a bug. You get them, I have been told, from the dusty dirt. Well we often walk on dusty roads, but also were in the garden the day before. Chris and I were sitting one evening talking and he was running his finger on the bottom of his foot and he felt a small bump and said it felt sore. Immediately I assume bugs because, well, that is the natural paranoid reaction right? So, our dear friend Betty who lives here took a look and said Yep, she thought it was a jigger but would look at it in the morning light. In the morning light it still looked like a jigger so she got straight to work doing surgery on Chris with a safety pin. So I’m usually fine with this type of stuff and what I mean is helping people and cleaning them up and bandaging them. I found out though that when it involves a living bug that has burroughed its way into my husband’s foot and created a white egg sac that completely surrounds the bug and has to be removed ever so carefully so the egg sac doesn’t burst inside the skin was enough to get my gag reflex going. I was fine until they were carefully squeezing it out of his skin and a perfectly shaped white ball came out. The bug and egg sac were thrown in the fire, I stopped taking pictures and went to have a moment alone. I know, wasn’t my husband the one who should be disturbed and need prayer over this? Maybe, but my husband is a stud and was not too phased. Plus all the Ugandans and staff here told him he's "official" now that he can say he has had a jigger. I’m happy to report his foot was barely sore and he is doing fine. I on the other hand am still a bit disturbed.

Body Types

I must give a disclaimer that the following would never happen in the United States of America. Never. So, I’m trying to walk through our dining hall in the middle of the day during a break from class and I get stopped by two of my Ugandan women classmates. Without asking my permission, they whip out a measuring tape, you know the kind that seamstresses use? Before I knew what was happening to me they had the tape around my waist and were holding it and studying it closely. Then they both smiled and were speaking very fast in Lugandan and then one slapped the other on the arm and said, “Ah, can you imagine?!” Then the tape dropped and they looked like they were wanting to measure my hips but I think perhaps the look of horror mixed with a smile on my face made them think twice. I walked away and was told by one of my Ugandan friends here that my body type is very attractive and that they were measuring me because they were admiring my figure. I have had a few women come up to me and tell me that I am very beautiful and that my figure is of a most desirable type. They could be lying but I’ve heard that from a few other people too, so I am choosing to go with it and feel like a babe during my time here. It’s my time people!  It’s my time! Chris is a lucky man!

There was so much more I wanted to share, but I am tired and exhausted from all that God has been doing. I hope to write more about all that we are learning very soon. For now, I needed to have a good laugh so I hope you did too. God is good and really is doing a transforming work in our lives. We can’t wait to come back and share all we are learning with you all!  Oh, and feel free to write us emails or make comments on the blog! We enjoy so much hearing from people at home. And feel free to send some chocolate. Just kidding. (No I'm not.)

Love you!

Aimee & Chris