A Sunday of Celebration

This, my third Sunday in Gulu, is a special day. Rachael, youngest daughter of Bishop Onono-Onweng, has received her doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from Makerere University. She is a 25 year-old single-mother, and one of only two women in a class of 50.

In St. Philip's Cathedral, only a few hundred meters from the bishop's compound and my house, we are baptizing her son, Omarra, and celebrating her success. The preparations of many weeks, involving family, diocesan staff, and the church community, are put in motion at sunrise, and the feeling is electric. Livestock are carted for the feast, dancers arrive en masse (photo), honorees and clergy are decked out in their very best.

Everyone has arrived at the Cathedral when the procession from the compound begins, fifty dancers with drums and ceremonial garb, singing, proudly presenting their kijiras (the high-pitched yells you'll hear in the video), leading the way for the bishop and his daughter, dressed in full academic regalia.

I've had the pleasure of Omarra's company many times in my three weeks in Uganda. His smile is infectious, loves ripping table cloths off, and loves throwing my dominoes against the floor and around the room! Today he is baptized, marked as Christ's own forever, but this is not quite enough to remove the look of terror and bewilderment the day has caused him so far. After celebrating the baptism with joyous song, we hear a synopsis of Rachel's life, a sermon from a newly-minted clergywoman sporting her cap and gown, and a series of prayers for their future success and our own confession and salvation. (I take this all on faith in my interpreter; my Acholi is not that good yet.)

It's now almost 1pm, and it's time for the reception, just down the road at Gulu High School. We're lead again by the dancers, celebrating, stomping, and ceremonially clearing the way with spears and shields for the honored guests. Now I talked to the Bishop beforehand, and while the invitation does say lunch comes early in the proceedings, I know otherwise. No one's getting a free lunch without paying their dues first! But what a treat: so many great performances by the drummers and dancers, a comedy act, speeches by important people from Rachel's past (again, I can only assume they were amazing).

It was a gratifying experience and a long day. I've asked mom and dad to take notes for my Welcome Home Celebration. We'll see.

This is my first post since arriving in Gulu. I'll try to fill in the blanks soon on how I'm acclamating and what I hope for in the coming months. Thanks for listening.

Traveling Day

12:20p - Tearful round of hugs with the family, Barbara and Lucy. Dad, Mom, and Molly showed proud smiles amidst escaping tears. Robbie was joking and well-wishing; "Live Free or Die Hard", he advises. Barbara was grieving; we are letting go of our best friends.

12:48p - Take off, Goodbye Charlotte. We come 180 from runway heading, and I get my first daylight glimpse of KCLT. See ya in 365! I'm tired, after a long night of packing, crying and talking, but I'm saving my sleep for the next leg.

2:20p - Touch down Michigan (Detroit). Big, juicy bacon cheeseburger at Max and Erma's (love it...). I'm in traveling mode now. Not missing home yet, nor excited about coming adventures, just getting from points A to E. Feeling a little guilty about it.

3:00p - Walk the concourse, failingly hunting for a gift for the bishop. The airport has a beautiful fountain, though. The NWA WorldTraveler desk wasn't caving in to my sob story to use their internet. Begrudgingly I fork over money for the airport service. But I get to talk at length to the whole family and Barbara. She and I plan a transatlantic compline for 9pm. Just before my flight leaves, I give myself a quick and dirty shave in the men's room. Missed some spots, but it'll do. Gotta look good for the Bish.

7:45p - Joe, sitting to my right, is an architecture professor at Va. Tech, traveling to Berlin to give his students a semester-long tour of Europe (where the history comes from). Good guy. 3,928 miles to Amsterdam. Goodnight.

9:00p - Compline, as scheduled, using the collects most familiar to Camp Henry.

3:00a+6 - Touchdown, Amster Amster DamDamDam! Everyone speaks English, hard to tell I've travelled to a new continent, except people smoke in the terminal, and all their gate desk computers are old. There's also smoking on the tarmac. Everyone saw a 747 engulfed in flames as we taxied to our gate! Oh those Dutch. I leave Barbara a voice mail, sing her a verse from "Grand Musician from Amsterdam", and retrieve my e-mail.

4:15a+6 - It's off to Nairobi, in a 747! Smooth ride. I had the fish (anyone seen Airplane?). Wrote some e-mails to be sent later. They showed an episode of The Simpsons, then Scrubs, God bless 'em. I had an aisle seat, which sucked because I was dying to see Europe and the Med. Sea from the air. I walked over to an Emergency door window in time to see the African coast quickly turn to endless desert. Sounds like a boring sight, but without seeing the ground go by, it feels like I blink my eyes, the scenery changes, but I haven't gone anywhere.

12: 14p+7 - Land in Nairobi. It's dark. A nice man named Victor works in a small terminal shop making calls for people. I phone the diocesan office to report all's well. Bishop Nelson is retiring in 2009, so I see an East African Bird Guide that looks up to the task, and box of chocolate seashells, the gift that can't go wrong (unless it melts). A nice Ugandan and I discuss flight details at the Entebbe flight gate. I'm excited and in good spirits!

3:15p+7 - As we taxi to leave Nairobi, I switch to an empty window seat, beside none other than the nice man I'd spoken to earlier at the gate. There's literally nothing to see but darkness after five minutes flight time, despite clear skies.

4:20p+7 - Welcome to Uganda! We walked 300 yards down the tarmac to enter customs. Visa cleared, and for only $50, $100 less than I expected. The room has a dim, flourescent lighting, a theme I should grow used to. My luggage is some of the last to come out, and I nearly miss meeting Rev. Ali - his sign read "Simson David" - but the Sky Cap graciously called him on his own cell phone, and he answered a few feet away. We rode quietly through the dark night, familiar home to him, a new world to me. At Lueza Conference Center we arrived around 1am, were greeted by some late-night staff, and I was introduced to bug-netting and power outages (later proven to be a recurring theme), but I'm thrilled to finally be here. Sadly, despite hopes to the contrary, there is no phone and no internet, and the idea of going to bed without letting loved ones know I've arrived safely pains me. But I sleep well.