No.2
The Journal
Every day I was in Africa I forced myself to write something.
I say forced, because when you are literally on the other side of the world in an absolutely foreign country where daytime is your nighttime and you are running around all day every day... there would be no writing if I didn't force myself to. I'd lose a lot of memories if I didn't at least jot them down. I knew I would never go back to write them once I got home, that's too big of a task. I'd feel frustrated at what I forgot. So I wrote.
I knew if I skipped even once I'd be done for. There were two nights where I fell asleep with my pen in hand and an open book. But I'd written something.
And I'm going to let you in on a few of them.
August 16:
I have been in both Africa and Europe in the same day. Honestly I have no idea what time it is. A little over 24 hours since I last wrote before leaving home. But I have been through so many time zones I'm all flipped around.
I am laying on a pink bed in a *dirty room where the toilet has leaked water all over the floor, but I am so happy. I can hear through the open window [party] music from nearby... I am with Lydia who just braided my hair. It is so new and we are [re]discovering a lot of simple things... but it's lovely.
(*please note that the room was not dirty, I was tired and not seeing/thinking clearly.)
My breath caught at the city light's (Kigali). They are... spread out. Lighting up the whole hillside - so many! - but spread out, not clumped together if that makes sense. Like a thousand fireflies lighting up a great, black expanse. So so beautiful.
(The picture above is the next morning at the hotel with all our stuff. When it's midnight and you're shuffling things around in a new city you don't remember to take pictures.)
August 23:
I woke up last night to an incredible thunder storm. Rain was pelting for hours and about every five minutes you'd hear a deep rumble. I must have drifted off to sleep again because very shortly after I startled awake to a brilliant flash that lit up my room. Immediately after came a crack that shook my insides and the whole room with it, causing me to curl up with the blanket in a jerking motion like a small child. [All that takes time to say but it was less than a two-second span.] I went as far as to unlock my door and peek out, tempted to pad over to Stephanie's room to crawl in bed with her. But I thought better of it. Sweet and sentimental, but we need our rest. I was, in fact, just fine.
Below are Pastor Sam, his wife Prossy and their children Ruth, Rena, Irene, Favor, Enosh and Josiah.
Tonight at Sam and Prossy's the girls were so sweet to me. Power was out due to all the lightning lighting up the sky all around, and raindrops fell thick and heavy. But slowly... it was a weird sensation. A slow, thick rain. Candles were all around, lighting up the roses that rested on the bookcase in the corner, little stubs in the children's hands down the hallway, and shadows dancing on my comrades' faces, it was so lovely. But they soon turned the generator on (to my dismay).
Their dog Cho-cho was so lovely. I. Miss. Dogs. I hadn't realized that (it's rare to find them as pets here). I rubbed her ears and she loved it, so I stayed and loved her some more. Little Josiah must've liked how I treated his dog because he crept closer and closer. I was able to coax him into my lap and we became friends. He smiled a lot. His Dad told him I could take him back with me. "Would you like that?" he asks, Josiah nodding.
"I could put you in my suitcase!" I exclaim. "But your Daddy might miss you. Maybe we should wait." His favorite animal is a lion, he has a pretty good roar - much better than mine - he is five and likes best to play "Poly" whatever that is. He prefers watermelon over pineapple or banana. And now you have a summary of his life.
(P.S.: he also asked what was wrong with my face. I didn't understand. "It's all red." Just fyi, sunburns are not a thing in Uganda. I had a sunburn, and he didn't know what a it was. I laughed.)
I sat on my knees on the floor with Deo through dinner. I will think twice before being cultural next time. After an hour both legs were asleep haha! By the way, passion fruit and orange juice? Oh my.
Prossy laughed at me for eyeing a massive, MONSTER of a bug flying around. "It is harmless," she laughs, "But it is scaring you?"
"... A little," I laugh, too.
She squished it and her husband gave her an odd look as if to say, why did you do that? "It was scaring Sarah." Oh dear.
FaceTimed Mom + Dad this morning.
I keep picking up rocks to take home, they are so beautiful! Deo [a longtime friend of the Ministry and our driver/translator/companion] says, "You're searching for diamonds again?"
"Yes," I grin proudly, daring him to question me again. I'm glad I know him. We all love him so much. He has a servants heart, is patient, soft spoken but a protective force that make all of us feel safe. I am so much better for having been his friend. I know we all feel the same.
August 25:
So tonight at the church I was surrounded by young people. To paint the picture in your head we are in a city with a massive University. You mustn't think I'm talking about a distant tribe today. They're all in skinny jeans and love to party under flashing colored lights. I was hesitant, but Steph got me up there to dance. We were pulled in and whisked away in the movement of it - in the music of another tongue and the rhythm of another world. It was so fun to fully embrace trying to do as they did. We danced in two lines facing each other, and the guy in front of me had such a huge smile on his face. I think they appreciate that Stephanie, Morgan and I jumped in and tried. And I mean I laughed at myself. But it was so... fun. So different from life at home. I wish every young person in America could try to dance like that. But there's something about loud music and bright lights that carry a person away.
I did everything I thought I didn't want to do [like get up in front of hundreds of crowded bodies and worship and dance like there was no tomorrow], and further, liked it by God's grace. We can enjoy life - enjoy Him - so much when we embrace it and just flow with it. I'm learning to let go of what I think I am, want or know, and to look up.
I will end on this story my friends. This story from a long day... if you were to look in my journal you would not find it. You would see a date and three sentences that fade away into exhaustion where I slipped away into oblivion (aka sleep). Yet it is one of my fondest and dearest memories so pay close attention.
It was market day.
A group of young people wanted to paint the town and we were their guests of honor.
Not at all intimidating; wondering the streets in the absolute far reaches of the earth with TOTAL strangers.
But hey. What's life if not adventurous? There's a quote I heard recently that says, "Let me crave life like water and death like wine." In other words live. Go. Do. Do righteously but don't be so afraid of life that you don't live it. Dance the line and don't fear the waves, have courage and boldness and cunning (the good kind, the kind that is smart and quick and wise).
Needless to say you make friends very quickly in other places. I had no idea that when you're walking on the proverbial sidewalk vehicles can decide to take a short cut wherever they like. You are expected to be aware and jump out of the way. I nearly got hit by a boda-boda (motorcycle). Victoria frowned deeply, "Sarah, please, be more careful. Take my hand." I took the hand of my new buddy and walked the dirt and rock streets, where she would pull me this way or that every so often. She protected me.
Rows of stone vendors line the streets. I felt like I was in a movie, straight off the set of Aladdin or something. Meat hangs all around you, drying onions hang in bags and piles of vegetables reach towards the sky. I guess you really have to be careful - some vendors will try and rip you off by selling you water buffalo as counterfeit beef. Water buffalo is not at all nice in comparison, but there's no easy way to tell the difference by the look of it.
We looked through the colorful scarves and I chose one to bring home - a thick fabric of lively teal and golden embroidery woven all through it. Sean bartered on my behalf, bringing the price down seven-fold. Money was difficult to figure, but in essence it went from five dollars to not quite three.
On our way back we climbed the hills and aisles toward "home". I can't figure out how to explain it to make you fall in love as I did... it was one of those beautiful life moments. Surrounded by friends (new and old) in a beautiful, exotic place and for the first time I felt I had left home. I felt like I was somewhere totally different. How often can you say that? How often can you taste another world? From the stones and red dirt beneath my sandals to the busy noises from the streets below and the green scape beyond, I was surrounded by a feeling of being alive. Of being caught up in my own story that was so much better than a book. That is the adventure of living. That is the city I fell in love with.
Love, Sarah
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