A Holy Cross OLM in Uganda

Ministry, etc.

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 11:17:51 GMT

I am now nearing seven weeks in Bugembe, Uganda. I suppose the reason for my delay in writing is the onset of my teaching ministry. I mentioned in the previous entry that I had come to know two teaching ministries in which I’d be involved: Holy Cross Lakeview High School (“HCLV”) and Philosophy Centre, Jinja (though “PCJ” begins in January). Well, about a week and a half ago I found yet another ministry. I have been also teaching mathematics, physical education (“P.E.”) and science at Holy Cross Primary, an elementary school. The grades I’ve been teaching are “P5” and “P6,” basically fifth and sixth grade. I would say that another ministry I have is being the local “tech guy,” but I don’t know how true that is. Ministry is in fact defined as “service,” so I suppose it’s true enough. People have been begging me left and right to fix their computers—particularly at the schools.

My Computer Studies courses at the high school have been going great. These kids, though, are much more interested in me bringing my laptop to class so they can watch Michael Jackson or Barack Obama videos than they are learning about binary, spreadsheets and word processors. Their interest in moonwalking, I suppose, mirrors my interest in going to the library sixth hour in high school to sit on AIM or check my MySpace. Unlike Holy Cross Lakeview, the elementary school has much less resources. No computers, no Western toilets, not even a basketball. I am most concerned with the lack of basketballs. Since I’m also teaching P.E., I have nothing to work with. It would be rather easy to just give them a basketball, and perhaps a soccer ball (soccer is the most popular sport here, as is around the world, though we Americans care for nothing more than football—go UofM!). So, I think next time I go to the capitol Kampala I will purchase a basketball and a soccer ball for my students.

In other news, my housemates and I have been taking Lusoga lessons (the local tribal language in this area of Uganda). We are slowly learning the language, and I’m sure we’ll get much better with time. For example, I might say “Lata wange musomesa, ate maama wange musibi wa nveeree,” which means “My father is a counselor and my mother is a hairdresser.” This sentence may seem unnecessary to us, but many Ugandans are very interested to know about you, your home and your family. I think this is due to their strong sense of community, unlike our American individuality and distance. Our teacher, a native named Ben Isiko, is a fantastic lecturer. Imagine if you could have Morgan Freeman teach you an African language in his most gentle narrative voice. Good stuff, eh? He DOES play God in the movie Bruce Almighty after all.

So what else? Well, there is this kid Mwase Peter that I have in one of my computer classes and he is very persistent about learning guitar. Guitars are very scarce in Uganda, so I find it difficult to find both another guitar and the time to teach him amid my ministry. I find myself telling him I will come on whatever days to HCLV (after classes, mind you), and then not finding the energy to walk the half hour back to the school. I think what I might do, instead of trying to find time, is tell him that I will teach him whenever the school has holiday breaks, and then if he keeps up his grades (he has the second highest test grade in his/my computer class), I will give him my guitar. This idea, as you could imagine, is only tentative at this point.

I suppose that is all for now.

Peace,
Derrick

Two Weeks

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:33:35 GMT

Today officially marks two weeks in Uganda as a Holy Cross OLM – and a great two weeks it has been! Since my last entry, much has happened. The most interesting stirrings I will mention here:

This past Thursday, August 13, the housemates and I took a bus to the capitol, Kampala, so that we may obtain a "Certificate of Good Standing"—which basically is a background check issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for submission to foreign governments upon a citizen’s request for a visa—from the United States Embassy there. We set out for the journey around 10:00am. The bus we were in was cramped, crowded, dirty, smelly, &c, which we are well accustomed to now; however, the ride itself was pleasant and hassle free. When we reached Kampala, we tried to find a private-hire taxi to reach McCauley House, the Holy Cross district Superior’s residence in East Africa, because the city was much too crowded and disorganized with vehicles fighting through the smog (imagine New York City with no stop/go lights and the cars, motorcycles, pedestrians, and bicycles going in every direction, nearly an inch apart, without care for anyone’s well-being – wait, maybe I WAS in New York?). We eventually found a private-hire, which happened to be over-priced by Ugandan standards: approximately six U.S. dollars (laughable, I know). Though, I would’ve paid any price as the boda-boda drivers (motorcyclists who transport people) are incredibly dangerous with all the traffic. We reached McCauley House around 7:30pm, just in time for dinner and many beers with Fr. Fred and Fr. Leonard, two generous and hospitable priests of Holy Cross. Rather exhausted, we hit the hay around 1:00am that night.

The next morning we set out for the U.S. Embassy by foot, since it is rather close to McCauley House. Once we arrived, we passed through security and sat in a waiting room for approximately 15 minutes before being invited to talk with an administrator about the Certificate of Good Standing. The administrator informed us that they do not issue such documents, and that we would have to find some way to obtain one directly from the United States. He said we could, however, type-up a document saying we OLMs are good people, pay him thirty U.S. dollars to sign it, and then pray that the Ugandan government will accept it. We left disappointed, as we spent time and money getting to Kampala for what became "no reason." Joella and Whitney ended up going shopping, and Terry and I went back to McCauley for naps. That night we shared another fine meal with the priests at McCauley House; so, when it all boiled down, our time in Kampala was more of a retreat than a mission to receive Certificates of Good Standing.

On a more successful note, I found out today, August 17, two teaching ministries in which I will be involved. One will be at Holy Cross Lakeview, the high school I mentioned last time, teaching computer studies (and if you know me well enough, this isn’t a bad subject for me to be teaching), which will begin in two weeks time. The other will be at the Queen of Apostles Philosophy Centre, Jinja, or "PCJ." This is an undergraduate seminary that strictly focuses on Philosophy, Social Sciences, Language Arts and Religious Studies. I will be teaching a course either in Political Philosophy, or a topics course on Plato, which I am extremely excited for—this ministry will not begin until January (ugh!).

On top of this good news regarding ministry, I was also invited today to join the Bishop of the Jinja Diocese after Mass, along with all of the staff at the PCJ, for lunch. It just so happened that I was seated at a table with the Bishop, as we both were early comers to lunch and took the first table we saw in our designated area. When our server came, the Bishop instructed the five of us seated with him to order a "drink," which in Catholic talk inevitably means an alcoholic beverage. I ordered a "Nile Special," since it is the strongest beer on the menu, at 5.6% ABV, forgetting that one of the Holy Cross seminarians the prior week had told me the Bishop takes a "Club," another extremely common beer in Uganda. The rest of the men at the table, besides Terry, my housemate who resorted to ordering an English tea (come on Terry!), and the Bishop who ordered his Club, requested a Nile as well, so I didn’t feel so bad for not being in accordance with the Bishop’s taste. Instead we four Nile drinkers, and Terry, will just have to go to Confession and perhaps face Purgatory for our crimes against Ecclesiastical taste (<---MmMm lame Catholic jokes).

Until next time,
Derrick

Greetings from Uganda!

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:51:45 GMT

It has been nine days since I arrived in Uganda with my housemates Joella, Terry and Whitney. Each of them, I can assure you, are great people with very interesting backgrounds. Joella and Whitney are recent University of Notre Dame (“ND”) graduates, while Terry is a 2004 ND graduate. Terry also has had a wealth of stories to tell us over the past few weeks to keep us entertained, particularly regarding his time in the Navy, in which he spent four years post-graduation. All three housemates very much have their own personalities, which adds flavor to the mix. As I am a University of Michigan graduate, I tend to be the odd-man-out when it comes to long conversations regarding my housemates’ four years at ND. That’s okay, I guess, it is more for me to learn.

As some of you already know, we are all participants in the Congregation of Holy Cross’ Overseas Lay Ministry program. To give you a taste of what Holy Cross is all about, here I will lay out a brief history of the beginnings of the Congregation:

Holy Cross began with Fr. Jacques Dujarie, a French priest who founded the Sisters of Providence and the Brothers of St. Joseph in 1812 and 1820. The charism by which Fr. Dujarie founded the Sisters and Brothers was and still remains education. Once removed as Superior by the Sisters, Fr. Dujarie assigned Fr. Basile Moreau to become Superior of the Brothers, for Fr. Dujarie’s health was failing. After the death of Fr. Dujarie, Fr. Moreau found an Auxiliary group of priests called the Priests of Sacred Heart and joined them with the Brothers of St. Joseph in 1837. In 1841 the Brothers, along with a priest by the name of Fr. Edouard Sorin, were sent on a mission to the United States to begin a settlement in Indiana. By the time of Fr. Sorin’s death in 1843, he had firmly established the University of Notre Dame. Holy Cross had begun three major missions by 1853 in the United States, Canada and Bangladesh. Holy Cross extended its missions in the 20th century to include Chile, India, Brazil, Haiti, Ghana, Uganda, Peru, Kenya, Rwanda, Mexico and Tanzania.

Mission is one the great Pillars of Holy Cross, along with Prayer and Community. As apparent in the above history, Mission is very important to Holy Cross. However, the other two Pillars are necessary for those in Holy Cross ministry since, in order “to service the Lord honestly, we must pray always and not give up” and live in community as it “refreshes the faith that makes our work a ministry and not just an employment” (Holy Cross Constitutions). With all of that said, we OLM participants in East Africa can only hope that we will live with the zeal that carried Dujarie, Moreau, Sorin, [McCauley, Hesse and Smith (not previously mentioned)] to great success in Mission.

Over the past week in Uganda, my housemates and I have toured our village of Bugembe, meeting many of those in Holy Cross and our neighbors. We have also met the students at Holy Cross Lakeview, a co-ed high school, and the children at Holy Cross Primary, a co-ed elementary school. Many of those here have been extremely welcoming, especially the Seminarians of Holy Cross. We have gotten a taste of having to wash our clothes by hand, cook our own food with minimal resources, boil our water to drink it, and try to avoid getting filthy from all of the dirt and dust (impossible here). Did I mention no fridge to store things in? We, OLMs, have embraced this form of simple living, and have been enjoying it so far. This week we will hopefully learn of our ministries, such as what we will be teaching, where we will be teaching, etc. I pray that this will be the topic of my next entry.

Blessings,
Derrick

P.S. Here are some pictures of our house and my room.

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v495/theperfectfit/Room4.jpg" />
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v495/theperfectfit/Room3.jpg" />
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v495/theperfectfit/Room2.jpg" />
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v495/theperfectfit/Room1.jpg" />