easter

You know you have spent good quality time in Africa when...
*you can't walk down the street without being overly conscious about the cleanliness of your shoes
*you think using a squatty potty is easier than a regular toilet
*when you actually crave rice and beans (or my especial favorite, the purple gnut sauce) for every meal...and are somewhat disappointed at the prospect of variety.

anyway...i wanted to tell you about easter....so

Visited the Luwero District for Good Friday and Saturday. Friday morning we met at the Catholic church with hundreds of others...and after a short mass and introduction to the stations of the cross we walked together--a conglomeration of Catholics, Evangelicals, Anglicans, Orthodox....even a few Finns and Germs--through the town, following Jesus. We tripped over each other as we dodged puddles from the night before. I walked hand in hand with Carol and another sweet child whose name was pronounced entirely too softly for my American ears to discern. Elderly folk made their way slowly. Mothers and sisters carried babes on their back. The black Jesus carried his cross. This was an incredible experience to say the least...imagining in a whole new way what it must have been like that day long ago in jerusalem (correct me if i'm wrong...but i think it was jerusalem)...when people followed in herds alongside the mysterious criminal who claimed to be a King. Most likely many could not see what was going on. Most likely people were somehow more concerned about keeping track of their children than on what the suffering of the Man God meant for them. Oh beautiful Jesus.

Spent Saturday at a home called Jesus Cares…a place where Uncle Sam and his family open their arms to families broken by HIV and AIDS. We played for hours…we sang…we fellowshipped for a brief moment in time. My new favorite game: you circle up and everyone chants “dance, baby dance” and then someone is chosen to bust a move :D Most of my time was spent with Nabanulaba and Christine. Christine was a little angel. She was “born without shoulder bones,” and so does everything with her feet…and yet she can embrace you--and I was graced by her embrace. Nabanulaba and I played soccer and smiled and laughed conversing in a love language that expressed itself outside of words….

In an attempt to be poetic (and to work on a response to our time at Jesus Cares) I sketched these words:

Children are children

You are Beautiful
A Child of Wonder
A wide, Bright Smile
A contagious giggle
We kick a ball between us: back and forth
Friendship, sister-ship is natural
We play, we draw, we mold matooke
We drink Fanta and dance to the joy between us
You make my heart light

A shadow hovers as I remember how it is that we are together in this time
I recall a small human invader
I picture the greedy Virus of last year’s textbook
Coursing through your small veins
I can visualize the slow death of the very cells
That should make you strong
That should serve to preserve your Smile
I ache as I conceive of this silent killer
Gripping, mercilessly your Precious life
Stealing your life’s defense
I want to hunch over, to cry out
As you plead, hand in hand, that I stay

Then I’m brought back to the moment of now
You are still you
A sweet, innocent Child
A “normal” child that yet thrives on fun
And sings in laughter
Oh Child of Wonder
You are Beautiful