While Mbale was full of village outings, local waterfall hikes, chappati, and homey comfort, Lira, the Northern Uganda town Corrine coached baseball in three years prior, can be described as the walking town (at least for us) where three days were easily filled with baseball practices, new local Ugandan dishes, and visits to Sankofa Internet cafe. We stayed with Mark and Benard (or Beno) and his sister Judith who was visiting from Kampala during a break in her studies. Mark and Beno coach the baseball team now and we tagged along each day to observe and for Corrine, reconnect with the handful of kids who still played. I watched the second day as Beno divided teams and told two groups of about 30 kids total to come with me to start a soccer game. I was caught completely off guard, he hadn't prefaced it at this at all... but I gladly accepted the task. This is my game, I thought! I brought my mini bright orange soccer ball on the trip, a ball that my FC willamette coach had us all buy in order to perfect our touch at about age 15. I use to hate the thing because it was like, I had finally perfected juggling on my knees and feet with a normal size 5 ball and here he had to go and make it tougher. As I got older I learned to love it though and I got better and better developing more foot control and composure keeping the ball closer and under my knees. It turned out to be the best travel item. No matter location, language, gender or age the soccer ball acted as a universal token to connect.
In Mbale one morning I ran to a nearby stadium where I watched as older boys played a high caliber match while younger girls practiced on the side of the field. I asked if I could join two girls, Lilian and Eileen, before their organized practice began and although there was some language barrier (by the way there are 61 different languages/dialects spoken in Uganda), they both smiled and waved me in to join their passing circle. YES, I thought, this is what this whole trip is about! I recalled playing soccer in Costa Rica in a muddy field with the local boys when I was about 11, in Samoa with the girls club team (where I ended up scoring the winning goal- oops) when I was about 17 and here again I was laughing with two Ugandan teens passing, juggling and playing keep away at 26. The sport creates a middle ground, an understanding of one another without any spoken word. A game is a game, and the skill, competition, and goals are known and understood. It's beautiful really and a great way to connect whether you grew up around the corner or live half way around the world from each other with day to day lives that don't even look the tiniest bit alike.
I pulled out my mini soccer ball at the Lira Army primary school field that day and started with a big passing circle
As we walked home on the last day of baseball practice Gloria, a girl whose face I remembered well out of the 60 kids or so because she was just so darn sweet, took my hand. We walked and I tried to talk to her but quickly learned she hadn't learned much English yet (Corrine told me they don't start teaching it until 3rd grade). We walked in silence with the occasional giggle. She led the group to her house on the corner which was connected to a small kiosk. Her mom greeted us and Gloria brought Beno, Marc, sir William (another sweet baseball guy), Corrine and I chairs to sit behind the store. We were welcomed with a soda, crackers and her mom even brought out wanagi (a locally made hard alcohol). As we talked Corrine pointed out to the barn area behind where four baby piglets, only hours old, were shuffling around blindly. Eeeeeeee!!! I had to get a closer look. Gloria held my hand as we went over to check it out. The tiniest little creatures! They huddled together and stumbled about, easily started by any movement or noise. Seriously cute. A family friend or relative (not sure) picked one up and put the squealing creature in my arms. Such a cool experience, both being so welcomed into Gloria's home out of the blue and the family generously hosting us, and then their recognizing my excitement about the piglets and making my day by letting me get in some piggy snuggles. Peep Gloria and the piggies below!
 |
| Gloria on the left and Bridget on the right |
That evening Corrine and I were fiending for some local Ugandan eats and found ourselves at Mama Michelle's kitchen about a 30 second walk from our front door. I tried fish served with scale and eyeball still attached, matoke which is a type of banana mash with subtle but tasty flavor, cabbage (the most common leafy green here... don't try to get spinach), and posho which basically looks like mashed potatoes but made of cornstarch and supposedly is meant to be eaten with a sauce as it is very bland. My favorite Uganda dish (besides chippati of course which really isn't even a dish) I had in Kampala. This was Ground nut (G-but) stew, which somewhat resembles a peanut butter taste in a thicker orangish broth. The vegetable version I ordered had some greens and simson sauce (a local seed thing) mixed in and came with a list of sides such as yams, sweet potato, rice, beans, matoke, and Cassava (a local root which also tastes like a bland potato) all which you could get for the same price of the meal...a whopping 10,000 UsH so just a little over $3. Overall food here seems to center around potatoes and meat so the stew was a nice change up. Looking forward to trying some fresh seafood over the next two weeks when we head to the Kenyan coast and Zanzibar!
 |
| The walk home from baseball practice |
No comments:
Post a Comment