Taking down the sukkah

 

Before leaving Apollo and Janet Wambedde’s village home to spend Shmini Atzeret with the Abayudaya, we promised our host-father, Apollo, that we would take down the sukkah when we returned. He mentioned that there are a number of people who could benefit from the sukkah materials, especially the sheets. In particular, there is a cute couple named Fred and Mary, who live next to the village house and who keep the home; they worked extra hard while we were there cleaning and cooking for us. So, we decided to give them the matching sheets and pillow cases. (By the way, Mary is going to deliver a baby any day now and Maital hopes that she will be around. Don’t worry, we will write a blog entry all about it!) As for the other sheet, we decided to give to an old lady who lives nearby who had complained to Janet that she didn’t have anything to cover herself during the night.

Almost two weeks ago now (on October 9, Uganda’s Independence Day), Apollo and Pastor John, the next door neighbor) took Maital and me through Wabukhasa Village to deliver the single sheet to an old woman. So, camera in hand, we trekked through dirt (and mud) paths to this old woman’s house. We jumped over huge muddy puddles early in the trip and, as has been her habit, Maital’s foot landed in the mud. Sorry! The scenery was breathtaking. With Mt. Wanale in the distance and green all around us, it was hard to watch for mud puddles.

            We first stopped at the old woman’s house and learned that she had stepped out momentarily. So, after greeting the family, we began our tour of the village and had the opportunity to meet many members of the community. Apollo and John took us to meet another widow in the community, whose home had collapsed during the heavy rains, so the community had raised some money and gathered man power to build her a new home. As we walked, we found two boys knee deep in dirt building her new house! After watching the boys build her home and meeting the widow, we went to meet another family. At this compound, we were immediately greeted by an old woman and many children who came to see their visitors. The old woman limped over, and with a closer look, we saw that she was missing the greater part of her right foot. Apollo explained that she lost it to cancer last year.Just months ago, she was crawling around in the dirt to move around, but recently as the pain subsided and the foot healed, she taught herself to walk. Apollo explained that this old woman has quite a “testimony,” this means that she has a really powerful experience of coming to God. Until last year, she was a witch doctor and during her illness she became “saved,” she professed her belief in Jesus and affiliates as a born-again Christian. When she was “saved,” the church publicly burned all of her “demonic” tools.

            Pastor John works part-time as a community health worker through another local NGO, the Foundation for the Development of Needy Communities, FDNC. About once a week, he travels around the village to inquire about various families’ well being. Not only does he have training in basic health care and hygiene, but he also works hard to connect families to the resources they need for treatment. John pointed out that in the family we were visiting there are an unusual number of leg problems. One of the children was walking around with crutches that he has used since having leg surgery. (John helped to arrange this surgery.) He is waiting for another surgery while the community looks for the funds. We were invited into the old woman’s mud hut and saw a few mats rolled up in the corner to the sitting room (although it had no couches or chairs). And from the ceiling hung a single mosquito net that the children all sleep under as they huddle together on the mats. Pastor John was quite proud of the net; he has helped to ensure that villagers not only have nets but know how to use them.  We thanked the family and went back to the first house to see if the old woman had returned.

            We found out from Apollo that this old woman’s daughter had divorced her husband and that along with her children, she had returned to live with her mother. When we reached her house, she greeted us and brought us inside. Her house was very dark and she brought us into her room to show us her clothes, mattress (made of burlap sacks), and mosquito net. She told us that her grandchildren share this bed with her. With large smiles, we gave her the bed sheet and she was overjoyed. She lifted it up and down three times and said something we didn’t understand. Then she shook our hands repeatedly.

            As we walked to her house, we passed a beautiful, large house that we learned belongs to one of the head doctor’s in town. (A week later when I took Marilyn on a tour of the village, we stopped by the doctor’s house and had a really wonderful time getting to know him). From looking at the house we realized that his house does not yet have electricity, although the polls run close enough to his house that it might be hooked up soon (a very relative term in Uganda). The big water tank out back indicates that he does, however, have running water. It was somewhat shocking to see this white house amidst mostly small mud huts. We discussed with Apollo the benefits of living in the village even despite one’s wealth, prominence, and career in town. In the village, more than in town, one feels a strong sense of community. People look out for one another and people greet each other. Moreover, children play outside with neighbors’ children freely and often. Also, one lives in nature, where one can grow one’s food. Also Apollo emphasized that nothing is wasted in the village. Once one person no longer needs it, there is always a neighbor who can make good use of it…like the sheets of the sukkah!!

            We then walked to a property that had a number of different sized houses, ranging from normal size to dollhouse-sized. We learned that when a son is old enough, he constructs his own mud hut, which as he gets older and marries hopefully becomes a stronger, maybe even brick, home. And the young boys in this family were practicing their mud hut building skills by building small, doll-house sized replicates of the homes their older brothers had already built. We continued into the compound to meet the family. Apollo told us that they have been neighbors since Apollo’s youth when his parents helped care for this family. Apollo compared this family to the one in the movie, “The Gods Must Be Crazy.” (We have yet to see it but will report back once we do). Apollo had told us a few weeks before that this man had many children that were all birthed at home. He explained that when there were complications during one of the deliveries, the father cut open his wife to allow room for the baby to come out. Apollo’s mother found the woman bleeding and got her the appropriate care which saved her life. Anyway, Apollo insists that despite this incident and the poverty in which this family lives, this couple loves each other more than anyone he knows! Apollo asked the father how many children he had and he answered, seven boys and two girls. And then when we met the mother, she told us that they have ten children… We all had a good laugh, including the parents!

            As we returned to Janet and Apollo’s home, we passed Nandudu’s, Apollo’s sister’s, home. Nandudu had also been helping to care for us. First we passed by the Habitat-for-Humanity house that had been built for her and some of Apollo’s orphaned nieces and nephews. Unfortunately, when the family was three months late in paying the mortgage, Habitat came and removed the windows, doors, and iron roofing sheets to ensure that no one would benefit from the house. It costs more for the family to repair the house than what it would have cost to pay the mortgage, but at that time the money wasn’t available. Also, when they finally do repair the house, which is happening slowly, they will no longer owe Habitat anything. In the meantime, Nandudu moved back into the house where she and Apollo grew up that has a leaking roof comprised of iron sheets over 50 years old (yes, they are really rusted). There is just enough room inside for Nandudu to cook and sleep. Outside of the hut rest Apollo’s late parents and siblings.

            This exciting and eventful morning afforded us the opportunity to meet many of the neighbors and learn more about village life. Living in the village was really an incredible experience. Returning to senior quarters with running, water, electricity, a toilet, and many less mosquitoes felt like coming back to America! But now I understand Maital’s love for the village and its population and I can see why she dreamed of coming back.

 

By the way, Janet and Apollo have left the poles of the sukkah in the ground and hope to use it as a place for people to gather so as to avoid the masses of people that congregate in their home on a regular basis (especially Sundays since they live across the dirt road from the church). Ok, we realize that if the poles remain in the ground, it might mean that our sukkah was a bit too permanent to be kosher, but by the end of the holiday the sheets were falling down. So, hopefully that means that it was kosher!