Circle Up!

As I sit and write this post, I am listening to the constant refrain of some sort of device repeatedly singing “we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas we wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year. What?

Ok, let me carry on, and dream of winter as I write.“Everyone make a circle…. pronounced, surrrrrrcle.” This was the command of a stout and jolly woman, covered from head to toe in her religious head scarf, neck scarf, and full length dress, bright green, like her life filled personality. All I noticed was her smile as she gave us directions to join them for their exercises. Mostly jajas,men and women, but also pregnant moms, children, and young women as well, complied, and before I knew it, we were sweating and moving quickly for a robust set of movements. Up and down, side to side we all obeyed our instructor. Then the inevitable, “muzungu, come.” which was our realization that we would be asked to lead them in exercises as well. Each. One. Of. Us. So… like it or not, all three of us took the spot, and did all we could think of, squats, lunges and the like. This was Hilarious, because one jaja, literally got stuck on the down part of the squat, and looked pretty angry at our request, and then another simply passed out. Yes. Thankfully, this event then ended with us dancing and singing and walking around our circle. Although it was delightful in every way, we carried on to the maternity ward.

Here we discovered just hours old babies. We were so blessed to share in those moments with new moms, and to pray and encourage them. However for me, I had a interesting offer… and was invited to name one of the babies. This is not rare, so don’t think overly high of this, but on this day my friend and I prayed and asked God what we should name the baby, and we both heard the exact same name! Samuel. Frankly, I want the mama and daddy to name their baby, and don’t feel any need or desire to do this, but it is strange (and probably left over from darker days of colonization) and we comply because this mama wanted to hear what we had to say. I loved her response, “that is a nice name” because her tone told me that she had other plans for her babies name. That was a relief. Regardless of that cultural experience, He was too beautiful as well as His beautiful mama.

After a while, we enjoyed talking with many parents who were sick or had sick children or were simply worried about their children and life in general. One such women had her young boy (whose fever disappeared after I prayed for him by the way!!!!!) called us back a second time to pray to share her very painful story of her husband leaving. Ugandans tell you they don’t show public emotion culturally, but I tell you this woman was heartbroken. She cried and shared her heartache with me. What an incredible privilege.

There is so much more at the clinic, hiv ward, immunization ward, circumcision tent, and the like, and there are many opportunities to share light and Love. I am so thankful to learn about this culture while getting to love on so many people.