Mukasas

Our host family is amazing. The couple is Amos and Perry Mukasa. They have 6 boys and 1 girl. They have embraced and welcomed us better than I could have possibly dreamed. Tonight Boris (that's not his given name but his nickname and I cannot say his given name very well), helped me - or better - allowed me to help him chapatis. It's a round bread that they very much enjoy. I made them once with my pastor's wife, but that was a couple of years ago and I was clueless enough to not confess ever having been taught before.

This is a picture of Boris and me with the various stages...Boris is holding the finished project and I have a ball of dough and a rolled, uncooked chapati. Boris is 20 years old and wants to be an engineer. He is hoping to find out if he is accepted into a university this coming Monday. I told that maybe we should start a restaurant and specialize in chapatis!

It soon became a family affair (and this was all happening after 8pm. I think we finished by 8:45 or so.) Joel was watching it cook over this wee (that's how all of our British and Scottish friends say "little" and I kind of like it - it's fun to use. You should give it a try, anyway...). There is a wee charcoal stove that is very effective, more economical and apparently makes chapatis better. These were the best tasting chapatis I've ever had, albeit things do taste better when you've worked and made them yourself.

Dade was enthralled by the cooking process - specifically the fire. When Dara got into the game, she just really wanted to use the last little bit as play-do. (Something, I have a recipe for and will need to make pretty soon.) I think Boris thought Dara was crazy because she kept trying to draw faces in the dough. He was, however, quite disappointed that she refused to try the chapati. Dade, thankfully, made up for her with his enthusiastic appreciation.

The kids have had a blast playing with the kids but today spent the day with our team leaders kids so we could focus easier. The children here leave for school at 6:30 am and return at 6 pm. And our kids would be terribly lonely without them.

I don't know if every Christian, Ugandan family is similar, but the Mukasas have this great tradition of singing 1-2 hymns together with a time of prayer before bed. I think we'll definitely be incorporating that into our lives. It's great.

This last picture is of us standing with one leg in each hemispehere (unfortunately you can't tell which is which - you'll have to take our word for it) We crossed over on our way to Mbara.