Spirituality, Hiking, Power-Outages, and my Ugandan Name

This past week was quite interesting…lots of rain and frequent power outages. I still can’t believe I forgot to bring my umbrella! Who’d of thought a tropical area had so much rain…hehe! :) So as for the week…all went well. Monday was quite busy attempting to finish video scripts…PROMETRA Uganda wants to put together little videos that explain PROMETRA Uganda itself and all the realms of traditional healer medicine and practice which are studied at Buyijja Forest School. On Tuesday all us PROMETRAns ventured back out to Buyijja Forest School, arriving the earliest I have experienced yet. This allowed me to head straight to bed and get a few hours of shut-eye, before I was summoned to join the evening spiritualist class…which is an ALL-NIGHT class. The first Tuesday night of every month, the spiritualist class meets for an all-night session…it is believed that the night provides the best atmosphere for connecting with ancestors/spirits. So I rested, woke up by 9 p.m...quite groggy…then ventured up to the shrine and joined many spiritualists in a feast of rice and chai (local tea). After eating and visiting, we all (20 or so) shifted into the little round building known as a shrine. There we simply sat for a while… relaxing and visiting …while one of my PROMETRA colleagues explained things to me, like what the night will entail and what some people were saying or doing. It turns out, we were preparing for a cleansing. The time came, and we all ventured outside, faced North, then were sprinkled with water and herbs one-by-one…then we turned around to head into the shrine…never looking back. Once inside the shrine, singing, drumming, and dancing began. The first song recited was called a ‘twin song.’ The idea of ‘twin’ is very important to spiritualists…the belief is that every person has their human body form and their spiritual form…therefore everyone has a twin. Oh, and all spiritual songs always last for even numbered minutes…spirituality is very complex and deep! The entire night was full of dancing, singing, and drumming with many intervals where spiritual/ancestral connections were made, via spiritual possession. Just a reminder, the spiritualist class at Buyijja Forest School learns about spirituality as a practice of healing…a few patients attended the evening class to seek consultation. It’s difficult for me to describe spirituality through typing…even still I don’t understand it completely…but it really is a fascinating traditional healer practice. I will attempt to explain things much better in person once I return to the states. :) So the night continued into the morning. By about 7 a.m., all came to an end…we drank chai and simply enjoyed the brisk morning air. After some time, my busy day was to begin…or better yet continue! We had guests visiting Buyijja Forest School, so I was to travel with them as they visited each class and were given an introduction to Buyijja’s traditional healer school. The day finally came to a close in the afternoon/eveing, and everyone ventured out of the thick of the forest. Immediately, I was greeted by Doctor and asked to accompany him and a few guests on a little adventure around Mpigi District…I agreed, and we took off. Come to find out, we were visiting all the acres of land Doctor owns. We traveled to different places diving deep into forests…the drive was full of beautiful countrysides and landscapes. Our final destination was to the top a mountainish-hill called Msindye. Once there, we all exited the vehicle and began hiking! Now remember, I hadn’t slept the entire previous night…eshk! But all went well…we moved slowly and rested multiple times to simply gaze out over mile stretches of Mpigi District…we could even see Lake Victoria…it was breathtaking! The hike finally ended…to discover we lost track of where we had left the land cruiser…hehe…no worries, we found it…hehe. :) We drove back to Buyijja, packed up, then headed back Kampala. I went straight to bed!!!...and woke up the next day quite refreshed! The week then finished well. We finished an assignment that was to be sent off to Nairobi, Kenya no later than Saturday. It was actually quite hectic simply because we had worked on the project all day Friday to then have the power go out around 5 p.m….we lost the entire project! Shorty after, the power came back on…we sat back down and quickly threw things together once again, saving the document every minute…just in case…we had learned our lesson! We decided to gather again on Saturday to finish. I woke up Saturday morning to pouring rain but pushed on to work…we finally and successfully finished the project, sent it off, then the weekend began! I basically hung around my apartment preparing for field research…venturing into Kampala City Center a couple times. Not too much else to report. :) Oh and one last thing…I have been given an Ugandan clan as well as an Ugandan name…I have been here long enough and have learned a little of the language, so I deserve it now! I have been welcomed into the Mbogo clan, which translates in to buffalo or bull, and my given name is Kyamulabi. Here in Uganda, more specifically in the Buganda kingdom, everyone is from a clan (typically named after an animal) and there are certain names that go with that clan. I had been searching for the right clan and name that fits me…I’ve finally found it! So now I have a fourth name…Kyamulabi…no quite sure where it fits into Ann Louise Tezak…maybe Ann Kyamulabi Louise Tezak…hehe! Well that’s all for now! Hope all is well back in the states!

Keep the spirit alive - Ann