Adventures in Uganda Part 3...Cooking with Fire

Friday, October 26, 2007
Cooking with Fire…You want me to do what?

Ordering the people to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, and they all ate and were satisfied. Matthew 14:19-20a

Well, no one has ever called me Betty Crocker, and for good reason. My cookies always turn out flat and hard, I often seem to forget about things in the oven and end up burning them, and my repertoire is usually limited to the things I already know how to make. So, when Stephanie told me that my nutrition lesson the week she would be gone was to teach a cooking class to the Ugandans, my reactions was, “You want me to do what?” She wasn’t joking. She needed me to teach them how to make a “healthy snack.” What in the world! She handed me a packet of materials and said it would all be fine. Of course, I did not even look for the recipe until the day before I was to actually teach this cooking class. I was too busy writing a devotional and looking for the info on HIV and nutrition I was also to teach the class to worry about the recipe. So, when I did rummage through her packet of info for a recipe and could not find one, I became a little worried. Heading out Tuesday afternoon for Basunga, I basically had no idea if any of the supplies, not to mention the recipe, would be available for us to even attempt the recipe trial. This might be a really short day, was all I could think.

Somehow, the Lord always provides. Now, if you remember, Basunga is the town where I had to cross the raging river. As it had been raining non stop for the past three days, I was not to certain we would be able to forge across and might have to abandon the cooking plans anyway. Alas, the river was lower than the week before and I crossed without any assistance. Once again, we received the same warm and far too generous welcome from the local health team. Did they know that this could be a huge flop? For a girl who had never made pancakes or used a seguile (a Ugandan grill) for that matter, I did alright. It was not without much help from Spice, Angelight, Eva and many others, but it turned out pretty good. At least they seemed pleased. We made these pancake-like biscuits that tasted like peanut butter. All I can say is, YUM!

We never made it through the HIV nutrition lesson, I sure hope Stephanie will not be upset with me, but we sure did have fun. Nothing like cooking with Ugandans!

So, we repeated this process in Busaru and Nyahuka, each time improving a little on the recipe and my cooking skills. Maybe I could give Betty Crocker a run for her money…ok, maybe not! But has she ever had such an attentive croud?

As a side note, the journey to and from these locations continued to be a source of unbelievable thrills and new experiences. The day we went to Busunga, we once again took a boda there, but it was the journey home that was awesome. After forging the river, we walked to visit an old friend of Scott Will’s, Tomwebozi and his wife Eva. Tomwebozi has been Scott’s translator that last time he was in Uganda. As it turns out, Eva is a part of our nutrition classes and lives close by. When Scott learned she was Tomwebozi’s wife, we decided to visit. Tomwebozi and Eva were delighted to receive us and showed us through their village. Leaving on foot, we thought we might have to walk right along with a herd of cattle all the way back home. Much to our delight, a cocoa bean truck stopped and let us climb up into the back and ride home, without charge! I kind of felt like a festival queen in a parade perched on top of the cushioned and fragrant bags of cocoa beans waving to all the people we passed. All I needed was a crown and I really would have been a sight! The ride home from Busaru was pure laugher. I decided not to try a bike it again as I was no longer quite so cocky about my athletic abilities. So we took a boda there, but there were no bodas available for the journey home. And once again it started raining on us as we set out for home. Thankfully, a truck, this time loaded with people, stopped to pick us up. It seemed it was quite a novelty to ride in the back of a truck with a “muzungu” (white person) as they all stared and smiled at me. We were packed in so tight that there was almost no room to put my feet, let alone sit. But somehow they made room for me, and someone threw an orange tarp over our heads and we laughed and smiled at each other and the thrill of the bumpy, speedy, packed ride in the rain together. I just love these people!

And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient, love is kind…
1 Corinthians 13:3-4a

*Please note, I am not sure if I am always spelling the Ugandan words correctly. But someone once told me that most words in Lubuisi are spelled like they sound, so this is how they sound to me.

In Him,
Rachel