Give us this day our daily Matoke
I was conversing with myself (in a non-mental illness kind of way) last week about the consistancy in my diet here. I get all four food groups regularly: bananas, potatos, rice and posho (maize flour chunks). It is very, very easy for me to slip into a mode of thinking where I am "deprived"--especially after a weekend like this last, where I was spending time with our MCC group, enjoying the richness of cheese, vegetables, whole-wheat bread and other delicacies. It is quite usual for me to go several days and see ground nut sauce at every meal, with the starch being varied according to the above-mentioned food group rotation.
However, it seems that viewing my position as being "deprived" is not the most beneficial or realisitic attitude. Jesus did not teach us to pray "give us this day our daily spinach salad, dannon yogurt with granola and stir fry with tofu." (excuse me while I pause to wipe the drool off the keyboard...) He instead taught us to pray "Give us this day our daily bread...or matoke" In other words, that which we need to be sustained. I am so thankful that I have food, but I confess it is difficult day after day to eat Matoke (steamed bananas)..and not remember the variety of foods I have eaten in the past.
So my prayer is that I would be given grace to appreciate my daily matoke (and it is true that I, like my Ugandan friends somehow feel a bit cheated at the end of the day if there isn't a rock of matoke sitting in my stomach) and not see myself as deprived, but as utterly and completely blessed.
I have so many other things to be thankful for as well: I've just finished my second day with the home-care team, visiting five patients in town who are too weak to make it to clinic. I was blessed again to be able to pray with the patients and share with them a verse I learned in Luganda (Psalm 46:1). Please pray with me for Norah, Mary, Muhummad, and Sandra. A key theme in their requests for prayer are school fees (many children above primary level don't get to attend school because of the hefty associated costs-and if they are attending the family undergoes a huge financial burden) and for relief from pain.
Because children are going back to school this week after their holidays (thus the frequent prayers regarding school fees!) the city is in a bit of upheaval. The "jam" downtown is worse than ever, and finding transport anywhere is very difficult. Our normally 45-60 minute commute home yesterday took around two hours! In addition, there was a crack-down last week by the government on vehicles not having a "speed governor" (device which won't allow the taxi to go above a certain speed- needed because of the all to frequent fatal car crashes here). The device is very expensive, and the government took the method of forcibly removing license plates from 200 vehicles one day last week in order to make them comply with the rules. The results of that decision were utter mayhem downtown; people not being able to find rides or if they found rides, being charged exorbitant amounts of money.(I had one scary moment last week in the rain, and the dark, standing the taxi park downtown trying to figure out why hundreds of people were standing around!!!) Someone, somewhere, decided at the end of the week to relent in time for kids to go back to school and the drivers now have a longer "grace period." All this to say that life is never without excitement here--even commuting is adventurous!
Keeping it real in Kampala--- : )
However, it seems that viewing my position as being "deprived" is not the most beneficial or realisitic attitude. Jesus did not teach us to pray "give us this day our daily spinach salad, dannon yogurt with granola and stir fry with tofu." (excuse me while I pause to wipe the drool off the keyboard...) He instead taught us to pray "Give us this day our daily bread...or matoke" In other words, that which we need to be sustained. I am so thankful that I have food, but I confess it is difficult day after day to eat Matoke (steamed bananas)..and not remember the variety of foods I have eaten in the past.
So my prayer is that I would be given grace to appreciate my daily matoke (and it is true that I, like my Ugandan friends somehow feel a bit cheated at the end of the day if there isn't a rock of matoke sitting in my stomach) and not see myself as deprived, but as utterly and completely blessed.
I have so many other things to be thankful for as well: I've just finished my second day with the home-care team, visiting five patients in town who are too weak to make it to clinic. I was blessed again to be able to pray with the patients and share with them a verse I learned in Luganda (Psalm 46:1). Please pray with me for Norah, Mary, Muhummad, and Sandra. A key theme in their requests for prayer are school fees (many children above primary level don't get to attend school because of the hefty associated costs-and if they are attending the family undergoes a huge financial burden) and for relief from pain.
Because children are going back to school this week after their holidays (thus the frequent prayers regarding school fees!) the city is in a bit of upheaval. The "jam" downtown is worse than ever, and finding transport anywhere is very difficult. Our normally 45-60 minute commute home yesterday took around two hours! In addition, there was a crack-down last week by the government on vehicles not having a "speed governor" (device which won't allow the taxi to go above a certain speed- needed because of the all to frequent fatal car crashes here). The device is very expensive, and the government took the method of forcibly removing license plates from 200 vehicles one day last week in order to make them comply with the rules. The results of that decision were utter mayhem downtown; people not being able to find rides or if they found rides, being charged exorbitant amounts of money.(I had one scary moment last week in the rain, and the dark, standing the taxi park downtown trying to figure out why hundreds of people were standing around!!!) Someone, somewhere, decided at the end of the week to relent in time for kids to go back to school and the drivers now have a longer "grace period." All this to say that life is never without excitement here--even commuting is adventurous!
Keeping it real in Kampala--- : )
posted by Christi-Lynn at 4:16 PM
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