Nathan the Artist

Picture painted for me

Art reflects real life more often than not. This picture, painted by a 21 year old without a lot of formal training, shows the style of house, water gathering and daily life in a northern Uganda village.

Nathan painted this for me, my first original artwork not done my mom. It is very different from the pictures one can buy at the local craft markets. Now I just need to have it framed and hung on my wall.

Nathan SSENNYONGO

A 21 year old Uganda, tribe Muganda, raised in Kampala, with grandfather in Luwero District, on the road to Gulu in northern Uganda.

He entered art competitions when he was still young. At Senior 1, had an art piece displayed at school. Had a period when he did not much. When he went to a different secondary school, he received B's and A's in exams and had a lot of encouragement from the teacher. Then when he went home, he used pencils and any available supplies. His parents struggled to get him the materials to further his work.

He later went to a professor Mr. Banada at Makerere University and, his friend, Mr. Ssembilige a teacher of batik, showed his portfolio and the Professor was impressed enough to support him with materials, introduced him to others in the local art community. Some taught him techniques, opened doors to marketing in craft shops in Kampala. He has enjoyed being the party decorator for friends and family members too.

Nathan has a place in Uganda crafts which sell his batiks.

Nathan has goal of using oil colors, rather than chalk or watercolors or pencils. He has done many pictures used in Kampala International Church for use in the services and ministry. He also makes models of local houses, toys, etc.

His vision is to have a gallery in Kampala to show his creations. He will eventually have his own web site. He wants to do large oil painting, complex styles of batik and other creations as he is able to explore different mediums.

Opio Stephen

Opio Stephen is extremely grateful for the gifts of many people from California who recently helped him with covering the following expenses:

medical treatment for his wife and kids - 150,000/=

back rent – 450,000;

food - 60,000

school fees for nephew and son - 240,000

Because he takes his Christian walk seriously, he also tithed to his church 100,000/= from the 1 million he received initially.

The total he received from the initial donations was 1,000,000/= (about $613) with a bit more pledged to still come along. With these funds he intends to obtain a certificate in advanced computer accounting which will boost his chances to be hired. He has applications in with two NGOs and hopes to be interviewed soon.

Please keep him and his family in your prayers. Blessings on each of you who held him in prayer and/or sent gifts. You are a blessing for this African family!!

Everything is connected to everything else

There is much in life that we are oblivious to until we move somewhere very different. One of the most basic things comes from the weather and length of our days and nights.

In Northern California, where I lived most of my life, the days can be 16 hours long or 8 hours long. The weather, at least in the past, has been so mild that distances between towns and cities were measured in driving time rather than miles. From all this variation comes the need, or necessity depending on your point of view, to keep time, be punctual, wear watches, have clocks in several places, start meetings promptly, etc. Use of wristwatches is common and necessary for the majority of the population over age 13. We rush to be on time, worry about being late. Get upset if the event begins more than 15 minutes after what we expected.

One of the sayings here that I love: Muzungus (whites/westerners) have “no time”, ....they gave it all to the Africans. This radical difference in how we get through each day can be a source of cross-cultural misunderstanding if one doesn't step back and take a wider look at why, how and what is going on.

Here in Uganda, on the equator, the day light hours are the same, within 40 minutes or so, every day of the year. At 7 am it is light. At 7 pm it is dark. Transition between the two takes only 10 minutes. There is no need for watches or clocks because people here know the hour by the position of the sun or stars. The climate is wet or dry, depending on the season and there is a sense of there being time enough for everything.

Words taught in preschool and pictures for coloring reflect the life lived. So we are used to pictures of the seasons, of various weather related activities: spring flowers, summer swimming, fall colored leaves, snowmen, ice skating, etc. Here in Uganda these become foreign concepts, just words, as they don't match life here. The season change is small, more rain or less, with temperatures still in the same range of 60' to 85', night and day. Any activity we do can be done any time. Thus we have outdoor BBQs all year, any day we like, same for swimming and water play games. There is, here, a lot more focus on family, on relationships with extended family and others from the same village or tribe. There are many more words in the local languages for all the relationships and status and roles related to people than exist in English. There are special names for the sisters of your mother, for maternal and paternal grandfather and grandmother, for instance. If you are the parent of twins, you add an extra name to your name (different ones for the mother and father). For the twins, there are also additonal names designating if female, male, first born, etc.

Life is so very amazing....and we are awesomely created to adapt and thrive to the places we live. It is great fun to learn how we take the simple object of getting through the day and turn it one way or another. We can focus on “keeping time” or on the people in our lives. I wonder how much more of our habits or culture are generated by the world around us.

Plantian/Banana Soup

Here is a photo of one of the meals that Florence prepared. The soup was delicious and filling.

The protein dish on the right is essennene, roasted grasshopper. Also very tasty. You can't stop with just one!!

Here are two photos of my friend Florence. She made this, her first quilt project ever, as a lap quilt for her mother, who is 80. Her mom used to teach tailoring to ladies in the village, but Florence never took up the activity then. Now she studies patterns in the books we have. She has a friend who gives her cotton fabrics to use in the quilts. A different set of fabrics each month, what a blessing.

Now Florence is working on her 3^rd top!!! She will put the ones she has finished together soon and will have a new quilt for herself or for her kids. One daughter is already asking for one for herself. Guess I'd better get going and finish the two I have started and make one for Moses. Nothing like a little nudge to keep moving.