Today I attended a funeral! The final rites of Brian Bukenya. Thrilling, right? Well you will understand the reason for the exclamation mark momentarily.
Part A: Two volunteers from our group were invited to this funeral by Chairman Zeewa, (a friend of our group and an influential politician) and naturally I jumped at the chance. Who doesn’t want to attend an African final rites service? Not me, that’s who. So off we go, thinking we are attending the funeral of the father of a member of the Lugazi town council. Thus, the adventure begins.
Part B: My partner and I journey via taxi to Mukono, where we meet up with the Chairman. The taxi ride was a wee bit frightening, but otherwise all was well. The Chairman takes us to some other village about an hour’s drive away, and on the way we learn that the dead man was not the father of some little town council guy. He was the son of the Vice President of
Part C: We arrive 45 minutes late, as per Ugandan custom, and sit under a canopy thing in the rain for a few hours listening to people sing and speak in Luganda. Completely unintelligible. This was the boring bit, but Chairman Zeewa explained things as we went along so it wasn’t unbearable. Also, we were the ponly white people there. Super conspicuous. The Chairman dragged us to the front of a crowd of hundreds and made us stand before the widow and say “Mukama Abakuume”, which apparently means “God Bless You”. I wanted to melt into the mud.
Part D: We commence to the gravesite (turns out the guy died last Nov, they’re only just getting around to the final rites portion of the process) and over walks the Vice President and shakes our white little hands. Yep. That happened.
Part E: The funeral comes to a conclusion, we eat our body weight in fatty delicious Ugandan food, and the VP comes to chat with us about our presence in his country. Holy CRAP. I almost peed myself. I thought I was going to be shot. You can be arrested for taking a photo on a bridge here. Saying the wrong thing to a major, powerful political figure… Well I didn’t really speak. I did say that I was from
So that is my tale. I spoke with the Vice President of the country, for a solid 15 minutes. There are more tales of adventure but I’m out of time. LOVE!!!
You are truely the most blessed person alive on this planet right now, who cares about the Pres of the US when u can meet the VP of Uganda and almost die for it :)! I love you and miss you!
ReplyDeleteHoly Eff!! Molly I am totally jealous of you!! Glad to hear that everything is going well!!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMolly! That is so amazing! Ahhh.
ReplyDeleteMolls, I told Jenna you were in Uganda and she was like, "Oh, people should ask her, "Where ya gone ta? Uganda!"
She is very funny.
Molly! That is intense! Your blog is most entertaining for my boring life here in Reno. lol. But really, that is awesome you met him. I'm glad you didn't get arrested or anything. GO NEVADA! lol.
ReplyDeleteMolly in seemingly insurmountable political ventures in foreign countries...intriguing. If only 'twas simple ventures of standing before your AP Literature peers and presenting a simple project, but 'tis not the case, and much more exciting I might add. Had the priviledge of seeing General Casey two weeks back, exciting for me on a professional level, but the VP of another country, pressure's on, eh? One thing to remember, you cannot be hurt by something you did not say, (Thank good old President Coolidge for that one) you seemed to adopt that one there. I am glad all seems to be going well for you, I hope your future endeavors are just as exciting.
ReplyDelete~~Allan
PV2, US AMRY