Stronger Relationships, Friday, January 27

We are starting to get much more comfortable with our hosts, and we’re joking and laughing a lot more. After dinner, we sang, danced, and laughed a while before presenting them with some gifts. They were very excited to receive our gifts, and we had a good time showing them photos and throwing a soccer ball around the room.

We continued making stronger relationships with many Hedaru residents today. We learned this morning that Clement is the head of the local government, so our observations about his influence and power in the community were not mistaken. Pastor Luhwa loosened up more today. At Gunge, he seemed to teach the people a new song on a whim as we were leaving. I suspect he saw how hungry and tired they looked, and he wanted them to perk up. It did raise their spirits, at least temporarily.

I’ve had fun learning more Swahili words, and the people really seem entertained by my attempts at Swahili phrases. As I’ve thought for a long time, learning the language is one of the best way of really getting to know a culture; learning their language (or trying!) shows that you truly respect who they are and that you sincerely want to learn more about them. I’ve seemed to make the most progress with relationship building when I break the ice with a phrase or two in Swahili!

Tonight, the power went out, so I’m writing this with lantern light. After the power went out, I went out to the road near my room to look at the stars. The brilliance of the night sky when you get away from city lights is breathtaking. I sat for a few minutes, completely relaxed. Mlay happened to walk by; since he doesn’t speak English very well, he didn’t understand me when I told him I was just looking at the stars. He quickly ran to a nearby house and came back a few minutes later with a lantern! Godfrey stopped by after a few minutes to make sure I was all right and that I knew how to shut off the lantern. The people here are very eager to be good hosts. I hope we aren’t too stressful to have as visitors. The lantern was nice so I could finish my journal, but it had been great to just enjoy the beauty of the night sky.

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