What a Day!

So, in my first post I promised you I wouldn't write about my research. Now, I'm going to break that promise, just a little, and tell you about today. Being Sunday, most of my day was spent in research mode! Here was my programme (what they call a schedule here...thanks to the British) for the day:

6:30 - Wake up and wash up; Definitely annoyed all the other people in the hostel (though I tried very hard to be silent!);
7:00 - Catch a minibus taxi to town (thank goodness they run just as often on Sunday as other days!)
7:30 - Walked the 3 km to Namirembe. Got very, very hot and dusty.
8:30 - Worship Service at Namirembe Cathedral (English "blended"…old hymns and a lot of contemporary/Uganda music)
10:00 - Worship Service at Namirembe Cathedral (Luganda traditional 1662 prayer book); left early to walk to St. Francis, Makerere (another 3 or 4 km); Again got very, very dusty
11:00 - Worship service at St. Francis, Makerere (English "blended" with more freedom)
1:00 - Worship service at St. Francis, Makerere (Lugbara, "blended")

The last service let out at 3:30, so it was a long day physically (especially since I just snacked on some "Little x's," essentially graham crackers because I had no time for a meal) and mentally. But it was also a really, really cool and informational day! I won't run through all of my notes, because that definitely would bore you, but I'll give you the highlights.

Namirembe Cathedral is the oldest church in Uganda, and is a really beautiful cathedral on top of a hill overlooking the main city. And I mean BEAUTIFUL! It also was one of the most technologically up-to-date churches I've ever seen; it had probably 15 TVs around that broadcast a live view of the service as well as the words to music, scripture, etc. It definitely was more tech-savvy than most churches in the US.

The first service I attended was what we call a "blended" service, with a mixture of traditional Anglican hymns and praise songs/free-form music, etc. The service began with twenty minutes of praise, which is unusual for the blended services, which usually begin with Anglican liturgy. Actually, the liturgy was mostly removed to make room for praise and a long sermon.

Interestingly, the next service is a Luganda (the language of the Kampala area) only service, but using the 1662 Anglican Prayer Book (so the service is as traditional as it gets). That service had a men and boys choir and utilized winds and the organ as instruments. It was definitely a really beautiful service (in the way a really great orchestral concert is beautiful).

What was most interesting to me was the language of each service. The less traditional and more African service, the first, was in English while the second, very traditional service, was in Luganda. That seems like a flip-flop of what it should be.

From there, I walked to St. Francis, which is the on the campus of the main University here. I attended their 11:00 service, a blended English service in an absolutely PACKED church (I sat just outside the door in front of another 100 people or so). The service was a bit more lively than the Namirembe one, but was very similar.

After that service came the really good part of the day. At 1:00, there is a Lugbara service for people from that area of Uganda (500 km northwest of here), and I was invited as a special guest. A professor at Makerere translated for me (as much as possible), and they also had a projector screen showing words to hymns, etc. (It's much cheaper for churches here to buy one projector and computer than lots of hymnbooks or songbooks, so many churches have projectors). The service was very, very lively; it was truly a celebration of life. I was definitely inspired by the energy and enthusiasm of everyone, from the priest to the musicians (all instruments from the Lugbara region) to every person there. Moreover, the research I got there was fantastic, and I was invited back for their Wednesday night service (actually, I was told that I better be there…). What was especially impressive was the generosity of this church; the people were obviously less well-off than any of the 11:00 attendees, but they gave everything they had in 2 offerings. Giving is definitely a central part of the Ugandan church, but I hadn't yet seen people so happy to give all of their coins or money to the church like I did today. The church is definitely the most important part of their lives.

Now, I'm reflecting on the day's research and preparing for follow-up meetings this week. I'll also visit a parish in one of the slums of Kampala, Kywililiza, with the parish priest on Wednesday. There, he has a very large population of displaced Northern Ugandans (Acholi people), who have suffered greatly.

Tomorrow, however, I'm hoping to take a minibus taxi to Jinja (the "source of the Nile") to spend a night there, since I've the town is beautiful. I honestly can't believe I'm on the back-half of my time in Uganda, and definitely have grown very fond of this country.

Much love to you all,

Will