Day 39 - Martyr's Day

Today is Martyr’s Day. Back in the late 1800’s there was a group of 23 men that were burned alive after standing up for something they didn’t believe it. There had been a law passed in Uganda that people would have to work on Sundays. Well, the Catholics and Protestants were too thrilled with that whole thing because they knew and believed that Sunday was a day of rest. Appartently these men were standing up against this law according to their beliefs and were killed because of it. It has become a national holiday and, to my knowledge, has been celebrated since then. We went to a place called Namugongo where the event or holiday was celebrated. I’m sure why it’s held there, though I’m assuming it’s because it’s where the tragedy occurred. We decided we would take the day and check it out.

We attended the beginnings of the protestant gathering which recognized the martyrs, it was OK. It was in an amphitheater type of setting with hundreds of people gathering on all sides of the downhill slope. There was a choir, a man praying and giving speech, and many other people who I wasn’t sure of their purpose. We couldn’t here very well and the dude singing had a horrendous voice, we eventually decided to leave.

It turned out to be pretty crazy, more Africans than I’ve ever seen at once in my life, it was incredible. There was a certain street that every body walked up and down. There were street venders of all types littered the length of the street. We didn’t even walk the whole thing, it would have taken 2 hours at least. We were always bumping in to each other, dodging boda bodas, and just trying to stay alive in general.

We came across something that has quite possibly become one the most experiences of my life... as far as food is concerned. There was a huge pile of pineapple, small to large, all varying in price. There was also a man peeling the pineapples right next to him, free of charge if you purchased a pineapple. He would hold the stem and cut the skin off and even give it a cross-hairs cut to make it easier to eat right off the stem!! I couldn’t believe my eye and instantly had to be part of it. We quickly found out that the smaller pineapples, perfect for one person to snarf, were only 300 shillings, a grand total of .18 cents... believe it. The thing was about one and a half times the size of a softball and perfectly ripened. I was with a bunch of the girls from the group, as usual, and we all got a pineapple. I can’t even begin to explain how incredible the pineapple was. It was by far the best I’ve ever had in my life, including that of Hawaii. To eat the pineapple off the stem just amplified the experience. Not only had the guy NOT touched my pineapple with his hands, I would be able to eat it and stay relatively clean. We took pictures and recorded video, which shows us devouring the pineapple like crazy; we were crazy and we couldn’t get enough. This amazing experience however landed me with major intestinal problems 45 minutes later, something I didn’t really expect or even care about at the time. I suppose it was quite a bit of pineapple and I did eat the WHOLE thing, oh well, it was still worth it.

We ended going to Kampala which was only 20 minutes from where we were. We decided it would be nice to have a decent lunch at the food court in Garden City. We started out at the Shop Rite which was like unto a grocery store at home, just not the same things on the shelves, still a bit interesting. We ended up seeing the mission president in there with a new senior couple from Rexburg Idaho that had only been there for 9 days. When we left the store we saw three Elders, I proceeded to go up to them and meet them. One from Idaho, another from Texas, and one from the Congo, right next door to Uganda. I immediately put myself in their position and imagined serving a mission in Uganda, I shuttered. I’m positive the Lord sent me where he did because he knew I would be able to handle it, even though it was a scary, dangerous, and difficult area.

I had pizza, again, a safe food group. It ended up being pretty good. I even got a free glass of passion fruit juice from the lady at the register. She was a rather pretty woman, from somewhere like Lebanon or something of that nature. She was refreshingly sweet and nice to talk to. I’m so used to talking to people that don’t really respond or smile back when I smile, it was a pleasant surprise. The trip back was uneventful, except that I fell asleep on my backpack on one side of my face and woke up with a serious mark on my face, we got a picture.