Our schedule was now winding down. We had one day left together as a team. John, Ken, Curt, and I would be traveling home the next day, but Mary and Marty had arranged to track gorillas in Bwindi. I wish I could say I envied them, but at this point I was ready to go home.
Today would be another music lesson. This time we would be taught by the Nderre Dance Troupe at the Nderre National Theatre. Thankfully we didn't have to rise as early as we had been. We got to the theatre by mid morning accompanied by three Kajjansi Rotarians because after our lesson we would have a meeting to recap our experience.
When we got to the theatre all the dancers were sitting on the floor waiting for us. This lesson would be different from the one we had at YPO. Our teacher, Joseph, was an older gentleman, a veteran performer. He gave us a sense of the many different tribes represented in the troupe and how each tribe brought another layer of depth and richness to their performances. I have always been fascinated by the origins behind art, music, and drama and believe that dimension is critical in our appreciation of the arts.
We were reintroduced to all the instruments from our previous lesson at YPO. Joseph shared with us the different types of vocal performances and dances. As he spoke, different members of the troupe would come forward and perform for us. It was all simply amazing! Toward the end of our lesson, the dancing gained momentum and the dancers that faced us came toward each of us in the group and took our hands to encourage us to dance with them. At this moment I would like for you to pause and reread the title for this blog entry. I'll give you a moment to digest this...
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| The power and energy of traditional Ugandan dance, simply AMAZING |
My daddy taught me to dance, he taught me how to waltz like a lady, he also taught me how to rock and roll to Elvis, the Beatles, and American Graffiti. This is about as white American as you can get. In essence, I dance like a 70 year old man. Not pretty. When the Nderre troupe women came and took my hands, I had to draw on the same strength I used when I gave birth to each of my 9 children to stay focused and not panic. The way they perform, rotating their hips like they've been lubed with WD40, shaking their caboose like maracas while their torso, head and shoulders remain steady and fluid is something I.don't.under.stand. My body does not move that way. I took the position, moved my feet in time, and I shook my caboose with all my might! I agreed to be willing to learn on this trip and here I was having the dance lesson of a lifetime. I was totally faking it and it showed. It was a humbling experience to say the least.
When the lesson was over, we were given a chance to share our musical culture. Mary sang "Old Man River", I played a little song on my ukulele, and we finished with "Dona Nobis Pachem". Have I mentioned what a humbling experience this was???
We left the building to find a table and chairs waiting outside for us under the trees. The most frustrating part about this meeting was that we never had a chance to sit down as a team and recap things for ourselves. All week long, when we were together, we had a Rotarian with us so the opportunity never presented itself. I felt like we were flying blind. The meeting started with John saying a few words and after that, we all had an opportunity to share our observations, our desire to help with projects, and our thoughts on our stay and itinerary. It went very smoothly.
Our next destination was a farewell party at Peace’s house. His house sits high on a hill overlooking the village with Lake Victoria in the distance. The view is lovely and so is his house. A few guests had already arrived, they were business associates of Peace from Japan. Once our group was all assembled we lined up to be formally introduced to Peace's guests. Curt explained a little about our team to them and then proceeded to introduce us one by one and share a little bit about who we are. I was toward the end of the line and and before he got to me I leaned in towards Mary and muttered under my breath, "He'd better not mention that I have nine children..." Sure enough, the next words out of Curt's mouth were, "This is Jen Davis and she is the mother of NINE CHILDREN." The Japanese guests all seemed impressed, and I just smiled broadly laughing to myself.
(Now don't get me wrong, I am very proud of my children! I love them all dearly and happen to think what I do as a homemaker is of utmost importance! I am also of the opinion that my children are the most polite, loving, and handsome group of kids you will ever meet. However, I do not always share about my family size with strangers for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that I don't want to sound like I am boasting. The second reason is because most people respond with incredulity, gushing on and on over how amazing it I am or how patient I must be to have so many children or teasing me about not knowing what causes it or (the question I hate the most) asking if we will have more etc...and so on.... On rare occasions I do get people who don't bat an eyelash and may comment that it's a blessing to have so many children and nothing more. They treat me no differently than if I had said one child or three children. So as a general rule I wait to see what kind of a sense I get from a person and where the conversation is going. Unless they ask ask me point blank about the number of children have, I don't mention it. Rant.over.)
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| Peace's lovely family. |
The guests continued to arrive, many of the Rotarians we saw over the course of the last twelve days were there.The food was delicious and the company was wonderful. Many pictures were taken. I had an opportunity to talk with some Rotarians that I had only exchanged a few words with in passing and was disappointed I hadn’t had the opportunity to talk to them sooner! What’s more, I was pleasantly surprised when Abraham and Moses from YPO arrived with James Kenyeune from the Mbabaali orphanage. It was so great to see them again. Everything seemed to come full circle. I was sad when the party came to an end, it seemed like there wasn’t enough time to just visit. Looking back, that’s what I treasure the most, those times we had to just sit down in an informal setting, without an agenda, getting to know one another.
Thankfully we got home at a decent hour. I was looking forward to our final day, with my flight home waiting at the very end...
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| Thank you, Peace! |
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