Location: MISR, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
Since arriving in Kampala, my expectations have been met in some ways and completely defied in others. Having had some experience in Africa before, I am surprised at the sheer number of things that I had not anticipated about Ugandan life. While I had indeed expected the people of Uganda to be fairly religious, for example, I had greatly underestimated the utter centrality of religion to Ugandan life: Religion is absolutely everywhere here. In fact, just this evening I was surprised to see a portrait of the Pope printed on the bottle opener that a waiter used to remove the cap from my Schweppes Novida. Though I certainly had not expected that Benedict would be joining me for my meal, this had not been the first time that religion had made an appearance at dinner during our time in Kampala. Indeed, this feature of Ugandan life was made quite clear to me very early on. We had been here for less than a day, in fact, when our friend and guide Ronald Mukasa asked that I pray before the group enjoyed its first authentic Ugandan meal. Though I often pray with my family before meals at home, I was rather uncomfortable with praying in front of the group, especially because I knew little of their own stances on religion at this point so early on in the program.
My reluctance may in part be attributed to the fact that religion seems to be a much more private feature of an individual’s life in the States. At least where I am from, people really try to avoid bringing up their religion on a regular basis out of a fear that they may disaffect those who do not share in their own beliefs. Even at Northwestern where students seem to be fairly tolerant of religion, discussions of faith are often confined within the walls of student group meetings and church services. Although my own background had made me uncomfortable with doing so, I proceeded to pray in front of my peers to avoid the possibility of offending Ron.
Though I was initially uncomfortable with how open Ugandans are with expressing their religious beliefs, I was given a much better understanding of this feature of Ugandan life when a flat tire left our group stranded in rural Kakooge. When some of my colleagues attempted to speak to a group of local children, the children initially refused to respond, letting on that they had no knowledge of the English language. Though Kirabo attempted to overcome this language barrier by employing some of the limited Luganda that we had learned up until that point, even her greetings were met with silence. After the children were able to overcome their shyness, however, their behavior took a complete turnaround and they invited the group to join them in playing games and revealed that they were in fact able to speak our language. The centrality of religion to Ugandan life once again became apparent when, after those in our group who accepted the invitation were exhausted, the children of Kakooge asked if they could pray for us. Though a number of us were clearly taken aback by their question, we of course accepted their offer. The importance of religion to the people of Kakooge became apparent again after I began to explore the town further with a few other group members. A man wearing a kufi approached us, and, after we told him a little about the program and ourselves, he said something along the lines of, “May Allah bless you.” Though I had been uncomfortable with praying in front of the group because I wanted to avoid disrespecting my peers, my brief time in Kakooge suggested that Ugandans are so willing to share their religion precisely because it is one of the most powerful ways that they can show their respect of others. Indeed, thought they were reluctant to share even a few words with us at first, the children of Kakooge successfully conveyed their newly established approval by offering to share their faith. While in the United States we are pressed to avoid bringing up prayer and faith in a public setting to circumvent the possibility of excluding others, the people of Uganda seem to perceive religions openness as a powerful tool of inclusion.
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