Mirror Mirror on the Wall What is a reflection of this Culture?

Hey Everyone,
Things are going great. I am feeling a 100% better. On Friday, I had a
really good conversation with one of the teachers at the CSB. It was
great. He gave a wonderful insight on the people here. For instance,
it's an terrible and not surprising that women are considered property
here. Therefore, the more wives you have the higher you are in the
social economic ladder here. Most marriages are not official
licenses…A man pays a dowry to the women's family for the marriage. In
fact, there is a ceremony where the two families will actually haggle
over the price and everything. It's really interesting. It amazes
that there are still places in the world where women are still
consider property. This place is remote but there are cell phones
here. So how remote can it be? I have started to teach my bio labs in
the afternoon. I love it. It is so much fun and I really do enjoy
seeing the young minds work. THANKS so much for your help with the
lab. (You know who you are!) We just finished a lab studying how
diseases spread through a population. It is quite fitting here because
they have experience first hand a deadly disease, Ebola, spreading
through the district here. Also it is a good lab to discuss how
sensitive the issue of being positive can be. For instance, I
corrected a student who said that it was good bad when the test came
back. I told him that he should say positive and negative because the
disease could be a very serious issue like HIV. Saturday, I hiked up
the mountains of Uganda. It was quite the experience. I can't even
begin to talk about it. Some things are better said in person. But
the sites were very beautiful and I enjoyed most of it. I cramped up
and the high attitude was messing with me most of the time but I
still enjoyed the experience. How often can someone say that they hike
through the mountains of Uganda right next to the DRC boarder?
Seriously, I wish I got more pictures but it was raining and the
forest canopy made it difficult light to take photos. The forest was
something from the time of Dinos. I believe the other interns got
some good shots. This place is so beautiful yet full of disease and
poverty. It is so hard to believe that is possible to see God's
beautiful creations and then to see so much dirt and filth.
My interactions with the neighborhood kids have been fairly positive.
Most of them know who I am now and I know most of their names. They
often come by to see if I want to play or burrow a basketball, soccer
ball, or cards. The one thing that is hard for me to deal with is the
fact when I sit down and try to play cards with them they love to
cheat. Countless of times, we have told them to stop or we will quit
the game. Yet they still do it. I don't know why this is. I think it
is a reflection of this cultural and the society here. It pains me to
see that kids are learning how to cheat at such a young age and have
no guilt about it either. Also for the first time (for me), I got two
kids who caught up with me on the way out of the door. They asked me
for some bread. This situation apparently for most people is fairly
common. I have been here for about a month and this is first time it's
happened to me. I told them we don't have any. We actually ran out of
bread this weekend. I don't know how to approach this request but I am
definitely going to pray and talked to long-term missionaries about
dealing with this situation. I hope I will obtain the knowledge to
deal with this problem. We leave for Sudan soon in a week actually. I
am excited. I will definitely give you a better idea what is up about
the trip when I can.
Peace,
-J
The definition of the African soccer player: At Christ School, I play
soccer with many of the students and this one was the definition of
what it means to be a soccer player here. He was epitome of soccer
player. He wore one shoe for his dominant foot and played with no
shoe on his other foot. I thought it was pretty fitting. Random I know
but still great.