Shifting

Here in Ug, the term they use for moving is “shifting”. For the second time since moving here I have shifted. Just before leaving for the holiday, Uncle told us to pack our things, that he was moving us: destination unknown. I struggle with the unknown. I struggle with change. By now I am sure you realize that I struggle with lots of things, in fact, life seems to be a struggle- can you relate?? I think we all missed the “easy road” life, but it is only on days when I am not tired, emotional, or afraid, I appreciate the opportunities the “road less traveled” provides.

Anyway, we did not expect to reach the village early Sunday morning, our original plan was to arrive Friday mid day, shift our things to the new place and be settled in time for school Monday morning. Thanks to changing plans, uncontrollable road conditions and “The Hike”, we reached our packed room and tiredly dug out a blanket each to roll ourselves in.

Waking a few hours later we mentally prepared ourselves for the task which lay ahead: one day to move all our worldly possessions up the hill to the school (to a recently vacated teacher’s house) without the help of a truck. Mollie generously offered to lend us a hand, so the three of us girls piled as much as we could carry on our backs and in our arms, and on sheer will power made our way up the hill. Our tired bodies were beaten into submission by the need to accomplish our task.

Reaching our new home (which we had never entered before) we held a pow-wow and determined that we needed help. Rebekah held down the fort, sweeping out cobwebs and killing spiders while Mollie and I rounded up some boys. The same ones we made “The Hike” with were again asked to help their Teacher and Aunt. We made one more trip up the hill with the basics, and decided to wait till the truck came for the remainder.

The day was spent cleaning, trying to find clean clothes for the week ahead, trying to get the ‘kitchen’ set up so we could make food, etc. (No fast food here, no microwaves, not even cold cereal, it really is a different world. )

Just before the sun went down the truck came and so I headed back down the hill with a new group of students to help carry the remainder of our house down the stairs. Moving is different here, we don’t have a lot of furniture or really a lot of typical house items, we have a 25kg sack of beans, two burlap sacs of books, etc. The truck rumbled down the hill with a rambunctious group of boys ready to show off their muscles and move our bookshelves, tables, chairs, etc. With all the help it was accomplished quickly and efficiently.

So now we are living up at school. We have been here for only three days, but already I am loving it. I love being near the kids and being able to run home quickly for a book or a band aid. It is great being back with them too, the holiday was nice, working with the younger kids was a good change of pace for a few weeks, but being back with this group is great. The change in these kids from last term is noticeable, I look forward to seeing what this term brings.