My Homestay

On Friday I finally met my homestay family that I will be staying with for the next 6 weeks. Earlier in the week we received a questionnaire which gave us info on our parents, how many children, where they lived etc. I was both anxious and excited to meet them and to see what my home was going to look like. Each of the homestays are considered to be middle class families, but the definition of middle class is vague here; your home could potentially be a shack or like my home in Florida. When I walked into the SIT office to meet my family, my little sister was staring at me with the world’s biggest smile so I knew she was mine. I have 6 members in my family. My dad, Moses is an accountant and my mother, Victoria is a secondary school (high school) teacher. They have 4 children: Timothy (5), Grace (6), Elijah (12) and Ann (15) who is in boarding school so I haven’t met her yet (Apparently it is quite common to send children to boarding school so that their child can get the best education possible; it’s like the equivalent of sending our children to private school). We also have a house help (this is also extremely common, kind of like a live-in nanny) named Olivia. My African name is Namoli, which means flower in Luganda. In the Buganda culture each family belongs to a clan and my clan name is Enkima (the red tailed monkey clan!).

 My family lives in the Kyanja zone of Kampala, which apparently was considered bush area until about 10 years ago. When I arrived at my home I was extremely surprised to find that my new home was very nice and even bigger than my home in the US. I even have my own room and bathroom which I’ve never had before. It’s a great feeling to have little siblings. The 12 year old is constantly asking me questions about the US, my life and my interests. He is really interested in science so we have lots of nerdy stuff to talk about. Timothy and Grace are adorable, but literally never leave me alone. Timothy is constantly going through my stuff and Grace is always wants to play rock paper scissors. The first night at my homestay, Timothy kept walking into my bedroom while I was sleeping. At 4 am I woke up to find him staring at me through the bed net and then again at 7am because he wanted to play. I learned very quickly how to lock my door and ask for privacy (otherwise I will always have two little children glued to my sides). My family is very welcoming and they love introducing me as their daughter everywhere we go. My family speaks very good English and they are trying to teach me a bit of Luganda along the way. I’ve noticed aside from many cultural differences, there are many commonalities between us.

There are a few things I’ve definitely had to adjust to in my new homestay. First off, I have to bathe using a water basin (aka a large bowl that I fill with water) and the water is cold (but because of the heat, I definitely don’t mind). The meals we eat are absolutely huge and in this culture you are supposed to always finish your plate. Most of the foods we eat are also starch based and heavy foods, lacking the amount of vegetables I am used to. Because of this I’ve had to start asking for smaller portions and I’ve just accepted that I may gain a few pounds. In Ugandan culture, being larger is considered beautiful so gaining weight is thought to be a good thing because it means you are able to eat well. It was difficult to explain to my family that the standard of beauty is different in the US and I’ve definitely had to adapt to the food. I also have to wake up at 5:30am to get to class on time every day. The jams are so bad that it may take me 2 hours to get to school in the morning. Lastly, the lack of air conditioning has required me to adjust to the heat (about 80-90 degrees), and just accept that I’m going to be disgusting all the time.

I have really enjoyed my homestay so far and I am excited to learn more about their lives and learn more about Ugandan family life. I am blessed to have such a comfortable home compared to other homes that are considered middle class yet don’t have running water or an indoor kitchen. I am going to a traditional wedding this weekend so I will get to meet the rest of the extended family and experience another aspect of life here.

Picture of my home

Picture of my room. (bed net on the left)