Our reflection really inspired me for my post tonight. I feel like I have just been listing things we have been doing each day and not really discussing what has really effected and changed me while I've been here. I started to have a quote for each day when I first started to blog and for some reason, I guess because I've been so tired, I've sort of forgotten to keep it going. One quote from today from Jjemba is,
"Dance is more than entertainment"
also
"You'll have a more fulfilled life with dance"
Jjemba's lecture today was incredible. It is unfortunate that it fell right after lunch and had most of our group at a sleepy time, but I found myself very interested in his presentation. He explained his research he has conducted regarding dance in Uganda in relation to rehabilitation for children who have transformed from kids on the street to acceptable thriving citizens in the country. I was so happy he gave us a copy of his slides from his presentation as I viewed it as a blueprint for what we need to open a dance studio/center in an underprivileged community. It addressed how the children first are when they enter the dance space including the problems they bring with them such as addictions to alcohol, smoking pot, foul language, lack of confidence, violence, and lack of community and sense of belonging. He also focused on the change in the very first day of class and what that looks like. He shared the physical description of children entering class on the first day and completing the first "dance". Coming into the room with very sunken shoulders, crossed hands, head lowered, and guarded. The first "dance" they engage in is "Head, shoulders, knees and toes". He had the Ugandans lead the song and they actually sing it different than in America. It goes,
"Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes. Head, shoulders, knees, and toes, knees and toes. Eyes and ears and nose and mouth, head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes."
Anyway, I held onto the notes very tightly and can't wait to reread them when I get back to NY. Jjemba also gave me a copy of an exam he gives to his dance students at Makerere University. To my surprise the questions were VERY similar to the questions we are expected to know at NYU. I don't know why I thought that the education for a dance major at the University here would be so different, but I was happy to see that they are learning similar terminology and pedagogy.
Jjemba has his own center for dance that we will be going to on Sunday. The centers and projects that we have learned about since being here and visited are absolutely unbelievable. To think that they create these communities and spaces to strengthen the weak and less fortunate from nothing is unimaginable. Also, to be as successful as they have been is phenomenal. There is so little funding and means to go around the leaders and founders must be very creative in order for them to succeed. I am excited to see Jjemba's center and ask about how it began and sustains itself. Most of these centers barely squeak by. It gave me an idea that someday I may try to open a center similar to Uganda Heritage Root (UHR) based on the model and explanations he included in his presentation. Any sponsors?
Anyway, back to reflection. Tonight at dinner Deb asked us to individually share one or two things that have stood out to us while being here, or a comment or thought about our experience so far. I shared three things because one is just too few. Here were my thoughts so far:
- The priorities people have here are so different than America. Maybe it is just the family I was raised in, but I have always been taught and told to make enough money in your career to be happy and not have to worry about it. The economics of a good job are valued so high in American culture it is what I see many of my family members striving for as their top priority. They want to make as much money as possible so that they can then enjoy their family and friends, hobbies, travel, whatever it is comfortably. Here it seems as if that isn't a #1 priority at all. It is more of a priority to follow their dreams and do what makes them happy as well as remain in a community. Out of the 5 children in my family we all live in different states. Hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles split us apart because we are all striving to educate ourselves, start, and develop our careers. It makes me sad to think that this is what I have to go home to in a week. Community and family is so strong here and although I still feel very close to my 4 brothers in Utah, Texas, Nebraska and Pennsylvania they are still so far that I may see them only once or twice a year. That would never happen living here in Kampala. I know there is another side of this argument and that we are given many more opportunities to travel and develop ourselves, which is great, but it is sad that we don't have a sense of community more. Even reading this again I feel as if I didn't articulate my thoughts clearly enough because I think what me and my brothers being apart is great and we are benefiting greatly with where we are at, but just the importance of community here and their priorities with life are so different than ours in America.
- The second thing I have noticed the most while being here is the relationships. There is such a common understanding about relationships here it blows my mind. I was walking around the city today with Mariana and Brian and an interesting relationship comment was brought to my attention. Well, Mariana and I are both light skin (I am glow in the dark white, Mariana is from Bolivia) and we were walking with Brian (native Ugandan, dark skin) and people on Boda-boda's (motorcycle taxis) were saying things to him in Luganda. I asked him what they were saying and he said they were saying we were his sister-in-law's and that he should share his sisters with them. That comment alone clearly shows the common understanding that is intertwined within this culture of relationships. If we were to be placed in NYC and someone were to shout at me and say share your brother, speaking of Brian, I would be so confused and look at them like, clearly he isn't my brother biologically. Also, people introduce other people as their daughters or uncles or grandparents or relatives even though they aren't really related. If they have a close enough relationship then they are related. I know this happens in American culture, but it is very confusing here because you think people are mother and daughter only to find out there is no relationship whatsoever.
- The last thing I shared was the positive attitudes people have here. The other day Mariana asked Grace (one of our Ugandan teachers) how she was feeling in the morning and she responded with, "Life is good. Why be miserable when you can be happy?" Even this afternoon when Brian was taking us to the post office and showing us around town I kept telling him that he can go home and doesn't have to take us around, but he made sure to tell me that I need to stop feeling like I am putting him out and that he is happy and fine to show us around and help us. It was the first day all week pretty much that he has been able to leave at 3:30 and have the rest of the evening free to himself, yet he didn't mind to take us around for errands. So so generous. Also the dancing that we have been doing is only correct if we smile. They stress the importance of having fun and smiling. Bagonza said the other day, that "mistakes are in the past, you have to move on and forget it, it was in the past." Grace continued to say that if you make a mistake while dancing, it is up to you to make the next part even better and bigger. So many similarities in dance at an international level! We are dancing traditional Ugandan dances that have been danced in their history for so many years and yet they have so many similarities with their performance aspect. I love it. Also, even though times are tough we rarely if ever hear them complain. Even waiting in the taxi no one complained about having to wait for 14 people to get in, oh wait, I did. I asked the boy sitting next to me how long they usually wait for it to go since it had already been about 20 minutes. He told me 14 people as if no big deal and we'll go when we go. I bought a water from someone who brought drinks to our window and waited patiently and talked to my friend, who had a very difficult name but Conrad was somewhere in the mix. I invited him to our performance on Friday of next week and he said he would come. I need to be more patient. Ask my boyfriend, mom, dad, brothers, anyone that knows me, I am so impatient. I think I will try to remember "Life is good" whenever I find myself impatient and "Don't worry". These phrases will hopefully stay with me as I return back to the big apple. I hear these phrases over and over each day. I love it.
Those were the three things I shared at the dinner table, and we have about 13 people here from NYU all of which shared their own ideas and thoughts on their experience so far. There were tears and laughter and I felt overwhelmed with love and appreciation. I am so fortunate and happy to have this experience. I can't thank the people enough that has helped make this trip possible. It drives me crazy how expensive it is to get here, but I will try everything I can to come back someday, hopefully sooner than later. I would love to come back and teach for 6 weeks or something, that'll be my next project. I wouldn't feel right calling myself a teacher since I am just learning so much each day from them! I am SO happy I have over a week left. Hopefully it doesn't go too fast. I miss NYC, my boyfriend, friends, and family, but this experience is so unique and short it is hard to see it go so fast.
Our group
Back Row: Michael, Bagonza, Pricila, Alana, Kelly, Juddith, Kunal, Tacha, Grace
Middleish row: Sarah, Krissy, Michelle, Dana, Gaspare
Bottom row: Kim, Sylvia, Damian (sideways), Ashley, Jjembe, Brian, Herburt, Deb, Me, Mariana, Denis
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