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| Kick'n it Kampala Style |
A little less than a year ago we took our son Ian out of his
school, away from his Pittsburgh neighborhood, friends, and church and shipped
him across the ocean to start a new adventure in Uganda. Here’s a little check in I had with him
to see how he’s doing, what he’s learned, and what he thinks about his African adventure.
How are doing?
Good (we’re off to
a solid start)
What do you think
about Uganda? What’s your favorite part?
Hmmm… I like going on
Safari and going Swimming.
When did you do that?
Well we went up to
Murchison (Murchison Falls National Park), and we can go swimming anytime
because it’s always sunny here.
What was the coolest
thing you saw on Safari?
I would say
crocodiles.
Did you wrestle any of
them?
Noooo
Where did you see
them?
When we were on the
boat
Do you think it would
be fun to be crocodile?
Maybe (He’s very
political… doesn’t want to get boxed in on the crocodile issue)
(At this point our interview is interrupted by my 2-year-old
daughter, Naomi, yelling: “I want ice cream”)
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| Ian and his class mates doing the "Mexican Hat Dance" |
What’s the biggest
difference that you have seen between here and our home in the U.S.?
It has walls
Walls?
Yeah all the houses
have walls around them, and a lot of places are made out of tree trunks and mud
cause there’s a lot of poor places (Not exactly how I would describe it but
I see what he’s getting at)
What’s different that
has been a nice surprise?
It’s really sunny (wouldn’t have thought it would have been a surprise that it’s sunny on the Equator)
It’s really sunny (wouldn’t have thought it would have been a surprise that it’s sunny on the Equator)
(Naomi is again informing us of her interest in having Ice
Cream… actually that sounds pretty good right now)
What do you miss
about Pittsburgh?
There are a lot funner
things to do there than here. And
I miss them and chicken nuggets… good chicken nuggets (Anyone want to mail us
some Chick-fil-a?).
What are the funner
things you miss?
Play places. You know like… the mall
(Of all the things he misses the mall… I’ve failed as a
father. Naomi chimes in repeating,
“I want to go to the Mall”)
Interview Intermission
while I try to stop Naomi from screaming about the mall.
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| Welcome to the Jungle |
So you were saying
that you miss fun places.
I miss the Children’s Museum. I miss going with my friends. Especially
my friend Sebastion.
(He misses museums and friends. I guess I haven’t totally
failed as a father)
What do you think
about the work that mommy does here?
How would you describe her job to other people?
I like it
How would you explain
what she does?
She helps people when
people try to take their land and push down their houses
Sounds like the big
bad wolf blowing down houses
Noooo…. the big bad wolf doesn’t exist
How does she help?
She sends people to
arrest them, but I don’t know the rest
What do you want to
do when you grow up?
I want to be a storywriter.
What kind of stories?
(Naomi starts yelling, “I’m hungry”)
Well I haven’t started
yet
Tell me about some of
the characters you have made up
Well there’s Goo Man
he shots Goo out of his hand to stop villains
Fire Ball shoots fire
out of his hand. He’s a hero. (I think I’d go with Fire Ball
instead of a guy who shoots snot out of his hand)
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| The neighborhood gang admiring the "Dawntreader" |
(Naomi interjects repeatedly yelling, “I want to watch dora … super baby dora”. This results in our third intermission)
If you can be any
super hero who would you be?
Can I be two? Green Lantern and Super Man…. their
powers together are really powerful and I would stop bad guys
Who would win a
battle between both of them?
Super Man is the most powerful
and green lantern is second.
