Africa Top Ten: #4 - St. Francis Parish

Originally, our Anaka group was going to stay at a guesthouse belonging to the Anaka hospital, a 15-20 minute walk from Pope Paul IV SS Anaka, our school. After our very awkward hospital tour with Nelson Mandela (will explain later – wait for it, it’s a good one), we became eternally grateful to whichever Invisible Children Teacher Exchange coordinator vetoed that plan and sent us to our current accommodations at the St. Francis Parish.

I’ve written a little about the parish, but being here another week has bumped it up significantly on my list of Seriously Awesome African Stuff.

The Catholic parish is located adjacent to the primary school and just up the hill from the secondary school where my colleagues and I are located – we can grab a morning ‘donut’ or cob of corn (yes, seriously), walk out the door at 7:27, and make it in time for the 7:30 morning assembly. (Usually significantly early, as on Uganda time, the assembly doesn’t usually start until 7:50 or so… wouldn’t want to rush anything!)

The location is only at the bottom of the list of Things That Are Awesome About our Accommodation. Also on the list: Grace and Maureen, the amazing and beautiful Acoli women who cook breakfast and dinner for us during the week. Grace speaks very little English, but gets a kick out of our attempts to thank her in Lwo. (Rabbit, Grace, Rabbit.) Maureen’s English is stronger than Grace’s, and she’s been nothing but sweet to us when we are screaming about snakes and cockroaches, or freaking out about the possibility of lighting ourselves on fire with the propane stove. (What they must be saying about us behind our backs, I can only imagine, but it’s all deserved and justified!)

Also on the list are Father Martin and Father Leoncio, the two priests who run the parish. They’re both fairly young, in their late twenties or early thirties, and are perhaps two of the nicest men you will ever meet. When they are around, we sit down with them for nightly meals, and spend an hour or so swapping stories. When they’re not around, it’s because they’re attending a conference, visiting the sick, working on something for the parishes’ health clinic, teaching, studying, or doing some other incredibly worthwhile task. When they’re around, they’re super-willing to let us pick their brains about anything related to the culture, the people, the war, etc… and they’ve turned out to be two people here whose opinions we’ve come to trust immensely. When the caning incident happened, they were the first people we wanted to talk to, and they were able to explain the cultural significance of the act as well as dialogue about the problems that it creates in terms of the Ugandan educational system. Wise, wise men.

They’re also a blast. I’m Catholic, and my father’s uncle is a priest – Hi, Father Don! – so I’ve grown up knowing that “priests can be cool people too.” But these guys are some of the coolest I’ve met. Last weekend, two newly ordained deacons who were originally from Anaka were hanging around the parish for some celebrations, and so on Monday night, we had dinner and drank beers with a parish full of priests. They wanted to know if we had any “traditional American dances” (they were telling us how some of the children performed Acoli dancing for their ordinations) so we taught them the Electric Slide. Seriously. We then sat outside until way after dark, sharing stories and looking at the stars. It was Eric who reminded us at one point that we were sitting in Africa, at a parish, drinking beer with some seriously awesome priests… quite the reality check!

And if Catherine and Amy, the IC TEX program directors, have been our parents away from home, Father Martin and Father Leoncio have been our “parents-away-from-parents-away-from-home.” They’re always asking if things are ok and if our days went well, they make sure we’ve had enough to eat, they ask us to call about when we’ll return to them after the weekends so they won’t worry, and when they’re away on business, they always call to check up. Being an hour away from the rest of the IC group, it has really been a blessing to have these two amazing men looking out for us. (Yes, Eric, you have been wonderful too… but seriously, dude, if a lizard or bug or snake wandered into my room, I’m calling on the fathers before I call on you, buddy…)

The place itself is wonderfully simple, but so homey and comfortable. The girls share a room with four beds, a desk, and a sink (and very colorful mosquito netting) and we have plenty of space. Eric has his own room except for when there’s a priest overflow, and then he ends up with a roommate. There’s a kitchen with a table for 8 where Grace and Maureen keep us well fed. And the sitting room has continued to be our evening haven.

The IC house is fun on the weekends, especially since we get to catch up with the Gulu part of the group, but in terms of places to spend the week while teaching, we couldn’t have asked for anything better!