A Cow and Chickens at Church……. OH MY!!

 

John and I have now been in Uganda close to 3 weeks. The climate has really surprised me as I had anticipated the weather to be much more hot and dry. We are enjoying sunny days of relatively low humidity. A few showers have passed through at night which has really made the evenings pleasantly cool.

 

The vegetation is surprisingly similar to what we have in Charleston. Oleanders are in full bloom as are mimosa trees, spider lilies, and black-eyed susans. The mangoes have just about finished falling from the tress, but passion fruit and bread fruit are coming into season. The avocadoes are divine! Trish and Newman have a tree in their yard that produces avocadoes as large as grapefruit. We have enjoyed them daily. Newman and Wilson knocked a few from the tree in their yard before the monkeys had a chance to enjoy them!

 

Newman is quite a gardener. He has cucumbers, tomatoes, squash and a variety of herbs planted. He rigged up an impressive irrigation system with some tubing that simultaneously waters his entire garden. The local children had never seen water shooting out of a perferated hose before …they were quite impressed (as was I)!

 

For the past two Sundays, we have worshipped at St. Matthew’s Cathedral, where John is doing his internship. It is a wonderful growing parish where 3 services are held each Sunday and about 1500 are in attendance between the three.

 

Last Sunday, John went at 7:50 to prepare to lay read at the 9:00 English service, the middle one, and Trish, Newman and I walked over a little later. When we arrived, the portico was full of people as was the church yard. As we stood there waiting for the early service to end, we were smiling and saying hello to the darling children playing on a swing in the churchyard.        Everyone was dressed in their Sunday best, and lots of visiting was going on. The 3 of us were the only “muzungus” (white people) there, so our presence was noticeable.

 

At one point, I looked toward the far end of the churchyard and noticed a large young black and white spotted cow walking freely toward the church. There is a pasture in that direction so I didn’t think too much of it UNTIL the cow proceeded to leap over a hedge and enter the churchyard.  To my surprise, no one but me seemed to be alarmed by this.

I commented in a rather excited voice to Trish and Newman, “Look at that cow! He’s coming this way!”  My eyes got big and I watched him closely.

(Anyone who knows me well is aware of my nervousness around animals. It is something that I inherited from my dear Mother. It does not matter that John and I lived on a farm prior to moving to Nashotah House. It is what it is, and I try to hide it, but today-- I could not!)

 

As the cow moved through the crowd, people looked up from visiting and moved away a little but no one reacted like I thought they should, (like with alarm…… running and seeking shelter). Instead, it seemed to me that they were reacting like this was a normal occurrence, and maybe it was!

By this time, the cow was mooing and proceeded to jump over a few more hedges and was excitedly kicking up his hind legs. He was getting more spirited than I was comfortable with. I said to Trish and Newman, “Come on!”, and then quickly left their company.

 

I scurried over to the front portico steps of the church. My eyes were bigger than those of a deer caught in headlights, and I was ready to make a quick entry into the church if need be. People along side of me began to chuckle (as did my children who were still comfortably standing several yards away). A common expression that Ugandans use to say “I am afraid” is to say, “I am fearing”, and honey child, I was fearing!

 

I watched the cow jump the final hedge row, proceed from the church yard, and move on down the dirt road to pastures far beyond. I was really glad to see him exit, and to my surprise, the locals did not seem very alarmed by what has just taken place.

Making my way back to Trish and Newman I could see they had thoroughly enjoyed my reactions to the “holy cow”.

 

Luckily, the first service was just finishing and we were now ready to take our pew inside. We were seated in the front row and I calmed myself down by saying my prayers. After a few deep breaths, all was well and the processional hymn began. It was an English service that uses a power point presentation so it is familiar and easy to follow.

  

During the latter portion of the service, it came time for the collection. A large collection basket on a stand is moved to the front and center of the church. People come up from their pews and put their monetary offering into the basket. I noticed a few bags sitting at the base of the collection basket. Some were filled with onions from a garden, some with mangoes, or fresh eggs, some with bananas, or tomatoes.  These too were offerings that had been brought, and I was thinking how nice this is and also how very biblical to offer the ‘first fruits’. 

 

As I looked away, Trish nudged me and motioned toward the bags of produce. There in the midst of about half a dozen bags sat 2 live chickens whose feet had been bound!

Next, I saw another live chicken that someone had stuffed into a green plastic bag. The bag began to hop and move along the front of the church. A woman from the choir got up and put the bagged chicken behind the lectern to “secure” it. By now my eyes were getting that wide-eyed look like they had back when the cow made her entry.

 

Just then, a man from the choir got up and began to auction the bags of produce to the highest bidder so that the money might be put into the collection basket. It was quite entertaining and the items went quickly, and now it was time to auction off the chickens,  (remember we are sitting on the front row, and the auction is going on was about 3 feet away from us). The woman from the choir who had secured the bagged chicken under the lectern pulled off the wrap from the chicken’s legs and was now holding it by its feet for display as the auctioneer drew bids from the congregation.

 

I will have to say that I have never seen anything like this and my emotions ranged from amazed and entertained, to a little “fearing” each time the woman moved close to us with the chicken.  (I think I began to squeeze Trish’s hand and she informed me that I was hurting her.) Finally, the auction was over, and my heart was racing after all that had taken place.

    

All aspects of the service, from the music, to the preaching, to the auction, made for a lively Sunday and quite a worship experience!  I can truly say that we are learning a lot and are embracing this special time here in the town of Masindi with our children and the wonderful parishioners who have welcomed us so very warmly into their community. May God bless them all immensely!

Blessings,

Patti