Vignettes of Uganda

[Editor's Note: This is the fifth and final article in a series of columns on Dr. Smith's three-week visit to Uganda, where she spoke at six seminaries.]

[Note from Dr. Smith: On July 1 the seminaries of Uganda are beginning a new element to their formation program, called the propaedeutic year. This will be a year to deepen their prayer, to gain a true understanding of the priesthood, to advance in self-knowledge, and to discern the authenticity of their formation. A segment of the program will be residential for six weeks and will cost $55,000 for 240 seminarians. (They will have to reduce the time if sufficient funds are not raised.) This is entirely for housing and food; faculty donate their time. Prayers and donations are greatly appreciated. All donations are tax-deductible. The Arlington Latin Mass Society is collecting the funds. Thank you very much!  https://www.givesendgo.com/ugandan-seminarians

(And thanks to Crisis Magazine for running this series!)]

“You are welcome!” This “pat” phrase is delightfully warm when uttered with a somewhat lilting cadence, a beautiful broad smile, and direct, sparkling eye contact—as it regularly is in Uganda, the home of a most hospitable and open people. I heard it often on my visit to Uganda. In previous columns, I wrote about the serious elements of my trip; today is about the nonserious moments and random observations.

The base of operations was St. Augustine Institute, a residence for priests and a retreat center in the capital city of Kampala. It was a lovely spot in the middle of the city, although the short road leading to it could provide adequate business to fund the early retirement of a chiropractor. (The main roads were paved well—paid for by the Chinese government. The side and back roads were nearly unnavigable.) 

A real highlight was visiting Fr. Alex’s family. It was a bit confusing since I met several mothers, brothers, and sisters although Father is an only child; Ugandans speak of their uncles and aunts as fathers and mothers and their cousins as brothers and sisters. 

The first “mother” we visited was a woman who met Fr. Alex while he was in seminary and worked several jobs to help support him. She was quite deliriously happy that he and a white woman from America came to visit her and her home. She couldn’t stop kissing and hugging me. While she had many religious items and pictures of Jesus, Mary, and the saints, a picture of Fr. Alex was the most prominent in the home.

We also visited Fr Alex’s biological mother, for whom Fr. Alex has built a home that presently houses her and 15 teenaged orphans. He hopes it will someday be home to nuns who will care for 100 orphans. He is buying up land where he grows tea, coffee, eucalyptus trees, pigs, goats, and chickens. This work is funded by the generosity of his American donors. He wisely invests everything he is given and is well on the way to becoming self-supporting. 

Most of the young persons were off at school; those at home killed and cooked a chicken for us while we were there.

We saw the kind of mud hut and the brick structure (no running water, no electricity) in which Father grew up. We saw a young man making bricks, the very work that Father did to help pay for seminary.  

Nearly every day, we drove through the capital city of Kampala, where we saw endless roadside stands that sold anything from fruit to furniture, all collecting red dust. Driving past zillions of roadside shops just seemingly thrown together, I observed that the goods at every shop were displayed in an orderly fashion but everything seemed off-kilter somehow. The secret to much of the stability of these places, and to the (false) impression of wobbliness, is the eucalyptus tree, which is tremendously strong even when bent. It is used for scaffolding and temporary supports for buildings in various stages of construction.  

Wherever there were shops—and there were shops in some of the most out of the way places—there were mannequins. Crocs were extremely popular (OK, so not everything was displayed in an orderly fashion).

Every once in a while, Ugandans used items in a peculiar fashion and sometimes showed an indifference to symmetry. Note the rug in a chapel at a shrine; the pictures, sign, and coffee arrangement in the faculty dining room.

One lovely moment was when we found this gentleman who manned the gas tank reading Scripture on his phone.

The ladies of Uganda were decked out both for special occasions and even daily and were happy to pose.

Riding through the countryside after staying for days in the city introduced me to the lushness of Uganda. One wonderful moment was getting the freshest and ripest of mangoes, a truly sublime experience. Ants were “out of season” (oh, so unfortunate), but we saw many anthills from which Ugandans harvest ants for snacks.

The Ugandans eat sweets only on the rarest of occasions; dessert is always fruit. Fr. Alex kindly satisfied my craving for ice cream and took me to get gelato at a local mall (said to be a monument to the president!). 

As we drove through a national forest, baboons amused us greatly.

I loved the time I was mobbed by students with lots of questions—mostly about how to come to study in the U.S.

The visits to the shrines of the Ugandans were, of course, inspiring. There is one shrine in Kampala where the first martyr was killed. The shrines for the other Catholic martyrs and for the Anglican martyrs were located where they were martyred. My travelling companion and fellow presenter Kevin Wells and I had always heard that the reason for the martyrdom was the refusal of pages for the tyrant to yield to his homosexual ways. While a senior page protected those whom the tyrant was after, the reason for the martyrdom was their refusal to worship him and their fidelity to Christ. Over a million attend the annual commemorative Mass.

The Anglican shrine had a terrific display of expressive, grisly statuary that really served to convey the horror of the martyrdom.

The visits we made to several friends and former parishioners of Fr. Alex were very special. One man is now making wines out of virtually anything that grows on his land; we tasted a few of them, and they were delicious. He also is an herbalist and gave me something that he promises will reverse my diabetes. (If it does, I will become a distributor and raise all the money needed by seminarians in Uganda, and then some!)

We did some typical touristy things. For instance, we stood astride the equator and visited the source of the Nile. And we enjoyed an evening of traditional Ugandan music and dance, though the faces of the beautiful Ugandans were more lovely than anything else.

And, of course, there was shopping for souvenirs and gifts and the fun distributing them when I returned. 

I have about 1500 pictures. Here are a few more.