"Music to me means...'

July 27th! Wow! It's the 27th?!
Today is my final day- my final morning in Jinja! By no means of exaggeration, this morning is the most beautiful yet and I find myself in a state of bliss as I leave the house and walk in town. The past few day have ben uniquely beautiful with showers on and off- sometimes with deep clouds hovering close to land, and sometimes with a bold African sun that leaves rainbows falling into sunsets. However, my good old-fashioned, American heart loves a clear blue sky and slight cool breeze any day of the week! This morning's skies are so blue that the white puffs of clouds on the horizon almost look fake. I say good morning to Jesse, our grounds-keeper, for the last time, and I include a long babble about enjoying the 'beautiful day!' which I watched go right over his head (it felt good to say it at any rate!). The breeze floats me and my mug of green tea into town, along with about 50 pounds of weight divided between my two shoulders. On the left shoulder are about 25 books and curriculum for the teachers at MOHM and on the right are speakers and my lap top for my kid's activity today!
When I arrive to MOHM, I drop off the books to the teachers and receive the same kind of gratitude and excitement Americans give when they've been accepted to their first choice Ivy-Legue school, or they've landed their dream job, or they've just had a beautiful healthy baby. Sarah, Sophie, and Susan are hopping up and down and opening the books with wide and observant eyes, thanking me all the while. "Michelle and Fount got them for you,' I insist. "Tell Michelle we are so grateful. We love her. Please tell her 'Thank you'! and God Bless you!" they keep repeating. All I can do is smile.
I decide to spend my final day with the kids doing something FUN! I brought two boxes of 30 crayons each and 'art paper'. I explain that most of our past lessons were of the academic side of music- quarter notes, whole notes, Do, Re, Mi- and that music is 'SO much MORE!' I tell them that music is emotion; it can make you happy, excited, motivated, and if you aren't feeling well, music can lift your spirits! They seem unmoved and show only slight signs of comprehension, so I turn on my lap top (that got their attention) and play them a list of songs I made last night entitled 'MOHM' with artists like India Arie, Aretha Franklin, Dave Matthews (he's from South Africa you know?!), and some classical pieces as well. I pass out crayons and paper and ask them what music means to them? What does music look like? Is it colorful? Does it appear in nature, school, home? We all sit and draw pictures of 'what music means to us'! After they finish, some of the kids stand up and share what they drew. The colors that they crafted all over their papers are similar to the ones you see every day on a the streets of Africa. Streaks of pink and orange combined with green and blue made up the roofs of their pictured houses. They tell the class with giggles and laughter of sharing their work with the class (probably for the first time), "Music to me means the trees!" "Music to me means do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do!' Some kids drew houses, flowers, cats, trees, water, huts, clouds, fruit, (all of the above) and some of them drew me. ( :
In my example picture I explained that for me, I am surround by kids and trees, the ocean and rainbows all in a heart (don't laugh). I show them the picture of me in a heart with rainbow-colored children around me and music notes and 'Do, Re, Mi' floating in the sky above me. My stick figure of me had a yellow bun on the top of my head, and as the kids are sharing in their local language, I an barely hear the translation because I am fixed on that same stick figure with that same silly yellow bun reappearing on their papers. I tried, with little success not to cry several times today. Music means....me? I don't know of a better feeling.

We had to leave early as I am making my way to Kampala (before it gets dark). I tell Sarah (for the third time this week along) that I'm sorry, but we can't stay for lunch and that I'll be missing it because it's so delicious! She hears nothing but that I cannot have lunch, and she is upset with me. 'Coy' in America is very different than 'coy' in Uganda. In America, a person will tell you, 'No, you must join us for dinner. Really you are so welcome and I'll be bruised for a life-time if you deny me the joy of cooking for you', all the while knowing when to cease-fire. In Uganda, the people honestly do not understand schedules let a lone driving-at-night deadlines; to them they wonder what must be wrong -why would you ever choose to decline a host's meal?! Sarah sees herself as my host and was genuinely upset that I was not staying to eat with her. As she smiled at me, she said 'No, you must stay' although I had told her yesterday that I had to leave at 1 and couldn't stay for lunch so not to plan for me. During this conversation, my bodda driver arrived and this made the eating situation worse. Sarah realized that not only was I not going to be able to stay for lunch but that this was the last time I would see her for a long, long time, and only if we were lucky. She began to cry (which is very embarrassing for an African woman) and push me away forcefully, only to pull me back into her arms and hug me again. Her reaction was startling to me, because all though we freely say 'I Love You' to each other, and I truly do care for her deeply, it is strange for me to be so close after so short a time. I (shockingly) began to cry as well, and said 'Sarah, you're gonna make me cry'. She then abruptly pulled me in one last time, and ran into the school. I said my goodbyes to the kids, hugging them and crying, just the way I met them, and as I was getting on the bodda, Sarah peeked, puffy eyes and all, from behind the side of the building to wave goodbye. I sat on the back of the rocky-riding moped and tried to wave, smile, and cry simultaneously as I passed the hundreds of other village children calling out Mzungu after me.
'Music Mzungu' they called me on my Mac 'Photo Booth' recording of today's drawing activity.


More after Safari?
Love,
Music Mzungu,
Carly