Visiting, Rafting and Dancing

Nabagoye, the village we stayed in, has the largest Abayudaya population, but there are at least four other small villages where Abayudaya live that are even further "off the beaten path.  On Tuesday we visited two of them -- Namutumba and Nasenyi -- to deliver the oral histories that Hannah Nemer (a Mount Zion member who spent three months in Nabagoye last summer) wrote.  The papers reflect interviews Hannah conducted with community members in each village about their memories of being Jewish during Idi Amin's reign and what it is like to be Jewish now.  The smaller villages don't get as many visitors as Nabagoye, so they appreciated our being there, but we felt badly we couldn't spend more time with them.

Community leader in Namutumba

Meeting with community members in Namutumba

We left Nabagoye somewhat reluctantly as we had to say "goodbye" to wonderful new friends and felt like there is so much more we can learn from each other.  We left with many email addresses and lots of ideas that you will hear more about in the coming weeks and months.

On Wednesday we woke up before sunrise to drive to Jinja for whitewater rafting on the Nile.  We split up into two rafts - one with the "younger" folk and one with the "young at heart" folk.  Each raft had a guide in it, and rescue kayakers and a first aid raft followed us just in case!  We alternated between leisurely floating times, light and heavy paddling periods, and, of course, the rapids.  In between we got to jump, somersault or back flip off the rafts and swim, which felt great after tough paddling periods under the hot Ugandan sun.  The rapids are what give this part of the Nile its name - "The White Nile."  We went over eight rapids, mostly rated 4's and 5's (out of 6, which, by the way, is a waterfall!).  The rapids were exhilarating for the "young at heart" raft, skillfully directed by our guide "Big J," as waves cascaded into our raft and we made it through each rapid fully intact.  The "younger" raft had a different sort of excitement as their raft overturned on three of the eight rapids.  One young rafter reported that each raft upset led to "an adrenalin rush" and it was "so much fun!"  We later learned that the "younger" rafters had told their guide they were o.k. with tipping over whereas members of the "young at heart" raft had mentioned early on that they had no desire to overturn.  We have no pictures to share of our rafting experience because we couldn't bring cameras with us, and the pictures the rafting company took were not really worth the steep price.  Suffice it to say, the Nile and its banks were beautiful, and the expressions on our faces as we went over rapids or spilled out of rafts were sufficiently gleeful, surprised and/or terrified.

After some kabobs and drinks served by the rafting company, "Adrift," we drove to Kampala to see a show at the open air Ndere Theater.  The show featured traditional African singing, instruments and dancing.  The dancing is particularly astounding as the dancers can isolate and shake any one part of their bodies. They can also isolate and shake multiple parts of their bodies simultaneously in some mysteriously coordinated and rapid fashion for a LONG time.  No wonder many of them appear to have a negative percent body fat!  Anyone want to take an African dance class with me in St. Paul?

--Rachel Stock Spilker

Ndere Dance Troupe

Sunrise over Lake Victoria, Kampala

P.S.  I think something funky may have happened to the formatting of this post, but I won't know for sure 'til I publish it.  Seeing as it's late, and we're getting up early tomorrow, I think I'll post and let it be what it will be :-)