Shabbat in Nabugoye

On Friday morning, we departed from the Mbale Resort Hotel to move into the Nabugoye Vilage guest house for the weekend. We would become immersed very quickly in the village life, preparing for the Shabbat meal, participating in services, playing with the kids and enjoying a warm welcome by the community. The guest house is a palace compared to the homes of the Abuyadaya. It is beautifully constructed, with about a dozen dorm style rooms, a kitchen, and a common dining room and the office of Isaac, the hotel manager and our tour guide for the week. His office also serves as the Abuyadaya gift shop. The guest house welcomes visitors from North America and Israel and we enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with about a dozen other visitors. They have a guest book with names that read from across the globe. It is its own center for Jewish life and was constructed by B'chol Lashon, which Rebecca will be supporting for her Bat Mitzvah project.
It is a rare moment in the life of a synagogue when it receives a new Torah. We are fortunate that Rabbi Darren from Phoenix carried with him a Torah for the Abuyadaya community. Rabbi Gershom invited us to a 10 am Hachnasat Torah (welcoming of the new Torah) in the Nabugoye synagogue. We all know Jewish time. You may know that Africa time is twice as slow as Jewish time and in Nabugoye, we experiences Jewish Africa time. When we finally started, Rabbi Darren led the davening (praying). Then Rabbi Gershom asked part of the congregation to go to the nearby Yeshiva (school) building, get the new Torah that was being housed there, and begin a processional to its new home in the synagogue. The rest of the congregation took the other four Torahs from the ark and we danced with the Torahs outside until we met the group with the new Torah. Outside, under a huppah, we sang and danced with the Torahs. The music was classic Abuyadaya melodies, which are rhythmic, soulful, spiritual and uplifting and we can't wait to play it for you when we return home. We danced all of the Torahs back to the synagogue and read a few verses from the new scroll. All of the Torahs were placed back in the ark together. It was a very moving ceremony and we have it all on video. Just ask!
We moved into our rooms in the guest house. Our family had the room with a bunk bed and queen bed and shared bathrooms. Of course, there are mosquito nets on all of the beds. It brought us back to our college days..almost! Some of the other guests we met were Linda and Sarah, a mother and daughter who had just come from working in an orphanage in Kampala for the week for Sarah's Bat Mitzvah project. They were visiting for Shabbat from New York City and Sarah, Rebecca and EJ hung out for much of the weekend, playing with the children of the village (Christian, Muslim and Jewish.) In this community, all of the children play together and especially loved playing with their new friends. The kids would wait as we left for an outing and clap when we returned. They often chased after the van, waving, laughing, smiling and calling for their friends by name. We also met Dr. Liz from Chicago, who is here as a volunteer for three weeks in the Abayudaya medical clinic. She is friends with Natan Fenner and when we introduced ourselves, she said you're from San Rafael, aren't you? Small world. Holly arrived from Fort Bragg. She works for the coffee coop, Thanksgiving Peace, which sells free trade Ugandan coffee, harvested by Jewish, Christian and Muslim farmers working together. The coffee business was started by JJ, who is Rabbi Gershom's older brother and one of the featured singers in the Abayudaya music group. We met three Israelis, who set up tents in front of the guest house, but ate all meals with us. There was a group from Chicago, who came on a Kulanu trip and also ate some meals with us at the guest house.
For lunch, we had our choice, rice or potatoes or rice and potatoes or potatoes and rice. For dinner, we had our choice of rice or potatoes. We also had vegetables. We passed on the occasional fish head, though Shayna was appropriately grossed out. We broke out our fifty pounds of Trader Joe's snacks and traded peanut butter for skin ointment for Shayna. Thank you Dr. Liz.
We helped prepare for Shabbat by peeling kilos upon kilos of potatoes in the area behind Rabbi Gershom's house. It was all of the women hard at work. They are the pillars of this village, doing all of the manual labor from carrying water and wood to cooking and cleaning and taking care of their many children. We took a quick drive to another Abayudaya village (there are 6 villages: Nabugoye is the main village where we stayed.) We toured the synagogue and then heard that Ezekiel, the oldest Abayudaya, was sitting outside. At age 96, he remembers the king, who created the Abayudaya in 1919. We all had our picture taken with him. Across the road, we visited the coffee coop, where we smelled vanilla and coffee beans and learned about their business. We are the newest fans of this coffee, which is marketed in California and across the US and we'll look forward to serving you a cup
when you are next in our home.
Back to the guest house for Shabbat clean up and prep (just like camp..Ruben, you'd LOVE it here! Vivien, not so much!) We lit Hanukah candles and Shabbat candles before starting services with the community, where men and women sit across the aisle from each other though women lead services and read from the Torah. We returned to the guest house for dinner....I had rice and potatoes. So did Rebeca, so did Shayna. Marc ate his Trader Joes nuts.
We were looking forward to Shabbat morning services because Rebecca and EJ would be reading Torah. Since they had no Cohen, they asked Marci, a Levite, to give the first aliyah, which happened to be the aliyah for Rebecca. Marci and Rebecca got to stand together while Rebecca chanted from Miketz. We thank Zvi for tutoring Rebecca and teaching her the trope. Since she has not yet received her Bat Mitzvah talit, she wore Marc's as she read Torah. Marc and Zvi were also honored with aliyot. Gershom showed Rebecca great honor when he told the entire community about her Bat Mitzvah (he even remembered the date) and the project she selected for the Abayudaya community to help build the new medical clinic.
We spent a relaxing afternoon. The girls played with their new friends. Marci chatted with people. Marc slept for four hours. Shabbat shalom!