Bunabumali

There is not much to say about this past weekend that Siena hasn’t already said better, but I’ll prattle on anyway.

A 7-hour bus/taxi journey with multiple transfers, detours and delays (the usual), then a hike through the hills until we reach Bunabumali. Norman’s orphanage is perched halfway up the hillside, surrounded by green mountains, every inch of them cultivated. The kids sing for us, most dressed in little yellow uniforms. We hand out a ball we’re donating, and play for hours. We sleep in a dusty hut, listening to Norman’s brothers rustle around in their hammocks through the mud walls in the room over. Woke up to an insistent rooster at 4:30am. Not even bloody dawn yet! So much for that theory. Climbed the mountain, finding houses all the way to the summit. At the top truly feels like the middle of nowhere, even though I’m sort of standing on someone’s front lawn. On the way down, we meet Norman's excitable and energetic grandmother who nurses her shin splints as she asks me to marry her and take her back to Canada (awkward). Then I get acquainted with the village bathroom, having been handed two sheets of crumpled looseleaf paper to use as TP.

Just before dinner, Norman suddenly brings up the topic of circumcision as I’m biting into a mango. His tribe is the only one in Uganda that does it, but not until the boy turns 19! He was covered in yeast, and not allowed to sleep or bathe for 3 days. Apparently the idea is to make you so pissed off you don’t even care if your tip gets snipped. Then the entire village gathers around (Norman says 30,000 attended his), perform some ceremonies, and do the deed. The boy musn’t move or make a sound. And then you’re a man, except you have to wait a few months to heal. Norman said the only truly difficult part of the whole process was “After, when you see a very nice girl and you get happy down there, it hurts sooo much.”


Apparently our stay was only the 3rd time white folk had ever slept in the village. The usual curious looks everywhere we go. Norman’s family is exceedingly gracious and thank us profusely for coming, but they reluctantly admit that our presence might make the neighbours jealous. When we leave, Norman’s sister does her hair, puts on her best dress, polishes her shoes and walks us to the bus stop. She talks to Siena about her dream of attending Columbia University.