Ishaka Visit

Yummy Food

I’ve been in Ishaka for the last 6 days visiting Dr. Sam for his birthday and some of our friends. Ishaka is in the western side of Uganda about an hour or so from the town of Mbarara. Kampala International University Western Campus is located there and that is where Sam goes to university. Ishaka is an interesting town or I’d really call it a village because if it wasn’t for the university its population would be small. KIU brings about 2,000 students to the area to study various courses, but the campus is mostly comprised of medical students; nurses, x-ray techs, pharmacy and doctors. With Ishaka having a mixture of very local village traditions and peoples and university students with their open views and education, it brings many differences of culture, but they manage to live together.
I had an enjoyable trip but one of the most memorable afternoons was Saturday when Sam and his friend, Roland, took me to Kabagarama which means in Ancholi “let them relax”. Roland drove us out of town to a dirt road, not a surprise in Uganda, and we drove back into the pasture land and woods to a, open field surrounded by many mud thatch huts. We parked, along with the many other cars, in the field and walked over to one of the huts. There we found men cutting and cooking pork and ladies cooking vegetables. It was a “pork joint”, as the locals call it, but there were many of them. The one we went to was Roland’s favorite. Sam and Roland ordered 2 kilos of pork and selected the cabbage and tomatoes for the veggies. Then we set under the thatch on a bench, took drinks, talked and relaxed.
A friend of Sam’s pulled up on his Honda 250 Enduro motorcycle and we joked about me driving it. Of course I couldn’t let the joking go, so I proved to them that I could drive a motorcycle. I got on and drove around the pasture. I think all of the people were surprised to see a muzungo, let alone a woman, driving a motorcycle. It didn’t seem like long before our dinner was ready, but I was so relaxed it could have been an hour or more. The food of pork cooked with cabbage, carrots, onions, and tomatoes accompanied with matooke and millet bread was amazing and very flavorful. We sat; talk some more walked around the grounds, meet people and enjoyed the day.
I thank God for days like that, being able to enjoy His people, another culture, the beauty of nature and life. Thank you God!