1/10-11/14: SHABBAT ON NABUGOYE HILL

Friday, January 1O-11, 2014

New Vice-President Dafnah Sizomu and President Samson of the annual Abayudaya Teen gathering

Rabbi Gershom Sizomu & family

Yehudah went off to the clinic early with Israel, who was also taking his children to get hair shaves.  They all have very short hair.  I stayed back, had breakfast, wandered around to see what was happening as I was supposed to do some dance and CL Training.  

 

 

The guys were all concerned because the speaker system was down.  So I just organized myself, called people to dance.  About 20 plus several youngsters gathered together and we did Hinei Mah Tov, Mayim, Happiness Runs and the Hokey Pokey.  Getting hot early.  Then I went to the tent and invited people to join me for a second CL Training.  19 people gathered plus myself made 20, down from the 80 from the day before.  I introduced the second lesson: facts, feelings, values and body language.  The Namatumba crew helped and I wound up with a group of boys, two of whom spoke mostly only Luganda.  The stories were simple yet strong.  Two of them have health problems.  

A university graduate, a relative of Aaron, who lives in Nangolo, where JJ Keki lives, came up to me, saying how much he loved the work and how he would like to continue working with a group.  I decided to give him our final give-away book, so each of three communities has a book.  His plan is to raise rice to feed more people, to create a business plan, start small and grow.  He is another remarkable fellow here.

Earlier I made a Facebook Business Page for Isaac from Namatumba for his fancy hats and Kippot.  Then he introduced me to his group of women who make the products.  

Came back, had lunch, helped with cleaning the dishes, folding clothes, putting a new sheet on our bed, then working with Yehudit on a letter to Miko to become a b'at mitzvah pal.  We went to send it and the power was down.

Now the power is back up and we will go back to the guest house!

SHABBAT ON NABAGOYE HILL

Kabbalat Shabbat had some issues getting started. The power had been off awhile, but there must have been a problem with the pump. The water tank for the entire community was empty! The young children of our hosts offered to carry water which wasn't an unusual task. The Rabbi called the Mbale Municipal Government which was going to send a water truck, but when would it come? Shabbat baths were simply done with a token amount of water. (The truck arrived right as services ended, to everyone's delight!)

The service was interspersed with psalms and prayers in Lugandan. We knew L'cha Dodi and one other. Surprisingly - and to our delight, Rabbi Gershom played guitar and there were three percussionists - two drummers and a tambourine player.  The Rabbi urged everyone to dance with power during circling around the bima.  Many people danced together and I followed two boys who are good dancers, so we had fun and it seemed acceptable.  After services, we met the people who had just arrived from the Kulanu delegation, 5 Americans and 1 Australian. (Kulanu is an organization in NYC which finds and supports little known Jewish communities all over the world. Along with B'chol Lashon, they have been helping the Abayudaya help themselves for the past 20 years.) A Bet Din had been held that morning and 5 young people were converted to Judaism. The next morning they would receive the honor of being called to the Torah for their first Aliyah. A tallis was held over them, a la chuppah, as they were blessed and brought into the community. 

The Rabbi stressed singing "with power" and the synagogue resounded with the voices of 100 youth.  Services were led by young Talmud students, including Samson from Kenya.  Congregations are forming in Kampala, someplace in Western Uganda and in a small community in Kenya.  Samson gave the Torah talk and invited discussion about what it meant to be "redeemed".  This was on Saturday.  Friday eve the topic was what it meant to be out of one's comfort zone, the theme of the youth weekend, also inviting comments.

Shabbat services were about 3 hours long and the entire Torah portion was read. Beschalach includes the crossing of the Reed Sea and the drowning of the Egyptian pursuers, the first complaints of the Israelites (weren't there enough graves in Egypt that you had to bring us out here to die), and the bestowing of manna. One thing we noticed was that anyone can recite Kaddish. There's no formal yahrzeit practice in the synagogue. It is instead something that is done in your own home. One our fellow Americans pointed out that it was an Ashkenazi practice and called by a Yiddish word not a Hebrew one. 

The Jewish women from the Women's Association had requested that Joanie do a CL Training with them Saturday afternoon, so Joanie worked with about 20 women for 2 hrs on 2 compassionate listening exercises, while Yehudah took the pilgrimage hike to Semei Kakungulu's grave (he died in 1928) on an adjacent hillside. He found it quite moving to be with a large group of young people from the community who were mostly making their first visit. The building containing his kever also had the grave of his eldest son and one other grave. Eva taught the Birkat HaMazon, blessing after meals, in a nearby field. On the way back, we ran into Seme's last remaining son (he has several surviving daughters but we didn't meet or hear about them.) He had been introduced at the end of services, an intelligent, warm man full of gratitude. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The CL Training was challenging because several women only spoke Luganda, but the rabbi's wife translated.  After a short meditation, three women who had not felt well reported that they were cured, so they wanted Joanie to return.  They laughed much, especially with the dances at the end.  They want to meet again Thursday afternoon and again on next Shabbat.  We shall see.

Havdalah was wonderful, with young children holding the Havdalah candle.  Yehudit held hands with both of us, but Joanie pushed her into the center to be with the children.  After was a wild performance, very loud speaker system with strong bass, Abayudaya youth singers - " we are the Jews in Africa" - rapping, dancing on stage, plus a few guest artists from Kampala.  SOOO loud!  Yo used earplugs.  This was followed by a pretty decent movie created by youth from the High School about a young married woman who entertains a relationship with another young man, which develops jealousy and abuse by her young husband plus anger from her father.  They have created Part I.  This was followed by all dancing.