We hadn't been in Uganda long before we learned that the term "Mzungu" in Swahili means white person. When driving through the villages, little kids will wave and shout "hi mzungu." It's not intended to be offensive, at least none of the mzungu's took it that way. Everyone we met seemed friendly and welcoming. Almost makes you wish that people would wave hi to one another in this country when they drove through their neighborhoods.
Annually the "graduates" of GSF and the current teenagers have a weekend retreat in Jinja. A couple in Jinja turns over their house to about twenty or so teenagers and a team from Florida facilitates the weekend. The teens headed out on Friday afternoon and returned to GSF Sunday morning for church. The retreat consisted of small group discussion, large group praise and worship, skits and free time to play. The purpose of the weekend is to encourage those kids that have graduated from the orphanage and are in college or working. We were able to help participate in one of the small group discussions.
During the discussion time, the teens were pretty candid about the challenges they face. One question a girl asked stuck with me and I can't seem to shake it. She wanted to know how the church views spousal abuse and if it was ok to divorce a man who beats you. She's not currently married but the fear of being abused by your spouse is a very real threat in Uganda. Sadly, it's a common threat in so many parts of the world. It was a good opportunity to discuss God's view of marriage; that its not appropriate to beat your wife under any circumstance and that you shouldn't stay with a man who beats you.
After the discussion time and before dinner we played basketball. Each team was handicapped with a "mzungu." Hahaha.
